Burial is important for protecting the organism or its trace against destructive forces.

Which organism do you think is most likely to be preserved:

a) One that gets buried quickly?
b) One that gets buried slowly?

Burial is important for protecting the organism or its trace against destructive forces.

Brittle stars are very good scavengers.

Ooops!

Slow burial means longer exposure to the elements such as wind and rain. There is also a greater chance that scavengers and decomposers will destroy the organism before it can fossilize. Try again . . .

Correct!

If an organism or its trace gets buried quickly, it is less likely to be destroyed.

Exposure to heat, cold, moisture, water, and wind are abiotic factors that can also cause a dead organism to decompose and break apart.

The quicker a dead organism gets buried, the more chance there is for the fossilization process to begin.

When an organism dies it is exposed to many different types of biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors include scavengers, predators, and decomposers, that can break down and destroy the organism.

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