Digging Up Plant Fossils

Digging Up Plant Fossils — page 1 — THE BEGINNING OF PLANTS A plant can be many different things like a flower bush or tree Over 440 million years ago the first plants appeared on land Scientists believe that they evolved from green algae It ALGAE FLOATING IN WATER took a long time for the first plants to become the flowers bushes and trees that you know today Explore More ALGAE LIVE MOSTLY IN WATER THE FIRST PLANTS PROBABLY LIVED IN WATER TOO 4

Digging Up Plant Fossils — page 2 — How can we know what happened millions of years ago Fossils A fossil is the remains of something that died a long time ago Scientists can study plant fossils to learn what plants used to be like and how they have changed over the years A FOSSIL LIKE THIS OAK LEAF MAY BE HUNDREDS THOUSANDS OR MILLIONS OF YEARS OLD LIVING OAK LEAVES 5

Digging Up Plant Fossils — page 3 — A PLANT BECOMES A FOSSIL There are a few steps to making a plant fossil First the plant is buried in sediment when it dies Plant fossils are often found near bodies of water where there's a lot of moving sediment such as lakes and rivers Then over many years the sediment turns to rock This preserves the plant inside Plant fossils aren't as common as animal fossils The plant fossils found most often include pollen spores and large woody plants that don't break down easily Scientists have found fruit and seed fossils too 6

Digging Up Plant Fossils — page 4 — THE PARTS OF A PLANT Apical bud Flower Leaf Leaf blade Stem Shoot system Fruit Branch -Bud -Node Primary root Root system Secondary ANY PART OF A PLANT CAN BECOME A FOSSIL BUT SOME PARTS ARE MORE LIKELY TO FOSSILIZE THAN OTHERS root Explore More FOSSILS ARE NOT COMMON WHEN MOST PLANTS OR ANIMALS DIE THEY EITHER BREAK DOWN OR ARE EATEN BY ANOTHER ANIMAL 7

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