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Fossil fuels

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Where do fossils come from?

You may have heard of the word fossil before.

Fossils are made when animals die, get buried and their remains get preserved in rocks. This is called fossilization, and it takes thousands of years. 

When an animal dies the body rots, leaving just the skeleton and teeth behind.  

Bones and teeth do not rot as quickly as the rest of the body does. Over time, the material that the skeleton and teeth are buried under, builds up in layers. This material is called sediment, and it forms sedimentary rocks.  

As the layers of sediment are added, this becomes very heavy for the remains underneath and adds pressure to them. This makes the sediment form a rock. 

Water enters the rock and dissolves the bones, and minerals from the water replace the bones.  

The fossil is then formed.  

Fossil formation