Discuss in your groups: What made the tracks? What happened? Be prepared to share your story with the class

Fossils: what are we learning? 1)Describe how fossils provide evidence for evolution and climate change 2)Describe how fossils are formed (casting, moulding, mineralisation, carbonisation)

What is a Fossil? 1)The remains or imprints of once living things 2) Usually found in sedimentary rocks

Exercise: number these pictures in the correct order to show how fossils form

What Can Fossils Tell Us? Fossils can show scientists 3 main things: Fossils can show scientists 3 main things: 1)The kind of organism that lived in the past 2)How the environment has changed Example: forest fossils found in Antarctica show the climate was much warmer in the past 3)How organisms have changed (evolution)

Fossils of Sea Creatures Oceans once covered most of the land Oceans once covered most of the land What do they show us?

Fossils of Plants How the environment has changed (Antarctica) How the environment has changed (Antarctica) How plants have evolved How plants have evolved What do they tell us?

Animal Fossils About past environments (woolly mammoth) About past environments (woolly mammoth) What the animal ate What the animal ate How they lived How they lived Evolution Evolution What do they tell us?

Molds & Casts Mould = the print/impression left in sediment/rock where the plant/animal was buried. Mould = the print/impression left in sediment/rock where the plant/animal was buried. Cast = forms when sediment fills a mold and becomes rock. Cast = forms when sediment fills a mold and becomes rock. Which is which? Which is which? MouldCast

Difference between a mold and cast? Mold Cast Cast Mold

Mineralisation 1) Living organism dies 2) Covered by sediment 3) Water in the ground reacts with minerals (like calcium) in the dead organism 4) This forms a harder mineral (silica, calcite) 5) These fossils are not bone

Carbonisation 1) Plants contain carbon 2) Plants gets buried with no oxygen – how? - rapid burial or - rapid burial or - in stagnant water - in stagnant water 3) Plant decays 4) Only carbon (coal) is left

How Fossils Are Formed Match the number with the letter: 1)Mold 2)Cast 3)Mineralisation 4)Carbonisation d) a footprint is left in soft mud a) a footprint in soft mud is filled with sediment c) plants decay leaving behind coal fossil b) bone fossils are made of calcite or silica

How Fossils Are Formed Match the number with the letter: 1)Mold = 2)Cast = 3)Mineralisation = 4)Carbonisation = d) a footprint is left in soft mud a) a footprint in soft mud is filled with sediment c) plants decay leaving behind coal fossil b) bone fossils are made of calcite or silica

Describe what a fossil is and how they are formed. In your answer, explain what fossils tell us about what the Earth used to be like millions of year ago. (Try using a mind-map to plan your answer)