You are going to use the internet to find the answers to the following questions. To find the answers you MUST read through each link provided below. You can not find the answers to all questions on one site, it will take you some time to read through each site.
To help you, first read through the following set of questions before you begin your Internet research. As you explore each site, look for answers to the questions. (I have designed the questions so that you can easily find them in the links provided, but not in Google.)
When you are finished email me the questions with the underlined answers under each one of them.
Questions about the Fossils of Antarctica
- What was a Nodosaurid Ankylosaur?
- What was the first dinosaur fossil found in Antarctica? Where and when was it found?
- What dinosaur fossil was found on VegaIsland in 1991?
- Approximately when did Antarctica begin to cool? What was it like 3 million years ago?
- The first dinosaur fossil and the fossil found on VegaIsland in 1986 were representative of what geologic time period?
- What dinosaur fossil was found in the TransantarcticMountainsrecently? During what geologic time period did this dinosaur live?
- Besides the fossils already discussed, name the other fossil animals that have been found in Antarctica.
- Why have so few dinosaur fossils been found in Antarctica?
- What type of dinosaur was the mysterious unnamed determined to be? Who led the team that discovered it?
- When was it discovered?
- How large was the Glacialisaurus hammeri?
- Where were the sauropodomorphs distributed during the Early Jurassic?
- How do plant fossils and beds of coal support the idea that Antarctica once was warmer than it is today?
- When did the team of Argentinean and US scientists find the most ancient bird in Antarctica?
Resources
Look at the web sites given here to find the information that will enable you to answer questions about Antarctica fossils.
- Mysterious DinosaurIdentifiedA hefty, long-necked dinosaur that lumbered across the Antarctic before meeting its demise 190 million years ago has been identified and named, more than a decade after intrepid paleontologists sawed and chiseled the remains of the primitive plant-eater from its icy grave and called it Glacialisaurus Hammeri.
- Rocks Reveal past Climates Geologists have studied the rocks on Antarctica for more than a century. These rocks reveal that Antarctica has moved vast distances over millions of years and cooled and warmed frequently during that time. It was even warmer 3 million years ago.
- New Dinosaur FindsIn Antarctica Paint Fuller Picture of Past Ecosystem.Visit this site to learn why the discovery of a hadrosaur, a duck-billed dinosaur, in Antarctica is an important clue to the climate of the continent 66 to 67 million years ago. Hadrosaur Link
- AntarcticDinosaurs.At this site you can learn more about the first dinosaur fossils found in Antarctica, including a Late Cretaceous ankylosaur found on JamesRossIsland in 1986. Click Here to find out why so few dinosaur fossils have been found on this continent.
- Fossils From Mesozoic Era Antarctica.Go to this site for a brief discussion of plate tectonicsand how it affected Antarctica., and will also find a listing of some Antarctic fossils including a plant-eating ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous found on Vega island.
- When Dinosaurs Roamed Antarctica…Visit this site to read about dinosaur and reptile fossils found in the TransantarcticMountains. These fossils are from the middle Jurassic, about 175 million years ago.
- Antarctic Summer - Fossils in AntarcticaThis report by ABC News Online discusses the issues surrounding fossils that were found in Antarctica in 1978. Read the report to learn what types of fossils were found and what is being done to preserve the exposed fossils that still exist.