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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
Why do only some parts of the ammonite get fossilised?
only the shell is left because the rest decomposes
Why do scientist study fossils?
Fossils are used by scientists to determine the where, what, why, when, and how of ancient organisms. Answering these questions will help in determining the environment and climate in which the organisms existed, adaptations made by the organisms to the environment and climate, type and amount of energy requirements of organisms, feeding habits, reproduction techniques, nesting habits, digestion methods, type of respiration, method of locomotion, hunting techniques, timing and cause of extinction events, and the progression of evolution. Fossils are also key indicators of possible fossil fuel deposits which are of great interest to humanity.
The study of fossils also leads to discoveries and understanding of Earth's processes which can benefit mankind. Study of the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event eventually led to the hypothesis that a large asteroid impacted Earth. Some astronomers are currently seeking out and cataloging possible impact asteroids in an attempt to predict such a future cataclysm and help in preventing it.
Why does it take million of years for fossils to form?
They're preserved due to the fact that they're inside the ground protected by a barrier of sediment.
Which substances are produced when fossil fuels are burned?
Yes, Fossil fuels are oxidized through the application of heat, which acts as a catalyst(increases the rate of reaction) to the exothermic chemical reaction known as combustion. When a fossil fuel is placed in a heated environment, its molecules are excited to the point that they burn, which is the severing of the electrical bonds between the hydrogen and carbon atoms. The hydrocarbon reacts with the oxygen in the air during combustion, forming water vapor (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). If not enough heat is applied to the combustion, then the result is a lot of free carbon molecules in the form of soot. High-heat environments provide ample energy to allow the breaking of hydrocarbons into water and carbon dioxide in larger amounts.
What degrees do you need to be a fossilise?
pretty much you only need a strong background on both sciences ( biology, and geology) aslo you need a 4 year undergraduate programme followed by a M.S degree
Oh yes no trouble at all 8-)
What is the relative age of fossils found at the top layer of rock?
They are called index fossils, fossils of organisms that were widespread, evolving quickly, and only appeared in the geologic column for a specific length of time.
What is the Significance of Glossopteris?
it shows that Pangaea existed. "Wegener inferred that these reptiles lived on a single landmass that has since split apart."
Answer: The late evolutionary professor of Palaeontology Stephen Jay Gould, proposed an evolutionary theory called 'punctuated equilibrium' to explain the evidence he found in the fossil record. His theory essentially meant that evolution proceeded by 'jumps' rather than gradually as Darwin proposed.
The evidence was the fact (still the case today), that the many intermediate forms that are required by evolution to proceed in the standard Darwinian manner just do not exist. Gould once stated that 'The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology. The evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data only at the tips and nodes of their branches … in any local area, a species does not arise gradually by the gradual transformation of its ancestors; it appears all at once and "fully formed." (Stephen Jay Gould, Evolution's erratic pace, Natural History 86(5):14, May 1977.)
The idea was that these 'jumps' occurred in small isolated populations which were thus not as likely to be fossilised. Thus Gould together with Niles Eldredge, explained the large, seemingly unbridgeable gaps in the fossil record, the study of which he was an expert.What is earths oldest form of life?
Single cell organisms date back to approximately 3.5-3.8 billion years old. These are bacteria and archaea.
How do fossil records provide evidence of evolution?
Fossils are like the clues the police use to solve a crime.
Each one tells a story. Like clues to a crime, where the police don't have to find a print of every footstep taken by a subject or confirm every thing that he did, the clues paint a logical outline of all the events around the crime.
Like clues in a crime the police do not initially identify a person they want to pin the crime on and then seek to tie him to the event - they find a number of clues which identify potential subjects of interest. They then attempt to prove the relation of these suspects to the crime until the trail of evidence is strong and dependable. Usually multiple facts on the same evidence are considered - for a crime it might be fingerprints and video tape and eye witnesses, for fossils it could be carbon 14 and dendronchronology and geologic strata.
It shows how organisms change over time.
Correct, yes. For example, the earliest vertebrates are jawless fishes, followed by fish with jaws. The earliest terrestrial vertebrates bear uncanny resemblance to sarcopterygian lungfish. The earliest fossils of reptiles bear remarkable resemblance to those earlier amphibians. The earliest birds share numerous reptilian features of therapsid dinosaurs.
