What Are Three Ways in Which a Fossil Can Be Destroyed After It Has Formed

A Fossil's Journeying

Grade Level:

Upper Elementary: Third Course through Fifth Form

Field of study:

Science

Lesson Duration:

threescore Minutes

Additional Standards:

3rd Course:  iii-LS4-one, 3-LS4-2, and 3-LS4-3

Thinking Skills:

Agreement: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Translate or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract thought in a physical state of affairs to solve a trouble or relate it to a prior experience.

Essential Question

1.  What is a fossil?
ii.  Are fossils rare?
three.  Why are fossils important?

Objective

ane.  Identify fossils and how they are formed.
2.  Distinguish betwixt trace fossils and mere impressions.
three.  Recognize that considering some plants' and animals' parts fossilize amend than others this creates missing information in the fossil record.

Groundwork

Definition of a Fossil

A fossil can be defined as any naturally occurring evidence of past life. Fossils demand non be mineralized (turned to rock) or even enclosed in rock. Many relatively young (10,000+ years old) Water ice Historic period sedimentary deposits are un-cemented sand and gravel, just rich with true fossils. Ice Age mammoths that have been establish preserved in permafrost are fossils, although their mankind is still generally un-decayed. Ten thousand years is a lower limit oftentimes used for the historic period of organic remains that are considered fossils. There are three bones types of rocks: sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous. With few exceptions, fossils occur in sediments or sedimentary rocks. Occasionally living things are preserved in lava flows or volcanic tuff deposits (igneous rocks), but these are relatively rare. Some metamorphic rocks (rocks changed past heat and pressure) contain fossils, but unremarkably metamorphism destroys fossil details.

Sedimentation
The fossilization process is intimately continued with sedimentary processes. Thus, environments where sediments are being deposited (depositional settings) are places where plants and animals accept the potential to be fossilized. Examples of depositional environments include a lake lesser, a river sandbar, a beach, ocean flooring, or dune field. Sediments originate from a variety of different sources. Some sediments consequence from the breakdown, through weathering, of pre-existing rocks; these are chosen clastic sediments. Common clastic sediments are sand, gravel, silt, clay, and mud. The sedimentary rocks they turn into are sandstone, conglomerate, siltstone, claystone, and mudstone, respectively.

Organic sediments originate every bit tissues of plants or animals. Foliage litter on a forest floor is an example of organic sediment. Much sand and mud in marine environments results from the break-down of shells or skeletons of animals (oysters and corals, for example) and plants (marine algae). This sediment is rich in calcium carbonate and forms the rock limestone. The organic sediment peat, usually deposited in a swampy environs, becomes, with oestrus and force per unit area, the sedimentary rock coal. Still other kinds of sediment are formed when sure chemicals in a body of water reach too loftier a concentration to remain in solution and precipitate out. An instance is the evaporation of seawater to form salt. Some limestones also form this way.

Fossilization

Regardless of the type of sediment or sedimentary environment in which an organism dies, fossilization is by no ways guaranteed. There are several requirements that must be met earlier preservation of organic remains is assured. The difficulty of meeting all of these requirements is the reason that fossilization is a rare and gamble occurrence. First, organisms that possess difficult parts of some kind, such every bit basic, teeth or shells, stand a far better chance of fossilization than those that do non. Soft-bodied worms, for example, are extremely rare every bit fossils although they are common in marine and terrestrial settings. Absenteeism of organisms with hard parts is the main reason that fossils from Precambrian time are then rare. The second requirement for fossilization is rapid burial in a protective medium. Upon death, the remains of most organisms are quickly acted on by scavengers and by microorganisms that promote disuse. Physical activeness in the natural surround (e.m., currents, waves, wind, and rain) is also destructive. If the remains are to make it into the fossil record, they must be buried quickly in an oxygen-free environment before these processes have a run a risk to destroy them. The type of sediment also affects the quality of fossil preservation; fine-grained sediments are more probable to favor the preservation of small details.

Examples of unlike kinds of fossilization include fish sinking to oxygen-costless bottom of lake and then buried in soft mud, herd of animals drowning in flood and so cached in river sand, shell debris accumulating accumulates slowly on ocean floor, and animals grazing on plains which are so buried by sudden eruption of volcanic ash.

Conditions later on burial are also important in aiding or hindering preservation of organic remains. This third stage in the process of fossilization is called diagenesis. Diagenesis refers to everything that happens to sediment after information technology is deposited. The effects of pressure, estrus, and circulating fluids, that in time plough sediment into a sedimentary stone, also act on the organic contents of the sediment, altering their composition and appearance. Sometimes a potential fossil may exist dissolved in the process of diagenesis. Other times information technology may go mineralized. Think of how hard water acts in a teapot or in water pipes overtime; deposition of minerals in those places is like the mineralization process that cements sediments into rock. Mineralization or petrification, a procedure in which a fossil finer "turns to stone," may help preserve a fossil, only is not a requirement for fossilization. Many organic remains tin can be preserved substantially unaltered for millions of years and still be true fossils.

