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Fossils

This category is for questions about the bones, fragments, imprints, and other remainders from a different time. The questions and answer you will find here are history set in stone -- our past, immortalized in solid rock. You will also be able to find questions pertaining to the locations of these fossils, how you might identify them, and how they were formed.

3,454 Questions

What do scientists use to measure the absolute age of a rock?

Finding the age of rocks based on the presence of naturally occurring long-lived radioactive isotopes of several elements in certain minerals and rocks.

Many rocks and minerals contain radioactive atoms that decay spontaneously to form stable atoms of other elements. Under certain conditions these radiogenicdaughter atoms accumulate within the mineral crystals so that the ratio of the daughter atoms divided by the parent atoms increases with time. This ratio can be measured very accurately with a mass spectrometer, and is then used to calculate the age of the rock by means of an equation based on the law of radioactivity. The radioactive atoms used for dating rocks and minerals have very long half-lives, measured in billions of years. They occur in nature only because they decay very slowly. The pairs of parents and daughters used for dating are listed in the table.

(see also the related link)
The age of a rock may be determined by analysis of the matter it contains. Many minerals have radio active half lives that can be used to determine roughly how long ago the rock was formed. Another indication may be the type of fossils found in sedimentary rocks.

Is it hard to find fossils?

It can be very hard to find fossils if you are looking in the wrong place. However it can be almost impossible to NOT find fossils if you are looking in the right place (there are places where fossils are covering the ground and falling out of eroding rock outcrops, so that everywhere you walk you cannot avoid stepping on them).

What are five ways organisms can be preserved as a fossil?

Successful fossilization or preservation of an organism can occur in several ways: (1) preservation without change; (2) complete replacement by a mineral; (3) filling in of a hollow space by a mineral; (4) formation of a thin film of carbon; and (5) formation of an imprint or the filling in of an imprint.

How do fossils get so deep underground?

Fossils don't really "get inside" rocks. The thing being fossilized (let's say a trilobite) was alive before the rock had formed and was still sediment, but when it died it was buried in the mud or sediment which would eventually become the rock.

What do fossilized tracks tell you about the reptiles that once lived in the canyon?

Well, the tracks are examples of trace fossils. Trace fossils are not fossils in the traditional sense. Instead, they are fossils of something other than the animal or plant's form, like a animal track or burrow, that tells us an animal has been there.

What are some bad facts about fossil fuels?

Fossil Fuels, though not radioactive, still harm our planet. Fossil Fuels release carbon dioxide and green house gasses. All things that harm layers of the Earth's atmosphere. Besides this when they are burnt in power plants a lot of heavy smoke and harmful toxics or gasses are released, polluting our atmosphere.

The petrified trees of the petrified forest date back to?

the petrified trees of the petrified forest date back to?

How many megatons of carbon do humans produce by burning fossils fuels each year?

Total world energy-related carbon dioxide emissions were 29.7 billion metric tons in 2007.

A:Humans add about 27 billion tonnes (nearly 30 billion US tons) of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels every year.

What is a method used to determine the absolute age of a sample by measuring the relative amounts of parent isotope and daughter isotope?

Good question! In the late 1800s, a british archelologist found clay pots from a layer of rock and rubble in Tel-Helasy . He later compared them to other pots that his family owned and discovered a new form of dating layers of rock. He used this method on other relics from the ancient world; this method is still used today.

What are the six types of fossils?

The 6 types of fossils are called body fossils, trace fossils, molecular fossils, ressin fossils, microfossils, pseudofossils, and living fossils, and i dont have the information to describe them.

What do fossils tell us about Kansas geologic past?

they tell us that past animals were once on and lived in kansas. they tell us that past animals were once on and lived in kansas.

What must be true for a fossil organism to be useful as a index fossil?

The absolute age of the index fossil was determine by radioactive dating or another absolute method

What conditions are necessary to insure fossilization?

The type of fossil that is formed is determined by the conditions under which an organism died and how it was buried

The way fossils are formed in very dry places is called?

The way fossils are formed in very dry places is called mummification. Amber is a hardened tree sap, yellow to brown in color, and often a source of insect fossils.

How can sedimentary rocks become igneous rocks?

ingeous become sedimentary rocks after they undergo the process of weathering either mechanical, chemical, or biological.

What are the six steps of forming a sedimentary rock?

1.step Weathering-breaking rocks apart. 2.step Erosion-taking rocks away. 3.step Deposition-landing in a new destination. 4.step Sedimentary-new layers are formed pressing down on each other. 5.step Comentation-pieces of rocks are glued together.7

What did Darwin reason when he saw fossil shells in the mountain?

1. powerful storms scooped the animals out of the ocean and left them in the mountain

2.ancient rock bed that were beneath the sea were elevated to form mountain ranges

these are my guesses i think the 1st ones right

Are fossil dead or alive?

No. At one time yes. It must be very old. Definition of fossil per www.dictionary.com: any remains, impression, or trace of a living thing of a former geologic age, as a skeleton, footprint, etc.

What are some examples of permineralization?

Some examples of permineralization include petrified wood, where organic matter is gradually replaced by minerals to create a fossilized version of the wood. Another example is fossilized bones, where minerals have replaced the organic material in the bone structure, preserving its shape and structure. In both cases, the process of permineralization involves minerals filling in the pores and voids of the organic material, essentially turning it into a rock-like structure.

What does the fossil record tell us about hominids?

The fossil record tells us:

- That there lived different types of lifeforms in the past than today.

- That life changes over time.

- That life shows diverging progressions of morphological traits over deep time.

- That past life adhered to the same nested hierarchies we also find in extant life.

The above are a number of findings based on the fossil record as a whole. There are many more findings that zoologists are able to determine based on the morphological features of specific lifeforms.

Are fossil fuels renewable or nonrenewable resources?

Fossil fuels are considered nonrenewable as they are the product of living things that died in the distant past.

What are four locations on earth where significant hominid fossil finds occur?

they have been found everywhere there is no one place where the have not been found besid the ocean and it was the indian ocean i tink lol from jjizzalsims