Fossils and scientists
A scientist who studies fossils is called this.
What is a paleontologist?
This type of dating tells if a fossil is older or younger than another.
What is relative dating?
This is a timeline that shows Earth’s history.
What is the geological time scale?
This means one species changes into many new ones.
What is adaptive radiation?
These tiny fossils show the earliest life on Earth.
microfossils
This is the preserved remains or trace of an ancient organism.
What is a fossil?
This dating method uses radioactive elements to find a fossil’s exact age.
What is radioactive dating?
Large blocks of time on the geological time scale are called this.
What is an era?
This means big changes in life over a long time.
What is macroevolution?
This theory says big cells formed when small ones lived inside them.
What is the endosymbiotic theory?
When a species dies out completely, it becomes this.
What is extinct?
The time it takes for half of a radioactive element to break down.
What is a half-life?
Smaller blocks of time within an era are called this.
What is a period?
This type of evolution happens when different animals become similar.
What is convergent evolution?
This event happens when many species die out at once.
What is a mass extinction?
This fossil is used to tell the age of rock layers.
What is an index fossil?
This kind of fossil helps scientists match rock layers in different places.
What is an index fossil?
The dinosaur extinction happened at the end of this era.
What is the Mesozoic era?
This idea says species change quickly, then stay the same for a long time.
What is punctuated equilibrium?
These were the first kinds of living things.
What are bacteria?
Fossils are usually found in this type of rock.
What is sedimentary rock?
Fossils found deeper in the ground are usually this.
What is older?
The earliest time in Earth’s history is called this.
What is the Precambrian?
The theory that explains how new species can evolve is called this.
What is evolution?
The first life probably lived in this
ocean