Lesson 2: death and fossilization

Question 1

Taphonomy definition and what it includes

Answer 1

Tells us what happened between the time of death of the animal and the time it was buried and eventually dug up
This includes:
How it decays
Is scavenged by other organisms
Becomes fossilized
Erodes

Question 2

Bloat-and-float

Answer 2

Shortly after death, decay may cause a body to swell with putrid gasses, and this may cause the carcasses of even large animals to float easily and to be transported by shallow and weakly flowing water

Question 3

Plastic deformation

Answer 3

Taphonomic alteration to the shape of a fossil by the pressure of sediments and rocks result in fracture or breakage causes the shape of a buried fossil to be changed such that, even when the pressure is later removed, the fossil does not return to its original shape

Question 4

Fossilization

Answer 4

Burial occurs when water washes sand or mud over a carcass (more common at low elevations), hence, it is more common to find bones in wet environments than in dry environments where there is no water to help bury carcasses

Question 5

Sedimentology

Answer 5

Is the science of how sedimentary rocks form

Question 6

Sedimentary rocks

Answer 6

• All fossils are found in sedimentary rocks
• Are rocks that form when mineral and organic particles accumulate and become either cemented or compacted together
• Rocks that form when mineral and organic particles accumulate and become either cemented or compacted together
• Take on many forms such as sand stones, mud stones, shales, iron stones, etc.

Question 7

Igneous rocks

Answer 7

Rocks formed by cooling magma (underground) or lava (above ground)

Question 8

Metamorphic rocks

Answer 8

When new rocks, sedimentary or igneous rocks, formed by the chemical or physical alteration of other rocks by extreme heat and pressure

Question 9

Mudstone and shale

Answer 9

• Sedimentary rocks that form from mud and silt
• Lakes are places where large amounts of mud and silt accumulate, and large deposits of mudstone and shale often indicate a former lake bottom environment
• A type of fine-grained sedimentary rock that forms in slow-moving water; typical of a lake or floodplain deposit

Question 10

Sandstone

Answer 10

• Sedimentary rocks that form from sand
• Sandstone can indicate a former beach, river channel, or ocean floor environment
• Rocks made out of sand
• A type of sedimentary rock composed of sand-sized grains; typically forms in fast moving water such as in rivers, or in alluvial fans, lakes, deserts, beaches, or tidal flats

Question 11

Coal

Answer 11

A combustible sedimentary rock that forms from dead and compressed remains of plants (usually from wetland forests) that are deeply buried, heated, and pressurized

Question 12

Limestone

Answer 12

• Usually formed from the accumulation of shells and exoskeletons of small marine invertebrates like plankton
• Almost always indicates a former shallow marine environment
• Lagoons and shallow seas
• A kind of sedimentary rock that is typically composed from the accumulation of shells, exoskeletons, and skeletal fragments from marine organisms like plankton

Question 13

Preservation styles

Answer 13

Fossils may form in a variety of ways

Question 14

Permineralization

Answer 14

• Occurs when the empty internal spaces of a bone are filled with minerals
• Most dinosaur bone fossils form through either permineralization or replacement
• These minerals are first dissolved in water and are then deposited in the empty bone spaces as water soaks through the bone

Question 15

Replacement

Answer 15

Fossilization process in which the original bone gradually decays and minerals fill the space that the bone once occupied

Question 16

Badlands

Answer 16

Environments that are covered with vegetation are bad places to hope to find fossils. Vegetation covers and holds together an environment’s topsoil and prevents erosion

Question 17

What is the first step first step in the excavation of a large fossil specimen

Answer 17

overburden removal. where the rock and earth that covers a fossil specimen and that must be removed before the full extent of the specimen can be judged

Question 18

What is the second step in the excavation of a large fossil specimen

Answer 18

Before any one bone is removed, it is important to map its location relative to the other bones

Question 19

What is the final step in the excavation of a large fossil specimen

Answer 19

Soak the bone in plaster so that once the plaster hardens, it forms a strong and rigid jacket around the fossil prior to being transported to the laboratory

Question 20

Disarticulation

Answer 20

• Disarticulation of a skeleton may occur as carnivores eat the carcass, or because the specimen was transported by water
• A skeleton that is separated into its various components

