Clues from Rocks
Paleontologists and geologists both study the rocks where fossils are found.
Photo by Kaitlin Maguire.
Have you ever been to the beach and noticed a cliff wall with different colors of rock layered one on top of the other? These layers of sediment (sand, silt, and broken-up rocks) were formed a long time ago, one layer at a time. The layers on the bottom were formed first and are older than the layers above. The layers on top were filled in later and are younger.
We can find layers of sediment all around the Bay Area and some of them contain fossils!
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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0741583.