Fossils and Paleontology

Question 1

Why study paleontology**

Answer 1

A way to bring fossils back to life

Question 2

What is a fossil

Answer 2

a fossil represents remains or traces of ancient life forms.
Latin definition: Fossilium/fossilis= to be dug up from beneath the earths surface
Modern Definition: remains or traces of ancient life
Fossils are typically older than 11,700 years
sub fossils= younger than 11,700 years

Question 3

How are fossils preserved

Answer 3

Remnants or impressions of hard parts, such as a marine clam shell or dinosaur bone, are the most common types of fossils. The original material has almost always been replaced with new minerals that preserve much of the shape of the original shell, bone, or cell. The common types of fossil preservation are actual preservation, permineralization, molds and casts, carbonization, and trace fossils.

Question 4

What is evolution

Answer 4

If the inheritance of certain distinctive characteristics is sufficiently favored over time, populations may become genetically isolated from one another, eventually resulting in the evolution of separate species. This genetic isolation may also be caused by a geographic barrier, such as an island surrounded by ocean. This theory of evolution by natural selection was elaborated by Darwin

Question 5

define the kind of fossils

Answer 5

Body fossils

Trace Fossils

Question 6

Define body fossils

Answer 6

Largely preserve the fossil itself, or (most likely) a fragment of it , as a mold or cast.

Question 7

define trace fossils

Answer 7

documents the traces of an organisms activity (movement, feeding, flight)

Question 8

Define the process of fossilization

Answer 8

Transformation of a dead organisim into a fossil (taphonomic processes)
Only in exceptional cases the whole animal is preserved
fossilization results in the alteration of the original life form
-unaltered (insects in amber)
-altered (most fossils)

Question 9

define permineralization

Answer 9

Frequent in the case of organic debris with porous structure (bones, tree trunks) Minerals precipitate to fill the pore space.

Question 10

Define Replacement

Answer 10

is a common style of preservation in which solutions remove original shell and replace with another material (silica and pyrite are the most common) on a point by point basis. Silcification

Question 11

Define Moldic fossilization

Answer 11

Related to diagensisi in resulting lithification. A mold and a cast result in this kind of fossilization, this occurs when an organism makes an impression into a rock, after the organism dissolves materials fill into the space and preserve the external shape of the previous organism.

Question 12

How do soft body Ediacaran organisms get preserved

Answer 12

Impressions

Question 13

Define carbonization

Answer 13

occurs when the organic tissues of an organism are compressed, the volatiles are driven out, and everything but the carbon disappears leaving a carbon silhouette of the original organism. Leaf and fern fossils are examples of carbonization. Especially prevalent in plants.

Question 14

What are examples of exceptional preservation

Answer 14

1. Dehydration, preservation in permafrost like woolly mammoths in siberia
2. Fossilization in tar pits, occurs in zones in which petroleum reaches the earth surface

Question 15

What would be preserved in a recent tidal pool***possible test question

Answer 15

a

Question 16

Why is the fossil record biased

Answer 16

Because a very small portion of life has been fossilized

Question 17

Where is most of the fossil record located

Answer 17

Marine locations in sedimentary rocks.

Question 18

Define biostratigraphy

Answer 18

A type of stratigraphic correlation in which fossils are used to match different rock layers. We correlate rock units by define different types of biozones.