Fossils B

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Fossils (B C)

• Gary Vorwald
• NYS Division C
• Fossils Supervisor
• Paul J. Gelinas JHS
• gvorwald_at_3villagecsd.org

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Event Description

• Participants will demonstrate their knowledge of
  fossils and earth history in this station-based
  event.
• A team of up to 2
• Approximate time 40 50 Minutes hand lenses,
  and resources are allowed
• National Test Div B format will be 20 stations,
• 100 questions
• Samples will be taken from the official NSO list,
  unless otherwise noted

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Event Parameters

• Participants may bring one 3 ring binder (any
  size) with information in any form from any
  source (must be 3 hole punched and inserted into
  rings)
• Each team may bring one magnifying glass
• Each team may bring one published field guide
  (can have tabs, post its, and notes)

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2009 Fossils List

• Available at http//soinc.org/sites/default/files
  /uploaded_files/FossilList09.pdf
• Consists of
• 17 Major Invertebrate groups
• 14 Vertebrate groups
• 6 Plant groups
• Trace Fossils Other
• fossil types
• Students should place list in front
• of notebook
• Check the National Science Olympiad
• web site often for rule clarifications.
• http//www.soinc.org/events/clarify/index.htmfoss
  ils

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The Competition

• Equal time intervals, as determined by the
  supervisor, will be allotted for each station.
• Ex. 20 stations _at_ 2 minutes each
• When the signal is given, participants will begin
  work at their initial station.
• Participants may not move to the next station
  until prompted to do so, may not skip stations,
  nor return to any previously-visited station

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The Competition

• Only those specimens appearing on the official
  NSO list will be used for identification in the
  competition.
• Event supervisors are free to substitute similar
  genera, however participants will not be required
  to identify those specimens by genus name.
• Ex. Olenoides is not on list. Students should be
  able to recognize it as a trilobite, however.

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Coaching TipsSelecting Participants

• Choose team members from different grade levels
  to avoid having to train a completely new team
  the following year.
• Team members can divide up the fossil groups and
  become experts on them.
• Both should collaborate on developing a notebook.

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Coaching Tips Notebooks

• Participant notebooks are an integral part of the
  Fossils Event.
• The goal for permitting resources is to encourage
  conceptual development in lieu of memorization of
  facts.
• Notebooks provide a framework for learning,
  understanding, and quick reference.

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Coaching Tips Notebooks

• Participant-developed notebooks are generally
  more helpful during the event than are field
  guides, textbooks, etc.
• Participants who construct their own note-books
  are generally better prepared.
• Due to time constraints, a well-organized
  notebook provides a much more efficient resource
  than most others.

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Suggested Notebook Contents

• (Alphabetized) glossary of important terms
• Fossil Groups alphabetical, with photos or
  diagrams of each listed fossil and short
  description should include geologic periods when
  fossil lived, environment, and mode of life.
  Include adaptations and morphologic features of
  major fossil groups
• Invertebrates
• Vertebrates
• Plants
• Trace Fossils
• Other (amber, stromatolites, petrified wood)
• Common Modes of Preservation

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Geologic Time Scale
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Environments
http//academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/geology/grocha/m
onument/images/deposit.gif
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• Mode of Life Vocabulary
• Benthic bottom dwelling aquatic
• Planktonic floating aquatic
• Nektonic swimming aquatic
• Sessile permanently attached
• Vagrant free moving
• Epifauna lives on surface of sea floor
• Infauna lives within sediment

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Aquatic habitats
Epifauna above surface
Infauna below surface burrowers
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Suggested Notebook Contents

• Absolute Time Radioactive Dating
• Carbon 14 Half Life
• Know how to read Graph of Half Life
• Relative Dating

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Which group would be the best index fossil?
Answer Psilopsids because they existed for the
shortest time
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• Important paleontological events and discoveries
• Burgess Shale, Dinosaurs with feathers,
  solnhofen limestone, La Brea Tar Pits
• (Avoid too much info that results from printing
  web pages info should be easy to find
  understand)

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Resources

• Fossil Guides
• (DK Smithsonian Fossil Handbook Audubon, Simon
  Schuster, Golden Guide)
• Science Olympiad Store
• http//store.soinc.org/
• Fossils Handbook CD
• Biology/Earth Science CD

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Fossil Specimens

• Science Olympiad Fossil Kit
• Earth Science Educators Supply
• P.O. Box 503,
• Lee's Summit, MO 64063
• (No Credit Cards or Phone Orders-PH
  816-524-5635 FAX [phone]) item FOLY __ at
  __.__. Price quoted includes shipping and
  handling.
• Science Vendors
• Wards Natural Science, Frey, Fisher, Science
  Kit, etc.
• Fossil Dealers, EBAY
• Fossil Works Kit search web for Fossil Works
  Kits
• (students can make their own casts from molds of
  real fossils)
• http//www.largestmall.com/351897/12129469.html