Trace Fossils
Non all fossils are actual remains of living things. Sometimes just an impression of the animal or plant is left behind after its death, such as a natural mold of a shell. A trace fossil is bear witness of some activity or behavior of an animal or found while the organism was still alive. Some examples of trace fossils are footprints, burrows, coprolites, and root casts. Ancient ripple marks, mud cracks, or raindrops preserved in rock are called "sedimentary structures," merely considering they do not represent activities of living things, they are non trace fossils. Because actual remains of the organism that made a trace fossil are commonly not preserved, the trace maker is frequently unknown.  Trace fossils are nevertheless strong and valuable evidence that certain kinds of activities occurred in a given environment. They are useful in learning about the types of animals and their interactions in aboriginal environments.

Finding Fossils
How practise paleontologists detect fossils? The all-time way to detect fossils is to await for them. Paleontologists often spend many days searching the ground for small-scale fragments of fossilized shell or bone that might betoken that something worth digging up lies beneath. Fossils are non found everywhere, so scientists must use clues to help them narrow their search. The best mode to start is by studying a geologic map. A geologic map shows the age and blazon of rocks at the surface. This method works because paleontologists more often than not know the age of fossils they want to find and whether they lived in a marine (saltwater) or non-marine (freshwater or dry country) environment. Studying a geologic map will frequently permit a paleontologist to narrow the search down to a few square miles.

Two other factors that are important in deciding where to await for fossils are how well the rocks are exposed and who owns the state. Often, permits are required to enter and collect fossils on land owned by state or federal governments. These fossils are owned past the public. Merely certain types of fossils on public land can be collected without a permit. If the land is privately owned, the fossils are the holding of the landowner and he or she must give permission.

Prospecting and Collecting
When a location has been called, the next step is to begin prospecting. Prospecting is searching the ground for fossils and deciding whether whatsoever important fossils lies underneath. Searching for fossils in near areas is very fourth dimension consuming and often frustrating when, after many days of searching, nothing of interest turns up. But in that location is no better feeling of satisfaction than making a new detect. When a paleontologist finds a fossil, they must be careful to plot its position on a map so the place can be institute again. The fossil or its wrapping is also labeled and notes made so that it can exist associated later with its location.

In some areas fossils are collected from surface finds only. Elsewhere a surface find may point that digging could uncover more fossils. If fossils are pocket-size and relatively durable, they may be collected only by putting them into a box or vial with a little padding. Big fossils, such equally those of dinosaurs, may require large- scale excavation and sophisticated wrapping and reinforcement to keep the fragile specimens from breaking up. Paleontologists normally try to identify what they take found while still in the field. But clay and rock roofing a fossil may make identification difficult, and as well much preparation (cleaning) under field conditions may impairment the specimen. Thus, careful preparation and study are usually saved for the laboratory. Because of this, exciting discoveries are oft fabricated after specimens have been returned to the museum and prepared.

Collecting fossils ordinarily involves collecting more than the fossils themselves. Fossils are useful only if details nearly where and how they were nerveless are also recorded. Field paleontologists accept conscientious notes and record everything they observe. They record the kind of rock and the position in the sequence of sedimentary rocks where the fossils were plant. Knowing the kind of rock that fossils are preserved in helps put together the story of the environment in which the fossilized plant or animal lived and how it came to be a fossil. When the location of each fossil find and any other data the paleontologist thinks important take been recorded, then it is fourth dimension to go to the museum.

Museum Preparation
The start step on returning to the museum is to clean the remaining clay off the fossil, and glue it together if information technology is broken so it can exist handled and stored. This is called preparation. A preparator is a person trained in the techniques of excavating, cleaning, and strengthening fossils. A preparator also needs to take training in the beefcake of the creatures he or she is preparing, so that important details will non exist overlooked or destroyed.

Afterward the fossil is clean and stabilized it can be studied, displayed, or stored for future utilize. Preparators quite frequently paint a permanent number on fossils similar to a library catalog number on a book so they tin can be institute afterwards. A collections manager is the person responsible for storing and keeping runway of all the fossils in a museum collection.  At that place are several ways that a fossil can exist useful one time it is in a museum. Virtually fossils are part of inquiry collections. Paleontologists use inquiry collections to report the anatomy of the plants and animals they are interested in. A museum scientist, called a curator, specializes in the types of plants or animals in a drove. Curators often write books or shorter articles about their research interests. They oftentimes employ the enquiry collections of many museums to do their work. Public exhibits constitute some other part of a museum's mission. Displays of fossils allow the museum curator's scientific findings to be made available to a wider audience than if they were simply described in print. Displays let fossils and other natural objects to serve an educational purpose for schools and the general public. This is important because museums depend on the general public, either directly, through museum memberships and contributions, or indirectly, through government grants, for the funding that allows them to do their work. Too, paleontologists are justifiably proud of their finds and are eager to share them with every bit many people equally possible.

