Fossil Display Plans at the Winter Library

Three Boxes for Bellhaven Library

Snow covers the roofs in Bellhaven. Inside the town library, volunteers are planning fossil displays for a winter open house. The fossils were collected from nearby rock beds before winter. A fossil is a remain or trace of a living thing from long ago. A shell, a leaf mark, or an animal's footprint can become a fossil. Each box holds fossils from one rock bed. The boxes may represent different times.

Box A holds coral fossils and clam shell fossils. Some clam fossils have two shell halves still together. Corals and clams are animals. Living corals grow in seawater. Clams live in water, but different kinds live in different watery places.

Box B holds fern leaf fossils, root marks, and a trail of small animal footprints. The root marks extend downward from where the plants grew. Similar living ferns grow in damp soil. Roots hold plants in place. The footprints have clear toe marks pressed into what was once soft ground.

Box C holds fish skeleton fossils and snail shell fossils. Fin bones spread out beside the fish backbones. The fish and snails resemble kinds whose living relatives live only in fresh water, such as lakes and rivers. Fresh water is not salty like seawater.

The volunteers must choose labels and model habitats. A model should show features supported by the collection. Snow outside the library tells about Bellhaven today, not necessarily about the time when these organisms lived.