Fossil is evidence of pre-existing life which has been preserved in different kind of rocks on earth. The definition of a fossil includes not only the remains of organisms, but tracks, footprints, imprints, etc. It can be difficult to differentiate between a fossil, and something that is just a dead plant or animal. In this lab you will see the different types of preservation that you will come across during this course.
Neuropteris (leaf)
Preservation: Impression
L1-30: Angiosperm leaf.
Preservation: Impression
Coal a compression of many plant fossils.
L1-26: Spore coal
Age: Pennsylvanian from Michigan. The coal is composed of masses of megaspores.
L1-25: Paper coal. Age: Pennsylvanian from Indiana.
L1-24: Lignite coal.
L1-1: Glyptostrobus on vocanic ash, from Smoky Tower, AB.
Age: Paleocene. Paskapoo Formation. Compression.
L1-5: Vegetative Azolla on volcanic ash.
Age: Eocene. From Princeton, BC.
Compression.
L1-6: Leaf of Betula and Zelkova. From Smithers, BC. Age: Eocene. Compression on volcanic ash.
Peels of cuticle
Conifer wood, petrified. Age: Cretaceous from Alberta.
L1-60: Silicified petrification .
“Opalized”
L1-50: Permineralized root called Stigmaria.
L1-82: Sigillaria approximata.
Peel
Wood – unaltered remains
L1-71: Pinus cones from the Miocene, N. Yukon.
Unaltered remains.
L1-70: Part of a Pinus cone and cone scales
unaltered remains.
Miocen, N. Yukon.
L1-39: Cast of Cercidiphyllum fruits. Age: Paleocene.
Burbank, Alberta.
L1-38: Trigonocarpus – seed cast
Age: Paleocene, Paskapoo Fm.
Burbank, Alberta.
L1-37: Lepidodendron – leaf scars.
Age: Pennsylvanian from Hardinsbury, Illinois. This kind of preservation is called a “Mold”.
Stigmaria is an underground rootlike structure of Lepidodendrales, showing pattern of rootlet scars. (Preservation type: cast)
L1-75: Amber from the Oligocene-Miocene. Chiapas – Mexico.
L1-74: Resin from Douglas Fir (extant).
L1-78: Stromatolite, from Wyoming. Example of a chemical fossil
L1-77: Stromatolite from Tindle Limestone, Manitoba, Ordovician. Chemical fossil
L1-80: Oolitic limestones
L1-79: Dendrites of manganese oxid, from Genesee, AB. Age Eocene. A false fossil.