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fandomhigh2006-01-16 03:52 am
dr-tommy.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2006-01-16 03:52 am
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Paleontology, Jan 16th (7th period)
On the blackboard is a rather badly-drawn diagram detailing the fossil-creation process:
"Today, we're going to talk about the creation of fossils. First, something has to die, obviously." He points to the first picture.
"Typically, the most important factor in the creation of a body fossil is that soon after death, the organism must be quickly buried by sediment deposits. If left exposed to the elements, animal and plant remains are prone to scavenging and attack by micro-organisms, so they rot and disintegrate, never making it past the starting line in the fossilization process.
So organisms living in and around shallow coastal waters, deltas and lakes where rivers dump their sediment loads have a much better chance of becoming fossils than organisms living on open plains or in dry, hilly areas." Tommy then points to the second picture.
"As a result, we generally have a much better fossil record for marine creatures than we do for land-dwellers. However, locations like underground caves often yield a large amount of fossils from land-dwelling animals.
Pointing to the third picture, Tommy continues, "After the fossil is buried, the flesh slowly rots away, leaving just the bones."
He then points to the fourth picture. "The sediment surrounding the skeleton slowly seeps in and either completely replaces the organic material- such as in dinosaur bones- or fills the gaps that once held liquids or gases- which is how we end up with petrified wood.
But... going back to our fossil skeleton," he indicates the last drawing, "eventually, the sea level drops and the sediment surrounding the skeleton hardens in to rock. And then, millions of years later, it's hopefully discovered by someone so that we can research it."
Hoping against hope that no one has fallen asleep during the lecture, Tommy then asks, "Any questions?"
"And one other thing. I didn't forget about your homework, unfortunately. So, if you can hand it in... and does anyone want to do a presentation today?" Tommy waits to see if there are any takers. "You just need to give a brief overview of your find, and then maybe answer a question or two from your classmates."
"Today, we're going to talk about the creation of fossils. First, something has to die, obviously." He points to the first picture.
"Typically, the most important factor in the creation of a body fossil is that soon after death, the organism must be quickly buried by sediment deposits. If left exposed to the elements, animal and plant remains are prone to scavenging and attack by micro-organisms, so they rot and disintegrate, never making it past the starting line in the fossilization process.
So organisms living in and around shallow coastal waters, deltas and lakes where rivers dump their sediment loads have a much better chance of becoming fossils than organisms living on open plains or in dry, hilly areas." Tommy then points to the second picture.
"As a result, we generally have a much better fossil record for marine creatures than we do for land-dwellers. However, locations like underground caves often yield a large amount of fossils from land-dwelling animals.
Pointing to the third picture, Tommy continues, "After the fossil is buried, the flesh slowly rots away, leaving just the bones."
He then points to the fourth picture. "The sediment surrounding the skeleton slowly seeps in and either completely replaces the organic material- such as in dinosaur bones- or fills the gaps that once held liquids or gases- which is how we end up with petrified wood.
But... going back to our fossil skeleton," he indicates the last drawing, "eventually, the sea level drops and the sediment surrounding the skeleton hardens in to rock. And then, millions of years later, it's hopefully discovered by someone so that we can research it."
Hoping against hope that no one has fallen asleep during the lecture, Tommy then asks, "Any questions?"
"And one other thing. I didn't forget about your homework, unfortunately. So, if you can hand it in... and does anyone want to do a presentation today?" Tommy waits to see if there are any takers. "You just need to give a brief overview of your find, and then maybe answer a question or two from your classmates."
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On break at work, long day, no in-depth anything from me, sorry.Re: Sign In!
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Questions! Comments! Discussion!
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Presentations!
Re: Presentations!
"This is Sue, who is the most complete, biggest, and most well preserved T-rex skeleton ever found. She's an very important find, because of all that. So she's really cool. Scientist guys can do really neat stuff like see how her muscles were connected by looking at the bones and stuff." Yuffie looked at her notes. "Umm... one of the neatest things is that they found a wishbone in her, which helps to support the theory that dinosaurs turned into birds through evolution." Yuffie nodded. "She's kept at the Field Museum in Chicago."
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like the teacher's pet she is."Um, there's an enormous collective of fossils in La Brea (http://www.tarpits.org/research/research.html), California. They're important because not only is everything almost completely preserved in the tar, and therefore scientists can study them without major work involved, but there are a variety of species there. Mammoths, ground sloths, sabretooth cats - and it helps paleontologists figure out which animals coexisted when."
She smiled proudly, blushing.
Re: Presentations!
"It's not a dinosaur, but I liked the name so this is the picture I chose. This is Lucy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australopithecus_afarensis). She is the first skeleton of," Molly paused to read out the name carefully, "Australopithecus afarensis ever found. Lucy is important because she showed that bipedalism came before the development of a large brain. Up until she was discovered in 1974, it was believed that the development of a larger brain triggered the evolution of humans. Lucy showed that bipedalism developed first.
Homework!
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These are pictures of Sue, the biggest, most complete, and best preserves T. Rex remains found ever. She's at the Chicago Field Museum.
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The detail on these fossils make them exceptional specimens of preservation. The veins in the dragonfly wings are incredibly detailed.
Re: Homework!
After Class!
OOC!