Fossil Vocabulary
The REMAINS or TRACES of living things that lived very long ago?
What is a FOSSIL?
The COLLECTION of FOSSIL INFORMATION for all fossils that have been discovered
What is a FOSSIL RECORD?
WAYS fossils can be PRESERVED
What is
1. ROCK
2. SAP
3. ICE
4. TAR
An EVENT when MOST of the ORGANISMS on Earth DIE and become EXTINCT
What is MASS EXTINCTION?
An organism that is no longer living on Earth is __
What is EXTINCT?
A type of fossil that is an IMPRINT
What is a MOLD FOSSIL?
FACTS are also called __
What is DATA?
THREE ERAS and what they MEAN
What are
1. PALEOZOIC (PALEO- ancient)
2. MESOZOIC (MESO - middle)
3. CENOZOIC (CENO - new / recent)
The INFORMATION that supports that something is TRUE
What is EVIDENCE?
A type of fossil that is a COPY of an organism
What is a CAST FOSSIL?
One CLUE that can tell us HOW OLD a fossil is
What is the ROCK LAYER where it is found?
ORGANISMS that lived during the PALEOZOIC era
What are
1. invertebrates
2. jawless fish
3. jawed fish
4. amphibians
5. reptiles
The ACTUAL REMAINS of an organism (bones, teeth, seeds, shell)
What is a BODY FOSSIL?
The reasons why most organisms DON'T form fossils
What is they 1. DECAY
2. ARE EATEN
after they die?
LOWER rock layers are __ than the fossils above it
What is OLDER?
ORGANISMS that lived during the MESOZOIC era
What are DINOSAURS?
The MARK an organism has left behind (footprints, nests, animal burrows, egg shells)
What is a TRACE FOSSIL?
An IMPORTANT CONDITION for a fossil to form
What is QUICKLY BURIED by mud, sand or other materials?
CLUES that the fossil record gives us
What is how organisms have CHANGED over time?
ORGANISMS that lived during the CENOZOIC era
What are
1. MODERN MAMMALS
2. MONKEYS
3. APES
A fossil that forms when an organism gets stuck in sticky tree sap
What is an AMBER FOSSIL?
What is the bottom of
1. RIVERS
2. SWAMPS
3. LAKES
4. OCEANS
Information we learn from FOSSILS of PLANT SEED
What is they TELL scientists about CLIMATE CHANGE?
To make a CLAIM and SUPPORT it with EVIDENCE
What is to ARGUE?
STEPS of how how a FOSSIL FORMS
What is
1. DIES
2. BURIED
3. FOSSIL MOLD
4. CAST MOLD
INFORMATION fossils give us
What is they tell
1. how it MOVED
2. what it ATE
3. BODY SHAPE
A CLAIM that FOSSIL EVIDENCE can help scientist ARGUE
What is it HELPS scientists ARGUE that CLIMATE CHANGE causes EXTINCTION?
What is an INDEX FOSSIL?
THREE traits that make a fossil an INDEX FOSSIL
What are they're
1. EASY to IDENTIFY
2. PLENTY of THEM
3. LIVED FOR A SHORT KNOWN period of time