Fossils Notes

Question 1

catastrophism

Answer 1

todays geological formations result from catastrophic events in the past on a scale never observed today

Question 2

uniformitarianism

Answer 2

geological processes taking place now worked similarly in the past

Question 3

who is the “father of geology”

Answer 3

Hutton

Question 4

relative dating

Answer 4

techniques for assigning relative ages to rock strata based on the relationships between newer and older rocks

Question 5

what was used to create the geologic time table?

Answer 5

relative dating

Question 6

examples of relative dating techniques

Answer 6

• younger rocks are deposited on top of older rocks
• certain fossils characterize certain rock types

Question 7

Hadean + Archean + Proterozoic =

Answer 7

Precambrian

Question 8

fossils in the 1800s

Answer 8

viewed as products of supernatural forces

Question 9

did everyone believe in extinction

Answer 9

• no
• Thomas Jefferson did not believe

Question 10

fossilization requires …

Answer 10

species circumstances

Question 11

why would a lack of fossils make it more difficult to understand evolution?

Answer 11

it would be more difficult to deduce the particulars about how life evolved

Question 12

fossilization

Answer 12

variety of processes that enables the preservation of organic remains within the geological record

Question 13

conditions of fossilization

Answer 13

• rapid and permanent burial/entombment
• oxygen deprivation
• continued sediment accumulation
• absence of excessive heat or compression

Question 14

rapid & permanent burial/entombment (fossilization)

Answer 14

protected specimen from biological disturbance

Question 15

continued sediment accumulation (fossilization)

Answer 15

ensures organism remains buried

Question 15

oxygen deprivation (fossilization)

Answer 15

limits decay

Question 16

absence of excessive heat or compression (fossilization)

Answer 16

geological processes that can destry fossils

Question 17

compression fossils

Answer 17

• organism buried under sediment
• makes an impression
• analogous to a leaf pressed into wet cement

Question 18

casts and molds fossils

Answer 18

• remains decay after an organic object is buried in sediment

Question 19

fossil mold

Answer 19

unfilled space

Question 20

fossil cast

Answer 20

new material fills the space

Question 21

permineralized fossils

Answer 21

• organism bured in sediment
• body parts infiltrated or replaced by minerals

Question 22

unaltered remains

Answer 22

• 2000 yr old man buried in peat moss
• woolly mammoths preserved in ice age permafrost
• insects in amber

Question 23

weaknesses of the fossil record

Answer 23

• fossils most easily formed in aquatic and low-land habitats
• soft parts do not fossilize
• recycling of crust

Question 24

strengths of the fossil record

Answer 24

- fossils are remains of things that actually existed - excellent fossil records exist for some groups and structures