Episode 474 - Fossils changing the Planet and the planet changing Fossils

How can fossils change the planet and the planet change fossils? Forming fossils require specific set of circumstances. How can geological changes make the right conditions for fossils to be preserved? What happened 183 million years ago that made it possible to preserve even soft and delicate fossils? Preserving bones is comparatively easy compared to soft tissue and creatures like squid. So what has to happen to preserve these as fossils? How did fossils change the composition of rocks deep in the mantle? When life first emerged on our planet what change did it cause in the type of rocks found deep beneath the surface? life on the surface has changed the rocks we have deep in the earth.

1. Sinjini Sinha, A. D. Muscente, James D. Schiffbauer, Matt Williams, Günter Schweigert, Rowan C. Martindale. Global controls on phosphatization of fossils during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event. Scientific Reports, 2021; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03482-7
2. Alcott, L.J., Mills, B.J.W., Bekker, A. et al. Earth’s Great Oxidation Event facilitated by the rise of sedimentary phosphorus recycling. Nat. Geosci., 2022 DOI: 10.1038/s41561-022-00906-5