Name: ____________________________________________ Date: ______________ Hour: _________

Fossils Worksheet
Use your Fossil Notes and Index Fossil Notes to help you.

1. What are the two main categories of fossils? __________________ and _________________

2. Write which category each example would fit into: (Hint: Your answer should be one of
the words above.)

a) skeleton of a dodo bird: ___________________________

b) impression of leaves: __________________________

c) burrow of a small mammal: _______________________

d) pile of dinosaur dung: _______________________

e) shark tooth: _________________________

f) bite marks from a saber tooth cat: ____________________

g) a whole wooly mammoth found in ice: ______________________

3. What type of rock are fossils found in? ________________________________________

4. If there were a fossil in a rock that turned into igneous rock, what would happen to

the fossil? __________________________________________________________________________

5. To be considered a fossil, how old must the remains be? _____________________________

(Remember – no naked numbers! Include a unit!)

6. Do we have fossil evidence of all life that has ever existed on Earth? __________

7. It is _______________________________ (easy or hard) for an organism to become a part of

the fossil record.

8. Write yes or no to indicate whether the options apply to index fossils or not:

a) __________ the organisms lived during a particular, short time period

b) __________ the organisms lived over a long span of time

c) __________ found in sedimentary rock

d) __________ found in igneous rocks

e) __________ three criteria

f) __________ easily recognized

g) __________ not very many of the organisms existed

h) __________ found on only one or two continents

 i) __________ can be used to correlated rock layers across many miles

j) __________ can be used to help find relative age

k) __________ can be used to help find absolute age

l) __________ can be used to determine the age of unknown fossils

m) __________ can be used to define periods of geological time

n) __________ can be used to find natural resources (oil, coal, gem stones, etc.)

0) __________ also called type fossils

p) __________ also called key fossils

q) __________ also called layered fossils

r) __________ trilobites are an example

s) __________ ferns are an example

t) __________ ammonites are an example

Figure 1:
Outcrop Outcrop Outcrop
#1 #2 #3

1 2 4 1 2 4 1 5 9
5 7 5 6 2 8 6 7 9
1 3 6 5 5 5 4 8 9
7 3 4 3 2 4 1 6 9
Answer the following questions about the fossils in Figure 1.

9. Widespread fossils will be found in each ______________________________ and short lived

fossils will be found in ______________ layer(s) per outcrop.

10. Fossil 1: Is it widespread? _______ Is it short lived? _______ Is it an index fossil? ______

11. Fossil 2: Is it widespread? _______ Is it short lived? _______ Is it an index fossil? ______

12. Fossil 3: Is it widespread? _______ Is it short lived? _______ Is it an index fossil? ______
13. Fossil 4: Is it widespread? _______ Is it short lived? _______ Is it an index fossil? ______

14. Fossil 5: Is it widespread? _______ Is it short lived? _______ Is it an index fossil? ______

15. Fossil 6: Is it widespread? _______ Is it short lived? _______ Is it an index fossil? ______

16. Fossil 7: Is it widespread? _______ Is it short lived? _______ Is it an index fossil? ______

17. Fossil 8: Is it widespread? _______ Is it short lived? _______ Is it an index fossil? ______

18. Fossil 9: Is it widespread? _______ Is it short lived? _______ Is it an index fossil? ______

Figure 2:

19. In Figure 2, correlate the rock layers by drawing arrows between like fossils.
Label the age of the layers on the arrows that you can determine from the reading.
(Hint: There should be three arrows drawn and two should be labelled.)

20. The fossils in layer C3 are _____ myo. Figure 2: Absolute dating was used to detemined the age of
some fossils below. The fossil in layer C3 is 5 myo. The fossil
21. The fossils in later M3 are _____ myo.
in layer M3 is 6 myo. Circle the names of the states below.
22. Layer _______ is the same age as C3.

