Supporting Sedimentary Rocks and Fossils

We have developed a range of educational resources available to support your visit to us, to use on site or

to use in the classroom before or after your trip.

In this pack you’ll find information and activities supporting Sedimentary Rocks and Fossils.

We’re always working on creating new resources for you to use with your students, so if there is a

particular topic you’d find helpful to have supporting resources for then please do let us know!

Educational Resources

Our supporting pack for Sedimentary Rocks and Fossils currently contains the following information and activities;

Tropical Dudley - life here 428 million years ago

Make your own ‘Dudley Sedimentary Strata Trifle’

Where do we find fossils?

An introduction to the fossils you can find in our caverns

Design your own trilobite in ‘Trilobite Roulette’

Try your hand at identifying fossils with our ‘Fossil ID Kit’

Key words list

Fossils Rock Supporting Sedimentary Rocks and Fossils

Tropical Dudley

If you were visiting Dudley 420 million years ago, you would have been swimming in a beau-tiful shallow tropical sea. Below you in the clear, warm water would have been a vast coral reef teeming with life. Scuttling around you would be hundreds of sea creatures- some of them familiar- some of them not so familiar!

There were so many sea creatures here because there was plenty of food for them to eat. The water was shallow enough for the sunlight to reach the sea floor, so plenty of algae and other sea life could grow quite happily here.

When these sea creatures died, they floated down onto the calm sea bed, and were slowly covered with silt, sand and mud as it settled in the still waters. Eventually the soft bits of the animals’ bodies rotted and disappeared, and the hard bits, their bones and shells, turned into rock. These rocks are called fossils.

By the time the first dinosaurs appeared 230 or so million years ago the sea creatures that lived here in Dudley were already fossils! We can learn a lot from fossils. We can tell how big the animals that lived hundreds of millions of years ago were, and we can learn what some of them looked like. We can also tell how some of the animals moved. Sometimes we can find imprints of plants and learn what they were like too.

Geologists have been studying the rocks found in the mines and caverns here in Dudley for hundreds of years. One famous Victorian geologist, Sir Roderick Murchison even gave an un-derground lecture about the fossils found in Dudley in the Seven Sisters mine (about a mile from Dudley Canal Tunnel and Limestone Mines!) in 1849. People came from as far as Ameri-ca to listen to his talks.

We know that Dudley was a shallow tropical sea 420 million years ago thanks to geologists like Sir Roderick looking closely at the limestone found here.


Make your own Dudley Sedimentary Strata Trifle to find out how sedimentary rocks are formed, and to discover what they can teach us about how environments can change over millions of years.

CAUTION: DELICIOUS!

Ingredients

1 pack of digestive biscuits 1 pack of bourbon biscuits or Oreos Butter (or dairy free spread) Lime Jelly Cubes Jelly Sweets (it’s best if they are shaped like animals!) 1 sachet of chocolate flavour Angel Delight Water Milk (or soya milk)

Equipment

A large see-through bowl or dish (it is important that it is see-through, so you can see your strata!) Measuring jug Spoons Mixing bowls Microwavable bowl Kettle Microwave Fridge


Method

Make a stratum of sandstone

The environment in your bowl when this layer was formed: desert

Crumble up half of the digestive biscuits in the large see- through dish until they look like sand

Melt some butter in the microwave (get an adult to help you with this!) and combine the melted butter and digestive biscuits using a spoon

Once the mixture is well mixed together, press it down to form a biscuity base layer and refrigerate until firm- it should look like the bottom layer of a cheesecake

Imagine this layer of sandstone was formed from sand that is underneath a ginormous sand dune in the desert. Over millions of year this sand has been squashed together to form a sol-id rock under the weight of all of the sand on top of it.

Make a stratum of limestone

The environment in your bowl when this layer was formed: shallow sea

Once your digestive biscuit layer is set, break the lime jelly cubes up and place them in a measuring jug

Make up the jelly according to the instructions on the packet using water (ask an adult to help you with this!)

