Fossil Names
These fossils form when minerals replace organic material, turning wood into stone.
What are petrified fossils?
This naturalist published "On the origin of species" in 1859.
Who is Charles Darwin?
This relative dating technique uses fossils found in one location to date rocks elsewhere.
What are index fossils?
This is known as the study of fossils.
What paleontology?
These body parts are most likely to become fossils.
What are bones and teeth?
Footprints, burrows, and coprolites are examples of these fossils.
What are trace fossils?
Darwin observed finches with different beak shapes on these South African Islands.
What are the Galapagos Islands?
Rocks are dated using this method that measures the amount of decay.
What is radiometric dating?
Dates that show when organisms have either been found or have disappeared.
What are first and last appearances?
An incomplete record showing all organisms found on earth.
What is the fossil record?
Insects preserved in this hardened tree sap can be found dating back millions of years.
What is amber?
Term that describes when organisms are better suited to their environment survive and reproduce.
What is natural selection?
A radioactive isotope with a 5,730 year half-life is used to date organisms.
What is carbon-14?
Change over time.
What is extinction?
The extinction event 66 million years ago that killed the dinosaurs ended this period.
What is the cretaceous period?
These impressions show only the shape of the organism, like a leaf pressed into rock.
What are mold fossils?
Random changes in DNA that can be passed on to offspring.
What are mutations?
The new isotope that forms when another isotope decays.
What is daughter material?
Happens when all of the members of a species die out.
What is extinction?
This explosion about 541 million years ago saw a rapid diversification of life forms.
What is the Cambrian Explosion?
Wooly Mammoths and other ice age creatures preserved in these are called "Frozen Fossils".
What is ice?
This phenomona occurs when a population is separated and evolves into different species.
What is speciation?
Scientists detrmine age by studying layers of rock in this principle.
What is superposition?
Scientist that developed the theory of inheritance of acquired traits.
Who is Gregor Mendel?
This method dates volcanic rock by measuring argon gas trapped in crystals.
What is potassium-argon dating?