Fossil Formations Flashcards
What are Fossils?
The remains of ancient animals, plants, or other organisms
What do fossils show/indicate?
-Activities of Organisms
-The size of animals (this can be indicated by their teeth and bones)
-What they ate (this can be indicated by their teeth and bones)
-How they moved (this can be indicated by their teeth and bones)
-Climate and Geography (this can be indicated in the plants they find and where they find them)
-Past environments (by studying
the condition, position, and location of rocks and fossils)
What is Paleontology
The BRANCH OF BIOLOGY that studies the FORMS OF LIFE THAT EXSISTED BEFORE in former geologic periods BY STUDYING FOSSILS
What do paleontologists study?
FOSSILS
What are the three ways fossils can form?
- Dead animals are quickly buried by sinking in mud, being buried in sandstone, sand, etc.
2.Over time, Sediment covers the remains of dead animals - Dead animals et encased in the newly formed sediment
MULTIPLE OUTCOMES CAN HAPPEN AT THIS POINT
What is the chemical reaction that occurs in BONES/BODIES during the fossilization process
As bones slowly decay WATER INFUSES WITH MINERALS SEEP IN INTO THE BONE replacing the chemicals in the bone with ROCK LIKE MINERALS
What does the process of fossilization involve?
The DISSOLVIN AND REPLACEMENT of the original minerals in the object with other minerals
What does the process of fossilization result in?
A HEAVY, ROCK-LIKE STRUCTURE of the original object/ FOSSIL that has the SAME SHAPE as the ORIGIONAL OBJECT but is CHEMICALY MORE LIKE A ROCK
What are the FIVE types of fossils?
- Mold Fossils
- Cast Fossils
- Trace Fossils
- Petrified/ Permineralized Fossils
- Amber preserved/ Frozen Fossils
Describe MOLD FOSSILS
A FOSSILISED IMPRRESSION made IN the SEDIMENT/an empty space (like a negative image of the organism)
Describe CAST FOSSILS
FORMS WHEN MOLDS ARE FILLED IN
Describe TRACE FOSSILS
Any INDIRECT EVIDENCE left by an animal (FOSSILISED NESTS, GASTROLITHS, BURROWS, FOOT PRINTS, ETC.)
Describe PETREFIED/PERMINERALIZED FOSSILS
Petrified: Minerals PENETRATE and REPLACE the HARD PARTS OF THE ORGANISM
Permineralized: VOID SPACES in original organisms fills with MINERALS
Describe AMBER PRESERVED/FROZEN FOSSILS
An ENTIRE ORGANISM can be TRAPPED in ICE OR TREE SAP that HARDENS into AMBER
What are Gastroliths?
ROCKS that AID DIEGESTION by BREAKING DOWN UNDIGESTABLE CELLULOSE
What eat Gastroliths?
Riohastorus ate these, modern birds eat these as well
What MUST!!!!!!! HAPPEN for fossils to start to form?
THEY HAVE TO BE DEAD
For fossils to decay nicely, what’s best for there to be a lack of?
There really should be a lack of oxygen
What geographical movements BENEFIT fossil formation?
Plate tectonics gently moving the earth
What geographical movements are BAD for fossil formation?
-Big mountains up lifting the earth
-Subduction (This will melt the fossils into lava)
What are ways Fossils will not form/ what has to happen
-The ANIMAL is EATEN or ROTS and no fossil is formed (happens during first step)
-The ANIMAL ROTS (happens during second step)
During the FIRST step of fossil formation, what is required?
A QUICK BURIAL in MUD, SAND, ETC. and it ENCASES Body in SEDIMENT
During the SECOND step of fossil formation, what is required?
Perfect temperature, pressure, acidity, chemical composition of the sediment, moisture levels, etc.
Most animals did not fossilize, they simply…..
DECAYED and were LOST from the fossil record