23. Layer _______ is the same age as C4.

C1 M1
24. The relative age of C1 is _______.
a. older than M1. M2
C2
b. younger than M1.
M3
c. about 3 myo.
d. about 7 myo. C3
M4
25. The absolute age of C1 is _______. C4 M5
a. older than M1.
b. younger than M1. M6
C5
c. about 3 myo. Maine
California
d. about 7 myo.

26. Which outcrop (California or Maine) has the oldest layer? _________________________

27. Which layer in Figure 2 is the youngest? __________

28. The fossil in layer M2 would need to be between _______ and ______ million years old.

29. Layer C2 is ________________________ layer M4. (younger than, older than, or the same age as)

30. Layer M6 is ________________________ layer C5. (younger than, older than, or the same age as)

31. Layer C3 is ________________________ layer M3. (younger than, older than, or the same age as)
Figure 3:
Location Y:
Location X:

Fossil Fossil Fossil Fossil

#1 #2 #3 #4

Fossil Fossil
#5 #6

32. How many outcrops are in Figure 3? _____________

33. How many layers are shown for Location X? ______________

34. How many layers are shown for Location Y? _____________

35. To find the index fossil, write the best choice below to describe each fossil:

not widespread not short lived is an index fossil

Fossil #1: ____________________________________________________________________

Fossil #2: ____________________________________________________________________

Fossil #3: ____________________________________________________________________

Fossil #4: ____________________________________________________________________

Fossil #5: ____________________________________________________________________

Fossil #6: ____________________________________________________________________

36. Now that you found the index fossil, you can ___________________________ the layers,
which means to match them up. (Draw an arrow between these two layers.)

37. Layers ________ and _________ correlate, which means they are the same ____________.

38. Now that the layers have been correlated, circle the layer in each pair that is older:

D and L F and M F and G A and G C and J B and M

Figure 4:

Use Figure 4 to answer questions 39 – 46:

39. Write which continent(s) the following fossils were found on: (not all are listed)

a) fern: ____________________________________________________________________________

b) trilobite: ________________________________________________________________________

c) ammonite: ______________________________________________________________________

40. Write how many layers at site 3 each fossil was found in:

a) ammonite: __________ c) gastropod: __________ e) crinoid: __________

b) fern: __________ d) trilobite: __________

41. What is the index fossil? _______________________________ (Write the name of the organism.)
Hint: Remember - cross out those not wide spread (those not in every column) and those not short
lived (those in more than one layer per outcrop).

42. Layers _________, __________, and __________ are all the same age.

43. The oldest layer is letter __________. The youngest layer is __________.

44. Layer F is _______________________ than layer J. (older or younger)

45. Layer H is _______________________ than layer D. (older or younger)

46. Layer B is _______________________ than layer K. (older or younger)

 Use the following words or abbreviations for the ways fossils can form.
For each statement below, choose the way that is best represented.

Mold = mold Cast = cast Min. = Mineralization

Carb. = Carbonization OM = Original Material

47. __________ leaves often fossilized this way

48. __________ an indentation in the rock; like a hole

49. __________ an impression on the rock

50. __________ fossil films

51. __________ tissues replaced

52. __________ liquids and gasses are pressed out

53. __________ whole organism or structure preserved

54. __________ sediments form around the organism

55. __________ ice, amber, tar pits and bogs

56. __________ filled in with sediments

57. __________ filled in with minerals

58. __________ scientists make with plaster

59. __________ uses another fossil

60. __________ petrified wood

61. __________ fish are often fossilized this way

62. __________ black or dark brown mark

~~~ BONUS ~~~ BONUS ~~~ BONUS ~~~ BONUS ~~~ BONUS ~~~ BONUS ~~~

1. What is a coprolite? _________________________________________________________________

2. Look at Figure 3 - Is Layer B an extrusion or intrusion? ______________________________

How do you know? (Hint: Look at your Stratigraphy Notes.) _________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

3. Write the four steps from our notes, IN ORDER, that must take place for an organism
to become a part of the fossil record: (Be careful! Look how the blanks are numbered!)

1) ___________________________________ 3) ___________________________________

2) ___________________________________ 4) ___________________________________