Personally, I don't think there's intelligent life on other planets. Why should other planets be any different from this one?

- Bob Monkhouse -

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."

- Charles Schulz -

FOSSILS

FOSSIL - THE REMAINS OF LONG DEAD ANIMALS OR PLANTS OR THE IMPRINT LEFT FROM THE REMIANS

FOSSILS ARE SOMETIMES CLASSIFIED INTO TWO TYPES:

TYPE I: BONES, TEETH, HAIR, SKIN IMPRESSIONS, SHELL, OR THE IMPRESSION OF AN ANIMAL OR PLANT

Mosasaur Skeleton

TYPE II: SOMETHING THAT WAS MADE BY THE ANIMAL OR PLANT WHILE IT WAS LIVING - BURROWS, FOOTPRINTS, COPROLITE (animal poop)

HOW ARE FOSSILS FORMED?

MOST ORGANISMS ARE QUICKLY DECOMPOSED BY BACTERIA OR EATEN BY SCAVENGERS.

THEY ARE RECYCLED.

SO, HOW DO ORGANISMS BECOME FOSSILS?

SOME WAYS ORGANISMS CAN BECOME FOSSILS:

FREEZING - THE BEST WAY, AS IT PRESERVES SKIN, HAIR, ORGANS, ETC. - MAMMOTHS, WOOLY RHINOCEROUS IN ALASKA AND SIBERIA

DRYING - MUMMIFICATION - EVEN HUMAN REMAINS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN VERY DRY AREAS

ASPHALT OR TAR - THE LA BREA TAR PITS IN LOS ANGELES

AMBER - STICKY SAP FROM TREES - INSECTS

CARBONIZATION - BODY DECOMPOSES LEAVING BEHIND CARBON THAT GIVES DETAILED IMPRESSION OF THE ORGANISM

PERMINERALIZATION - MINERALS FILL THE CELLULAR SPACES AND CRYSTALIZE - THE ORIGINAL MATERIAL IS REPLACED BY MINERALS - THIS IS THE MOST COMMON WAY

AGAIN, FOSSILIZATION IS A VERY RARE OCCASION.

ALL ORGANISMS WERE DESIGNED TO BE ANOTHER ORGANISMS LUNCH.

AN ORGANISM HAS TO DIE IN EXACTLY THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES TO BECOME A FOSSIL.

TRILOBITES - MARINE ARTHROPODS THAT LIVED FROM THE EARLY CAMBRIAN TO THE END OF THE PERMIAN - OVER 17,000 SPECIES ARE KNOWN

MOSASAURS - AIR BREATHING REPTILES THAT LIVED IN SHALLOW SEAS DURING THE CRETACEOUS PERIOD. THEY RANGED IN SIZE FROM ABOUT 3 METERS TO 17 METERS IN LENGTH.

THEY HAD A DOUBLE HIGED JAW THAT ALLOWED THEM TO GULP DOWN THEIR PREY WHOLE.

MEGALODON - LARGEST AND MOST POWERFUL FISH THAT EVER LIVED.

UP TO 50 FEET IN LENGTH AND WEIGHING 48 TONS.

PROBABLY WENT EXTINCT ABOUT 4-5 MILLION YEARS AGO DUE TO CHANGES IN SEA LEVEL AND SEA TEMPERATURES.

PETRIFIED WOOD - FOSSIL WOOD - FORMED WHEN WOOD IS BURIED UNDER SEDIMENT AND IS PRESERVED AT FIRST BECAUSE OF LACK OF OXYGEN

THE PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK IS LOCATED IN NORTHEASTERN ARIZONA.

IT COVERS 218,000 ACRES AND IS PART OF THE PAINTED DESERT.

Hundreds of fossils species can be found in North Carolina’s coastal plain, the eastern third of the state from Interstate 95 to the coast. These fossils range in age from 10,000 years old (Pleistocene Epoch) to more than 600 million years old (Eocambrian Period).Almost every major river and creek east of Interstate 95 has exposures where fossils can be found. I have collected them on the Cape Fear, Chowan, Meherrin, Roanoke and Tar rivers.

The most famous fossil site in North Carolina is a huge marl pit near Aurora in Beaufort County, famous for huge shark teeth. Other fossils here include sea shells, sand dollars and sea urchins, coral, fish material and large mammal bone such as whale and seal vertebra .

From: Fossils in North Carolina by Rufus Johnson

You also can find fossils in gravel and marl pits throughout eastern North Carolina. Pender County has several marl pits famous for the fossils. These pits contain many types of shark teeth and echinoids (such as sand dollars and sea urchins) from the Eocene period 38 million to 54 million years ago. Sea shells, nautiloids (shell-bearing sea animals), and fish and whale teeth can also be found here.