Alex listed the typical steps of fossil formation. 1) an organism dies. 2) the remains fall to the bottom of the ocean. 3) the soft portions decay, and the hard portions remain. 4) the sediment becomes rock. which statement describes the missing step?

The statement 4.

Explanation:

Alex mentioned all the steps of the formation of fossil, however, he forgot to add a step prior to step 4. The step, which he should incorporate prior to step 4 is that the hard portions of the species get buried within the ocean and then the chemical and physical modifications occurs with the species. After that the sediment formation occurs, which eventually gets transformed into rocks.

the answer is barium and copper bromide