Description
Book SynopsisAn in-depth look at the latest breakthroughs in our understanding of the material record that deep time leaves behind.
Understanding the complex interplay of physical and chemical processes leading to fossilization is crucial to elucidating the 3800 million years of life on earth. And yet, the process of fossilization also leads to the loss of pivotal biological information, placing constraints on the very same understanding of ancient life it preserves. Over the last decade, however, remarkable advances in approaches, techniques, tools, and instrumentation have helped scientists to transcend these constraints by enabling high-resolution analysis of fossil materialeven down to the nanoscale.
Fossilization provides a critical look at these cutting-edge innovations in the science of fossil preservation and provides a road map for future research. Drawing from the fields of paleontology, organic and inorganic chemistry, microbiology, and high-resolution imagi
Trade Review
What stood out is how readable these chapters are. [I] found that I could follow along with most chapters just fine. And some of this material is outright fascinating.
—Inquisitive Biologist
Table of Contents
Preface
Carole T. Gee
1. Introduction to the Limits of the Fossil Record
P. Martin Sander and Carole T. Gee
2. Organic Phase Preservation in Fossil Dinosaur and Other Tetrapod Bone from Deep Time: Extending the Probable Osteocyte Record to the Early Permian
Kayleigh Wiersma, Sashima Läbe, and P. Martin Sander
3. Fossilization of Reproduction-Related Hard and Soft Tissues and Structures in Non-Avian Dinosaurs and Birds
Tzu-Ruei Yang and Aurore Canoville
4. Raman Spectroscopy in Fossilization Research: Basic Principles, Applications in Paleontology, and a Case Study on an Acanthodian Fish Spine
Thorsten Geisler and Martina Menneken
5. Ultrastructure to Biomolecular Composition: Taphonomic Patterns of Tissue Preservation in Arthropod Inclusions in Amber
H. Jonas Barthel, Victoria E. McCoy, and Jes Rust
6. Experimental Silicification of Wood in the Lab and Field: Pivotal Studies and Open Questions
Carole T. Gee and Moritz Liesegang
7. The Structure and Chemistry of Silica in Mineralized Wood: Techniques and Analysis
Moritz Liesegang, Frank Tomaschek, and Jens Götze
8. Exceptional Fossilization of Ecological Interactions: Plant Defenses during the Four Major Expansions of Arthropod Herbivory in the Fossil Record
Victoria E. McCoy, Torsten Wappler, and Conrad C. Labandeira
9. Color in Living and Fossil Plants: The Search for Biological Pigments in the Paleobotanical Record
Carole T. Gee and Victoria E. McCoy
10. The Future of Fossilization
Victoria E. McCoy
Contributors
Index
