CHAPTER 14.

1
Fossil Evidence of Change
14.1 Fossil Evidence of Change
• Land Environments
• 4.6 BILLION years ago
Gravity pulled the
densest molten body to
the centre of the planet.
50 million years later, a
solid crust formed on the
surface.
The surface was rich in
lighter elements, such as
silicon.
 Land Environments
Gravity pulled the
densest molten body to
the center of the planet.
50 million years later, a
solid crust formed on the
surface.
The surface was rich in
lighter elements, such as
silicon.

Picture from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon

Earth’s Early History
What were the conditions on Earth as
it formed?
How did life arise on a lifeless planet?

Gravity pulled dense metals

to the centre and a crust
formed on the surface in this
chapter we’ll look at
possibilities and hypothesis
of how the earth formed and
how life began on earth.
 Earth's Atmosphere continued .........
No one can be certain about the
exact composition of the early
atmosphere.
The gases that likely made the
atmosphere are those that were
expelled by volcanoes.
Gases produced were probably similar
to those created by modern
volcanoes (H2O, CO2, SO2, CO, S2,
HCN, N2, H2 H2S) and NH3
(ammonia) and CH4 (methane)
No free O2 at this time (not found in
P ic t u r e f r o m : h t t p : / / e n . w ik ip e d ia . o r g / w ik
volcanic gases).
Ocean Formation - As the Earth cooled,
H2O produced by out gassing could
exist as liquid, allowing oceans to
 Clues in Rocks
• Earth eventually cooled to
the point where liquid
water formed which
became the first oceans.
• 50 million years later life
first appeared.
• The earliest clues of life
on Earth is about 3.5
million years ago.
www.psu.edu
 Fossil Records- types of fossils
C a te g o rTy r a c e f o s sMilso ld s a n d cRa es tpsla c e mPe en ttr if ie d o r p e r m in eAr amlizbee dr O r ig in a l m a t e r ia l
A fossil is any preserved evidence of an organism

E x a m p le

A t r a c e f oAs s mil iso ld is a Tn h e o r ig in aEl m p t y sp po ar ec e s a rPe r e s e r v e d Mt r euem m if ic a t io n

a n y in d ir e cimt p r e s s io n omf a t e r ia l o f f aillen d in b y m in e rsaalsp , t r a p s a on r f r e e z in g
e v id e n c e lea fnt ob ryg a n is mo .r g a n is m islik e in p e t r if ie d we on ot ird e. pre se rve s
a n o r g a n is m . r e p la c e d w it h o r g a n is m . To hr ige in a l
lik e f o o t p r inA t sc, a s t is a m ino lde r a ls c r y s t a ls s a p h a r d e n os r g a n is m s .
F o r m a tio n
b u r r o w s , a fnille
d d w it h t h a t c a n le a v e in t o a m b e r
Plants, f o s s il fanimals,
e c e s e. d im e n t .and even
d e t a ile d r e p licbacteria
as can
a n d p formr e s e r v e sfossils.
o f ha rd or s o ft th e tr a p p e d
 Fossil Records continued......

There is a rich variety of

www.dinocoast.org.uk
dbs.umt.edu
fossils, but the fossil
record is like a book with
many missing pages.

Perhaps more then 99%

of the species that ever
www.hometrainingtools.com scienceantiscience.blogspot.com

lived are now extinct, but

only a tiny percentage of
these organisms are
present in fossils.
digsfossils.com
www.psu.edu
Fossil Records continued......
Most organisms decompose before they have a
chance to become fossilized.
Only organisms that are buried rapidly in
sediment are readily preserved.
This occurs more frequently with organisms
living in water because the sediment in aquatic
environments constantly settling.

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Fossil Formation
Nearly all fossils are
formed in sedimentary
rock.
• The organism dies and is
buried in sediments.
• The sediments build up
until they cover the
organism's remains.
• Minerals may replace
organic material or the
organism decays and an
impression is left.
Palaeontologist
Is a scientist who studies
fossils. Their job is to:
• Attempt to read the record
of life left in rocks.
• infer the diet of an
organism and the
environment in which it
lived.
 Dating Fossils
Relative dating is a method
used to determine the age of
rocks by comparing them with
those in other layers.
Relative dating is based on
law of superposition which
states that younger layers of
rock are deposited on top or
older layers.
 Dating Fossils continued........

 Radiometric dating uses the decay of

radioactive isotopes to measure the age of a
rock.
 The amount of time it takes for half of the

original isotope to decay is called half-life.

 The relative amounts of
the radioactive isotope
and its decay product
must be known.
 The Geologic Time Scale
A model that expresses the major geological and
biological events in Earths history.
• The geologic time scale is
divided into the Precambrian
and Phanerozoic eon.
• An era is the next largest
division of the geologic time
scale.
• Each era is divided into one
or more periods.(see pg. 397)
 The Geologic Time Scale
Precambrian
The Precambrian (Pre-
Cambrian) is an
informal name for the
supereon comprising
the eons of the
geologic timescale that
came before the
current Phanerozoic
eon. It spans from the
formation of Earth
around 4500 Mya to the
evolution of abundant
macroscopic hard-
shelled animals, which
marked the beginning
of the Cambrian, the
first periodof the first
era of the Phanerozoic
eon,
Pre-Cambrian
Pre-Cambrian- Possibly a jellyfish
type organism
Pre-Cambrian- Fossils

