Core terminology: History of Life on Earth

Question 1

Deductive reasoning

Answer 1

Using observation and available evidence to work out something

Question 2

Inductive reasoning

Answer 2

Using specific examples to make more general rules or ideas or theories

Question 3

Mass extinction

Answer 3

Times when very large numbers of species became extinct on Earth

Question 4

A geological eon

Answer 4

The four largest segments geological time is divided into.

e.g. usage: The four aeons are the Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, and the current Phanerozoic

Question 5

A geological era

Answer 5

A subdivision of geologic time that divides an eon into smaller units of time.

E.g. usage: The Phanerozoic Eon is divided into three such time frames: the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic (meaning “old life”, “middle life” and “recent life”)

Question 6

A geological period

Answer 6

A subdivision of an era and its length is determined by a system of dating based on examining fossil evidence belonging to a particular era

Question 7

Geological Timescale

Answer 7

A system of chronological dating that relates geological strata (stratigraphy) to time.

Question 8

Plate tectonics

Answer 8

The folding and faulting of the Earth’s crust (lithosphere)

Question 9

Radiometric dating

Answer 9

Using radioactive isotopes to date fossils e.g C¹⁴

Question 10

Relative dating

Answer 10

Using position of a fossil in layers of rock to establish its relative age

Question 11

Binomial nomenclature

Answer 11

Double name system for the scientific naming of species

Question 12

Archaeopteryx

Answer 12

the fossil that is an intermediate/link between birds and dinosaurs

Question 13

Biological classification

Answer 13

grouping different taxa together on the basis of shared characteristics

Question 14

Fossil

Answer 14

preserved remains of organisms that existed a long time ago

Question 15

Fossilisation

Answer 15

the process by which dead organisms or their parts are transformed into fossils

Question 16

Fossil record

Answer 16

the known fossils discovered so far

Question 17

Fossil tourism

Answer 17

fossil sites developed for tourism which provides income for the local community

e.g. West Coast Fossil Park, The Cradle of Humankind

Question 18

Palaeontology

Answer 18

The scientific study of fossils

Question 19

Palaeontologist

Answer 19

A scientist who studies fossils

Question 20

Paleoanthropologist

Answer 20

A scientist who studies ancient humans (found as fossil hominid evidence)

Question 21

Transition fossil

Answer 21

Intermediary (in between) forms of life that show change from one taxon to another

E.g. Australopithecus is an intermediate fossil of humans and our ape-like ancestors

Question 22

Missing link

Answer 22

the hypothetical intermediate forms of life that show change from one taxon to another

Question 23

Index fossil

Answer 23

Any animal or plant preserved in the rock record of the Earth that is characteristic of a particular span of geologic time or environment.