FOSSILSBy Wendy McDonnal

VOCABULARY• BODY FOSSIL• CAST• COPROLITE• DECAY• EROSION• EXCAVATE• EXTINCT• FOSSIL• FOSSIL RECORD• IMPRESSION

• MOLD• PALEONTOLOGY• PALEONTOLOGIST• PETRIFIED• TRACE FOSSIL• SEDIMENTARY ROCK

WHAT IS A FOSSIL?

WHAT IS THE STUDY OF FOSSILS CALLED?

WHERE ARE FOSSILS FOUND?

HOW DO FOSSILS OCCUR?

WHY STUDY FOSSILS?

WHAT IS A FOSSIL?

What is a fossil?

Fossils can be a: ~ PLANT ~ANIMAL ~Organisim * Fossils are the remains or traces of animals or plants that once lived on earth and have

been preserved by natural causes in earth’s crust. It is important to know that not every plant or animal becomes a fossil.

*The geological preservation processes take a long time. Many of the plants and animals lived more than 10,000 years ago. However, some fossils which have been found are just several hundred years old.

Fossils can be body parts of ancient organism such as bones, shells, teeth, or plant leaves.

*Some examples of fossils include: A petrified (turned to stone) skull of a rodent. A petrified bird’s nest. A seashell mold in stone.

A carbon residue image of a leaf in stone.A canine’s paw-print in a rock.A stone cast of a beaver’s burrow.A frozen (intact) wooly mammoth in an ancient glacier.

Fossil Shrimp (cretaceous) found in Lebanon

Priscacara liops fossil fishClass Actinopterygii, Order Perciformes: Family Priscacaridae Eocene Green River Formation, Kemmerer, Wyoming (18 Inch Layer) 10 inches long

What is the study of fossils called?

Paleontologist at work, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. (NPS Photo) A Palentologist excavates fossils at a dig site using large tools such as picks, shovels, jack-hammers, or even explosives.

What is the study of fossils called? ~PALEONTOLOGY~ A person who studies fossils is called a Paleontologist.

Paleontologist carefully chips rock matrix from a column of dinosaur vertebrae.

FRAGILE! Excavation of fossils must be done very carefully to avoid breakage. Before removal, a quick-setting glue can be applied using a brush or sprayer.

Preparation of fossil bones of Europasaurus holgeri.

A Paleontologist working in a lab. Before being transported to the lab, small fossils are packed carefully in boxes or bags. Large fossils can be wrapped in paper or burlap with a layer of plaster applied (like setting a broken bone). Small hand tools: trowels, hammers, whisks, and dental tools.

Where are fossils found?

http://legalplanet.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/ocean-turtle.jpg

Where are fossils found? *Fossils are found world-wide. Some of the locations are: ~ Ocean Waters ~

Highest slopes of Mountains

Adélie penguins chicks in Antarctica with MS Explorer and an iceberg at back ground. The image was taken in January, 1999. MS Explorer sank on November 23, 2007 after hitting an iceberg in Antarctica.

Antartica

Leaving traces on soft sand dunes in Tadrart Acacus a desert area in western Libya, part of the Sahara.

Sahara Desert

HOW DO FOSSILS OCCUR?

HOW DO FOSSILS OCCUR?Fossilization Process: *A plant or animal dies.

*Sediments (often in water) cover the organism and preserve it so that it slowly decays.

*Over time, usually thousands of years, the sediments harden into sedimentary rock around the remains.

*After the organism completely decays, an imprint and empty space is left inside the rock – Mold.

*Sometimes minerals filter into the empty space and harden into the shape of the dead animal or plant –Cast.

Different kinds of fossils can be found.

Four types of fossils:

1. Mold fossil

2. Cast fossil

3. Trace fossil

4. True form fossil

www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/explore/fossils/past.shell.jpg

MOLD FOSSIL: A mold is an imprint of an organism or its trace. For example, a shell can make an imprint in sand.

CAST FOSSIL: A cast fossil is formed when a mold fossil is filled with sediment.

AmmonitePhotograph of a fossil ammonite Jeletzkytes spedeni taken by Dlloyd. The specimen is from the Maastrichtian (Upper-Cretaceous) Fox Hills Formation. Locality - South Dakota, USA. Matrix free specimen, 7.5 cm (3") in diameter, displaying pearly aragonite preservation of the shell.

Footprint impressions are left from an animal crossing a

wet surface of sediment which later hardens into rock.

Trace fossil:

A trace fossil can be footprints hardened into stone, burrows, or coprolite (animal poop).

Ice Age mammoths from approximately 35,000 years ago were frozen in North America or Siberian Tundra. They were preserved so well that their last meals remain undigested in their stomachs! www.no-pest.com/WoollyMammoth.htm

True form fossil:

http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~pgore/myphotos/fossils/insect1.jpg

Many insects have been found in Amber – sticky tree sap.

Insect Fossil

More than 250,000 fossils have been recovered from Rancho La BreaSaber Tooth CatSpecies: Smilodon fatalis.Age: Pleistocene.Location: Rancho La Brea, California, USA.Size: 6 feet 8" long. [Scale 1:1]

Why should we study fossils?

Why should we study fossils?

*We can learn about plants and extinct animals from the past, such as dinosaurs.

*We can learn about the history of earth.

*We can learn about the environment which the organisms lived in.

*We can learn what impact climate change has on living organisms.

RESOURCES John Day Fossil Beds National Monument www.nps.gov/joda www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/how_are_fossils_formed.html www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinofossils/Fossilhow.html www.learnerscience.com/docments/fossilsciencefairprojects.html www.tarpits.org/education/guide/index.html www.nasmus.co.za/PALEO/jbotha/paleo101.htm

www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/fossil//index.html

www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/fossil/guide/guide.html