How do fossils form in amber and tar-pits?

Answer 1

Because the animal gets trapped and will stay floating or sink and over time the flesh will decay and so the tar will sink in to the bones.The scientists will dig it up because the tar would be hard by now.

Answer 2

There have been several ways. Since tar is still coming up every so often something will pop up. The researchers there will also dig into the dried out areas where tar has been and they do find fossils. I think they may also drag the pit every so often. If you have never been there it is worth the trip. The museum adjunct to the pit is worth the visit.

Answer 3

Paleontologists very rarely proactively 'dig' to find fossils, they usually look for fossils that have washed out of the rocks during erosion or have been exposed by erosion.

With larger fossils, where a part has been exposed, they may then dig out the entire specimen. They do this by carefully excavating round the fossil using small tools to expose the extent of the specimen (making sure they do not damage other parts that may be mixed in. The exposed fossil is then covered in plaster. The stabilized specimen is then undercut (again with care and small tools) and the whole block is then lifted away and transported to a laboratory. In the laboratory the plaster is removed and the remains cleaned up very carefully using dental tools and a microscope.

Where the fossils are very small (micro fossils), paleontologists will simply collect a lump of rock or a bucket of material, mechanically break this up then wash or dissolve away all the host sediment to leave the fossils (eg foraminifera or pollen), which are then studied with a microscope.

Sometimes, where fossils are found in commercial quarries, paleontologists will split rocks or concretions that the miners have found to see if there are fossils in them.

Answer 4

Amber:

Its sticky tree resin, not sap. The insect/animal gets stuck inside the amber and can't move. After a while, another layer of tree resin covers the insect/animal and it hardens, turning into a fossilized rock.

Tar Pit:

Its just a pool full of messy goo and minerals. It looks like water, so animals go there and drink, thus, falling into the pit and then getting stuck. Its so sticky, that they can't get out and overtime, it hardens.

Answer 5

shovels