Question

bio lab palentology questions

Lab 11: The Witte il An Introduction to Paleontology 1. Paleontology at the Witte: Paleontology is the study of fossils. Traditionally, multiple subdisciplines can be defined. For example, Paleobotany is the study of fossil plants, Paleodimatology is the study of ancient climates, and Palynology is the study of fossil pollen and spores. Paleontology differs from Archaeologyas the former includes the study of modern humans. Paleontology utilizes techniques from a wide range of scientific disciplines including geology, biochemistry, mathematics, and engineering. The use of these techniques has enabled paleontologists to discover many details regarding the origin of life. For example, the use of radiocarbon dating has allowed scientists to date layers of rock and, as a result, the fossils they contain Another discipline within Paleontology is Ichnology. This branch of Paleontology is the study of fossilized tracks and footprints. Studies utilizing Ichnology can tell us a lot about the behavior of extinct animals and how they, may have, moved. 1. If you were observing fossil footprints, what could the distance between the left and right track or the distance between 2 left or 2 right tracks tell us? 2. If you observe multiple tracks from the same organism in one location, what could this tell us about the behavior of that organism? 3. Texas was once part of the Boquillas formation. In terms of the history of Texas, what is unique about the Boquillas formation? When did this formation occur? 4. What was unique about Texas approximately 105, Bo, and 73 million years ago?

that is the entire lab i did not leave anything out ~

Answer 1

INTRODUCTION

• The fossils of footprints, coprolites (animal dung) and gastroliths (Stomach stones) and burrows are known as "Trace Fossils." Which, instead of physically being part of an animal (such as it's bones), trace fossils are what an animal left behind millions of years ago.
• A trace fossil is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, which are the fossilized remains of parts of organisms' bodies, usually altered by later chemical activity or mineralization. Ichnology is the study of such trace fossils and is the work of ichnologists.

1. ANSWER - Paleontologists measure several different features of fossil footprints. The length and width of a track as well as the lengths of the impressions of digits (fingers or toes) provide basic data on foot morphology (shape and structure). Additional measurements are made of trackways, including step, stride, trackway width, and pace angle. Step is the distance between two consecutive (left and right) tracks. Stride is the distance between two tracks made by the same foot. Trackway width is the measure of the entire width of the trackway. Pace angle is the angle between two consecutive step lengths. These measurements offer information regarding the posture and speed of the track-making animal. For example, animals that make tracks with relatively short strides and wide straddles generally have a sprawled posture and carry themselves close to the ground, like lizards and crocodilians. Conversely, animals that make tracks with relatively long strides and narrow straddles usually have an upright posture and walk with their legs held straight under their bodies. Animals that walk with an upright posture include dinosaurs, elephants, and humans.
2. ANSWER - Fossil tracks can provide different types of information about the lives of the animals that made them. By examining the shapes of tracks, researchers learn about the characteristics of the track-maker's feet. By measuring trackways (series of at least three consecutive tracks), researchers learn about the posture of animals and how they moved. And by analyzing multiple trackways, researchers can find clues about how ancient animals interacted with each other.
3. ANSWER - The Boquillas Formation is a geologic formation deposited during the Late Cretaceous in modern-day West Texas. It is typically composed of alternating marls and limestones with thin volcanic ash beds (bentonites). The term Boquillas Formation has been used for rocks that outcrop from Del Rio, Texas to as far west as Doña Ana County, New Mexico. Vertebrate fossils found in the Boquillas Formation include mosasaurs, fish bones, and shark's teeth.

• The upper lower Cenomanian through middle Santonian (Upper Cretaceous) of the Boquillas Formation in the Big Bend Region of Trans-Pecos Texas consists of a marine carbonate succession deposited at the southern end of the Western Interior Seaway. The Boquillas Formation, subdivided into the lower, c. 78 m thick limestone-shale Ernst Member, and the upper, c. 132 m thick limestone/chalk/marl San Vicente Member, was deposited in a shallow shelf open marine environment at the junction between the Western Interior Seaway and the western margins of the Tethys Basin. Biogeographically, the area was closely tied with the southern Western Interior Seaway. The richly fossiliferous upper Turonian, Coniacian and lower Santonian parts of the Boquillas Formation are particularly promising for multistratigraphic studies.
• The Boquillas formation occur in the Late Cretaceous.

