Scioly.org

Jillferret12345 wrote:ok i am in need of some fossil help which is why I am here. What are some things that you must know by heart cause I am pretty fast with my binder.

It'd be helpful to know most of the periods and times in the geologic time scale.

Its easiest if you can identify everything, or at least nearly everything, from memory, but that may not be realistic. I find one or two features that make a fossil easy to identify. Like Phacops has large eyes, while isotelus is big and has a small middle lobe.

gneissisnice wrote:Its easiest if you can identify everything, or at least nearly everything, from memory, but that may not be realistic. I find one or two features that make a fossil easy to identify. Like Phacops has large eyes, while isotelus is big and has a small middle lobe.

yeah, thats what i did...and it might help to memorize the geologic time scale and some index fossils...maybe sedimentary rocks?

soobsession wrote:

gneissisnice wrote:Its easiest if you can identify everything, or at least nearly everything, from memory, but that may not be realistic. I find one or two features that make a fossil easy to identify. Like Phacops has large eyes, while isotelus is big and has a small middle lobe.

yeah, thats what i did...and it might help to memorize the geologic time scale and some index fossils...maybe sedimentary rocks?

good... i already do...

It also helps if you know most of the concepts (like mode of life, Types of dating, and types of fossilization) by heart

It also helps to know which fossils on the fossil list are index fossils and what time period that index fossil represents

And when they appeared first is also really crucial.

How important is the distribution of different fossils?
I'm having a lot of trouble finding where certain fossils can be found. I know the Smithsonian handbook has stuff on it (that's the book we have) but what about the stuff that is not in there?
Internet searches haven't been very good for finding this stuff.

It's very important you know where certain fossils originated from.

Or research the most famous fossil formations (La Brea Tar Pits or Grey Fossil Site) and from there figure out what was found there and then figure what time period that area is
Example:
Grey Fossil Site: Miocene epoch, wooly mammoth skeleton