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How do scientists determine history by using fossils and sedimentary layers?
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Geologists and paleontologists look for index fossils in rock strata. These index fossils appear only in rocks of a certain age. Finding them lets the scientist know the approximate age range of a rock formation. Layers of sedimentary rock will also aid the scientist is determining the climate from that age, of any volcanism that may have taken place, the lifeforms that existed, and even find evidence of catastrophic events such as asteroid collisions that may have led to extinction events.
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
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What do scientists observe to help them interpret Earth's geological history?
Sedimentary Rocks in Layers
What is the fossil record?
The fossil record is basically the totality of fossils, discovered or undiscovered, and their placement within rock formations and sedimentary layers. The fossil record is important in helping us produce a chronology for the history of life on Earth as well as the evolutionary relationships between the organisms represented by the fossils. The number of fossils we have discovered remains incomplete, which is why we are continuously searching for more.
What is the relationship between fossils and sedimentury rock?
Note; it only works for sedimentary rocks ... but if you know approximately how long ago that type of animal lived, then you know about when the rock began to form around it (to form the fossil).
How do geologists use the location of a fossil to determine its possible age?
Fossils record the history of changes to life on Earth. All theinformation we have from fossils is called the FOSSIL RECORDThe fossil record is important because it shows what types of animalsand plants lived on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago. Thefossil record also shows how life has changed over time. If you look atexposed layers of sedimentary rock from bottom to top, the fossils arelike a series of snapshots of how life has changed on Earth, from thedistant past near the bottom to more recent times near the top.
Why is Precambrian history more difficult to study than more recent geological history?
no fossils of organisms with hard parts. the few soft body part fossils found rarely fossilize well.
Why do scientists look to sedimentary rocks when studying the history of the Earth?
The vast majority of fossils are found in sedimentary rock.
How can scientists use fossils to determine environmental change?
fossils are used to determine the history of changes in environment and organisms because to see how they lived long ago on the environment and things like that
How can sedimentary rocks show earth history?
they have fossils and pieces of the environment from the past inside of them
How can sedimentary rock earth history?
they have fossils and pieces of the environment from the past inside of them
Most of what scientific know about extinct species is based on?
Most of what scientists know about extinct species is based on the study of bones and fossils. Scientists have studied many dinosaur bones to determine what they ate and how they lived. Fossils tell what the land was like at a given time in history.
Where do scientists obtain the majority of their modern knowledge about the history of life?
fossils
What do scientists observe to help them interpret Earth's geological history?
Sedimentary Rocks in Layers
How do fossils help scientists learn about the history of life?
they help by showing index rock creations.
What are the 2 characteristics of sedimentary rocks that reveal the past history of the earth?
Presence of fossils and stratification of the rocks structure into different layers.
What do scientists today rely on primarily to determine evoluutionary history?
Scientists rely primarily on the fossil record to determine evolutionary history. Another way of determination is examining the genetic record.
Why are sedimentary rock are important?
Answer: Sedimentary rocks contain the entire history of life on earth that is available to us, and much of the history of the Earth itself. All of this information will help us determine how we got where we are today.
Which evidence for evolution uses impressions of plants and animals pressed into sedimentary rock?
The evidence for evolution that uses impressions of plants and animals into sedimentary rock is the study of fossils. The study of fossils and where they are found is a determining factor about what was going on in a period of history.