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Other Resources

• Local colleges Universities
• New York State Museum
• American Museum of Natural History
• National Museum of Natural History (Washington,
  DC)
• Local Rock and Mineral Clubs
• New York Paleontological Society

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Web Resources

• Wright Center practice exams
• http//www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/fellows/sci_
  olympiad/sci_olympiad.html
• National Science Olympiad links to websites
• http//www.soinc.org/events/

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Web Resources

• Getting into the Fossil Record
• (educational module for students in grades 5-8
  and 9-12 that teaches how fossils form)
• http//www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/exploration
  s/tours/fossil/index.html
• Fossil Preservation Lab
• Pamela Gore, Georgia Perimeter College
• http//facstaff.gpc.edu/pgore/geology/historical_
  lab/preservationlab.php
• The Paleontology Portal
• (excellent site with Fossil Gallery, Famous
  Fossil Locations, K-12 resources)
• http//www.paleoportal.org/index.php

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Fossil Websites

• New York Paleontology
• http//bingweb.binghamton.edu/7Ekwilson/home.htm
• Fossils Facts and Finds
• http//www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/index.html
• Fossils of Kentucky
• http//www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/

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What is a Fossil?
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How do fossils form?

• Preservable hard parts
• Rapid burial by sediments
• Escape physical, chemical, and biological
  destruction after burial

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Hard parts favor fossilization
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• Shells and bones made with minerals (calcium
  carbonate or calcium phosphate)
• Soft parts usually decay
• Fossil record is very incomplete

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Rapid Burial

• Fossil record is biased
• Animals with hard parts that live underwater are
  more prevalent

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Fossils are usually buried and preserved in
sedimentary rockUplifting forces bring rocks
near surfaceErosion exposes fossil layers
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Paleontologists or collectors then dig fossils
out of rock
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Types of Preservation

• Actual remains
• Insects in amber
• Frozen mammals
• Hair
• Unaltered shells, teeth, or bones

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Teeth and shells
Right Sharks teeth from Cretaceous of Morocco
(80 myo)

• Left 1 million year old snail shells

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Impressions or molds

• External molds
• Internal molds (steinkerns)

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La Brea Tar Pits
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Molds
Internal Molds (Steinkerns) Far Left clam Left
the snail Turritella,
Internal molds preserve the features of the
inside of the shell common with molluscs
External Mold of Scallup (Pecten)
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Casts and Molds
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Chemical Alteration of Hard Parts

• Permineralization/
• Petrifaction
• Petrified Wood - Pores of wood filled with silica
  (permineralization)

Mineral Replacement Brachiopod shell replaced by
Pyrite
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Carbonization

• Graptolites in black shale

Seed Fern in shale
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Micro-fossils

• Forams
• One-celled amoeboid protists
• Most less than 1 mm, but some as large as 2 cm
• Calcium carbonate tests most common
• Most benthic, some planktonic
• Marine large contributor to ocean sediments
• Useful as index fossils and indicators of past
  climates

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Fusulinids

• Carboniferous Permian
• 1-3 mm wheat-shaped forams
• Excellent index fossils
• Indicator of clear, offshore, marine waters

Nummulites Extremely large fusulinid foram Up to
6 cm Name means little coin Common index
fossils for Eocene in Mideast (Egypt, Turkey)
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Diatoms

• (Jurassic to present)
• Major group of one celled algae
• Microscopic
• Silica cell wall
• Planktonic (phytoplankton)
• Marine Fresh Water
• Contributor to ocean sediments
• Diatomaceous earth is made from their remains

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Sponges (Porifera)

• (Late Precambrian (Ediacaran) present
• Primitive animals
• No tissue, muscles, nerves, or organs
• Pump water through body
• Benthic marine
• Attach to bottom
• Filter feeders
• Some have silica spicules others are calcareous

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Bryozoans

• Ordovician present
• Tiny colonial animals with skeletons of calcium
  carbonate
• Moss animals
• Appear similar to corals but very different
  biology
• Common Paleozoic fossils of shallow marine
  environments
• Most marine, a few modern species are fresh water
• Benthic, attach to bottom
• Filter feeders

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Bryozoans have different forms
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Graptolites (Hemichordata)

• (Cambrian Carboniferous)
• Look like pencil marks
• Usually found as carbonized remains in shales
• Excellent index fossils for Paleozoic
• Consisted of colonies of microscopic organisms
• Most were planktonic, probably filter feeders

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Corals (Cnidaria)
Related to jelly fish and sea anemones Have
stinging cells to capture prey mostly
plankton Modern corals have symbiotic
relationship with algae Benthic, shallow marine
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Horn Corals (Ordovician Permian) Solitary Commo
n paleozoic fossils Shallow marine
Colonial coral (Ordovician present) Reef
builders Shallow marine
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Arthropods
Trilobite

