FOSSILS and the FOSSIL RECORD

FOSSILS and the FOSSIL RECORD

PALEONTOLOGY (also spelled palaeontology or palæontology) and PALEONTOLOGISTS

• PALEONTOLOGY: Is the scientific study of life in the geologic past, especially through the study of animal and plant fossils

• PALEONTOLOGIST: a scientist who specializes in the study of life forms that existed in previous geologic periods

Multiple Select

There are two main types of fossils:

• coal

• trace

• body

BODY FOSSILS

• are the most common type of fossil found across the world.

• They are formed from the remains of dead animals and plants.

• Most body fossils are of hard parts such as teeth, bones, shells, or woody trunks, branches, and stems.

TRACE FOSSILS

• are geological records of the activities and behaviors of past life

• Some examples include rock evidence of nests, burrows, footprints, and scat (waste, dung)

Multiple Choice

What is fossilization?

• the process of drying out animal skin or plants

• the process of preserving dead remains of plants and animals in stone

• the process of making cool watches

Multiple Choice

There are many ways in which fossilization can occur. However, these methods can be classified into two main groups, depending on whether the animals have been....in the process:

• altered or unaltered

• alive or dead

• moving or standing still

Multiple Select

Fossilization that does not alter (change) a specimen, can help to preserve its form and texture.

Some of the ways in which specimens are unaltered are:

• through freezing

• preservation in tar pits

• trapping organisms in amber

• altering

• mummification

Multiple Select

Some organisms get altered (transformed) during the fossilization process.

Some methods that alter organisms during fossilization are:

• carnbonization

• permineralization

• preservation in amber

Multiple Choice

Limestone is a sedimentary rock that contains many sea fossils.

From here, we know that limestone was formed:

• in the mountains

• under the sea

• in forests

Multiple Select

Coal sometimes contains traces of plants.

From here, we know that coal:

• was formed when tress and other plants fell into swamps millions of years ago

• not formed in the sea

• was formed when burning plants

FOSSIL RECORD

• there are many types of fossils of plants and animals

• they were formed at different times over millions of years

• the FOSSIL RECORD is the history of life as documented by fossils in different rocks

• the FOSSIL RECORD can tell us when species appeared and disappeared and how species changed over time

Multiple Choice

The oldest fossils we have found so far are of simple bacteria. They lived about 3.5 billion years ago.

Looking at the diagram in the picture, can you tell when fish first appeared?

• 500 years ago

• 500 million years ago

• before jellyfish

Multiple Choice

Look at the diagram.

Which came first: insects or flowering plants?

• insects

• flowering plants

Multiple Choice

We now know that fossils form in sedimentary rock.

Look at the diagram.

What is the LATIN NAME of the oldest species of horse in the fossil record?

• Pliohippus

• Equus

• Hyracotherium

WHAT CAN FOSSILS TELLS US?

They can tell us:

• when animals and plants lived on Earth

• what animals and plant lived on Earth

• when animals and plants appeared and disappeared

• where certain animals and plants lived

• whether some organisms if certain organisms died out or not.

Open Ended

Flying reptiles called pterosaurs lived between 220 and 65 million years ago.

Fossils show there were many kinds of pterosaurs, some with a wingspan of 10 metres.

Are there any animals alive today that are like pterosaurs?

Multiple Choice

The oldest fossils we have found so far are of simple bacteria. They lived about 3.5 billion years ago.

Looking at the diagram in the picture, can you tell when fish first appeared?

• 500 years ago

• 500 million years ago

• before jellyfish

Open Ended

What is your favourite fossil? Why?

Open Ended

What is your favourite fossil? Why?