Vocabulary
describes a group of living things that is no longer living
What is extinct
in petrified wood, the soft parts of the once-living plant were replaced by this
What are minerals
Scientists may learn what an animal ate by looking at the shapes of this fossil item.
What are teeth?
Layers of a rock can be used to tell how _________ a fossil is.
What is old?
the hardened remains of a living thing that died long ago
What is a fossil
Animal fossils are more common than plant fossils because plants have this.
What are softer body parts?
By comparing fossils, we can determine that some living things have not done this in millions of years.
What is changed?
Deeper layers of rock are ___________ than the layers above.
What is older?
the shape of a once-living thing left in sediment; it is a cavity shaped like the plant or animal
What is a mold
We do not know what many ancient plants look like because they did this before they could form a fossil.
What is rotted away?
Scientists compare animal fossils to similar animals that are alive today. For example, the elephant and the mammoth both have these.
What are tusks? What is Trunks?
These two things that form metamorphic and igneous rock often destroy plant and animal parts before they can form a fossil.
What are temperature and pressure?
forms when mud or minerals later fill a mold; it is the actual shape of the once-living thing
What is a cast
Fossils are usually found in this type of rock
What is sedimentary?
If two fossils are found in the same rock, scientists can infer that these two things did this.
What is lived at the same time?
An animal still looks much like it did millions of years ago so we can infer this about a fossil of that animal.
The fossil of the animal will look much like the animal that is still living today.
when an insect gets stuck in tree sap and the sap hardens
What is amber
Describe the steps for a fossil to form in sedimentary rock.
1) soft parts of the animal decompose 2) hard parts of the animal are buried under layers of sediment 3) sediment turn into rock 4) Bones harden and turn into fossils
By looking at a fossil jawbone you may learn....
What did an animal eat? How old was the animal? Was the animal male or female?
Suppose a plant and animal die on the same day. Which one will most likely become a fossil? Why?
The animal because it has more hard parts than the plant