1. Fossils

2. The earliest clues about life on earth are about
3.5 billion years old!!!!

3. What are Fossils The remains of organisms that lived a long time ago
Shells
Bones and Teeth
Fossils of Footprints
Leaves and Seeds
Tree Trunks and Branches
Animal Dropings

4. Where are Fossils Found
In layers of sedimentary rock
The oldest fossils are found in the bottom layers
The youngest fossils are found in the top layers

5. How are Fossils Formed? An animal dies and is covered by sediment
(dirt, sand, etc.)
The sediments build up until the body is buried.
These layers become rock.

6. Continued…. Minerals replace the bones and hard parts of the animal.
These minerals form the fossil.
Sometimes the animal decays, leaving an impression of its body.

8. a scientist who studies fossils.
Paleontologist
a scientist who studies fossils.

9. Platystrophia Ponderosa

10. Brachiopode

11. Mesolimulus Walchi

12. Eurypholis boissieri

13. How old are fossils?
(How can we tell?)

14. Dasornis londinensis

15. Tyrannosaurus Rex

16. How old are fossils?
Relative dating: figure out the age of a fossil found in one layer of rock by comparing it to rock in other layers.
Based on the law of superposition – younger layers of rock are deposited on top of older layers

18. How old are fossils?
Radiometric dating: uses the decay of radioactive isotopes to measure the age of rocks
Uranium-238 used to date rock millions of years old.
Carbon-14 used to date organic substances like bones and tissues that are thousands of years old. Ex: mummies

19. Which type of dating is more accurate?

20. Radiometric dating

21. GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE

22. Describes the major geological and biological events in Earth’s history (Fig 14.5 p. 397)

23. Divided into eras which are then divided into periods.

24. Cambrian explosion: rapid branching out of most animal groups

25. Throughout the time scale there have been many
mass extinctions

26. a large amount of plants and animals die in a short period of time
caused by a catastrophe (fire, earthquake, etc.) and/or environmental factors