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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 rock layers that break but do not move form?
To which large group of animals do trilobites belong?
none. only god, chuck Norris, and braylon Edwards know the truth
What do scientists use index fossils for?
Geologists use index fossils to define and identify geologic periods.
What do you call someone who researches fossils?
A person who studies dinosaurs and fossils is called a palaeontologist.
What are the four characteristics of an index fossil?
Universal ( indicating a global flood)
Uniform (sea-life tends to be on the bottom, followed by amphibians, reptiles, mammals & few men, indicating a global flood)
Distinct species (no gradual evolution)
Preservation of soft structures, no intermediate earth layer and trans-strata trees- showing rapid deposition
Are new fossils still being discovered?
Fossil fuels were formed in the Carboniferous period. This was a time when the first trees had evolved but not fungus to dispose of the trees once they died. Trees did decay with the help of bacteria, but only very slowly. This meant that there were lots of dead trees around creating the ideal starting conditions for fossil fuels to be formed. For the most part Fossil fuels are not able to be formed today because fungi eat the dead trees and plants before they get a chance to be buried in the ground and crushed for millions of years to form fossil fuels. This may not however be correct for all situations. For example a volcanic eruption may buy a forest in ash. Fungi wouldn't be able to get to the dead trees then....
How do fossils help support the theory of plate tectonics?
Marine life which was once living on a continental shelf and was eventually turned into sedimentary rock was uplifted by the forces of colliding continents into mountain ranges. Orogeny is the term used for mountain building.
What fossils did Alfred wegener find and where?
The fossils of animals were found the three different continents, but no animal could've swam that far across the salt water, so there had to be another way. Also, the plant fossil glossopteris was discovered in Antarctica, where no plants could live.
Is fossilized tree sap used as fuel?
I believe you're referring to amber, though this is a common misconception. Amber is not actually made from tree sap, but from tree resin, a substance that acts to seal wounds in trees. When it's still in liquid form, it's used for things like varnish and adhesives. Over the course of thousands, perhaps millions, of years, it fossilizes. The most common use is in jewelry. In general, it's also admired by collectors, geologists, prehistoric archeologists, etc. Because it was once liquid, it often occurs that insects or other small creatures become trapped, freezing them in time and preserving them perfectly. Remember Jurassic Park, where the scientists are extracting DNA from a mosquito? Amber is the stone they're drilling into. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll be cloning any dinosaurs anytime soon, even if we could recover a viable sample of dinosaur DNA.
No, fossils are actually very difficult to find. The majority of fossils found are marine invertebrates. They are usually found in sedimentary rock. However, there is plenty of sedimentary rock that contains no fossils at all.
Why do archaeologists compare human bones and fossils from different time periods?
To learn about the past.
Carbondating is the method often used to date fossils, and that involves both the elements Carbon-12 and Carbon-14.
What does the fossil record reveal about new species of organisms?
They evolved over time from older species.
What can fossils tell us about the earth?
it's so important.Fossil teach us what kind of animal was it,what kind of food,how did they grew and we can know the past of the climate.and it's helpful of the energy.fossils are very important
Fossils are among the most valuable sources of information about the Earth's history. They tell us about the organisms that lived on Earth from the time of the oldest fossils, about 3.8 billion years ago, to the present. By studying fossils we can learn not only about the creatures and plants of the distant past, but how they grew, what they ate, how they interacted, and many aspects of their behavior.
Fossils reveal many fascinating facts about the past, but they do a lot more. Do you own anything made out of plastic? Plastic comes from oil, which also provides gasoline, gas heat, and many other necessities of modern life. Fossils are one of the most useful aids to finding oil, because oil tends to accumulate in the pores of particular rock layers. Rocks of different ages contain different fossils. Study of microscopic fossils brought up in chips of rock during drilling of wells has led to many major oil and gas discoveries. Also, the oil itself is derived from fossil remains of ancient organisms.
Study of fossils has led to important new understanding about how life evolved on earth and about diseases.so you know that fossil is very important and useful thanks.
Besides fossils what other evidence is there for evolution?
What are other types of evidence for evolutionary theory, other than fossils?
Darwin's observations on the voyage of the Beagle, and succeeding scientist's observations that conform to his hypotheses. Domestication of plants and animals by purposeful and accidental selection over the past ten thousand years. Real-time observation of changes in bacteria, viruses and simple animals. A hundred years of fruit-fly experiments. DNA analysis and genetic decoding. The appearance of new stains of drug-resistant microbes comes quickly to mind. The breeding of animals for hunting and agricultural purposes, and for sporting purposes and pets, has been practiced for 1000s of years and is essentially human-directed evolution, and in many cases is historically documented. The principals of getting a good goat or cow were known and practiced long before anybody thought to extrapolate them backwards to the origin of a species and call it a scientific theory.
Is true or false limestone can be separated from fossils through the use of vinegar?
In most cases both the limestone AND the fossil will be dissolved by the vinegar (eg a crinoid in Carboniferous limestone), so no. However, some fossils (eg echinoderms in the Chalk) are silicified and in these cases dissolving the limestone in vinegar will expose the fossil in spectacular detail and in other cases the fossil will dissolve more slowly than the matrix, so yes. .
In other words there is NO true or false answer, fossil preparation and conservation is a discipline in itself.
Which of the following can fossils teach us about the earth?
Fossils indicate several things about Earth's past:
- the organisms that lived then, and by extension the organisms in their food chain
- the climate in the area where the organism lived
- how plate tectonics have moved landmasses that once were joined together
What more likely to have fossils grainy rocks or crystal rocks?
I am pretty sure grainy rocks because they are more common than crystals. They are more likely to contain sea creature fossils. They are likely to have sea creature fossils in them because the land we stand on now, was once covered in water.
How do modern scientist determine the age of fossils?
by carbon dating it is testing how much radioactivity is in carbon 14 because radio activity has a half life so how much radio activity is left then they can determine how old it is
Fossils are used by scientists to answer questions about species and maybe even dinosaurs. They use the fossils and run tests by using there DNA and seeing their molecular structure and running it by other animals for similarity's.
Why is wind energy better to use than fossil fuels?
Wind energy is not better than water energy. They are both very similar in that they are:
* free (after the initial cost of the turbines)
* sustainable (they won't run out)
* renewable (they are still there tomorrow even if we use them completely today) If there is no wind, then the wind turbines don't turn to provide electricity. This can happen quite often, unless the turbines are placed where the wind blows non-stop all year round.
If there is no water, then the water turbines don't turn. This will happen only rarely if the turbines are placed in the best position. Using ocean waves and tides will be more reliable than rivers which can dry up in droughts.
What conditions make it unlikely that a fossil will form?
Most dead organisms are eaten or rot away quickly. If a fossil is to form, the body has to fall somewhere it is protected physically and chemically. It then has to be in a position where rocks form around it, and it has to remain fairly intact whilst its shape becomes preserved in stone. There are a lot of odds against the process.