Pour half of the jelly on top of the biscuit base and refrigerate until set Once set, add the jelly sweets. These are the sea creatures who have died and fallen to

the ocean floor Pour over the remaining lime jelly and leave this to set in the fridge

Imagine this layer of limestone was formed from the fossils of sea creatures who fell to the ocean floor. Over millions of years, the hard bits of these creatures turned to rock under the pressure of all of the other layers on top of them.


Make a stratum of coal

The environment in your bowl when this layer was formed: swamp

Crumble up half of the pack of bourbon biscuits/ Oreos. Sprinkle an even layer of these over the jelly limestone layer

Imagine this is a layer of dead plants and ferns that have fallen to the muddy swamp floor and have eventually been squashed as more and more layers of plant material have fallen on top of them, to form coal.

Make a stratum of sandstone

The environment in your bowl when this layer was formed: desert

Crumble up the remaining digestive biscuits in the large see-through dish

Melt some butter in the microwave (again, get an adult to help you with this!) and combine the melted butter and digestive biscuits using a spoon

Once the biscuit and butter are well mixed together, press them down firmly enough to form another biscuity layer on top of the coal- but not so hard that you break into the layers below! Place the trifle back into the fridge until firm

Imagine this layer of sandstone was also formed from sand that is underneath a ginormous sand dune in the desert. Over millions of year the sand has been squashed together to form a solid rock under the weight of all of the sand on top of it.


Make a stratum of mud

The environment in your bowl when this layer was formed: lake

Make up the sachet of angel delight using the milk according to the instructions on the packet in a bowl.

Spoon this on top of the sandstone biscuit layer and smooth out evenly.

Place the whole trifle in the fridge for 20 minutes.

This is a layer of mud that has collected at the bottom of a lake. It will eventually form mudstone when other layers form on top of it.

Enjoy your Geology Pudding!

Now that you’ve completed your dessert, think about how the layers in your trifle have left clues to how the environment has changed over millions of years.

What might have caused the environment to change?

How were these layers formed?


Where do we find fossils?

Fossils are found in Sedimentary rocks such as limestone, sandstone and mudstone. They’re one of the most important types of rock for helping us to understand what our world was like millions of years ago. We can find out what sort of environments existed by looking at the rocks that formed in different places and investigating what they are made up of.

Sedimentary rocks form when layers of silt, small rocks, sand, shells or mud are squished together one on top of the other like the layers in a trifle, at the bottom of lakes or on the sea bed. These layers are called strata (one layer on its own is called a stratum).

What were the fossils like?

It is hard for us to know exactly what the sea creatures who lived in Silurian times 420 million years ago were like as only their shells and bones remain. We can’t tell for certain what they ate or even what colour they were, although we can make some educated guesses. Modern day descendants of some of these animals can be found on earth today. They can give us clues about what their ancestors may have been like.

Although there are some things we will never know for sure, we can still learn a lot from fossils. We can tell the shape and size of animals, where they lived, and even how they may have moved about. We interviewed some of the fossils found in our caverns to get the scoop.

See what they had to say about themselves over the page...


Brachiopod

Hi, I’m Bob the Brachiopod. I’m a marine creature who lived in the Silurian sea here 420 million years ago. You may think I look like one of your modern day clams, as I have two shells with a soft body inside- but we’re not related!

If you look at the pictures of me and my friend to the right, you’ll notice that the left and right sides of my shells are symmetrical! All of us Brachiopods are vertically symmetrical - with our lines of symmetry running down the middle of our shells.

Pelecypod

Hi there! I’m Pete the Pelecypod. Those who know me also call me a Bivalve. Like Bob, I also have a soft body inside two shells. Whereas Bob is vertically symmetrical though, all of us Pelecypods are horizontally symmetrical! This means our lines of symmetry run along our hinges. Take a look at my picture and you’ll see what I mean!

Crinoid (Sea Lily)

Hello, I’m Chrissy the Crinoid. I’m also known as a Sea Lily. I may look like a flower, but I’m not a plant: I’m a living marine animal! If you take a look at my picture, you can see that I have a stem (where my internal organs are) and a ‘crown’ where my feeding arms and mouth are. The fossils that remain of me often look like long thin tubes.


