🦴 Fossil Formation

Taphonomy is the study of everything that happens to an organism between death and discovery as a fossil: decay, scavenging, transport, burial and chemical alteration. It matters because only a tiny fraction of organisms survive these processes, so the fossil record is heavily biased toward hard-bodied creatures that were buried quickly in the right conditions.

It tracks organic mass using exponential decay, m = 100·e^−kt, where the decay coefficient k rises with temperature and oxygen and falls away from neutral pH. A weighted preservation index then combines rapid burial, low oxygen (anoxia), near-neutral pH and the degree of mineral fill. High scores require the remains to be buried and mineralised faster than they can rot.

Burial Rate (millimetres per year) controls how fast sediment accumulates and protects the body; Oxygen Level sets how oxic or anoxic the setting is, with anoxic conditions slowing decay; pH affects both decay rate and mineralisation, which works best near neutral; and Temperature scales the decay rate, with warmer water or soil speeding breakdown. The presets bundle realistic combinations for marine, amber, desert and peat-bog settings.

It is an educational simplification rather than a research tool. The exponential decay law, the protective effect of fast anoxic burial and the role of mineral replacement are all genuine principles, but real taphonomy also involves microbial activity, sediment chemistry, pressure and luck. Treat the numbers as illustrative trends rather than precise predictions.

Oxygen feeds the bacteria and scavengers that destroy a carcass, so an oxygen-poor, quickly buried setting halts decomposition before the body falls apart. This is why exceptional fossil sites, known as Lagerstaetten, often form in anoxic lake beds, lagoons or mud, where even delicate soft tissues can occasionally be preserved.