<p>Fossilization can occur using literally any mineral that is water soluble, which nearly all of them are. The problem you are running into is &quot;fossil&quot; covers a huge range of things, from insects in amber to shell casts, to permineralized dinosaur bones, the chemistry of the processes therefore also cover a huge range of things and will require quite a solid understanding of geochemistry. Worse, the early stages of fossilization are not well understood. By its nature, figuring out what is and is not in the process of becoming a fossil is difficult, so there are several competing ideas and all of them might well be true.</p>
<p>A few quick definitions.</p>
<p>Stone is any solid composed of nonliving material with a fairly well defined chemical composition, stone is one of the broadest definitions in science.</p>
<p>There is a free textbook on paleontology online, that should be a good spot to get started.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.a-centauri.com/archivio/geo/Paleontologia/Benton_Introduction%20to%20Paleobiology%20and%20the%20Fossil%20Record.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record</a></em>, Michael J Benton and David A. T. Harper, Wiley-Blackwell.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-25T23:52:30.067Z
2022-04-26T00:47:01.613Z
2022-04-26T00:47:01.613Z
John
<p>I was reading on fossilization and I came across petrifaction. Are fossils that take the shape (have the shape) of the original organism made of only stone or iron? Can there be a fossil made of any other substance?</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrifaction" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a> mentions stone/iron fossils:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The minerals commonly involved in replacement are calcite, silica, pyrite, and hematite.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Are all minerals involved in &quot;replacement&quot; a stone/iron material, or are other materials ever involved in this process?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-23T05:03:37.707Z
what does your research show about how fossils form? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-24T21:34:06.283Z
"stone" covers literally every naturally occurring solid on earth not made by an organism and quite a few that are. if they were not made of stone what would they be made of?
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-24T21:34:58.490Z
I’m voting to close this question because homework questions are off topic without showing some prior research.
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-25T01:36:00.240Z
This is not a homework question. I am just trying to understand some aspects of fossils to see a link between this and something else. I understood some basics of fossils from YouTube though the information I see is very confusing regarding details. I do not have education on the subject.
Lynn B.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-25T01:53:26.190Z
Also note that I have read the article @ wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrifaction and I have watched YouTube videos which point into the direction of stone/iron fossils. In the wiki article, I was trying to understand what the author(s) meant when he said "The minerals commonly involved in replacement are calcite, silica, pyrite, and hematite." I missed the part about hematite being of iron. When the author said 'commonly involved' I wanted to know if fossils can also only be of stone/iron in the uncommon sense (other materials).
Lynn B.
<paleontology><fossils>
What materials are fossils made of?
Lynn B.
# What materials are fossils made of?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-04-22)

I was reading on fossilization and I came across petrifaction. Are fossils that take the shape (have the shape) of the original organism made of only stone or iron? Can there be a fossil made of any other substance?

[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrifaction) mentions stone/iron fossils:

> The minerals commonly involved in replacement are calcite, silica, pyrite, and hematite.

Are all minerals involved in "replacement" a stone/iron material, or are other materials ever involved in this process?

Thank you.

**Tags:** paleontology, fossils

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: what does your research show about how fossils form? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil  
> **username_2**: "stone" covers literally every naturally occurring solid on earth not made by an organism and quite a few that are. if they were not made of stone what would they be made of?  
> **username_2**: I’m voting to close this question because homework questions are off topic without showing some prior research.  
> **username_0**: This is not a homework question. I am just trying to understand some aspects of fossils to see a link between this and something else. I understood some basics of fossils from YouTube though the information I see is very confusing regarding details. I do not have education on the subject.  
> **username_0**: Also note that I have read the article @ wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrifaction and I have watched YouTube videos which point into the direction of stone/iron fossils. In the wiki article, I was trying to understand what the author(s) meant when he said "The minerals commonly involved in replacement are calcite, silica, pyrite, and hematite." I missed the part about hematite being of iron. When the author said 'commonly involved' I wanted to know if fossils can also only be of stone/iron in the uncommon sense (other materials).  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-04-25. Score: 2

Fossilization can occur using literally any mineral that is water soluble, which nearly all of them are. The problem you are running into is "fossil" covers a huge range of things, from insects in amber to shell casts, to permineralized dinosaur bones, the chemistry of the processes therefore also cover a huge range of things and will require quite a solid understanding of geochemistry. Worse, the early stages of fossilization are not well understood. By its nature, figuring out what is and is not in the process of becoming a fossil is difficult, so there are several competing ideas and all of them might well be true.

A few quick definitions.

Stone is any solid composed of nonliving material with a fairly well defined chemical composition, stone is one of the broadest definitions in science.

There is a free textbook on paleontology online, that should be a good spot to get started.

*[Introduction to Paleobiology and the Fossil Record](https://www.a-centauri.com/archivio/geo/Paleontologia/Benton_Introduction%20to%20Paleobiology%20and%20the%20Fossil%20Record.pdf)*, Michael J Benton and David A. T. Harper, Wiley-Blackwell.


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