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Glossary · Preservation

Matrix

The rock enclosing a fossil or mineral.

The rock enclosing a fossil or mineral. A “matrix specimen” is one still attached to its host rock; a “free” or “floater” specimen has none. Matrix is evidence of locality and is usually left in place by preparators for that reason.

Sources

Cite this article

Stratum Strata. "Matrix" (Glossary). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-16. https://stratum.black/strata/glossary/matrix. Accessed 2026-09-21.

BibTeX · CSL-JSON

@misc{stratum-matrix,
  title        = {Matrix},
  author       = {{Stratum Strata}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/glossary/matrix}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Glossary article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-16; sources: stratum. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

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Sources for this article: Stratum editorial (Stratum editorial). As of 2026-09-16; Strata pack 2026.09. Written by Stratum in our own words; the works cited are where the science lives, and none of their text is reproduced here.

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