The Wide World of Fossils!!

By Janelle Coy The Wide World of Fossils!! He looks really hungry! http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&ndsp=20&hl=en&q=fossils&start=80&sa=N

Although the word fossil makes many people think of dinosaurs, Not all fossils come from dinosaurs A fossil is the remains or evidence of any creature or plant that once lived on the Earth. • bones • teeth • skin impressions • hair • the hardened shell of an ancient invertebrate • impression of an animal or plant • footprints • burrows • coprolite The word fossil comes from the Latin word “fossilis” which means “dug up”.

Types of Fossils Bones B Hair Trilobite Teeth http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/what_is_a_fossil.html

http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/what_is_a_fossil.html More Fossils Footprints Skin impressions Plant/animal impressions Burrows And everybody’s favorite……

Coprolite!! • Better known as……. Poop. Eeeewwwww!!!! http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/what_is_a_fossil.html

How are Fossils formed? • There are six different ways fossils are formed • Freezing • Drying • Asphalt • Amber • Carbonization • Premineralization http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinofossils/Excavating.shtml

Freezing The animal must be continually frozen from the time of death until discovery. Some were found flash frozen, with flesh, skin, and hair. Some were even found with food still in the mouth and stomach! Eeewwwww!

Drying (An Edmontosauraus mummy) Where’s My mummy? Mummified bodies of animals including humans have been discovered in dry Parts of the world. The soft tissues including skin and organs are Preserved for thousands of years if they are completely dry. http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&ndsp=20&hl=en&q=mummy+fossils&start=0&sa=N

Asphalt The fossils are Between 10 and 40 Thousand years old! In Los Angeles there is a 23 acre park Called the La Brea Tar Pits. There are Over 100 pits filled with sticky asphalt. The tar pits were formed by oil seeping Through cracks in the earth. The oil Evaporated leaving a think sticky Asphalt. The pits are famous for the Fossils that have been pulled from them.

Amber A fly lands on a tree branch while looking for food and steps into sticky sap the tree has made. As the fly struggles to escape it becomes covered in the sap until it suffocates. The tree eventually dies and falls into the nearby swamp. The tree becomes a coal deposit after millions of years and the sap with the fly inside is hardened into amber. Hey! That’s Uncle Buzz in there! http:// www.don-lindsaarchive.org/creation/amber_work.jpg

Does this Carbon make me look flat? Carbonization Insects, Plant leaves, parts of fish, reptiles and marine invertebrates decompose leaving behind only the carbon. This carbon creates an impression in the rock outlining the fossil. This is a real bee carbon imprint. www.msnucleus.org/.../6/images/rc6pl01.jpg

Pre-mineralization This is the most common form of fossil preservation. Minerals Fill the spaces and crystallize. The shape of the plant or animal Is preserved as rock. Sometimes the original material is dissolved Away leaving the form and structure but none of the organic Material remains. www.ilovedogs.com/media/colored_tabets.jpg blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard/2007/08/me

Rocks and Strata Most rocks found in and on the Earth’s crust are sedimentary rocks. They form when silt and sand collect and harden. Over millions of years The result is thick layers of rock. In areas like the Grand Canyon, you can See the layers. These layers are known as strata. http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/fossils/hrocks-layershtml

WOW!!! Did you know …To tell the age of most layered rocks, scientists study the fossils the rocks contain. Fossils give evidence that helps determine what happened in history and when it happened. http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/fossils/successionhtml

TOO COOL http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=

Paleontology Paleontology is a branch of biology that studies The forms of life that existed in former Geologic periods, mainly by studying Fossils and the rocks surrounding them Most of the overlying rock is removed using large tools like Picks and shovels but part of the rock that is closest to The fossil is removed with smaller tools like trowels, Hammers, whisks, and dental tools. Fossils have To be treated very carefully to avoid Breaking them. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subject/dinosaurs/dinofossils/Fossiltypes.html.

Works Cited http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&ndsp=20&hl=en&q=fossils&start=80&sa=N http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/what_is_a_fossil.html http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinofossils/Excavating.sh http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&ndsp=20&hl=en&q=mummy+fossils&start=0&sa=N http:// www.don-lindsaarchive.org/creation/amber_work.jpg www.msnucleus.org/.../6/images/rc6pl01.jpg www.ilovedogs.com/media/colored_tabets.jpg blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard/2007/08/me http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/fossils/hrocks-layershtml http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/fossils/successionhtml http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl= http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subject/dinosaurs/dinofossils/Fossiltypes.html. http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/what_is_a_fossil.html

The Wide World of Fossils!!