Editing Fossil (section)

====Pyritization====
This fossil preservation involves the elements [[sulfur]] and [[iron]]. Organisms may become pyritized when they are in marine sediments saturated with iron sulfides. As organic matter decays, it releases sulfide which reacts with dissolved iron in the surrounding waters, forming [[pyrite]]. Pyrite replaces carbonate shell material due to an undersaturation of carbonate in the surrounding waters.  Some plants become pyritized when they are in a clay terrain, but to a lesser extent than in a marine environment. Some pyritized fossils include [[Precambrian]] microfossils, marine [[arthropods]], and plants.<ref>Wacey, D. et al (2013) Nanoscale analysis of pyritized microfossils reveals differential heterotrophic consumption in the ~1.9-Ga Gunflint chert ''PNAS'' 110 (20) 8020-8024 {{doi| 10.1073/pnas.1221965110}}
</ref><ref>Raiswell, R. (1997). A geochemical framework for the application of stable sulfur isotopes to fossil pyritization. ''Journal of the Geological Society'' 154, 343–356.
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<gallery widths="150" heights="200">
File:Pleuroceras solare, Little Switzerland, Bavaria, Germany.jpg|Pyritized ammonoid ''[[Pleuroceras solare]]'' fossil specimen
File:Paraspirifer bownockeri.fond.jpg|Pyritized specimen of the brachiopod ''[[Paraspirifer bownockeri]]''
File:Triarthrus eatoni (pyritized fossil trilobite with appendages) (Whetstone Gulf Formation, Upper Ordovician; Lewis County, New York State, USA) 3.jpg|Pyritized ''[[Triarthrus eatoni]]'' from [[Whetstone Gulf Formation]]
File:Furcaster paleozoicus fossil brittle star (Kaub Formation, Hunsrück Slate Group, Lower Devonian; Budenbach area, western Germany) 4 (15302668235).jpg|Pyritized ''[[Furcaster paleozoicus]]'' from [[Hunsrück Slate]]
File:Tornoceras uniangulare aldenense fossil goniatite (Alden Pyrite Bed, Ludlowville Formation, Middle Devonian; western New York State, USA) 1 (15359943429).jpg|Pyritized ''[[Tornoceras uniangulare]]'' from [[Ludlowville Formation]]
</gallery>