Types and Locations of Fossils
Which fossils are open spaces where organisms decayed but not minerals were deposited?
Molds
What was found in a T-rex fossil that scientists believed we should not have found?
Red blood cells (aka soft tissue)
What is the layer of rock where oil reservoirs are often found?
Oil traps
What type of animals are most fossils?
Marine organisms
Which fossils are ones where bones and rocks are compacted and cemented into sedimentary rock?
Original materials
What type of fossil preservation gives us a record of animals living in one place?
Asphalt traps
What organism is petroleum thought to be formed from?
The Coelacanth was thought to be a transition between what two animals?
Fish and land animals
What are microfossils?
Fossils that are less than a millimeter in size
What is Paleontology?
The study and classification of fossils
List the three types of fossil fuels that we discussed in class.
Coal
Petroleum
Natural gas
The Archaeopteryx was thought to be a transitional form between what two animals?
Dinosaurs and birds
What are carbon prints?
Flat fossils that are formed by organisms being crushed by sediments
What is extinction?
A period of time in which more animals or plants die than are born in a generation.
Describe both the young earth and the old earth view of petroleum.
Old earth: Oil was thought to be formed from phytoplankton, which died and was mixed with sediments on the seafloor.
Young earth view: God created oil for us to use
Describe the likelihood of finding fossils in each of the three types of rock.
1. Most often in sedimentary rocks
Processes that form sedimentary rock also form fossils
2. May be found in metamorphic rocks
As long as the changes in rocks weren’t great enough to destroy the fossil
3. Rarely found in igneous rocks
The organisms would have burned up
Some fossils may have been covered by volcanic ash
How do both young earth and old earth scientists view the presence of soft tissues in fossils?
They are both confused about the presence of soft tissues in fossils. However, fossils that are 7000 years old are more likely to have soft tissues than those that are 100's of millions of years old.
List the three most common types of coal, including what they are used for.
Lignite - used for running electric power plants
Bituminous - used for refining iron into steel
Anthracite - used in power plants where air pollution is a concern. Very clean but scarce