Fossil Web Quest
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/fossil/9to12/intro.html
Use the above website to answer the questions.
1. The word fossil comes from the Latin word ______which means ______. Today the word fossil refers only to the remains or traces of ancient life and is usually reserved for remains at least ______years old.
2. What is a fossil record?
3. ______are scientists who use fossils to study life in the past.
4. Fossils can be______of ancient organisms such as bones, shells, teeth, or plant leaves.
5. Fossils can also be ______left by organisms such as burrows, coprolites(feces), tracks and trails, nests or footprints.
6. Most fossils are formed when organisms or their______are buried by sediment.
7. An organism is most likely to be preserved if it is buried ______.
8. What does abiotic mean?
9. When an organism dies, it is exposed to different types of biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors include ______, ______and ______.
10. The ______a dead organism gets buried, the more chance there is for the fossilization process to begin.
11. Define:
Mold:
Cast:
Mineralization:
Impression:
12. In rare instances an entire organism becomes fossilized because it gets trapped in a substance that protects it from destruction. These are ______, ______, and ______.
13. Organisms with hard parts made mostly of ______materials are more likely to fossilize than organisms with soft parts that are mostly ______.
14. Where an organism ______helps determine whether or not is becomes a fossil.
15. Paleontologists estimate that fewer than ______of all the organisms alive today will be preserved as fossils.
16. After a fossil is formed, it can be destroyed in four ways. List them.
17. ______rock is most likely to contain fossils.
18. Because of processes like ______and ______, some fossils that were once buried deep in the ground can become exposed near the surface.
19. This is why many paleontologists look for fossils on ______and other areas where uplift and erosion have occurred.
You are going to have to do some research on your own now.
20. What are the 5 main names of fossils found in PA? Draw a picture of each one, and label them.
21. What does finding these fossils help us know about our state?
22. Where have dinosaur fossils been found in PA?
23. What is our state fossil?
24. What tools are used to find and dig fossils?
25. What is a survey grid when digging fossils?