What if tropical plant fossils were found in Antarctica? What would scientists infer about the way the environment may have looked millions of years ago?

• It has always been very cold in Antarctica.

• Animals would carry the plants on their backs to Antarctica.

• The environment used to be a tropical environment.

• The ice in Antarctica catches plant leaves.

Tags

TEKS.SCI.3.12D

The fossil below was found in an area that is now a desert area. What may the environment have looked like in the past?

• A rain forest

• A beach

• An ocean

• A desert

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TEKS.SCI.3.12D

Cacti fossils have been found on top of a mountain nowhere near where cacti are found today. This provides evidence that the mountain once looked much different. What kind of environment was most likely where the mountain is now?

• An ocean

• A lake

• Next to a waterfall

• A desert

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TEKS.SCI.3.12D

Dinosaur Valley State Park is an area of Texas that is famous for dinosaur footprints and fossils. What do these clues tell scientists?

• Dinosaurs once lived in Texas.

• A scientist made the footprints.

• The dinosaur had many predators.

• The dinosaur did not have enough food.

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TEKS.SCI.3.12D

Scientists that study fossils to learn about the past are called-

• geologists
• anthropologists
• paleontologists
• archaeologists

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TEKS.SCI.3.12D

Scientists found evidence showing coral fossils in a layer of Earth but then found a lizard fossil in the layer above that. What does finding different types of fossils on top of each other tell scientists?

• The environment in an area has always been the same.

• Coral and fossils lived during the same time.

• The environment in that area changed over time.

• This is not possible.

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TEKS.SCI.3.12D

Fossils are evidence of past living organisms that lived in the area where they are found. The fossil below is a shark tooth that was found in an area that is now a lush rain forest. What was that environment like in the past? What do you think the organism used to eat?

• This organism lived in an ocean environment.

• This organism lived in a desert environment.

• The organism ate plants.

• The organism ate meat.

• This organism lived in an environment with a lot of plants.

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TEKS.SCI.3.12D

What type of fossil provides us with indirect evidence of the past including footprints, trails, burrows.

• Cast fossils
• True form fossils

• Mold fossils
• Trace fossils

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TEKS.SCI.3.12D

The images show fossils and layers of Earth. Identify which fossil would be found in the Ocean layer.

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Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

The images show fossils and layers of Earth. Identify which fossil would be found in the cold tundra layer.

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