Page 28 - Atlas of Creation Volume 1

Various situations may be encountered during mineralization:
1. If the skeleton is completely filled with liquid solution and breakdown takes place at a later stage,
then the internal structure gets fossilized.
2. If the skeleton is totally replaced by a different mineral from the original, a complete copy of the

shell emerges.
3. If an exact template or "mould" of the skeleton forms due to pressure, then
the remains of the skeleton's external surface may remain.
In plant fossils, on the other hand, it is carbonization

caused by bacteria that applies. During the carbonization
process, oxygen and nitrogen are replaced by carbon
and hydrogen. Carbonization takes place by breaking
down the tissue molecules by bacteria through changes

in pressure and temperature or various chemical
processes, causing chemical changes in the structure of
the protein and cellulose in such a way that only carbon
fibers remain. Other such organic materials as carbon

dioxide, methane, hydrogen sulphate and water
vapour disappear. This process gave rise to the natural
coal beds that formed from the swamps that existed
during the Carboniferous Period, 354 to 290 million

years ago.
Fossils sometimes form when organisms are
submerged in waters rich in calcium and get coated by
minerals such as travertine. As the organism decays, it

leaves behind traces of itself in the mineral bed.
A 20- to 15-million-year-old midge preserved in amber.

At times, fragile organisms may also get fossilized under extraordinary conditions.
Pictured is a starfish from the Jurassic period (206 to 144 million years ago). There
is no difference whatsoever between this fossil and the starfish of our day.

26 Atlas of Creation