Specimens from Dino Works
Friday, July 7, and
Saturday, July 8, 2006, we presented Dino
Works activities at Wonder Works. If you want more information about the fossils
we collected that day, please click on the specimen names:
Dinosaur
bone from South Dakota and Utah
The dinosaur bones
we gave away at Dino Works are small pieces broken off of much
larger dinosaur bones. The dinosaurs lived for than 65 million years
ago, and their bones were buried by river mud and
sand soon after they died. Once erosion finally unburied the
bones, they were broken up into pieces. They probably broke as
water seeped into cracks in the bone, froze in winter, and made the
cracks wider and wider.
Some
of the bones came from South Dakota and are about 67 million years
old. The came from dinosaurs that lived at the end of dinosaur
times, like Triceratops and duck-billed dinosaurs. These
younger bones still have holes in them. Other bones are from
dinosaurs that lived about 150 million years ago
in what we now call Utah. With these older bones, what were once holes inside the bone
are now filled with minerals like quartz and jasper.
The
time when the South Dakota dinosaurs lived is called the Cretaceous Era. Go
here to learn more about the dinosaurs these bones could have come
from:
< http://www.northern.edu/natsource/EARTH/Dinosa1.htm
>
The
time when the Utah dinosaurs lived is called the Jurassic Era. Go
here to learn more about the dinosaurs these bones could have come from:
< http://geology.utah.gov/utahgeo/dinofossil/dinojur.htm
>
Fossil
shark and ray teeth from Africa
These
tan and light-brown fossilized teeth came from the phosphate mines of Morocco (a country
in northwestern Africa). They are 50 to 70 million years old. The oldest ones came from sharks that lived during dinosaur
times.
We
haven't found a kid-friendly Web site about these fossil teeth, but
here's an online fossil shop that has photos and information about
common types of shark teeth found in Morocco:
< http://www.megalodonteeth.com/html/moroccan.html
>
This online fossil shop also has lots of photos of Moroccan shark
teeth (although it's kind of hard to use):
< http://www.buriedtreasurefossils.com/Morocco_Shark_Teeth_Catalog.htm
>
In
the Chicago area, you can small plastic boxes with 23 to 30 of these
teeth in many museum gift shops and at Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop
in Evanston:
< http://www.davesdowntoearthrockshop.com/
>
You
can buy Moroccan shark teeth by the pound from online fossil dealers
like Sharky's Shop or on
EBay.
The
dark-gray and black fossils of shark and ray teeth were collected in
Florida.
The
most common fossils found in our gravel were sharp, slicing teeth from
sharks and flat, crushing teeth from rays.
Some children also found stingray stingers, bits of bone and
shell, spiral-shaped snail fossils, teeth or bones from bony fish,
like barracudas or drum fish, or from alligators.
Some
of these fossils were from fish that lived during Ice Age times (from
10,000 to about 2 million years ago), and some were even older than
that.
However, none are as old as the dinosaurs.
We
bought the fossil-rich black pebbles from FossilWeb.com,
where they are called "Paleo Pebbles." You
can buy Florida shark teeth by the pound from online fossil dealers
like Sharky's Shop or on
EBay.
Kids collect two colors of fossil sea
life at Wonder Works: Reddish fossils that were about 350
million years old, and gray fossils that were about 450 million years
old.
Reddish
fossils
The small, reddish fossils at Dino Day
were 350-million-year-old sea animals. We collected the reddish
fossils in south-central Indiana on hilltops and along the shores of Lake Monroe.
The most common reddish fossils were pieces of stem from crinoid
animals:
|
Crinoids
are sometimes called sea lilies, but they are actually
animals related to sea stars. Broken stems of crinoids
look like beads. |
 |
Here's a Web page with
more information about fossil crinoids:
< http://www.uky.edu/KGS/fossils/crinoid.htm
>
To learn more about the
reddish fossils, please go to this web page:
< http://www.saltthesandbox.org/campfire/FossilHunt.htm
>
Gray
fossils
The gray-collected fossils
at Dino Day were 450 million year old sea animals. We collected
the gray fossils from roadside cliffs in southeastern Indiana.
The most common gray fossils were brachiopod shells and bryozoan
colonies. This web page has pictures and scientific names of
brachiopods:
< http://www.geocities.com/atrypa/brach6.html
>
This web page has pictures and
scientific names of byrozoans:
< http://drydredgers.org/bryo1.htm
>
Our fossil plants were
found in coal mines about 50 miles southeast of Chicago, in an area
known as Mazon Creek. Tree-sized ferns, giant club mosses, and
many other plants lived here during the Coal Age, about 300 million
years ago. The Mazon Creek area is also well known for the many
types of animals preserved as fossils -- including soft animals like
jellyfish and worms.
Unfortunately, there
aren't any Mazon Creek websites developed especially for
children. Visit these websites to see pictures and learn more
about Mazon Creek Fossils:
< http://www.fossilnews.com/2000/mazon/mazon.html
>
< http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/mazon_creek/
>
< http://esconi.org/IDNR%20MC%20Info.htm
>
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