Fossils Infographic

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© James Gonyo all rights reserved

Telephina Ordovician

Purpurocardia Pliocene - Recent

Pecten jeffersonius Pliocene

Hadromeros Ordovician - Silurian

Megacardita ponderosa Oligocene

Petrified Wood Triassic

Venericardia himerta Miocene

Odontopleura Silurian

Ammonite Triassic

Olenoides Cambrian

Trochurus Silurian - Ordovician

Carcharodon megalodon Pliocene -Miocene

Mucrospirifer Devonian

Spirifer pellaensis Mississippian

Neospirifer triplicatus Silurian

Acanthoscaphites Cretaceous

Dichotomosphinctes Jurassic

Crinoid Cambrian

Xiphactinus Cretaceous

Spinosaurus (jaw) Cretaceous

Spinosaurus (tooth) Cretaceous

Tyrannosaurus (skull) Cretaceous

Rugosa (coral) Ordovician

Trilobite Ordovician - Silurian

Turritella Late Pliocene - Quaternary

Eurypterus Ordovician - Permian

Phegopteris (fern) Miocene

Neuropteris (seed fern) Pennsylvanian

Titanis Pliocene

Ichthyosaur (skull) Triassic

Place an asterisk (*) next to each fossil that is an Invertebrate

Fault: a break in the rocks that make up the Earth’s crust along which rocks on either side have moved past one another.

D Intrusion: molten rock forced into existing rock layers , then cools and crystallizes.

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Law of Superposition: The youngest layers of sedimentary rock are at the top and the oldest layers are at the bottom.Principle of Cross-cutting relationships: A fault or intrusion is younger than the rock that it cuts through.

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:

Rock Layer A formed

Rock Layer B formed

Rock Layer C formed

Weathering and erosion created a layer of soil on top of layer A

Fault E formed shifting rock layers ABCD

Principle of Faunal Succession: Fossils found in a rock layer represent the plants and animals that lived on Earth at the time the rock layer was formed. Also, fossil species that only lived during a very limited time in Earth’s history (index fossils), can be used to determine the age of rock layers very precisely.

Which of these fossils is the most useful as an Index fossil in correlating these 3 sites? Why?

*Which layer can we be certain was formed during Mesozoic time? Why?

Index Fossils: Distinctive - Widespread - Abundant - Limited in Geologic Time -

Ammonite Mesozoic

Fern Devonian - Holocene

Gastropod Cambrian - Holocene

Crinoid Ordovician - Holocene

Trilobite Cambrian

Coral Cambrian - Holocene

Layer 1 Layer 1 Layer 1

*Complete this diagram by: -drawing dashed lines to connect the layers

-labelling layers 2, 3, 4, and 5

Fill in the steps (select from list on right)

How Fossils Formed:P.3

© James Gonyo all rights reserved

Unaltered Hard Parts / Permineralization / Replacement / Casts and Molds / Carbonization / Trace Fossils

Soft parts of organism decay while hard parts are preserved for thousands of years.

Minerals are deposited in the pores of an organism. The organism dissolves but the mineral remain taking the

shape of the organism.

Minerals slowly take the place of the original hard parts of the organism. Original organism is not porous.

Water completely dissolves an organism leaving a hollow space with the shape of the organism. The space is then filled in with

mineral creating a fossil that looks like the original organism.

The carbohydrates of a plant are removed leaving only a thin film of carbon which leaves a black imprint that looks like the plant.

Impressions in soft sediment such as footprints will be fossilized if the sediment hardens before being washed away.