Fossils

Fossils
• Fossils- the preserved remains
or evidence of living things
 Types of Fossils
• Original Remains (True
Fossils)- Unchanged remains of
plants and animals
– Examples
• Hard parts: Bones, Shells
• Animals trapped in ice: Wooly Mammoth
• Animals trapped in tar or in amber
 Saber-
Amber with an insect toothed
Tiger

Frog in Amber
Woolly
Mammoth
in ice
Fossilized dinosaur bones in sandstone
(sedimentary rock)
 The La
Brea tar
pit in Los
Angeles,
California
is famous
for its
many
fossils!

Tar is
thick
and
sticky
 Types of Fossils
• Replaced Remains: Hard
parts of plants or animals are
replaced by minerals over
time. The minerals are in the
shape of the organism.
– This occurs when water
containing minerals seeps
through the plant/animal material.
– Petrified wood forms in this way
 Example:

Petrified Wood

Minerals have
replaced all of
the wood cells
and turned this
wood into rock!
 Types of Fossils
• Molds and Casts: Impressions and copies
• Molds are created as mud or sediment
becomes rock around dead organisms.
• Casts are created as minerals get deposited
into the molds and then harden. They make a
copy of the fossil.

Ice cube Ice=

tray=
Mold Cast
Example: Cast of an Ammonite
 Types of Fossils
• Trace Fossils: Evidence of organisms
–Footprints, teeth marks, tunnels
–Carbonaceous film: thin film of carbon
resembling a silhouette of the organism
 Trilobite: • Graptolite:
Index fossil Index fossil of
of Paleozoic the Silurian
Index Fossils or Marker fossil
• Are remains that are short lived species
widely distributed, they only appear in
specific period within a geologic time scale
 Intrusions
Intrusive rocks or igneous rock formed from magma force into
older rocks at depth within earths crust which slowly solidifies.
That’s makes it the youngest rocks.
 Question:
• Fossils are usually formed when the
organism dies and gets buried in mud or
sand. As a result, What type of rock are
fossils usually found in?
 Questions:
• Why are fossils NOT usually found
in igneous rock?
 Questions:
• What 4 settings (environments) could
fossils be preserved?
ice
 Questions:
• What are the 5 types of fossils?
• Original Remains (True Fossils)
• Replaced Remains (Petrified)
• Molds and Casts
• Trace fossil
• Carbon film
Which is the youngest rock?
Which of the following fossil is a marker fossil?
 THANK YOU !

Mrs. Aurea N. Silvestre

Amber- tree sap
Ice / freezing
Tar seeps- petroleum and water
Petrification- mineral replacement(silica,
pyrite and calcite)