Geol 301, Spring 2007
Inquiry into Life of the Past: Fossils
Part 1. Getting acquainted with life of the past
After the lecture introduction to fossils, examine each of the fossils provided. For each specimen
sketch an example of the organism, record the Kingdom, Phylum, and Class and common name,
list the distinguishing characteristics that help you identify the fossil. For some specimens there
are additional questions. Complete the exercise by using any available resources to comment of
the inferred life habitat of the ancient organism including: was it terrestrial or marine? Did it
walk, swim, fly, burrow?
Specimen 1
Kingdom:
Common name:
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 2
Kingdom:
Common name:
For what time range is this group useful for
biostratigraphy?
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 3
Kingdom:
Common name:
When (geologic Era and Period) did land plants first
evolve?
When did flowering plants first evolve?
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 4
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Common name:
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 5
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Common name:
For what time range is this group useful for
biostratigraphy?
Distinguishing characteristics of solitary and of colonial
corals:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 6
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Common name:
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 7
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Common name:
For what time range is this group useful for
biostratigraphy?
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 8
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Common name:
How is bivalve morphology distinct from brachiopods?
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 9
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Common name:
Can you find the internal mold?
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 10
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Common name:
For what time range is this group useful for
biostratigraphy?
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 11
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Common name:
For what time range is this group useful for
biostratigraphy?
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 12
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Common name:
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 13
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Common name:
Distinguishing characteristics:
How are blastoids and crinoids the same and how are
they different?
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 14
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Common name:
Distinguishing characteristics:
What type of symmetry do all Echinodermata share?
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 15
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Common name:
For what time range is this group useful for
biostratigraphy?
Type of preservation:
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 16
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Common name:
Distinguishing characteristics:
Inferred life habitat:
Specimen 17
Are these direct or indirect evidence of past life?
Distinguishing characteristics:
Scientific Names
Common Names of examples
Kingdom Monera
bacteria
Kingdom Protista
foraminifera (forams)
Kingdom Plantae
plants
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Porifera
sponges
Phylum Cnideria
Class Anthozoa
jellyfish, sea anemonies
corals (solitary corals and colonial corals)
Phylum Bryozoa
bryzoans
Phylum Brachiopoda
brachiopods
Phylum Mollusca
Class Bivalvia
Class Gastropoda
Class Cephalopoda
mollusks
bivalves (pelecypods, clams, oysters)
gastropods (snails)
cephalopods (nautinoids, ammonoids, belmnoids)
Phylum Anthropoda
Class Trilobita
anthropods (lobsters, shrimp, crabs, insects, spiders)
trilobites
Phylum Echinodermata
Class Crinoidea
Class Blastoidea
Class Asteroidea
Class Echinoidea
echinoderms
crinoids
blastoids
starfish
echinoids (sea urchins, sand dollars, sea buscuits)
Phylum Hemichordota
graptolites
Phylum Chordata
(fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)
Part 2: Who are you, fossil friend?
1. What fossil have you been caring for? Classify it to the level asked in Part 1.
2. How did your fossil form (mode of preservation)?
Use any available resources to determine the following:
3. What environment did your fossil live in?
4. How did your fossil eat (e.g., filter feeding, grazing, predator, photosynthesized)?
5. What is the relative age of your fossil (Era)?
Geol 301, Spring 2007
Inquiry into Life of the Past: Fossils
Part 3: Being a geology detective: fossils as paleo-environmental clues to past
environments
The Nature of Science: Sea Level Change and Paleoenvironmental Interpretations
Based on an exercise developed by Marg McKinney, Appalachian State University
In this part of the activity you will examine the Miocene age (~20 myr) fossil-rich sediment from
Aurora, North Carolina.
1. Individually examine the sediment and categorize the fossils any way that makes sense to
you. [observe]
2. As a group we will record your observations and consider your scientific approach.
[collect data] What did you find? How do you know that fossil X is a mollusc?
Principle of Uniformitarianism: the same processes that are operating today also took
place in the past. “The present is key to the past” (applies to mechanism not rates)
Actualism: the interpretation of ancient rocks (sediments) by applying the results of
analyses of modern day geologic processes in accordance with the principle of
uniformitarianism. “Reasoning backwards”
3. Make a paleonvironmental interpretation. [Propose a hypothesis] What type of
environment would you expect to find this assemblage of fossils? How did you come to
that interpretation?
4. Look at the map of NC and find the town of Aurora. Is the environmental setting of
Aurora NC today the same as what you interpreted the environment to be in the
Miocene? Come up with at least two hypotheses to explain this. What can you infer about
the geologic history of the NC coastal plain?