Despite seeming like a relatively stable place, the Earth's surface has changed dramatically over the past 4.6 billion years. Mountains have been built and eroded, continents and oceans have moved ...

But these sorts of rocks have no fossils in them. The rocks that have fossils in them are formed very slowly underwater. Water carries sediment - sand and mud – that settles on the bottom of the lake ...

Fossils are invaluable archives of the past. They preserve details about living things from a few thousand to hundreds of millions of years ago. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest sci-tech ...