Conservation of Paleontological Resources
Paleontologists take a lawmaking of ideals that guides them in their work and encourages the most efficient use of the resource. They are careful to get permission from the owner of the country on which they intend to work. If the land is owned by a land or federal government, they must utilise for a permit to piece of work there. Application for a permit requires describing what the paleontologist wants to await for and why, what kind of digging will exist required, and how long the project will take. Paleontologists endeavour to disturb the land only as much as necessary to extract the fossils. They likewise remember to close gates and not disturb livestock that may exist present. Most paleontologists concord that vertebrate fossils, because of their rarity, should be collected and used primarily for scientific research and didactics. Mostly, vertebrate fossils are not collected simply to be sold. Because of the quality of molding and casting today, loftier-quality plastic casts can have the place of actual fossils when it is necessary to share fossils with other museums, schools, or individual individuals.

Fossils are Nonrenewable Natural Resources
Fossils of all kinds are the only directly evidence we accept of past life. As such they are irreplaceable natural resource for scientific discipline. Information technology is important for students to empathise that fossils should be used wisely, and that they can participate in their conservation. Private collecting of fossils can be a good thing, only apprentice paleontologists should always follow standards of professional ethics, including discussing their finds with experts in a position to recognize exceptional or valuable specimens. Proficient field records are necessary so that all finds can be exactly relocated. In add-on, it is important for children to learn to respect public and private lands by non trespassing and by obtaining permission to dig or collect specimens.

Protection of fossil resource is aided by public facilities such as the National Park System and on lands administered past other federal agencies. In national parks and monuments, fossils are protected from destruction and made available for educational and scientific utilize by the public.

Preparation

Afterward reading the background information, gather the following materials

For How Living Things Become Fossils Lesson Plan
Paper cups
Liquid mud or clay of two or more contrasting colors
Basic, shells, leaves, or other possible fossils
Plastic spoons, toothpicks, or small nails

For Making a Trace Fossil Lesson Program
Shallow trays or pie plates
Modeling clay
Etching tools such as plastic knives and spoons, popsicle sticks, etc.
Specimen cards

For Some Parts Brand Better Fossils than Others Lesson Plan
Horse skeleton diagram
Stegosaurus skeleton diagram
Drawing/coloring utensils

Procedure

Vocabulary

Clastic Sediments: sediments result from the breakdown, through weathering, of pre-existing rocks.
Curator: a museum scientist.
Diagenesis: everything that happens to sediment later information technology is deposited. A potential fossil may exist dissolved in the process of diagenesis, and other times it may become mineralized.
Fossil: whatsoever naturally occurring show of past life. Fossils demand not be mineralized or enclosed in rock.
Organic sediments:pieces of tissues of plants or animals such every bit leaf litter on a wood floor.
Paleontologists:  scientists who study fossils to understand the history of life on Earth.
Preparation:  when paleontologist clean clay and surrounding rocks off the fossil, mucilage it together (if broken) and store it.
Prospecting:  to search the basis for fossils.
Metamorphic rocks: rocks inverse past heat and force per unit area.
Mineralization or Petrification:the status when a fossil has effectively turned to stone.
Trace Fossil:  an impression of the animate being or plant after its death such as a natural mold of a shell.
Sedimentary Structures:  non-biological processes preserved in rocks similar ancient ripple marks, mud cracks, or raindrops preserved in stone.  They practice not represent activities of living things, and they are not trace fossils.

Assessment Materials

A Fossil's Journey Mail service-Unit Questions

Students reply questions after completing all three activities: How Living Things Become Fossils, Making a Trace Fossil, and Some Parts Brand Amend Fossils than Others activeness.

i. In what blazon of rock are fossils usually establish?

2. Where are some places that fossils are likely to be found?

3. What are some requirements for fossilization?

four. Is fossilization common or rare?

5. Give an example of a trace fossil.

six. How practise paleontologists observe fossils?

7. What happens to a fossil after it has been excavated?

Rubric/Answer Key

1. In what type of stone are fossils usually found?
Sedimentary Rock.

2. Where are some places that fossils are probable to exist found?
Lake bottom, river sandbar, embankment, sea flooring, dune field.

3. What are some requirements for fossilization?
Hard parts, rapid burial, protective medium, diagenesis.

4. Is fossilization mutual or rare?
Rare.

5. Give an case of a trace fossil.
Footprints, burrows, coprolites.

6. How do paleontologists find fossils?
Geologic map, prospecting.

seven. What happens to a fossil after information technology has been excavated?
It is taken to a lab where a lab preparator cleans information technology so a curator displays it in a collection for public learning.

Additional Resources

Books
Audubon Society Field Guide to Rocks and Minerals
Introductory geology textbook

Related Lessons or Education Materials

National Park Service Fossil Educational Activities Webpage
Fossil Butte National Monument: Making a Fossil Game

Contact Data

Electronic mail u.s. about this lesson programme

cooperyind1972.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/a-fossil-s-journey.htm

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