How long does it take for a fossil to form?

[Youtellme]

There seems to be varying opinions on this and I'm just curious, is there a reliable answer to this question? Some say it can take decades, others millions of years...which is it?

 

[Krok]

There seems to be varying opinions on this and I'm just curious, is there a reliable answer to this question? Some say it can take decades, others millions of years...which is it?

Both. The process of fossilization depends on circumstances. From Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil

Such a preserved specimen is called a "fossil" if it is older than some minimum age, most often the arbitrary date of 10,000 years ago.

This means that even a fully preserved mammoth in ice is a fossil. Also from Wiki

A fossil normally preserves only a portion of the deceased organism, usually that portion that was partially mineralized during life, such as the bones and teeth of vertebrates, or the chitinous or calcareous exoskeletons of invertebrates. Preservation of soft tissues is rare in the fossil record.

Permineralization occurs after burial, as the empty spaces within an organism (spaces filled with liquid or gas during life) become filled with mineral-rich groundwater and the minerals precipitate from the groundwater, thus occupying the empty spaces. This process can occur in very small spaces, such as within the cell wall of a plant cell. Small scale permineralization can produce very detailed fossils.

Replacement occurs when the shell, bone or other tissue is replaced with another mineral. In some cases mineral replacement of the original shell occurs so gradually and at such fine scales that microstructural features are preserved despite the total loss of original material. A shell is said to be recrystallized when the original skeletal compounds are still present but in a different crystal form, as from aragonite to calcite.

Fossilization takes as long as it takes, depending on the circumstances. Complete fossilization can happen relatively instantly or up to millions (maybe billions) of years, depending on the individual circumstances. So, it can take decades or millions of years, both are accurate.

 

[Youtellme]

Cheers for that!

 

[Midnight Pete]

There seems to be varying opinions on this and I'm just curious, is there a reliable answer to this question? Some say it can take decades, others millions of years...which is it?

Sometimes they form in just eighty or ninety years and are not adversed to telling stories of having to walk to school barefoot, uphill both ways.

 

[kai]

Sometimes they form in just eighty or ninety years and are not adversed to telling stories of having to walk to school barefoot, uphill both ways.

why you young whippersnapper----

 

[Revoltingest]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil

Also from Wiki
Fossilization takes as long as it takes, depending on the circumstances. Complete fossilization can happen relatively instantly or up to millions (maybe billions) of years, depending on the individual circumstances. So, it can take decades or millions of years, both are accurate.

I didn't find that last statement in the Wiki article you linked, but I did find this one, which seems to contradict it.

"Such a preserved specimen is called a "fossil" if it is older than some minimum age, most often the arbitrary date of 10,000 years ago.[1]
Hence, fossils range in age from the youngest at the start of the Holocene Epoch to the oldest from the Archaean Eon several billion years old."

 

[painted wolf]

What kind of fossil are we talking about?

wa:do

 

[VenatorAnima]

I think it depends on the condition of the land where the bone is buried...
and the condition of the bone itself.

 

[Krok]

I didn't find that last statement in the Wiki article you linked, but I did find this one, which seems to contradict it.

"Such a preserved specimen is called a "fossil" if it is older than some minimum age, most often the arbitrary date of 10,000 years ago.[1]
Hence, fossils range in age from the youngest at the start of the Holocene Epoch to the oldest from the Archaean Eon several billion years old."

No, it doesn't contradict it, as how long it takes for a fossil to form is not the same as the age of a fossil. With some fossils the fossilization period only took few years to be completed, but the fossils themselves are millions of years old. In other cases the fossils are millions of years old, but the fossililization process has not yet been completed.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

What kind of fossil are we talking about?

wa:do

It seems someone was talking about my fifth grade teacher.