What is the difference between a preserved and petrified fossil?

Best Answer: A petrified wood is one that has been replaced with minerals. A fossil is any evidence of life that has been preserved in rock. Petrified means fossilized. Minerals replaced once living material, such as wood, creating a rock replica

Fossils: remains or traces of plant or animal life found in rocks

Petrified: process in which once living things turn to stone

A preserved fossil has been stored for many years even millions. Such as a Wooly Mammoth. However, a petrified fossil only becomes a fossil after certain material has been replaced or taken out from the organism.