Download - Mammoths & corals
Mammoths & CoralsMammoths & Corals
Paleontology
Let’s go explore Sugar Creek, Illinois
Back at base camp
A couple more clues…
Mammoth Skeleton
Mammoth reconstruction
Mammoth reconstruction
The Wooly Mammoth
What does the mammoth fossil tell us about past climates in Illinois?CLAIM:
EVIDENCE:
REASONING: Mammoths have physical features of animals adapted to colder environments, so the fossil mammoth found in Illinois sediments tell us that Illinois was colder 10,000 years ago.
Illinois had a colder climate in the past
10,000 year old mammoth fossils
Mammoths in Illinois
Pleistocene Epoch
18,000 years ago
Let’s go farther back in time
Explore the fossils at your tableUse the hand lensesUse the Illinois Fossil Sheet
In what kind of environment did these organisms live?
Tropical coral reefs
What do the coral fossils tell us about past environments in Illinois?CLAIM:
EVIDENCE:
REASONING: Corals live in warm, shallow oceans, so the fossil corals found in Illinois rocks tell us that Illinois used to be a warm, shallow ocean 450 million years ago.
Illinois used to be a warm shallow ocean
450 million year old coral fossils
Silurian Period - 455 million years ago
Ron Blakey
The world in the Silurian Period (455 million years ago)Red dot shows Chicago’s approximate location