This is just vertebrate evolution--we can trace similar stories of change in botanical fossil records, and the fossil record for various invertebrates.
Fossils indicate evolution occurred as they detail variations in bone structures of related animal species, and in plant forms and structures. Radioisotope dates of rock strata demonstrate how plants and animals changed over time. Fossils also reveal how the climate of an area in which the animal or plant lived in changed over of time and how the animal or plant adapted to its environment.
Fossils are remains or impressions of ancient creatures, some of which represent lineages now extinct, and others from which existing species evolved.
Well, do the skeletons of animals today look the same as those found as fossils? The differences between today's living organisms and those that lived thousands of years ago are the very idea of evolution: that life is constantly changing.
fossils are the cool thing about the evidence, as years go by a rock like build up happens and when this works into place you can see the years by the rock that is present around the fossils. when you see what rocks or how far you have dug the rocks will show you what the years it was in.
How are there fossils of tropical organisms found in Arctic regions?
The central part of North America is actually under the sea during Cretaceous period. The Great Plain of present day is inundated under the Western Interior Seaway. The fauna and marine life prospered under tropical condition, leading to an abundance of fossil fuels in places like Alberta or Bakken Basin.
What was the first fossil that Mary anning discover and when?
Mary Anning was the discoverer of many important fossils. She found the first correctly identified Ichthyosaur, the first two ever of the species plesiosuar, the first pterosaur skeleton located outside of Germany, and many other very important fossils.
Why are ice cores good indicators of past climate?
Ice cores contain tiny bubbles that contain a sample of the atmosphere from that time period. By studying the ice bubbles, it is possible to reconstruct the composition of the atmosphere at that time and thus the climate.
What kind of fossils can be found in the valley and ridge region?
Because the Great Rift Valley's rapidly eroding highlands have filled the valley with sediments, a favorable environment for the preservation of remains has been created. Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus aethiopicus, Australopithecus bosei, Australopithecus anamensis, Kenyanthropus platyops, Ardipithecus ramidus, Ardipithecus kadabba, Homo erectus, Homo ergaster, Homo habilis, Homo sapiens idaltu, and Homo sapiens sapiens have all been found in the rift valley.
Summarize the ways that fossils helped support the hypothesis of continental drift?
The scientists that found the fossils found that were found on different continents. Some of the same fossil were located on each Continent that could only survive in one climate. Therefore, a fossil provided some evidence for the continental drift to be true.
How does the fossil record support the idea that evolution has taken place on Earth?
In a word, plenty. The earliest fossils on earth are of stromatolites, marine bacterial mats. These date back more than three billion years. The earliest metazoans (multicellular organisms) are all marine creatures dating back some 700 million years. By 450 million years ago (the Ordovician) plants and insects began an earnest conquest of the land. Around three hundred million years ago we find the first fossils of amphibians, which all bear uncanny resemblance to sarcopterygian lungfish of that era. ALL terrestrial vertebrates bear the same familiar body plan. All of them are quadrupeds, even the cetaceans (marine mammals). Marine reptiles, marine birds, flying mammals (bats) are all laid out essentially the same. Their forms practically scream common ancestry.
Certain slithering reptiles have lost their limbs, but even snake skeletal anatomy reveals where completely atrophied limbs had once attached in ancient ancestral forms.
Paleontologists have never found a Homo sapien skull more than 200,000 years old, nor any hominid skull more than 7 million years old.
It should be noted that a theory is a hypothesis that is supported by evidence. Geology, DNA, comparative biology, zoology, fossils and the ability for mutations to arise all provide plenty of evidence to support the theory of evolutionary biology.
What is petified fossils mean?
An exact stone copy of an organism, the hard parts of which have been penetrated and replace by minerals.
When were the pterodactyl fossils found?
Italian naturalist Cosmo Alassandro Collini discovered the first fossil evidence of pterodactyls in 1784 in the Eichstätt limestone deposits of Bavaria, Germany.
How did the study of fossils help support the idea of evolution?
Darwin's observations supported Lyell's theory of ancient earth undergoing continual change because Darwin theorized that geology and animals evolve the same way. Sir Charles Lyell was a geologist and a British lawyer.
