Editing Phosphatization (section)

== Mechanism ==
Large quantities of [[phosphate]] are required, either from seawater or from the tissues of the decaying organism. In some cases microbes control the phosphatization, and the remains of the microbes that feed on the preserved tissue form the fossil. In others, the tissue itself is the source of phosphate and its phosphatized remains form the fossil. In the intermediate case the phosphatized tissue retains the impressions of the phosphatizing microbes.<ref name="Wilby1997a">{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/S0016-6995(97)80056-3 | last1 = Wilby | first1 = P. | last2 = Briggs | first2 = D. | title = Taxonomic trends in the resolution of detail preserved in fossil phosphatized soft tissues | journal = Geobios | volume = 30 | pages = 493–502 | year = 1997| bibcode = 1997Geobi..30..493W }}</ref>