4. ANSWER - Many different sorts of fossils are found in Texas. Among these fossils are the preserved bones and tracks of dinosaurs.

• Texas's dinosaurs—like all dinosaurs—lived during the Mesozoic Era of geological time, from 248 to 65 million years ago. This geological division, in turn, is made up of three periods: Texas's Triassic rock deposits are all from what are called Late Triassic times, 225 to 220 million years ago. Texas has lots of Cretaceous rock deposits. Some of those, from what are called Early Cretaceous times, are found exposed on the surface in a broad belt that runs through central Texas. The second "batch" of Texas dinosaurs is found in such rocks, from about 119 to 95 million years ago. Dinosaur tracks and fossil bones are found at many different locations within this belt of rocks. The third "batch" of Texas dinosaurs comes from Late Cretaceous rocks. Such rocks lie exposed on the surface in a belt next to the Early Cretaceous rocks and also in several areas in West Texas. So far, dinosaurs have been found only in the Big Bend region of West Texas, in rocks that are 75 to 65 million years old.

1) the Triassic Period, lasting from 248 to 208 million years ago

2) the Jurassic Period, lasting from 208 to 144 million years ago and

3) the Cretaceous Period, lasting from 144 to 65 million years ago.

5. ANSWER - Deinosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodilian related to the modern alligator that lived 82 to 73 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period.

• It was estimated in 1999 that the size attained by specimens of Deinosuchus varied from 8 to 10 m (26 to 33 ft) with weights from 2.5 to 5 t (2.8 to 5.5 short tons). This was later corroborated when it was noted that most known specimens of D. rugosus usually had skulls of about 1 m (3.3 ft) with estimated total lengths of 8 m (26 ft) and weights of 2.3 t (2.5 short tons). A reasonably well-preserved skull specimen discovered in Texas indicated the animal's head measured about 1.31 m (4.3 ft), and its body length was estimated at 9.8 m (32 ft). However, the largest fragmentary remains of D. riograndensis were 1.5 times the size of those of the average D. rugosus and it was determined that the largest individuals of this species may have been up to 12 m (39 ft) in length and perhaps weighed as much as 8.5 t (9.4 short tons).
• Modern saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus) have the strongest recorded bite of any living animal, with a maximum force of 16,414 N (1,673.8 kgf; 3,690 lbf). The bite force of Deinosuchus has been estimated to be 18,000 N (1,835 kgf; 4,047 lbf) to 102,803 N (10,483 kgf; 23,111 lbf). It has been argued that even the largest and strongest theropod dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus, probably had bite forces inferior to that of Deinosuchus.

6. ANSWER - Quetzalcoatlus is a pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America and one of the biggest known flying animals of all time. It is a member of the family Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks. The first Quetzalcoatlus fossils were discovered   in Texas.

• All these animals were known to be predatory, although for a long time it was not known how they searched for prey. Quetzalcoatlus and kin were cast in the light of giant vultures that scavenged the carcasses of dinosaurs. They were also thought to have been skimmers, hunting for fish over freshwater systems. Despite this terrestrial hunting, Quetzalcoatlus and kin were incredible aeronauts. Like all flying reptiles, they launched off the ground in a four-footed leap.

7. ANSWER - These were two very large and deadly carnivores and were both the top predators of there time they did not meet and lived at different times but if some how some way they did end up meeting and wanted to fight each other for either food or territory then we need to see who had the more advantages in this situation.

• The largest Tyrannosaurus specimens are larger and more heavy than the Acrocanthosaurus skeleton. The largest T. rex Specimen we have is SUE. This animal is 12.3 meters long and is estimated to weigh 8 to 9 tons. While the Acrocanthosaurus is estimated to weigh around 6 to 7 tons and is around 11 meters long. So Tyranosaurus is the more robust and more heavy animal.
• Acrocanthosaurus lived about 10 million years ago, but the T.rex lived on earth about 65 million years ago.