Okuzeka
Geology & Earth Sciences vocabulary · Geologic Time & Fossils

Fossil

Meaning in geology & earth sciences, with examples

/ˈfɑːsəl/nounCore term

In geology & earth sciences, fossil means: The remains or traces of a plant or animal that lived long ago, preserved in rock, such as shells, bones, leaf impressions or footprints.

In Turkish: fosil, taşıl

How it is used

Geologists find, collect, identify and date fossils, and use them to work out the age of rocks and past environments. Body fossils are actual remains; trace fossils are signs of activity such as burrows. Also used as an adjective: fossil fuel, fossil record.

Example sentences

  1. This limestone is full of fossil shells.

  2. The fossils in this layer show that the area was once under the sea.

Common collocations

  • fossil record
  • fossil shells
  • trace fossil
  • find a fossil
  • fossil fuel
  • index fossilA fossil of a species that lived for only a short time but was widespread and easy to identify, so it is used to date rock layers and match them between areas.
  • sedimentary rockRock formed when sediment such as sand, mud or shells is laid down in layers, then buried, pressed together and cemented over time.
  • stratumA single layer of sedimentary rock or sediment with similar features throughout, separated from the layers above and below it. The plural is strata.
  • geologic time scaleThe system that divides the Earth's roughly 4.6-billion-year history into named units such as eons, eras, periods and epochs, based on rocks and fossils.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Geologic Time & Fossils

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: