Slide 2 Page Museum Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA East of LACMA
The La Brea Tar Pits Mr. Harpers science mini lesson with audio
Click on these icons for sound Slide 3 // We have learned how
energy from the sun can become chemical energy in plants. Animals
that eat plants store some of that energy in their bodies as they
grow. Slide 4 // There were times millions of years ago when plants
and animals grew so numerous that when they died their bodies piled
up and were buried by the remains of more plants and animals. The
energy in them was trapped underground and over millions of years
these remains were pressed together to make a black rock called
coal. Slide 5 Sea animals that died fell to the bottom and piled up
for millions of years on the ocean floor. All the chemical energy
in those animals became deposits of petroleum deep under the mud.
Crude oil (petroleum) Slide 6 // The solar energy that made the
plants grow, and fed the animals was converted into carbon-rich
fuel products and stored under tons of rock and mud. Slide 7 //
Coal is a black, sedimentary rock. Coal is the only rock that is
organic (made from organisms). The stored energy in coal produces a
lot of heat energy when it burns. Slide 8 // Petroleum is found as
natural gas, a black liquid called crude oil, or a thick sticky goo
called asphalt. Slide 9 // Natural gas is a clean burning fuel that
is often used for cooking and heating homes. Slide 10 // Crude oil
can be refined to make gasoline for cars, diesel fuel for trucks
and trains, and jet fuel for airplanes. It is also used to make
plastics. Slide 11 // Today we use the energy in fossil fuel for
cars, trains, airplanes, and electric generation plants that make
the electricity we use for almost everything we do. Slide 12
Usually fossil fuels are found deep underground. We have to dig or
drill deep down to get to them. Petroleum underground Oil Slide 13
// But there are a few places where petroleum pushes up to the
surface through cracks in the Earth. One of those places is right
here in Los Angeles. Its called The La Brea Tar Pits. Slide 14 //
These pools of petroleum asphalt are gooey and really sticky. They
look like pools of water but an animal that walks into one can get
stuck like a fly on flypaper. Slide 15 // Over the past 40,000
years, many thousands of animals became trapped in the asphalt at
Rancho La Brea. Slide 16 // Predators who heard the cries of
trapped animals came to get an easy meal, but many of them got
trapped too. Slide 17 The bones of all these animals have been
preserved and protected from air, water and weather for thousands
of years by the asphalt. About 100 years ago people discovered the
fossils. Slide 18 // When fossil scientists (paleontologists) found
out about the bones in the asphalt, they came from all over the
world to excavate the pits and study the fossil remains. Slide 19
// The preserved bones of more than a million animals have been
excavated from the asphalt. Rancho La Brea is world famous for the
fossils that have been uncovered there. Slide 20 // Today, Rancho
La Brea is still one of the most interesting places on Earth for
paleontologists. They are still finding fossil remains of animals
that lived long ago. Slide 21 // Part of the tar pit area was set
aside as the City of Los Angeles grew up around it. Hancock Park
and the Page Museum were built to give people a place to learn more
about the interesting things that have been found here. Every year
the fourth graders at our school get to go on a field trip to the
La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum. Slide 22 In the big pool at the
La Brea Tar Pits there is a statue of a mastodon that shows how
animals became trapped in the sticky asphalt. Slide 23 // We may
get to see some paleontologists working in the lab when we visit
the museum. Slide 24 // Some of the best fossil specimens they have
found are on display in the museum for us to see. Slide 25 // The
fossils tell us which animals lived in southern California
thousands of years ago, such as camels. Today camels only live in
Africa and Asia. Slide 26 // The remains of bison, also called
buffalo, were found in the asphalt. Some bison still live in the
American west today. Slide 27 // The bones of many strange birds
found in the asphalt are on display at the Page Museum. Slide 28 //
The short-faced bear is extinct. Extinct means there are none left
alive. The short-faced bear is the largest meat eater found at La
Brea and grew bigger and could run faster than any bear species on
Earth today. Slide 29 // The remains of large felines (cats) were
excavated from Rancho La Brea. The American lion does not live in
North America today, but was a very close relative of the lions
that live in Africa. Slide 30 // Smilodon, also called the saber
toothed cat, was a dangerous predator that is now extinct. But they
once walked the land where our school is today just like all the
animals found in the asphalt at Rancho La Brea. Slide 31 // The
dire wolf is an extinct canine (dog). Hundreds of dire wolf skulls
are on display at the Page Museum. Slide 32 // Mastodons were great
elephant-like creatures that once roamed our area, but are extinct
today. Many of their remains have been found by paleontologists in
the asphalt. Slide 33 Some scientists believe that they may have
been hunted to extinction by a new predator that first appeared in
this area at about that time. Wooly mammoths were even bigger than
mastodons. But both of these giants disappeared about 12,000 years
ago. Slide 34 // The new predator didnt have powerful claws or
sharp teeth. Its weapon was a brain that allowed it to make sharp
tools and hunt in teams that worked together to kill bigger
animals. Slide 35 // These first humans in North America are called
Clovis People, because they made spears and arrows with clovis
points. It is believed they walked here from Asia across the frozen
Bering Strait during the last great Ice Age. Slide 36 // Other
scientists think the reason for many of the extinctions was an Ice
Age that ended about 10,000 years ago. The species that became
extinct could not adapt to the climate change. Slide 37 // About
200 years ago, the first Spanish settlers discovered the asphalt
pits where The Page Museum is today. They thought the gooey
substance looked like tar. They named the place Rancho La Brea
which means Ranch of the Tar. But the tar pits arent tar at all.
The black goo is petroleum asphalt like we use to make streets and
school playgrounds. Slide 38 // Tar is made from coal or wood and
is used to make roofs that wont leak when it rains. Slide 39 // But
asphalt is a form of petroleum. It is mixed with gravel, then
pressed down to make streets and school playgrounds. Slide 40 //
You can learn more about asphalt and the La Brea Tar Pits by
watching these Brainpop cartoons: Fossils Extinction Fossil
Fuels
