[Sopater]

You would be correct only if you consider getting stuck and buried in mud or quicksand, or being buried in sediment at the bottom of a body of water, as "catastrophic."

It would be "catastrophic" for me... ;-)

However, how does an animal become "buried in sediment at the bottom of a body of water" without being consumed by other organisms? It has to happen by rapid burial by sediment.

Even the mud or quicksand scenario is rarely likely to result in fossilization since creatures rarely die by submersion and are more likely to die on the surface due to starvation, dehydration, heat exhaustion, or attack by predatory animals. All resulting in eventually being consumed by other organisms.

Your examples are more the exception than the rule when it comes to fossilization.

[Coyoteman]

However, how does an animal become "buried in sediment at the bottom of a body of water" without being consumed by other organisms? It has to happen by rapid burial by sediment.

Even the mud or quicksand scenario is rarely likely to result in fossilization since creatures rarely die by submersion and are more likely to die on the surface due to starvation, dehydration, heat exhaustion, or attack by predatory animals. All resulting in eventually being consumed by other organisms.

Your examples are more the exception than the rule when it comes to fossilization.

Fossilization is rare for precisely this reason. The reasons you give are why forest floors and open environments are so poor at creating fossils.

However, becoming immersed in mud or quicksand is not that difficult to imagine for animals that fall into a pond or river. And its easy to see the nature of the sediment surrounding a fossil. For the vast majority of terrestrial fossils that's just what we get, silt and fine sand (ignoring volcanic deposits for the moment).