| Taphonomy |
| n. The study of the death, decay, burial, and fossilization of an organism. Essentially, taphonomy describes everything that happens to an organism between the time it dies and the moment its remains are discovered. Understanding why organisms are or are not preserved over time helps explain the biases seen in the fossil record. Taphonomy is often broken into two parts, biostratinomy and diagenesis. |
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