Introduction and history

Question 0

William Smith

Answer 0

Made the 1st true geological map

Noticed layers of sedimentary rocks in any given location have the same fossil sequence

Question 1

Fossil

Answer 1

Any nonliving biologically generated trace or material that paleontologists study as part of the record of life

Question 2

Robert Hooke

Answer 2

Microscopic examination of fossil and modern wood and shells showed that they were the same

Question 3

Nicolaus Steno

Answer 3

Decided “tongue stones” were really fossilized shark teeth
Argued that if fossils grew in place we should find half fossils
Said that a solid object will cause solids around it to form to its shape so fossils must have been there before rocks

Question 4

1720 Beringer Hoax

Answer 4

Competitors gave him fake fossils, which he published a book about.

Question 5

In the 16th century how did people believe fossils were made

Answer 5

From the solidification of a fluid

Question 6

What does a paleontologist do?

Answer 6

Collects fossils from the field
Compare with previously described fossils and living organisms
Describe them if not previously known
Document their occurrence in a particular time/place/environment

Question 7

Neo-Platonist

Answer 7

One of the schools of thinking about fossils. Thought fossils grew under celestial influence and emphasized the unity of nature.

Question 8

Aristotelian

Answer 8

Believed fossils formed from “seeds” that washed into the ground.

Question 9

Soft parts are made of which elements

Answer 9

CHNOPS

Question 10

Redford ratio of N:P

Answer 10

16:1

Question 11

Diagenesis

Answer 11

Processes that take place after burial

Question 12

Taphonomy

Answer 12

Study of the process of fossilization

Represents the passage of biological info from the biosphere to the lithosphere

Question 13

George’s Cuvier

Answer 13

An anatomist.
Noticed the oldest fossils were below younger ones
Established that fossils record a history of life.
Established the reality of extinction.

Question 14

Lagerstatten

Answer 14

Unusual preservation. A fossil mother lode.

Question 15

Time Averaging

Answer 15

How much time does a fossil collection represent.
Organisms found together may not have lived together.
Sedimentary processes may mix together fossils of different ages

Question 16

Taphofacies

Answer 16

Bodied of sedimentary rock characterized by particular combinations of preserved features of the contained fossils.
Help us to reconstructing environments.

Question 17

Stagnation deposits

Answer 17

A type of conservation lagerstatten caused by low oxygen which stops scavenging.

Question 18

Obrution deposits

Answer 18

Lagerstatten conservation deposits. Caused by rapid burial maybe a worm or a huge sediment deposit.

Question 19

Paleobiology

Answer 19

Looks at fossils as the remains of living organisms. A documentation of life of the past.

Question 20

How organisms preserve Ina marine environment depends on…

Answer 20

Water energy (waves/currents), rates of sedimentation, oxygen.

Question 21

The “external metaphors” of paleontology

Answer 21

Does the history of life have an arrow, what is the motor of organic change, is the history of life gradual or episodic, what is the tempo.

Question 22

How do internal and external molds form?

Answer 22

Spaces are filled by sediment and then the minerals are dissolved leaving impressions on the sediment.

Question 23

How do concretes form?

Answer 23

Precipitation of minerals around decaying organisms (soft tissue impressions are preserved)

Question 24

Permineralization

Answer 24

Filling void spaces with minerals (petrified)

Question 25

Biostratinomy

Answer 25

Begins with the death of an organism and ends with it’s burial. (Scavenging, bacterial decomposition, etc.)

Question 26

Necrology

Answer 26

The study of death processes. How dead organisms or dead pieces of organisms are produced.