Fossilization Benchmark Review

An organism is UNLIKELY to be preserved as a fossil if

• it has a shell
• it has a skeleton
• it is a soft-bodied creature
• it is buried soon after death

Which type of fossil preserves no living matter but instead preserves signs of life such as footprints? 

• bone
• trace
• body
• shell

Which is the most difficult to fossilize?

• fish
• mammals
• plants
• snails

Which is NOT a factor that affects fossilization? 

• age of the organism
• hard or soft body parts
• predators destroying the body
• body decal due to natural elements

The environment plays a crucial role in an organism's ability to fossilize.  Which is the best location for fossilization? 

• bottom of a river
• very dry environments, such as land
• bottom of a lake covered by sediment
• an environment exposed to natural elements

Several factors affect an organisms ability to fossilize.  The unlikelihood of fossilization results in large gaps in the fossil record.  Which of the following would decrease the likelihood that an organism fossilizes?

• organism lower on the food chain
• organism higher on the food chain
• organism had a hard body rather than a soft body
• organism lived in a marine or aquatic environment

Several factors affect an organism's ability to fossilize.  Which environment would increase the chance of fossilization? 

• an environment where erosion is common (erosive environment)
• immense sediment-sized (large sediments)
• high energy environment
• deposition environment (where deposition is occurring)

Several factors affect an organism's ability to fossilize.  A sedimentary depositional environment allows organisms to be buried by sediment before which of the following can occur?

• scavengers destroy the remains
• decay weathering the remains
• decay or weathering destroy the remains
• decay, weathering, or scavengers destroy the remains

Fish fossils have been found in some places where there is no longer any water.  Sometimes, they are found on tops of mountains.  What is the BEST explanation for why the fish fossils were found in these places with no water? 

• Fish used to live on land. 
• These places were once under water. 
• The fossils caused the water to dry up. 
• These places had fish that climbed the mountains. 

The discovery of the fossils of prehistoric whales that lived millions of years ago in Mississippi indicate that

• the whales were once land-dwelling mammals.
• the whales lived in an inland sea, which dried up. 
• the Gulf of Mexico once covered what is now the state of Mississippi.
• the whales were hunted by the native American tribes that lived along the river.