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Fossils in Strange Places
Glossopteris was a tree fern. Fossils of this plant have been found:
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from the coastline of Buenos Aires, Argentina (in South America) and up to the Andes
mountains
from the northern coast of Mozambique, Africa to the northern coast of Namibia
from the Australian coastline near Kangaroo Island and into the center of Queensland
from the Western Ghats of India, through the Deccan Plateau and to the Eastern Ghats
in a curved band that goes from George V Coast, Antarctica, extending to the South Pole,
and then to Enderby Land
ON YOUR MAP, FIND THE FIVE AREAS WHERE GLOSSOPTERIS LIVED.
COLOR IN THESE AREAS USING A GREEN COLORED PENCIL.
(NOTE THAT THERE IS ONE AREA ON THE MAP SHOWING A PLANT THAT IS
NOT GLOSSOPTERIS!)
Cynognathus was a mammal-like land creature. Fossils of this predator have been found:
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from coast to coast in South America, in a band of land from southern Peru
to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
from the coast of northern Angola, Africa and over to Uganda
ON YOUR MAP, FIND THE TWO AREAS WHERE CYNOGNATHUS LIVED.
COLOR IN THESE AREAS USING AN ORANGE COLORED PENCIL.
Lystrosaurus was a land reptile. Fossils of this creature have been found:
 in a band of land from the Mogadishu, Somalia (in Africa) to the center of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
 in an curved band of land from Mumbai, India into the center of India at Kānpur, and
then to the coastline by Calcutta
 from the American Highland in Antarctica, then extending straight south and ending
halfway to the South Pole
ON YOUR MAP, FIND THE THREE AREAS WHERE LYSTROSAURUS LIVED.
COLOR IN THESE AREAS USING A RED COLORED PENCIL.
Mesosaurus was a freshwater reptile. Fossils of this creature have been found:
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in the area of Golfo San Mathias, Argentina (in South America)
from the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa to central Botswana
ON YOUR MAP, FIND THE TWO AREAS WHERE MESOSAURUS LIVED.
COLOR IN THESE AREAS USING A BLUE COLORED PENCIL.
DIRECTIONS:
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Read this entire page. Use the directions above to color in the fossil areas on the page called “USGS
Fossil Evidence”.
From the USGS page, carefully cut out the shapes of each of the landmasses.
On your desktop, arrange the landmasses into what you think Gondwanaland may have looked like. Look at the shapes of the
continents. Also look closely at the locations of fossils that you have colored in. For example, make the orange areas of
South America touch the orange areas of Africa. Also make the green areas of South America touch the green areas of
Africa. Notice that this is a pretty good (though not perfect) “fit.” Take some time to make all of the landmass shapes and
fossil areas fit to each other as best you can.
Show your arrangement of Gondwanaland landmasses to your teacher.
When your teacher says it’s okay, use a glue stick to glue them in that same arrangement onto the back side of this page.
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