NS term 4 grade 5 Fossils Flashcards
Where are fossils found
in sedimentary rock
What are fossils
ancient remains of plants or animals formed over millions of years inside rocks
Why do scientists get exited?
It tells them about first life on the planet (or life long ago)
name in 4 steps the fossil process
- plants or animals die, sink to bottom of water or fall to the ground. Are covered with sand or rock pieces.
- Soft parts decompose, leave behind hard parts
- Covered with more mud/sand (sediment)
- Sediment hardens and fossils form (are trapped)
what is a sediment
something that settles down (like sand or stone)
Why are animals in wet places more likely to become fossils
they need a settlement on them soon after they die to be buried. water carries such sediment
what is exctint?
no longer living on earth
is it true or false: many animals that became fossils are extinct
true
What is a paleontologist
someone who studies fossils
what can fossils tell us about?
name 3 things we can learn form fossils
what something looked like, how they behaved, what the climate was, how the plant or animal may have died
what do we mean when we say an organism is extinct
is is no longer living on erath
what 2 main type of fossil are there
body fossil and trace fossil
what are body fossils and give an example of 2
fossils from hard body parts (teeth, skeleton, seeds)
what are trace fossils
fossils formed of traces that animal or plants left behind
name 2 trace fossils
egg, footprints, nestst
What are some South African fossils
early types of turtles, crocodiles, dinosaurs.
Why is the coelacanth ?
a type of fish that lived millions of years ago , disappeared and was refund recently (both fish and amphibian
why was the coelacanth find so important?
scientist thought it had died out
What doe s ailing fossil mean?
When a living thing can only be compared with a fossil and still look similar
name 2 fossil sites
Karoo: dinosaurus and also cradle of human kind: tooth cats and extinct monkeys
what can you say about areas where fossils are found?
they must have been wet in the past
what is a hominoid
ape like humans form millions of years ago
what was the name of the skull found in Cradle of Humankind?
Mrs Ples
why are fossils found in layers of sedimentary rock?
because after an animal or plant died, new rock fell op top and so many layers were formed and compressed.
why are scientist excited when they find the missing links? (= a fossil that is not similar to other fossils)
It helps to understand better
Explain why the oldest fossils are in the deepest layers of rock?
those layers were formed first before many millions of years of new layers fell on top and buried the fossil
