Fossil Web-quest - A
______ / 40 Classwork
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Part 1 - Directions: Use the links on my website under “Antarctica Fossil Web-quest” to answer the following questions.
Please CITE YOUR SOURCES. The proper citations for each article can be found under the link description on the
website.
!!!!!!!!!!!!All of your answers must be written in complete sentences!!!!!!!!!!!
1. What were the first fossils in Antarctica (at least 2)? Where and when were they found?
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_____________________________________________________________Did you cite your answer Yes ____ No _____
2. What was the first dinosaur fossil found in Antarctica? Where and when was if found?
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_____________________________________________________________Did you cite your answer Yes ____ No _____
3. What dinosaur fossil was found on Vega Island in 1991?
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4. What are the two reasons the fossil found on Vega Island is of particular importance to understanding the climate and
location of Antarctica millions of years ago?
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_____________________________________________________________Did you cite your answer Yes ____ No _____
5. The first dinosaur fossil and the fossil found on Vega Island In 1991 (see your answer to 2 and 3) were representative
of what geologic time period?
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_____________________________________________________________Did you cite your answer Yes ____ No _____
6. What dinosaur fossil was found in the Transantarctic Mountains in the summer of 1990-1991? During what geologic
time period did this dinosaur live?
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_____________________________________________________________Did you cite your answer Yes ____ No _____
7. Why have so few dinosaur fossils been found in Antarctica?
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Conclusion: Do you agree with Wegener that Antarctica must have had a warmer climate millions of years ago? Do you
think that the information you have gathered about Antarctic fossils supports the theory of plate tectonics? Cite your
facts.
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_____________________________________________________________Did you cite your answer Yes ____ No _____
Part 2 – Use the link on my website called “Part 2” to complete the data table
Evidence:
Past Lives
1. growth rings in fossil trees or
shells
2. curled up fossil trilobites
3. the contents of fossil nests
4. fossils of many individuals of
the same species together
5. a change in the shape of a
feature over time
Geologic Time
1. layers in the rocks
2. index fossil
3. fossil shells on mountaintops
4. identical fossils on widely
separated continents
Paleoecology
1. fossil marine animals in the
desert
2. shapes of leaf edges
3. tooth marks in fossil shells
4. fossil pollen
Biodiversity
1. fossils of organism no longer
alive today
2. features that are shared by
more than one species
3. the extinction of m any fossil
species at the same time
4. the extinction of one group of
organism, like corals, on which
other organisms depend
What it tells us: