An unfortunate deer becomes stuck in quicksand at the edge of a lake and dies.A few months later,it is buried by sediment in a massive landslide,but by this time,bacteria have fully decomposed its soft tissues.Several million years later,archeologists are digging at the spot where the deer dies and was buried.Would the archeologists be likely to find a fossil of the deer? Why or why not?
A)No,because it needed to be fully intact when buried to form a fossil.
B)Yes,because its skeleton could have been replaced by minerals to form a fossil.
C)No,because bacteria continued to decompose its skeleton after its was buried.
D)Yes,because it would have fossilized before it was burieD.
E)No,because deer are generally too large to be fossilized.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Even though the soft tissues have been fully decomposed by bacteria, the bones of the deer could still potentially be replaced by minerals such as silica or calcium carbonate over millions of years, resulting in a fossil.

An Unfortunate Deer Becomes Stuck in Quicksand at the Edge