Save
Busy. Please wait.
Log in with Clever
or
show password
Forgot Password?
Don't have an account?  Sign up 
Sign up using Clever
or
Username is available taken
show password


Make sure to remember your password. If you forget it there is no way for StudyStack to send you a reset link. You would need to create a new account. Your email address is only used to allow you to reset your password. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Already a StudyStack user? Log In

Reset Password
Enter the associated with your account, and we'll email you a link to reset your password.
focusNode
Didn't know it?
click below
 
Knew it?
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
0:00
edit
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.

  Normal Size     Small Size show me how

Fossils Vocab

About fossils

TermDefinition
Fossil Remains of plant, animals, and other organisms from the past.
Where are fossils found Sedimentary rock layers
What are the sizes of fossils? Can be as small as bacteria or as giant as a dinosaur.
Paleontology The study of fossils
Formed - Sedimentary rocks Layers by the deposition weathered rocks, sediments are pressed and cemented together.
Sedimentary rocks - how are fossils found here Sedimentary rocks form at low temperatures and pressure.
Sedimentary rocks - Fossils and the rock layers. In which they are found are approximately the same age.
Ammonites Marine animal with a coiled external shell.
Stromatolites Rock like structures built by blue-green algae.
Index Fossils Indicate to geologist the boundaries in geological time.
First forms of life on Earth Stromatolites, oldest know fossils (3.5 b.y.)
Stromatolites - Found Still found in some remote areas of the world today.
Casts Organism dies and the cavity fills with minerals, maybe sand or clay.
Mold Organism dies and there is no filling of the cavity with minerals.
Index Fossils - what A tool to determine the age of rocks.
Index Fossils, characteristics. Easily recognizable, abundant, wide geographic distribution, lived a short period of geological time.
Trace Fossils Provides indirect evidence of life in the past rather than the body of the animal itself.
Trace fossils evidence Footprints, tracks, burrows, feces, borings.
Relative Age - what If two different rock strata in different areas on Earth contain the same index fossil, then the strata are probably the same age.
Index Fossils used To correlate the age of the rock strata.
Absolute Age Most accurate form of dating, also called radiometric dating.
Absolute Age - uses The decay of radioactive elements to find the absolute age of a rock or fossil.
Absolute Age - relies on The property of half life, which is the predictable time an element takes to decay.
Geological Time Scale A chronological representation of Earth’s geologic history going back 4.6 billion years until present day.
Fossil Record History of life as documented by fossils.
Fossil Record - Tells us Tells us when organisms lived and how they changed over millions of years (evolved).
Fossil Record - can give us A clue as to the environment at that time.
Fossil Record: Recorded? On the Geological Time Scale.
Coprolite Fossilized poop.
Permineralization-how Groundwater carries dissolved minerals into the pores and cavities of bone, wood, or shells.
Permineralization - what The original material is preserved rather than replaced.
Permineralization - preserved Bones, teeth, and shells can be preserved this way.
Petrification - two types Replacement and Permineralization
Petrification - both result in? Both result in organic material converting into stone or a similar substance.
Petrification - most well know example of the process Petrified wood
Law of Superposition Scientists can say that the newer rocks are at the top and the older rocks are farther to the bottom.
Carbonization The process by which all substances of plants and animals decay, except carbon.
Carbonization - does what This leaves a carbon film on the sedimentary rock
Carbonization - occurs This process particularly occurs in plants and fish.
Burrows Example of a trace fossil. Hole or tunnel in the ground.
Paleontologist They look for fossils. and study them.
Fossil Resin Resin is excreted from certain plants, which is thought to protect them from insects and seals off plant injuries.
Fossil Resin - does what The sticky resin captures insects and other invertebrates. It hardens and they are preserved in the resin including their DNA.
Fossil Resin - know as what? Amber because of its color.
Replacement Water dissolves the original solid material and replaces them with mineral matter such as calcite, silica, pyrite and hematite.
Replacement - happens how? Slowly
Replacement - what can be fossilized this way? Bones, shells, and wood.
Tar, how An animal can become trapped in tar and the whole body can be preserved.
Example of Tar An example is the La Brea Tart Pits L.A.
Ice Freezing can also trap whole animals. Mammoth’s bodies have been found with skin, hair and even organs.
Environment Fossils can tell us something about the environment at the time the organism died.
Environment - how Many times marine fossils are found on mountain tops. When continental plates collide, it causes uplift.
Environment - what Finding buried marine fossils suggests the rock layers were once covered by water.
Environment - supports The Theory of Continental Drift.
Environment - supports how Fossils of the same plants and animals were found on different continents now separated by oceans.
Environment - supporting how These organisms had no way of traveling those distances. Concluding that the continents were once one supercontinent.
Bacteria Found fossil impressions.
Fossilization to occur Preserved close to after it dies so the tissue doesn't decay.
Fossil - Latin To dig
Paleontology Science of very old existing things.
Permineralization. Died in wetland, buried under layers of sediment, compresses the tissue, the tissue is replaced with minerals from the water coming through the sediment..
Cast and Mold Minerals dissolves the tissue and creates a mold. The mold fills with with sediment and recreates the shape of the remains.
Inclusion fossil Amber and tar pits example
False fossils Pseudofossils Rock formations that look like fossils but aren't.
Fossils too small to see by the human eye Microfossils
Fossils where to be found highways, coalmines, sandstone, limestone. When petroleom is drilled.
Created by: Soccerkid
Popular Earth Science sets

 

 



Voices

Use these flashcards to help memorize information. Look at the large card and try to recall what is on the other side. Then click the card to flip it. If you knew the answer, click the green Know box. Otherwise, click the red Don't know box.

When you've placed seven or more cards in the Don't know box, click "retry" to try those cards again.

If you've accidentally put the card in the wrong box, just click on the card to take it out of the box.

You can also use your keyboard to move the cards as follows:

If you are logged in to your account, this website will remember which cards you know and don't know so that they are in the same box the next time you log in.

When you need a break, try one of the other activities listed below the flashcards like Matching, Snowman, or Hungry Bug. Although it may feel like you're playing a game, your brain is still making more connections with the information to help you out.

To see how well you know the information, try the Quiz or Test activity.

Pass complete!
"Know" box contains:
Time elapsed:
Retries:
restart all cards