1. Background Information on Fossils for Brachiopod Lab Inquiry

2. Fossils are the preserved remains which show evidence of prehistoric life.
Fossils form when living things die and are buried by sediments.
Sediments are small pieces of eroded rock.
The sediments covering the dead organism eventually lithifies into sedimentary rock, preserving the organism’s shape.

3. Step 1: organism dies

4. Step 2: sediments cover the dead organism

5. Step 3: sediments harden into sedimentary rock containing the fossil
Brachiopod
Fossils 

6. The detail of a fossil depends on how small or fine the sediments that covered the organism were: the finer the sediments (like clay or silt), the more detailed – the larger the sediments (like sand grains), the less detailed
detailed fossil less detailed fossil

7. Two of the most common fossils found on Earth are mold and cast fossils.
A mold fossil is a hollow area in sediment in the shape of an organism.
A cast fossil occurs when minerals dissolved in water seeps into the empty space of a mold fossil.

9. Scientists who study fossils, known as paleontologists, use these fossils to learn about prehistoric earth.
The information gathered from observing fossils helped formulate the theory of evolution.
Evolution is the gradual change of living things over time

10. Paleontologists unearthing a new fossil

11. Life forms are always changing.
The general direction of change is from small and simple to larger and more complex organisms.
This principle is called faunal succession.
This means that when a fossil of a larger, more highly complex organism is found near a smaller, simpler version of the same organism, the simpler one is older, and so is the rock it is found in.

12. Trilobite fossils ranging from simple to complex show faunal succession.

13. Brachiopods range in their complexity based on their step in evolution.

14. It must have been an easy process for brachiopods to become fossils because of their location on ocean rocks.