1. {Paleontology ˌpālēənˈtäləjē/ noun
noun: palaeontology; noun: paleontology
the branch of science concerned with fossil animals and plants.

2. What is a fossil?
The preserved remains of living things or traces of living things. These are often found in sedimentary rock.

3. How do fossils form? Organism dies and sinks to the bottom.
Sediments cover the organism.
The sediments become rock, preserving parts of the organism.

4. Millions of years pass….
Only the hard parts of the organisms may fossilize. Soft parts decay too quickly.
Geologic events like uplift, weathering, and erosion bring the fossil closer to the surface.
Fossil is exposed at the surface.

5. What are the types of fossils?
molds/casts
trace
petrified
impressions
carbon films

6. What is a trace fossil? Traces of an organism’s activities burrows
nests
poop
tracks
trails
footprints

7. mold
An imprint left behind when an organism is covered by sediments before it decays

8. cast
Water and sediment fills a mold and makes a copy of an organism

9. mold
cast

10. Mineralization or Petrification
Petrified fossils are created when water containing minerals seeps into the open spaces found within an organism. After millions of years, these minerals crystallize and form an almost glass-like copy of the organism.

11. Impression
Commonly made in clay or silt, trace fossils will fall into this category. Plant leaves are commonly found as impressions.

12. Carbon Films
All organisms are made of carbon. Sometimes, when an organism rapidly decays, the carbon in their bodies remains. This leaves a perfect “shadow” of the creature in carbon.