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Grade 9 · Science · Earth and Space Science

9th grade Why the fossil record has gaps, and what fossils say about past environments worksheet

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Why the fossil record has gaps, and what fossils say about past environments

Grade 9 Science Worksheet

NameDate

Circle the best answer.

  1. Minerals from groundwater fill the tiny pores in a buried bone. What is this process called, by Bo's reading (NPS)?

    • Freezing
    • Carbonization
    • Permineralization
    • Making a trace fossil

  2. Sediment fills the inside of a shell, and the shell later dissolves. What do NPS paleontologists call the stony filling, by Jun's reading?

    • A coprolite
    • A trackway
    • A mold
    • A steinkern

  3. NPS: in the Badlands, Cretaceous marine fossils lie below Paleogene fossils of land mammals. What change does this show, by Kira's reading?

    • The area stayed the same
    • The area changed from sea to land
    • The mammals lived in the sea
    • The area changed from land to sea

  4. NPS: trace fossils are very rarely moved from where they formed. Why does that make them good clues to past environments, by Luz's reading?

    • They show the animal's bones and teeth in fine detail
    • They are carried in from other places
    • They form long before body fossils
    • They record activity right where the animal lived

  5. “Cross-section:” Model layer K holds coral and shell fossils; layer L above it holds fossil leaves and tree roots. What does this suggest, by Milo's reading?

    • A sea gave way to land with plants
    • Land gave way to a sea
    • Both layers formed in a desert
    • Corals grew among the trees on land

  6. a riverbank with mud and a dry hillside. NPS: fossils of birds and flying insects are fairly rare, except some water birds. Why, by Noah's reading?

    • Their light bodies fossilize easily in open air
    • Their fossils turn into casts and vanish
    • They lived too recently to fossilize
    • They seldom lived where sediment buries remains fast

  7. A sandstone layer shows ripple marks and footprints of model animal Z. What kind of setting fits, by Ren's reading?

    • Inside a glacier
    • Wet sand at a shore or riverbank
    • Deep inside the mantle
    • A high, dry peak

  8. Model layers hold fossil A below and fossil C above, with no B between. Fossil B is found elsewhere from that time. What best explains the gap, by Tala's reading?

    • B did not live at that time
    • Conditions here did not preserve B
    • B lived here and left fossils elsewhere instead
    • The record here must be complete

  9. a riverbank with mud and a dry hillside. Why are upland animals rarer in the fossil record than river animals, by Zee's reading (NPS)?

    • Few animals lived in uplands
    • Upland animals had no hard parts
    • Upland fossils turn into casts and vanish
    • Uplands get little new sediment to bury remains

  10. A layer of model lake mud preserves feathers, skin and leaves in fine detail. What does NPS call this rare kind of site, by Ari's reading?

    • A Lagerstätte
    • A steinkern
    • A trackway
    • A trackway of footprints
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9th grade Why the fossil record has gaps, and what fossils say about past environments worksheet – printable
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About this worksheet

Explain how fossils form, why the record has gaps, and what fossils show. Every version has 10 questions, and the answer key prints on the second page.

What your child will learn

  • I can explain why fossils are rare (fast burial and hard parts raise the odds) and why the record has gaps.
  • I can tell molds, casts, steinkerns, permineralized fossils, preserved remains and trace fossils apart.
  • I can read past environments from fossils and rock, including sea fossils on mountains, and read a gap as missing preservation.

Standard: none (TX)

Words to know

mold: A three-dimensional print a hard part leaves in sediment

cast: Sediment or minerals filling a mold in the shape of the part

trace fossil: A record of activity, such as a footprint or burrow

permineralization: Minerals filling the pores of buried bone or wood

Lagerstätte: A rare site with fine detail, soft tissue or many fossils

Common mistakes

Your child made fossils sound common. NPS: the odds of any one living thing becoming a fossil are very small, so the fossil record is incomplete.

Your child expected remains to fossilize without help. NPS: rapid burial and hard parts (shells, bones, teeth, wood) greatly raise the odds.

Your child swapped mold and cast. NPS: a mold is the hollow print a hard part leaves in sediment; a cast is the filling that takes its shape; a steinkern is an internal cast.

Questions parents ask

What is the most common mistake with why the fossil record has gaps, and what fossils say about past environments?

Your child made fossils sound common. NPS: the odds of any one living thing becoming a fossil are very small, so the fossil record is incomplete.

Are these 9th grade science worksheets free to print?

Yes. All 6 printable versions at each level are free to print, with the answer key, and no account is needed.

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