Module 1, Activity V: Weathering and Erosion Forces Expose Ancient Rocks and the Fossils They Hold

Essential Questions:

1. What is weathering?
2. What is erosion?
3. How do the above processes expose ancient rock layers and fossils?

Engage:

1. What happens to rocks and rock formations over time?
2. What causes this to occur?

Explore:

1. Hypothesize about what has happened to the sediments laid down in the Elma, NY area during the Mid-Late Devonian Period leading up to the conditions found in the area today. Think, pair, share.

Explain A:

View GPS Waypoint 3 video clip.

Elaborate A:

1. Why are we finding sea organisms (approximately) 700 feet above sea level?

Explain B:

View Outcrop video clip. GPS Waypoint 3

Elaborate B:

1. Describe the outcrop’s structure.
2. How does its structure relate to its formation?
3. Define weathering.
4. What are the types of weathering
5. How do trees and other organisms cause weathering?

Explain C:

View Weathering #1 video clip.

Elaborate C:

1. Describe the creek’s role in the cliff formation.
2. Describe gravity’s role in the cliff formation.
3. What are revealed as the cliffs erode?
4. What is a coral reef?
5. What are some organisms that live in coral reefs?
6. What effect do the mosses and liverworts have on the roots?

Explain D:

View Weathering #2 video clip.

Elaborate D:

1. What effects does water have on rock formations?
2. Relate the above effects to the video clip.
3. Does weather/erosion occur at a constant rate?
4. What factors affect the rate of weathering and erosion of a particular rock formation?
5. Why has the creek bed’s erosion ‘slowed down’ in its present state

Evaluate:

1. How did weathering and erosion form the rocks were finding these fossils in approximately 370 million years ago?
2. How has weathering and erosion enabled us to find the fossils we will be studying nest?