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    Fossils for Kids: An Introduction to Paleontology
    Fossils for Kids: An Introduction to Paleontology
    Fossils for Kids: An Introduction to Paleontology
    Ebook398 pages2 hours

    Fossils for Kids: An Introduction to Paleontology

    By Dan R. Lynch

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    About this ebook

    Dig into the history of life with this children’s introduction to paleontology, complete with an identification section and “how to” instructions.

    As incredible as it sounds, fossils are all around us, waiting to be discovered. Become a young paleontologist. Learn all about ancient lifeforms preserved in rock. Dan R. Lynch, author of many Rocks & Minerals field guides, presents a kids’ introduction to fossils.

    Begin by learning about the early Earth and the process of fossilization. That’s followed by an identification guide to the most common and collectible fossils: crinoids, snail shells, shark teeth, and more. With full-color photographs and illustrations, you’ll always know what to look for. A “how to” section includes the details your family needs to begin a successful fossil hunt.

    You’ll also get information on everything from rock shop fossils and rules of collecting to dinosaur fossils and more. So learn to find, identify, and even collect the petrified forms of ancient organisms. Whether children see their first fossil at a museum or find their own fossil seashells, this easy-to-understand book is a perfect guide for beginners.

    Inside You’ll Find

    • “How to” section, including details on what to look for and where to look
    • The basics of paleontology and how fossils formed
    • Rules about what you can and can’t collect
    • Identification guide to common and collectible invertebrate fossils, such as trilobites, as well as common rock shop finds

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAdventure Publications
    Release dateApr 7, 2020
    ISBN9781591939405
    Fossils for Kids: An Introduction to Paleontology

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      Book preview

      Fossils for Kids - Dan R. Lynch

      ALL ABOUT FOSSILS

      The world is full of amazing plants and animals today, but before you or any other humans were born, Earth was once home to a wide variety of incredible plants and animals, including the mighty dinosaurs and the creepy-crawly trilobites. These animals lived millions of years ago—and then many died out. But we’ve never seen a living dinosaur, so how do we know what they looked like? The reason we know so much about ancient animals is because of their fossils.

      Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the most famous dinosaurs—it had powerful legs and huge jaws.

      Fossils are parts of dead plants and animals that have turned into minerals over a very long time. Some were left behind by animal varieties found today (such as sharks!), but many others are from types of animals that are extinct (long dead). We can find fossils all over the world by looking inside the right kinds of rocks. Common fossils include animal bones, teeth, and shells, as well as plant leaves and branches. By comparing fossils to living things, we can learn what ancient plants and animals looked like and learn about their lives, the environment they lived in, and even what they ate!

      Finding fossils helps give us an idea what ancient animals and plants might have looked like, including T. rex.

      But there are many other kinds of fossils! This jaw is from an ancient short-necked giraffe.

      Most fossils only show the hard parts of an animal, like this shell from an ammonite.

      TYPES OF FOSSILS

      There were lots of strange and amazing animals and plants that lived long ago. Some are no longer alive today, but some are still around! Here are just a few examples.

      The bones of a fossil stingray. Stingrays still swim in the sea today.

      A very old kind of fish, the paddlefish still exists today.

      These weird creatures are fossil trilobites. Once very common, they are all extinct (gone) today.

      These ancient ferns were trapped in mud.

      This isn’t a leaf, it’s actually a fossil feather from an ancient bird!

      This large fossil turtle shell is still attached to rock.

      Look at how this fossil branch of a sequoia tree looks almost exactly like a branch from a living sequoia!

      FOSSILS, THEN AND NOW

      One of the most amazing things about fossils is just how much they can tell us about ancient life. The best fossils are incredibly lifelike and can tell us a great deal about the plant or animal that produced them.

      Ichthyosaur (say it ick-thee-oh-sor) may look like a dolphin, but it was an ancient reptile that lived in the ocean and ate fish.

      The extinct pterosaur (say it tear-oh-soar) wasn’t a dinosaur. It was a flying reptile. Even though they look sort of like birds, they were very different.

      ABOUT ROCKS

      But how did ancient plants and animal bones get trapped in rocks? And how did they turn into minerals? Well, it didn’t happen quickly! To understand fossils, it helps to know about rocks, especially sedimentary rocks: the kinds of rocks fossils are found in.

      Rocks are the hard materials that make up the surface of the Earth. You walk on many kinds of rocks every day. But there are only three groups of rocks—igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Igneous rocks form when hot, melted rock from inside the earth cools off and hardens. Metamorphic rocks form when older rocks are heated up and squished deep inside the Earth, changing them into new rocks. But igneous rocks never have fossils, and metamorphic rocks only have them very rarely!

      IGNEOUS ROCKS

      Igneous rocks, like the granite on the left and the basalt on the right, form when hot melted rock (which comes from deep inside the Earth) cools off and hardens.

      Don’t bother looking for fossils in hard, tough rocks, like this granite.

      METAMORPHIC ROCKS

      Metamorphic rocks, like this gneiss (say it nice) and schist, form when older rocks are squished and heated inside the Earth, changing them into new kinds of rocks.

      You’ll almost never find fossils in the hard, tight layers of metamorphic rocks.

      SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

      If you want to find fossils, look for sedimentary rocks, which form when sediments stick together. Sediments are particles (tiny pieces) of stuff, like sand or mud. Sediments often form when rocks break down in the weather, like when rain or ice breaks little pieces off of rocks. But sediments can also be made of other things, such as the skeletons of tiny animals.

      Most sediments are so tiny that water moves them around easily. When lots of sediments settle, or sink, to the bottom of lakes and seas, they can make thick, flat layers called beds. As more and more heavy sediment builds up, it squashes the sediment below, making the lower sediment beds start to stick together and harden. Over time, they become a solid sedimentary rock. Different kinds of sediments make different kinds of sedimentary rocks!

      This photo was taken with a microscope. It shows a jumble of tiny diatoms, little animals too small to see without magnification. Their skeletons are made of minerals, and when they die, they become a kind of sediment, too!

      Sand is a common type of sediment. It is made up of tiny grains of broken rocks and minerals.

      When sediment like sand or mud flows into a lake or sea, it settles to the bottom and begins to build up.

      Over long periods of time, the sediment builds up in layers. Some are thicker than others, depending on things like weather and amount of rain.

      Eventually, lots of layers build up. The layers at the bottom get squished by all the weight on top of them and begin to compact and harden, becoming sedimentary rock.

      Sedimentary rocks form in layers, called beds, as sediment settles year after year. These cliffs are in England. See all the layers? There are lots of fossils in between them!

      This shale cliff (above) and these amazing sandstone hills (below) show just how many layers can form in sedimentary rocks.

      These are just a few examples of how some sedimentary rocks formed. Sedimentary rocks, such as sandstone, limestone, and shale, are almost always the only kinds of rocks that have fossils in them.

      MINERALS

      All rocks, including sedimentary rocks and fossils, have minerals in them. Minerals are special chemicals that have hardened. There are lots of different minerals, and each one is made of a different combination of natural chemicals. Deep inside the earth where it is very hot, minerals can dissolve, or disappear, into hot water. When that water moves around and cools off, the minerals dissolved in it are left behind and they harden again. As minerals harden, they become crystals, and each mineral makes a crystal of a different shape.

      Quartz can also form as tiny crystals inside the cavities, or holes, in rock. It got there when water with quartz in it flowed into the holes and cooled off.

      Quartz (say it kwarts) is the most common mineral on Earth’s surface. It can form beautiful glassy, pointed crystals.

      Rocks and minerals are very different. Minerals are made of

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