PALEONTOLOGY the study of fossils or past life “paleo” means old or ancient Chapter 6 – The Rock and Fossil Record 3 ½ min Fossil Rock Anthem

EXTINCT Dodo bird Woolly Mammoth Quagga Saber Tooth Tiger Extinction is the death of every member of a species. To be extinct means to be no longer on this Earth.

FOSSIL the preserved remains, traces, or imprint of an organism hare&list=PLOxx_Ap1N_kcgyHcmqdi5cnYRNuihA8Mw 2 ½ min What are fossils 3 min BBC – Earth’s rarest and ancient fossils

BODY FOSSIL The actual remains of an organism, including bones, shells, teeth, and seeds.

PETRIFACTION The process by which the organic material of an organism is replaced with hard minerals. Petoskey rock – fossilized coral from Michigan petrified dinosaur bone agate (rock) 5 min Petrified Forest National Park

MOLD The imprint or shape (empty space) left by an organism’s body or movements.

CAST A mold left by an organism’s body or movements that has been filled with minerals or sediment. The cast forms inside the mold.

AMBER Insects, frogs, lizards and plants have been preserved in soft, sticky tree sap. Overtime, the sap hardens into amber, which can be used in jewelry.

TRACE FOSSILS Details preserved in rock provide info about the activities of prehistoric animals, including animal tracks, trails, burrows, and nest. Animals burrowed through the soft sediment at the bottom of the ancient seas. Amphibian tracks

La Brea Tar Pits 3 ½ min La Brea Tar Pits The extinct animals discovered at Rancho La Brea were trapped in the asphalt (tar) between 11,000 to 50,000 years ago. They may have lived in the Los Angeles region for much of the last 100,000 years. Before that time the Los Angeles Basin was covered by the Pacific Ocean. Asphalt is very sticky, particularly when it is warm. Small mammals, birds, and insects that would come into contact with it would be immobilized as if trapped like flies on flypaper.

Woolly Mammoth Yuka – 3-4 yr. old female recently found in Siberia FEET HAIR 1 ½ min Yuka Mammoth Mummy

RELATIVE AGE A Time Line of Earth’s Past The age of a fossil or layer of rocks as compared to other fossils and rock layers found above and below it. Scientists can use the order of layers to find relative age of a fossil. The lower layers in the rock are older because they settled first. Newer layers formed on top of the older layers. 5 min The Ages of Rock/Fossils

ABSOLUTE AGE The exact numerical age of a fossil. Dating fossils have helped scientists explain the theory of continental drift.

INDEX FOSSILS Using Fossils to Date Rock By dating the rock layers above and below these fossils, scientists can determine the time span in which the organisms that formed the fossils lived. Are well-known organisms that lived a short time and then became extinct. AmmoniteTrilobite marine molluskrelated to horseshoe crab

Georgia State Fossil Petrified shark tooth Georgia designated the shark tooth as the official state fossil in A fairly common fossil on the Georgia coastal plain, the fossilized shark tooth is prized by collectors. These prehistoric shark teeth are found in a range of colors - most common are black or gray, less common are the white, brown, blue, and reddish-brown teeth. Many types of sharks lived in prehistoric Georgia - the oldest teeth date back about 375 million years. One of the largest extinct species of shark was Otodontidae Carcharocles megalodon.

Era - Time Marches On… A unit of geologic time Paleozoic Era “Paleo” means ancient, old or in the past “Zoic” means life or animal Marine life was abundant. Ended with the largest mass extinction 10 ½ min Mass Extinctions 4 min Paleozoic Era

Mesozoic Era “Meso” means middle Age of Reptiles Small mammals appeared Another mass extinction occurred at end of the era.

Cenozoic Era “Ceno” means recent Began 65 million years ago Continues to present time Age of Mammals

Mammals Mammals had unique adaptations that may have helped them to survive climate change: Regulating body temperature (warm-blooded) Bearing young that developed inside the mother Dinosaurs were unable to adapt which caused their disappearance from Earth (cold-blooded and egg-laying).

PowerPoint Presentation – 2013 M. Brumbaugh TCMS 4 min I am a Dinosaur song 3 ½ min Building a Dinosaur min NG Digging up a Dinosaur Graveyard 4 min Fossil Record Mystery 2 min NG Should We Bring Extinct Species Back to Life? 1 ½ min 6 degrees Warmer: Mass Extinction? 3 ½ min Weird Fossils BBC 4 ½ min Fossils and Plate Tectonics 3 ½ min Mr. Parr Fossil Song 4 min Mr. Parr All Earth Time song