Question 21

Orientation

Answer 21

In a bonebed, the orientation of the fossils is important: long bones (like the femur or humerus) that are aligned in the same direction indicate that the bones were transported by water, and tell us the direction the water was flowing

Question 22

Abrasion

Answer 22

The amount of abrasion on the bones can give a relative sense for how far the bones may have been transported by flowing water

Question 23

Tooth marks

Answer 23

Scratches on the bones can be tooth marks, which indicate that carnivores fed on the carcasses (but do not necessarily indicate that the dinosaur was killed by that carnivore)

Question 24

what are the Two types of preservation styles

Answer 24

Preminelization and Replacement

Question 25

Preminelization

Answer 25

Occurs when the internal spaces of tissue and bones are filled with dissolved minerals carried by water

Question 26

Replacement

Answer 26

Occurs when the original material is replaced by minerals. This is no longer the original material. It is a cast, or impression of the original material

Question 27

how is the age of formation recorded

Answer 27

The age of formation is usually recorded by GPS, where it gives us information about the latitude, longitude, or any other system and the altitude that the specimen is found on

Question 28

Long-bone alignment

Answer 28

• This means the long bones, like the bones of the arms and legs will be oriented in the same direction because of the physics behind how water flows
• The degree to which the axes of long bones (usually limb bones) share a similar orientation within a given deposit; in a fluvial context, long-bone alignment is often taken as an indicator of current direction and force

Question 29

Fluvial deposits

Answer 29

Sediment deposited by rivers and streams. Good for fossil preservation

Question 30

Lacustrine deposits

Answer 30

Sediment deposited in lake environments; excellent for preserving soft tissues like hair or feathers in the fossil

Question 31

Airscribe

Answer 31

A tiny jackhammer used to pick at the rocks around the bone without damaging the bone

Question 32

Gypsona

Answer 32

A type of plaster

Question 33

Dinosaur provincial park is a great place to look for dinosaur bones because: 2 points

Answer 33

• The region was once covered by massive glaciers

- The dry climate limits plant growth

Question 34

Do you think bones will fossilize today in the dinosaur provincial park? yes or no, and why?

Answer 34

No, because it is very dry in the badlands and so sand and mud do not build up over animal carcasses which is required for the fossilization process

Question 35

Are dinosaur fossils ever found in ancient marine sediments? yes or no?

Answer 35

yes

Question 36

Why may we not find a complete articulated skeleton. three points

Answer 36

• Skeleton is in flowing river
• Carcass is scavenged
• Bones scattered by other animals

Question 37

Of the following, what is the correct order of events that occur between the death and excavation of a dinosaur? 5 things to order

Answer 37

Death, burial, fossilization, erosion, excavation

Question 38

Which of the following topics is not part of the science of taphonomy?

Answer 38

How a dinosaur’s injuries heal

Question 39

Which of the following topics IS part of the science of taphonomy? 3 points

Answer 39

How a dinosaur’s skeleton is fossilized
How a dinosaur’s flesh is scavenged
How a dinosaur’s skin decays

Question 40

Which of the following helps make Dinosaur Provincial Park a great place to hunt for dinosaur fossils?

Answer 40

The absence of lush vegetation

Question 41

Which of the following sedimentary rocks is formed in primarily marine environments?

Answer 41

Limestone

Question 42

What causes plastic deformation?

Answer 42

The weight of rocks and sediments

Question 43

Which of the following environmental conditions often improves the chance that a skeleton will be preserved as a fossil?

Answer 43

Strong rainstorms

Question 44

Hadrosaurs can be divided into two groups

Answer 44

Hardosaurines and Lambeosaurus

Question 45

Hardosaurines

Answer 45

Don’t have anything on their heads

Question 46

Lambeosaurus

Answer 46

Have big nasal crests

Thought used to produce sounds for communications

Question 47

3 types of fossils

Answer 47

Isolated fossils, Associated skeleton, Articulated skeleton

Question 48

Isolated fossils

Answer 48

A single bone found of a particular dinosaur

Question 49

Associated skeleton

Answer 49

Several bones in a quarry but hard to identify which bones are for which animal

Question 50

Articulated skeleton

Answer 50

Bones are still together

Question 51

Biomechanical modelling

Answer 51

• Range of motion

- Bringing the arm out is abduction, bringing the arm in is adduction