Clue to Earths past

Grade 8
Ms. Asmaa

Did you see these pictures
before?
What are Fossils?

The remains or physical evidence of an
organism preserved by geological
processes.

- Most often preserved in sedimentary
rock.
- Sediment slows down decay.
- Bones and shells resistant to decay, so
they are more commonly preserved
than soft tissue.


Why do you think the fossils are
important?
Fossils are important because they tell
us a story about things that lived on the
earth before us.
How are Fossils Made?
Fossils are made from the hard parts of
plants and animals, such as: - bark, seed
cases, bones and teeth.
These parts do not easily rot away after
plants and animals die.
Fossils take millions of years to form.
Turning to Stone
For example:
A starfish dies.
The soft parts of its body rot
away quickly
The harder parts slowly get covered by mud
After millions of years, the starfish is deep in
the ground.
The mud around it is crushed by the land on
top and turned to stone.
So are the remains of the starfish.
Millions of years later, the stone gets worn
away and the fossil can be seen.
How Fossils are Formed
From the Sea
The first creatures on the earth lived
in the sea.
Some sea creatures made good
fossils because they had hard shells
and hard bones.
Trilobite Fossil Horseshoe Crab Fossil
Fish Fossil
Plants
At first, there were only Pine Cone
Fossil living things in the sea.
Slowly, over millions of years, plants
began to grow on the land.
Some of these plants have left fossils
in the rock.
Animals

Animal fossils are often bones that have
been turned to rock. Sometimes part of
the flesh is preserved, but most of the
time only skeletons remain.
Invertebrates

Invertebrates are animals that dont have
bones. Because of this, it is more
difficult to find fossils of invertebrates.
We have discovered several types of
animal fossils: bones, skin, teeth,
claws, eggs, nests, muscles, and
organs.

We have also found lots of fossils of
footprints, which tell us how much
animals and dinosaurs weighed and
how they might have walked.

Fossil Examples

1) Fossils in rock







2) Fossils in amber (amber means tree sap) (fossils
in tree sap)
Hardened tree sap
Bugs, lizards and frogs.

Continue examples of fossils:
3) Petrifaction the organism's (plant or animal)
tissue is
replaced by minerals

A process in which minerals replace Petrifaction:
the organisms tissues.










4) Fossils in asphalt (pavement)

Asphalt wells up in thick sticky pools.
Trapped and preserved organisms in asphalt.


Continue examples of fossils:
Continue examples of fossils:
5) Frozen Fossils
Cold temperatures slow down decay.
Many types of frozen fossils are preserved
from the last ice age.











7) Mold a mark or cavity made in a sedimentary
surface by a shell or other body.

6) Trace Fossils a fossilized mark that is formed in soft
sediment by the movement of an animal.
Dinosaur track, dear tracks and tail markings.
Any naturally preserved evidence of animal activity.
Footprints fill with sediment.
Tracks reveal how big the animal
was & how fast it moved.
Shelters made by animals.
Animal poop


Molds and Casts:

Mold: A cavity in rock where a plant or
animal was buried.


Cast: an object created when sediment fills a
mold and becomes a rock.