What Can We Learn From Fossils

Students notice a fossil of seaweed in a rock found in the middle of Georgia. What conclusion could they form based on this evidence?

• Part of Georgia was once under salt water.

• Weathering and erosion break down rocks.

• Trees in the forest need sunlight in order to grow.

• Ancient animals ate seaweed to get energy.

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Students layered a container with sand and soil. They added a small chicken bone between the layers. What step in the process of making fossils does this model?

• Plants give energy to animals.

• Earthquakes push fossils to the surface.

• Parts of a living thing are buried.

• Water carries minerals through soil.

What can we learn from studying the fossils in a certain area?

• How much sunlight the area received

• The direction the wind used to blow in the past

• How much rain fell in the area last year

• The kinds of animals that lived there

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The illustration shows a map with four locations and the fossils found there. A fossil shark tooth was also found. In which area was the shark tooth most likely found?

• Area A

• Area B

• Area C

• Area D

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__________ is the preserved remains of animals, plants, or other organisms from the past.

• Evidence

• Sequence

• Fossils

• Organisms

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A fossil of a fish found many layers below a fossil of a lizard would have lived after the lizard.

• true

• false

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People who study fossils are called __________ .

• fossilologist

• paleontologist

• meteorologist

• fossil hunters

Which is something you could NOT learn from a fossil?

• the size of the plant/animal

• what the animal ate

• what color the plant/animal was

• where the plant/animal lived

Which of these are things scientists can learn from fossils? Select all that apply.

• what the animal ate

• why the plant or animal died

• what plants and animals lived together

• what color the plant/animal was

• how long ago the plant or animal lived

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In order for a fossil to form, which of these things must happen FIRST?

• The bone is no longer a bone, but a rock copy.

• Slowly, minerals in the water replace the bone.

• An animal dies.

• Sediment covers the bone.