taphonomy

thumb|350px|Fossilization process of a pair of sauropod dinosaurs, illustrating their preservation into [[fossils]]

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Commons category: Taphonomy

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~29 min read

Article

22 sections

Contents

Description
Research areas
Paleontology
Forensic science
Archaeology
Microbial mats
Taphonomic biases in the fossil record
Physical attributes of the organism itself
Characteristics of the habitat
Mixing of fossils from different places
Temporal resolution
Gaps in time series
Consistency in preservation over geologic time
Human biases
Preservation of biopolymers
Disintegration
Distortion
Significance
Fluvial taphonomy
See also
Further reading
External links

thumb|350px|Fossilization process of a pair of sauropod dinosaurs, illustrating their preservation into [[fossils]]

Taphonomy is the study of how organisms decay and become fossilized or preserved in the paleontological record. The term taphonomy (from Greek , 'burial' and , 'law') was introduced to paleontology in 1940 by Soviet scientist Ivan Efremov to describe the study of the transition of remains, parts, or products of organisms from the biosphere to the lithosphere.