• Eurypterid

Insect
Crustacean
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Trilobites

• Cambrian Permian
• Ancient crabs
• Very diverse group
• Had legs, antennae, compound eyes
• Marine
• Benthic, some may have been planktonic
• Most were detritus feeders some may have been
  predators
• Good index fossils
• Many types of adaptations

Phacops
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Legs and antennae rarely preserved
Probably made of chitin Shell made of calcium
carbonate
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Trilobites molted as they grew many specimens
are these molted parts (heads, tails, etc.)
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Elrathia
Isotelus
Cryptolithus blind trilobite
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Brachiopods
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Articulate Brachiopods

• Ordovician present
• Most common group of Brachiopods
• Many varieties (orders)
• Shell of calcium carbonate
• Benthic, marine
• Epifauna
• Filter Feeders
• Most attach to sea bottom with fleshy stalk
  (pedicle)

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Inarticulate Brachiopods

• Cambrian present
• Shell is calcium phosphate
• Most less than 1 cm
• Benthic, marine
• Epifauna or infauna (burrowers)
• Filter feeders
• Lingula is a living fossil (Ord present)
• Known for its long pedicle (fleshy stalk)

Modern Lingula
Fossil Lingula (under dime)
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Molluscs
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Bivalves
Cambrian present Clams, oysters, mussels,
scallops Two part shells of calcium
carbonate Clams, mussels scallops symmetrical
at hinge Aquatic marine and fresh water Most
are filter feeders Some infaunal (burrow in
sediment) Some epifaunal attach to bottom
(mussels oysters)
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Mussels are common in the intertidal zone
attach to substrate
Clams often burrow in sediment
Free living Scallops can swim to escape predators
Oysters attach live in brackish water
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Bivalve vs Brachiopod
Clam hinge view top view
Brachiopod top view
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Gastropods - snails
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• Ordovician present
• stomach foot
• Shell is aragonite (calcium carbonate)
• Most diverse group of invertebrates
• Adapted to many environments Marine, fresh
  water, land environments
• Benthic, some swimmers
• Most are herbivores (algae) but some are active
  predators

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Turritella marine filter feeder (Cretaceous
present)
Conus predatory sea snail (injects venom)
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Cephalopods Nautiloids, Ammonoids, Belemnoids
Cambrian present Squid like molluscs with
shells Shell calcium carbonate Many are coiled
but some were straight shelled Marine swimmers
and predators
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Ammonoids extinct group (Ordovician
Cretaceous)
Shells have chambers
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Types of Ammonoids distinguished by suture
patterns

• Goniatite
• Ceratite
• Ammonite

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Belemnoids

• Jurassic - Cretaceous
• Bullet shaped internal skeleton
• Ancient squid-like animal
• Marine predator

Belemnitella
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Nautiloids
Simple suture pattern Coiled or straight shelled
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Nautilus living fossil
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Crinoids

• Sea Lillies
• Late Ordovician to present day
• Benthic Marine
• Most attach to sea floor
• Some nektonic
• Filter feeders
• Related to starfish
• Usually only pieces of stem found

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Blastoids

• (Ordovician Permian)
• Stemmed echinoderms
• (related to sea stars, sea urchins)
• Common in Mississippian age rocks
• Look similar to crinoids
• Look like hickory nuts
• 5-fold symmetry
• Benthic, marine
• Filter feeders

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Echinoids sea urchins sand dollars

• (Ordovician present)
• Globular spiny animals with calcite shell (test)
  made of plates
• No eyes, legs
• Moves with tube feet
• Benthic marine
• Some burrow
• Feed on algae, but some feed on invertebrates
  (mussels, sponges, crinoids)

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Echinoids
Plates and spines
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Asteroids

• Star fish
• Spiny animals with water vascular system
• Tube feet
• Related to echinoids and crinoids
• No eyes or legs
• 5 fold symmetry
• Benthic marine
• Predators
• Feed on bivalves

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Fish
Agnatha jawless fish
Cartilagenous fish (chondrichthyan)
Armored fish (placoderms)
Bony Fish (Osteichthyans)
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Evolution of Fish
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Agnatha jawless fish

• Cambrian present
• First vertebrates
• No jaw
• No paired fins
• Early agnathans had thick body plates
• Modern agnathans have skin but no scales
• Modern lamprey

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Armored Fish (placoderms)

• Silurian Devonian
• Early fish with jaws
• Head thorax covered by bony plates
• No true teeth
• Some were bottom dwellers
• Others active predators
• Marine fresh water varieties

