Apologia General Science, Module 7, The Fossil Record

►What we did at Sahm-I-Am

Students
• Quizlet M7
• Look through these pictures to review types of fossils.

Parents/Educators
• Petrified Paper
• Three-Dimensional Geology
See these and more at Debbie's Educator's Resources.  (Thanks, Debbie!)
• Homemade playdough for exp. 7.1 (video)
• Example of making fossils for exp. 7.1 (video)
• Leaf Impressions (model for carbon remains or impressions)


(1) p. 161-163, The Making of Fossils Part 1:  Casts and Molds
You may know what a jello mold is, or if you've ever played with play-do, you may have pressed it into a mold.
The mold is like the hollow imprint that you pour the jello into or press the play-do into.
A cast is the result you get from something being poured in, creating a copy of the shape of the mold.
Learn about real-life molds and casts.



►How molds and casts are sometimes made.  Part 1, Part 2


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(2) p. 164-165, The Making of Fossils Part 2:  Petrifaction






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(3) p. 165b-166, The Making of Fossils Part 3:  Carbonate Residues and Impressions

I can find no videos for this, so here are a few pictures. 

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(4) p. 167-170, The Making of Fossils Part 4:  Avoiding Decomposition
Insects and other small animals can be trapped in amber, a kind of resin that is a sticky sap that hardens when exposed to air.
You will see that these amber-encased insects in this video are labeled as millions of years old.  However, we believe in a young earth - about 6,000 years old.

If insects trapped in amber WERE millions of years old, this would be evidence of NO evolution, since the "million" year old insects look just like today's insects.

If all living organisms descended from the same primitive life form, then the rock strata of the earth should be filled with the fossilized remains of animals that were once part of a great evolutionary chain.  There should be fossils in multiple stages of evolution.
The "missing links" are non-existent.


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(5) p. 170-175, Three General Features of the Fossil Record

1.  Most fossils are found in sedimentary rock.  Since most sedimentary rock is laid down by water, it follows that most fossils were laid down by water as well.
Igneous rock is formed from magma, and most creatures trapped in magma are most likely to be burned up, so it isn't common to have fossils in igneous rock.
2.  Nearly 95% of all fossils on this planet are the fossils of clams and other hard-shelled organisms.  Most of the remaining fossils are of either water-dwelling creatures or insects.  Only a tiny fraction of the fossils we find are of plants, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
3.  The fossil record contains the remains of some plants and animals which are still living today.  Some of the fossils we find are of plants and animals which are now extinct.






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(6) p. 175b-176, A Fourth General Feature of the Fossil Record

4.  The fossils found in one layer of stratified rock can be considerably different than the fossils found in another layer of the same stratified rock.

Trilobite images

The most common trilobite fossils are cast fossils.
They are found in the Grand Canyon's layers above the Great Unconformity.  Fossils of worms are found in the three strata directly above the Great Unconformity, and fossils of common fish we see today are found in the the top layer.
The answer to why these different types of fossils are in different strata is found in comparing catastrophism and uniformitarianism.

►See some trilobite molds and casts.

► Look through these pictures to review types of fossils from this module.

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(7) p. 176-179, Geology and Paleontology from the Uniformitarian Viewpoint
The assumption of uniformitarianism is best summed up with the phrase, "The present is the key to the past."  In other words, uniformitarianists assume that how things are occurring today are how they have always happened.  The "uniform" in the word implies something stays the same.
There are many instances of local destructive floods that show that strata is indeed laid down by water.  Some instances are large-scale, however not as large as what the Flood caused in the Grand Canyon.  But they are great examples that geography can undergo vast changes in a short period of time.  We wouldn't want the Flood to happen again of course!  And in Genesis 9:11, God promised it wouldn't.


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(8) p. 179-182, Geology and Paleontology from the Catastrophist Viewpoint
If rivers carve out huge canyons over millions of years, and if the earth were billions of years old, then every river, stream, and creek should be a Grand Canyon by now.