You learn something new everyday!

I loathe science. Most of the stuff, I believe, will not help me or my life in the future. As much as I hate science, I hate my science projects infinitely more. Every single unit I have a new project. From solar ovens to mechanical arms, my science teacher has thought of it all. My latest and newest creation includes a model and presentation about ash fall fossils. I hope you learn something from my project!

About 12 million years ago, a volcano in southwest Idaho spread a blanket of ash over a very large area. One or two feet of this powdered glass covered the flat Savannah-like grasslands of northeastern Nebraska.
Most of the animals which lived there survived the actual ash fall, but as they continued to graze on the ash covered grasses, their lungs began to fill up with the abrasive powder. Soon their lungs became severely damaged and they began to die.
The smaller animals died first (smaller lung capacities) and finally, after perhaps three to five weeks, the last of the rhinos died.Their bodies were quickly covered by the blowing and drifting ash.
Undisturbed except by an occasional meat-eater, the skeletons of these animals are preserved in their death positions, complete with evidence of their last meals in their mouths and stomachs and their last steps preserved in the sandstone below.

There you have most of my project! I made a model of a sabre toothed deer. To learn more about the actual ash fall and the ash fall animals please visit http://www.ashfall.unl.edu/ashfallanimals.html. (I made a fossil of the sabre-toothed deer) Mr. Harris would be proud! :)

Love, Rozi