The asphalt seeps of Rancho La Brea ooze and bubble to form what are commonly known as the La Brea Tar Pits. This section explores and investigates the many physical aspects of these fossils and asphalt deposits.

While reading this section try to answer the following questions and define the terms below:

Ice Age Investigations:

• When was the last great Ice Age?
  
• What is asphalt? Why is it not called tar?
  
• How does a "tar pit" form? What do these formations look like?
  
• How did animals become stuck in the asphalt? Did entrapment at Rancho La Brea happen often?
• What were some of the different processes that affected the bones before and after they were buried in the asphalt?
• What are microfossils? What information do they reveal about the last Ice Age?

La Brea Vocabulary:

• Asphalt
  
• Pleistocene
  
• Sediments
  
• Entrapment
  
• Microfossils
  
• Ice Age
  
• Fossil
  
• Erosion

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