Index Fossil Scientific Meaning. Fossil, remnant, impression, or trace of an animal or plant of a past geologic age that has been preserved in earth’s crust. Evolutionists would say either that it hadn’t evolved yet, or that it had become extinct.
A good index fossil is one with four characteristics: They work on the premise that, although different sediments may look different depending on the conditions under which they were laid down, they may include the remains of the same species of fossil. Correlation and index fossils a fossil is the trace or remains of an organism that lived before the present.
As the cells completely decompose, minerals fill the remaining gaps.
The fossil record helps paleontologists, archaeologists, and geologists place important events and species in the appropriate geologic era. Index fossil definition, a widely distributed fossil, of narrow range in time, regarded as characteristic of a given geological formation, used especially in determining the age of related formations. A remnant or trace of an organism of a past geologic age, such as a skeleton or leaf imprint, embedded and preserved in the earth's crust. That being said, certain land organisms are useful in young rocks and specific regions.