= Permineralization
<Permineralization> preserves biological material when <minerals> precipitate in its pores or internal spaces. Filling spaces in <wood> or <bone> can support and retain details of the original cellular architecture. This differs from replacing the original substance with a new <mineral>, although both processes can occur in one <fossil>.
Experiments placing <wood> in silica-bearing hot-spring <water> documented deposition of <silica> within the spaces of the <tissue>. Such observations connect a recognizable <fossilization> mechanism to mineral-bearing <water> entering a porous biological structure.<Rapid wood silicification in hot spring water: an explanation of silicification of wood during the Earth's history by Hisatada Akahane and others>[Sedimentary Geology, 2004; experimental wood fragments and silica deposition in cell lumina]{ref} The speed observed in one chemical environment is not a universal clock for <permineralization>; composition, fluid access and subsequent alteration differ among deposits.
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