Fossils are rarely found

dating back to the Archean
and Proterozoic eras. This
lack of fossil evidence
leads scientists to believe
that life was simple during
this time and probably
consisted of soft bodied
marine animals, algae,
bacteria, protists, and
worms.
 The Geologic Time Scale
The Paleozoic covers the
time from the first
appearance of
abundant, soft-shelled
fossils to the time
when the continents
were beginning to be
dominated by large,
relatively
sophisticated reptiles
and relatively modern
plants. The lower
(oldest) boundary was
classically set at the
first appearance of
creatures known as
trilobites and
archeocyathids
Cambrian
Cambrian
• The Cambrian
explosion or
Cambrian radiation
was the seemingly
rapid appearance of
most major groups of
complex animals
around 530 million
years ago, as
evidenced by the
fossil record
Cambrian
• The Cambrian
explosion or
Cambrian radiation
was the seemingly
rapid appearance of
most major groups of
complex animals
around 530 million
years ago, as
evidenced by the
fossil record
 Mass Extinction
• A mass extinction ends the paleozoic era . It
affected many groups of organisms in many
different environments, but it affected marine
communities the most by far, causing the
extinction of most of the marine invertebrates of
the time. Some groups survived the Permian
mass extinction in greatly diminished numbers,
but they never again reached the ecological
dominance they once had, clearing the way for
another group of sea life.
Mass Extinction
• On land, a relatively
smaller extinction of
reptiles, birds and
early mammals and
cleared the way for
other forms to
dominate, and led to
what has been called
the "Age of
Dinosaurs“
• .
 The Geologic Time Scale
The Mesozoic Era follows
the most devastating
mass extinction in
earth's history. The end
of the Mesozoic is
marked by the a
sudden, massive
extinction event. The
second largest extinction
in earth's history
happens quite suddenly.
Data collected within the
last 20 years, strongly
suggests that an
asteroid impact on the
earth played a major role
in the Cretaceous-
Tertiary extinctions.
The Mesozoic era
• It took most of the first
and second periods of the
Mesozoic, the Triassic
and the Jurassic periods,
for the diversity of
species to recover and
achieve some balance.
Mammals and dinosaurs
first appeared in the
Triassic period
The KT Boundary
• Rocks deposited during the
Cretaceous Period and
Tertiary Period are
separated by a thin clay
layer that is visible at
several sites around the
world.
• The boundary of rocks
between the cretaceous (K)
rocks and tertiary (T) rock
eras is called the K/T
boundary, and has an
interesting anomaly, with a
rare element called iridium
reaching unusually high levels
The KT Boundary
• Geologists
realized that
there was a
dramatic
change in the
types of
fossils
deposited on
either side of
this boundary.
The KT Boundary
• This boundary corresponds
to one of the greatest mass
extinctions in Earth's
history. At least 75 percent
of the species on our planet,
both in the seas and on the
continents, including
dinosaurs were extinguished
forever. Dinosaurs, however,
were only a small fraction of
the plants and animals that
disappeared.
 The Geologic Time Scale
The Cenozoic
Era 65mya to present
As the dinosaurs
perished at the end of
the Cretaceous, the
mammals took center
stage. Mammals
increased in numbers
and diversity, so too
did other forms of life.
(the birds, reptiles,
fish, insects, plants),
Mammals eventually
became the largest
land animals of the
Era, as the dinosaurs
had been during the
Mesozoic.
 1.
• Fossils are traces of organisms that lived in the
past. Fossils can be analyzed to determine the
age of the fossil. The absolute age of the fossil
can be determined though radiometric dating.
Relative age can be determined by examining
the layer of rock in which the fossil was found.
Older layers are found deeper within the earth
than newer layers.
• As evidenced by the fossil records species on
earth have changed from uni-cellular life forms
to the most complex forms through time
 2.
• Fossils can occur in different ways I will
look at an example of each
• (1) preservation without change;
• (2) complete replacement by a mineral;
• (3) filling in of a hollow space by a mineral;
(4) formation of a thin film of carbon; and
(5) formation of an imprint or the filling in
of an imprint.
2.(1) preservation without change;
(2) complete replacement by a
mineral
(3) filling in of a hollow space by a
mineral
(4) formation of a thin film of
carbon;
• Another type of fossil is
the darkened carbon
imprint of a buried plant
or, more rare, animal.
The organism
decomposes, leaving a
thin film of carbon on the
rock face in the form of
the organism. Leaves,
insects, and fish are often
found preserved this way.
(5) formation of an imprint or the
filling in of an imprint.
(a cast)
Back to Q3
• Radiometric dating
can be used as well
as relative dating.
• Radiometric dating
can be used on
altered materials
(such as mummies)
as long as the
material is less than
60,000 years old
 4.
• Paleozoic Era Invertebrate sea life Numerous fishes,
other sea life; many plants, first trees; insects, amphibians,
reptiles; Large reptiles, amphibians; most species become
extinct
• Mesozoic Era-Age of Reptiles. Early dinosaurs, Diverse
marine life, including vertebrates; vascular plants
crocodiles, turtles; first mammals Many seagoing reptiles;
dinosaurs; later, flying reptiles (pterosaurs), earliest known
birds
• Cenozoic Era -Age of Mammals. Further development of
mammals and birds. Various forms of humans, including
Homo sapiens