Permineralization

Permineralization is a process of fossilization in which mineral deposits form internal casts of organisms.

Permineralization

Permineralization is a process of fossilization in which mineral deposits form internal casts of organisms.

Minerals in water fill the spaces inside organic tissue. The process gives a record of soft tissue as well as hard tissues. Fossils with permineralization are useful in studying internal structures, especially of plants.[1]

Water from the ground, lakes, or oceans seeps into the pores of organic tissue and forms a crystal cast with deposited minerals. Crystals begin to form in the porous cell walls. This process continues on the inner surface of the walls until the central cavity of the cell, the lumen, is completely filled. The cell walls themselves remain intact surrounding the crystals.[2] Permineralization is different from petrification in that the organic material is only filled with minerals and not completely replaced. Permineralization can occur in several ways:

Silica spheres
A coal ball

Types

Silicification

Silicification is the most common type of permineralization.[3]

Carbonate mineralization

Main article: Coal ball

Carbonate mineralization occurs as coal balls. Coal balls are fossilizations of plants and their tissues, usually made when there is seawater or acidic peat. This type of fossilization gives information about plant life in the Upper Carboniferous (325 to 280 million years ago).[4]

Pyritization

Organisms are pyritized when they are in marine sediments saturated with iron sulfides.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Mani K. 1996. Permineralization, in Fossils: a window to the past.
  2. ↑ Babcock, Loren E. (2019-12-01). "Permineralization". AccessScience. McGraw Hill. doi:10.1036/1097-8542.803250. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
  3. ↑ Oehler, John H.; Schopf, J. William (1971). "Artificial microfossils: experimental studies of permineralization of blue-green algae in silica". Science. 174 (4015): 1229–1231. Bibcode:1971Sci...174.1229O. doi:10.1126/science.174.4015.1229. PMID 17806931. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
  4. ↑ Scott, Andrew C. & Rex G. 1985. The formation and significance of Carboniferous coal balls (1985). "The Formation and Significance of Carboniferous Coal Balls". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B 311 (1148): 123–137. Bibcode:1985RSPTB.311..123S. doi:10.1098/rstb.1985.0144. JSTOR 2396976.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Raiswell, R. (1997). "A geochemical framework for the application of stable sulphur isotopes to fossil pyritization". Journal of the Geological Society. 154 (2): 343–356. Bibcode:1997JGSoc.154..343R. doi:10.1144/gsjgs.154.2.0343. S2CID 128460967.

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