In the article “Fossil insect traces reveal ancient climate, entrapment, and fossilization at La Brea Tar Pits”, scientists have been able to determine the amount of time it would take some animals to completely submerge in asphalt, or tar pits, and what the weather was like when they submerged. The scientists were able to discover this by examining fossil remains of animals who had been submerged in the asphalt. These fossils are riddled with insect activity. The scientists found that larval beetles were the most likely cause of the insect traces. By identifying those traces, they were able to determine the minimum number of days it took for some of the carcasses to become submerged in the entrapping asphalt. To determine which climate the
