Fossils Flashcards
sea level rose with respect to the land.
Marine Transgression
a body of sediment with distinctive physical, chemical, and biological attributes.
Sedimentary Facies
when sea level fell with respect to the continent and the environments that paralleled the shoreline migrated seaward.
Marine Regression
First recognized by Johannes Walther
Walther’s Law
the facies seen in a conformable vertical sequence.
Walther’s Law
3 Causes of Marine Transgression and Regression
Uplift and Subsidence
The amount of Water frozen in Glaciers
Rates of seafloor spreading
Scientific study of fossils
Paleontology
5 Favorable Conditions for Fossilization
possession of hard parts like exoskeleton
Rapid Burial
Availability of finer rather than coarse sediments
Presence of highly mineralized ground water
calm waters, little oxygen (Anoxic)
the remains or traces of prehistoric organisms preserved in rocks.
Fossils
Minimum age to become a fossil
10,000 years old
3 Uses of Fossils
determine the relative ages of strata
determining environments of deposition
constitute some of the evidence for the theory of evolution
2 Types of Fossils
Body Fossils
Trace Fossils
Best preserved mammoth fossil in the world
Lyuba
If an animal dies in a dry, protected location like an arid cave, its remain dry out. What process is this called?
Mummification or Dessicate
One of the most incredible fossil discoveries of 2016. Tailed of a tiny dinosaur, nestled inside a small, golden chunk of 99 million year old.
Amber Preservation
Dinosaur in Amber Preservation
Coelosaurs
the result of a type of Petroleum seep where subterranean bitumen leaks to the surface, creating a large area of natural asphalt.
Tar Pit or Asphalt Pit or Asphalt Lake
the process of turning living organic material into stone.
Petrification
Happens when the pores of the plant materials, bones, and shells are impregnated by mineral matter from the ground, lakes, or ocean.
Permineralization
takes place when water dissolves the original hard parts and replaces them with mineral matter.
Replacement
a process by which the more volatile substances of plants and animals decay, but leave behind the carbon.
Carbonization
At its extreme, carbonization reduces plants and animals to what color?
Shiny black or brown film
If there is no infilling of the cavity with mineral, sand or clay this is called a ?
Natural Mold
The outside of the mold, which would have been the outer surface of the animal, is referred to as ?
External mold
The inside surface of the mold is referred to as the ?
Internal Mold
These are not actual remains but an indication of organic activity such as tracks, trails, burrows, and nests.
Trace Fossils or Ichnofossils
Best example of a Trace Fossil
Coprolite
A type of trace fossil that formed in soft sediment
Burrows
Type of trace fossil that is made by organisms into hard substrate.
Borings
It is a rock formation with wonderful preservation.
Lagerstätten
What does Lagerstätten mean from German
mother lode
2 Major types of Fossil-Lagerstätten
Konzentrat-Lagerstätten
Konservat-Lagerstätten
translates to concentration Lagerstätten
Konzentrat-Lagerstätten
anomolously high amounts of fossil material possibly by decreased rate of sedimentation Possibly by increased rate of organism reproduction
Possibly by increased rate of organismal death
Konzentrat-Lagerstätten
translates to conservation Lagerstätten
Konservat-Lagerstätten
Unusually well-preserved fossils that often requires anoxic bottom conditions, quiet water, rapid burial.
Konservat-Lagerstätten
This is a highly coveted fossil dragonfly from the Upper Jurassic, Solnhofen Limestone of Germany.
Aeschnogomphus intermedius
fossil seed fern from the Mazon Creek Lagerstätte
Neuropteris flexuosa Sternberg
The most common genus of fish found in the Green River Formation.
Knightia eocaena
What fossilized species from the Cretaceous period have been discovered that gave evidence that they coexisted with dinosaurs.
Catfish
Is a fossil-bearing deposit exposed in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada.
Burgess Shale
ichthyosaur giving birth
Stenopterygius quadriscissus
Lower Cretaceous , lacustrine deposit with volcaniclastic sediment
Jehol Group
Is a ~20 cm Enatiornithine Bird preserved in ventral view on a single slab.
Sulcavis geeorum
A horseshoe crab and its “death march”, the wandering trace he left right before dying and becoming a fossil in the Late Hurassic Solnhofen Plattenkalk.
Mesolimulus
baby dinosaurs that were buried alive by an ancient volcanic debris flow.
Psittacosaurus
Are small, fossilized remains of organisms (animal, plant, or protozoa) that require magnification for study.
Microfossils
size of the smallest microfossils
0.001 mm
Largest size of microfossils
2 mm
Fossils larger than 2 mm are called?
Macrofossils
tiny teeth-like apparatuses belonging to an extinct, worm-like, marine organism.
Conodonts
from middle Turonianlower Coniacian deposits of the BiyukkKarasu section, central mountainous Crimea.
Radiolarans
