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What is a FossilFossil?

Fossils (from Latin fossus, literally "having been dug up")

are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past.

• Sedimentary rocksSedimentary rocks

• In what type of rockswhat type of rocks do we usually find fossilsfossils?

• Why would you not expect to find fossils in igneous rocks?

• Can you find fossils in metamorphic rocks?

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• Coprolites and icnites are fossils too.

A coprolite is fossilized animal dung (feces)

Icnites (dinosaurs' footprints)

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Index fossils• Index fossilsIndex fossils (also known as guide fossils,

indicator fossils or zone fossils) are fossils used to define and identify geologic periods (or faunal stages).

Index fossil features

The ideal index fossilsideal index fossils are those that are:• abundant, • easy to identify, • short-lived, • widely distributed, • and occur in many types of rocks.

Describe how Describe how fossils fossils are formed in are formed in sedimentary rocks…sedimentary rocks…

Check this animated explanationhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/dinosaurs/making_fossils/makingfossils/index.shtmlhttp://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es2901/es2901page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

Describe how fossils are formed in sedimentary rocks…

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Describe how fossils are formed in sedimentary rocks…

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Do all animals fossilizze?Do all animals fossilizze?

Do all animals fossilizze?

Most animals did not fossilize; they simply decayed and were lost from the fossil record.

Paleontologists estimate that only a small percentage of the dinosaur genera that ever lived have been or will be found as fossils.

• What important facts can fossils tells us about sedimentary rocks and the environment in which they were formed?

• In what ways is the fossil record importance to science?

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Trilobite

Trilobite

• (meaning "three lobes") Trilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita.

• When trilobites first appeared in the fossil record they were already highly diverse and geographically dispersed. Because trilobites had wide diversity and an easily fossilized exoskeleton an extensive fossil record was left, with some 17,000 known species spanning Paleozoic time.

Ammonite

• Ammonites are an extinct group of marine invertebrate animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda.

Ammonite

• Late Silurian - Cretaceous

Belemnites• Belemnites were numerous during the

Jurassic and Cretaceous periods

Belemnites are the internal shells of an extinct type of cephalopod mollusc related to modern octopus and squid.

Nummulite

• A nummulite is a large lenticular fossil, characterized by its numerous coils, subdivided by septa into chambers. They are the shells of the fossil and present-day marine protozoan

The name "Nummulites" is a diminutive form of the Latin nummulus meaning "little coin", a reference to their shape

Nummulite

• They are common in Tertiary marine rocks, particularly around the Mediterranean.

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Which one is older?

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=63524

Which one is older?

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=63524

Which one could we easily find in the Pyrenees?

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=63524

Which one could we easily find in the Pyrenees?

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=63524

Which one could we easily find in the Pyrenees?

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=63524

Why?Why?

Which one could we easily find in the Pyrenees?

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=63524

Why?

Tertiary – Tertiary – Alpine orogeny –Alpine orogeny –

Pyrenees Pyrenees

• http://en.wikipedia.org/• http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/earth/fossils/fossil-folklore/fossil_types/• http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_three_characteristics_of_a_good_index_fossil

• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/dinofossils/Fossilhow.html• http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/dinosaurs/making_fossils/makingfossils/index.shtml

• Icnite picture at Enciso La Rioja, from • http://www.vallenajerilla.com/berceo/rioja-abierta/pangea/anteshistoria.htm