Bothriolepis a fresh water Devonian placoderm
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Dunkleosteus giant Devonian placoderm
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Sharks cartilagenous fish
Devonian to present Bones are cartilage Usually
only teeth preserved
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Bony Fish
Silurian present First were fresh water
only Ray Finned and Lobe Finned Marine types
first found in Triassic
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Reptiles
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Synapsids

• Carboniferous present
• Mammal-like reptiles
• Single opening in skull behind each eye
• Dominant terrestrial animals of Permian
• Ancestors to mammals
• Two major groups of non-mammalian synapsids
• Pelycosaurs Therapsids

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Synapsids (Pelycosaurs)

• Carboniferous Permian
• Primitive synapsids
• Sprawling legs
• Did not have scales
• Egg laying
• Many had sails
• May have been endothermic (warm blooded)
• Carnivores and herbivores

Dimetrodon
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Theraspids

• Permian Cretaceous
• More advanced mammal-like reptiles (synapsids)
• Differentiated teeth incisors, canines, molars
• Legs positioned more vertically under body
• Herbivores and carnivores
• Common during Permian

Lystrosaurus
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Lystrosaurus is found in several southern
continents providing evidence for continental
drift
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Ichthyosaurs

• Triassic Cretaceous
• Marine reptile resembling fish/dolphins
• 2-4 meters in length
• Gave live birth
• Predators fed on belemnites and fish
• Common during Jurassic

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Plesiosaurs

• Jurassic Cretaceous
• Aquatic (mostly marine) sea reptiles
• Broad body, short tail, long neck
• Four Flippers
• 3 20 meters long
• Predators probably cephalopods fish

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Mososaurs

• Late Cretaceous
• Large marine sea reptiles
• Related to lizards and snakes
• Double hinged jaw
• 3 17 meters long
• Powerful predators
• Gave birth to live young

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Mosasaur skull and teeth
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Dinosaurs

• Triassic Cretaceous
• Dominant terrestrial vertebrates of Mesozoic
• Two pairs of openings in skull behind eyes
  (Diapsid)
• Limbs held erect beneath body
• Extremely varied with many adaptations
• Egg laying
• More than 500 genera known
• Active animals with high metabolisms and social
  behavior
• Both Bipedal and Quadripedal species

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Two Groups Based on Pelvis StructureSaurischian
(Lizard hip) Ornithiscian (Bird hip)
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Saurischian predators
Allosaurus (Jurassic)
Tyrannosaurus (Cretaceous)
Coelophysis (Triassic)
Velociraptor (Cretaceous)
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Saurischian herbivores
Apatosaurus (Jurassic)

• Plateosaurus (Triassic)

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Ornithiscians - all herbivores, many had
adaptations for defense
Triceratops (Cretaceous)
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Stegosaurus (Jurassic)
Iguanadon (Cretaceous)
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Dinosaurs with feathers?
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Microraptor
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Archeopteryx (Jurassic Period, Germany)
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Mammals

• Jurassic present
• Vertebrates with sweat glands
• Provide milk for young
• Most give live birth
• Endothermic with hair to help regulate body
  temperature
• Synapsid skull
• Most have specialized teeth
• Adapted to many environments
• Most terrestrial, some aquatic and marine
• Carnivores, omnivores, herbivores

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Basilosaurus whale
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Mastodons Mammoths
Mammoth tooth
Mastodon tooth
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Horses
Equus
Hyracotherium
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Homo neanderthalis
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Plants
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Horsetails
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Scale Tree important Carboniferous tree makes
up more than 90 of coal beds in North America
Lepidodendron
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Ferns Seed Ferns
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Glossopteris Permian seed fern with tongue
shaped leaves fossil evidence for continental
drift
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Gymnosperms (Devonian present) seeds in
cones, most are evergreen
Fossil Pine cones
Metaseqoia
Ginkgo
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Angiosperms (Cretaceous Present) flowering
plants broad leaves, seeds, most abundant land
plant today
Acer (maple)
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Paleozoic Sea Life
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Mesozoic Terrestrial Life
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Mesozoic Sea Life
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Sedimentary Rocks

• Sedimentary rocks cover about 75 of the world's
  land area.
• Sedimentary rocks form when loose sediment
  (gravel, sand, silt, or clay) becomes compact-ed
  and/or cemented to form rock.
• The process of converting sediment to sedimentary
  rock is called lithification.
• Sediment is deposited in horizontal layers called
  beds or strata.

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Distinguishing Characteristics of Sedimentary
Rocks
Layers of sediments
Fossils
Grains cemented together
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Types of Sedimentary Rocks

• Clastic examples
• Shale, sandstone, conglomerate, breccia
• Chemical/Biochemical (Crystalline) examples
• Gypsum, rock salt, dolostone, travertine
  limestone
• Organic (Bioclastic) examples
• Limestone (oolitic, fossil) Coal (bituminous,
  anthracite)

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Sedimentary Rocks