How many climates does the U.S. have?

How can fossils give us clues about past climates?

• Answer:

  If we observe a particular type of fossil in a region and we have an idea of when that particular fossilized organism was supposed to exist and what type of climate it preferred to inhabit we can make deductions about past climates. For instance, although antarctica is rather barren and desolate presently, fossils there suggests that it was once quite vibrant with life and nowhere near as cold and unforgiving as it currently is. These fossils also help geologists in determining other things. Like the famous observation that 2 of the exact same species of fossil were found on both the west coast of africa and the east coast of south america. This observation suggested that either this organism could swim extraordinarily long distances, evolved to be exactly the same in 2 completely different regions at the exact same time, or that africa and south america were once part of one large land mass. Fossils can be very useful in drawing many interesting and important conclusions regarding the earths past.