Horn Coral

Hey there, I’m Henry the Horn Coral. I lived on a reef on the sea floor here in the shallow sea. People in modern times believe that I may have had stinging tentacles which I used to capture my prey. They don’t know for sure whether I did or not - and I’m not going to tell them. That’s my secret! You can recognise me, and other fossilised horn corals, because we’re shaped a bit like fangs, or a rhino’s horn.

Gastropod

Hey, I’m Gina the Gastropod. I have a lovely spiral shaped shell - you probably think I look a little bit like a modern day snail. That’s no surprise really, as I’m related to the modern day snails. I don’t live on land like they do though. I like it here in the sea!

Trilobite

Hello! I’m practically a celebrity around these parts. Everyone has heard of me, Tommy Trilobite, the famous ‘Dudley bug’. I had a hard exoskeleton, which explains why the fossils those Geologists have of me are so well preserved (usually only the hard bits of animals like their teeth and bones are turned into fossils). Some of us trilobites scuttled along the sea bed hunting and scavenging for food, whereas others swam about and fed on plankton. Which do you think I was?


Design your own trilobite!

We do not know for certain what colours the animals who lived 420 million years ago would have been. The fossilised skeletons and shells of these creatures that we have are grey or black, as the colourful bits of the animals (the soft parts!) have rotted away over time. For all we know, trilobites could have been bright pink with blue spots, or even yellow with striking orange zigzags! Your guess is as good as ours!

Have a go at designing your own colourful trilobite!

We’ve put two spinners below for you to cut out and use to colour in the trilobite overleaf. You can use a pencil in the centre to create the point they spin around.

Spin the ‘body part’ wheel to select an area of the trilobite to colour in, then… Spin the ‘colour/ pattern’ wheel to pick a colour for that body part!


Body Part Wheel

Colour / Pattern Wheel

Eyes

Tail

Yellow &

Blue Spots

Yellow &

Green

Stripes

Decorate this trilobite using the spinners on the previous page!


Use this flow chart to identify the fossils you find!

Does the fossil look like a sea shell?


No

Does the fossil look like horn or a fang?

Yes

Are the left and right sides of the

shell symmetrical?

No

It’s a Pelecypod

(Bivalve)!

Yes

It’s a

Brachiopod!

No

Is it shaped like

a snail shell?

No Yes

Does it look like a bug?

No Yes

It’s a

Crinoid (Sea Lily!)

Yes

It’s a

Horn Coral!

It’s a Gastropod!

It’s a Trilobite!

Key Words

Algae: A variety of plants that grow in water. Algae don’t have leaves, roots or stems. They make their food through photosynthesis. Seaweed is a type of algae.

Coral Reef: An area of the ocean floor where living animals known as corals live.

Environment: The environment is the natural world around you. Examples of different environments would include a rainforest, snowy mountain, desert, swamp, city, or ocean.

Exoskeleton: A hard covering on the surface of the body of an animal - like a suit of armour!

Fossils: The remains of creatures that lived millions of years ago. The soft bits of the animals have rotted away to leave only the hard bones or shell that have turned into rock.

Geologist: A scientist who studies rocks and fossils and the physical structure of the earth.

Imprint: The mark left on the surface of something when you press down hard on it. Like when a librarian stamps a library book.

Investigating: To explore something scientifically - looking for clues and doing experiments.

Sediment: The little bits that make up the layers of sedimentary rocks. Examples of sediment are grains of sand and silt, pebbles and shells.

Silt: Fine-grained (very small) pieces of sand or clay that float to the bottom of the ocean and form layers over long periods of time

Silurian Period: The 3rd period in the Palaeozoic Era, 444 – 416 million years ago.

Strata: A horizontal layer; one layer is called a stratum, many layers are called strata.

Symmetrical: An object is symmetrical when one half of it is a mirror image of the other half.

Horizontally symmetrical: The object is symmetrical if you split it in half horizontally.

Vertically symmetrical: The object is symmetrical if you split it in half vertically.

Victorian: A person who lived during the reign of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria ruled the country from 1837 until she died in 1901.


Supporting Sedimentary Rocks and Fossils

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Transcript of Supporting Sedimentary Rocks and Fossils