OpenStax-CNX module: m20280
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Fossils
∗
Siyavula Uploaders
This work is produced by OpenStax-CNX and licensed under the
†
Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0
1 NATURAL SCIENCES
2 Grade 8
3 BIODIVERSITY
4 Module 24
5 FOSSILS
Fossils are the remains of dead plants, animals, bacteria and other life forms that lived millions of years ago
and were then petried.
Fossils are the petried remains of organisms, e.g. teeth, bones, bark or shells. They may also be the
tracks or waste products of organisms.
1. When an animal or organism dies, the soft parts decay rst. The rest is buried below the sand or in
mud.
2. Over millions of years, chemical changes and the intense pressure of overlying layers result in the
petrication of these remains.
3. Water that seeps through such remains also eects changes. Petried forms are retained very well.
4. Movement of the earth plates brings fossils to the surface.
5.1 Activity: TO DO RESEARCH ON THE FORMING OF FOSSILS
What is a palaeontologist?
What does SA law say about fossils? www.ru.ac.za/pssa/pssalaw.html1
5.2 ASSIGNMENT: Draw a ow diagram to illustrate the process by which fossils are formed.
Assessment of the ow diagram:
Were you able to draw a meaningful ow diagram of the fossilisation process?
[ LO 2.2]
Adaptations Fossils
∗ Version
1.1: Mar 12, 2009 8:22 am -0500
† http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
1 http://www.ru.ac.za/pssa/pssalaw.html
http://cnx.org/content/m20280/1.1/
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5.3 Activity: TO INTERPRET INFORMATION
Study the following sketches of fossils and try to make deductions concerning their feeding and locomotion:
Figure 1
Skull of a primitive amphibian
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OpenStax-CNX module: m20280
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Figure 2
Brachiopod shells in a 500 300 million year-old marine deposit
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Figure 3
Skull of a South African dinosaur (
Mossospondylus)
Figure 4
A y found in the 90 million years old deposits of the Orapa diamond crater (Botswana)
Assessment of deduction:
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Could you make correct deductions from the pictures of fossils?
[ LO 2.3]
6 Assessment
Learning outcomes 2: Constructing Science Knowledge
The learner will know and be able to interpret and apply scientic, technological and environmental
knowledge.
This is evident when the learner
• is able to categorise information
• is able to interpret information
7 Memorandum
Class activity: SKETCHES of FOSSILS
• Find sources of information on fossils, palaeontologists and excavations.
• www.ru.ac/za/pssa/pssalaw.hrml - fossils and SA law
http://cnx.org/content/m20280/1.1/