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?
Dates that show when organisms have either been found or have disappeared.
What are first and last appearances?
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?
This explosion about 541 million years ago saw a rapid diversification of life forms.
What is the Cambrian Explosion?
Insects preserved in this hardened tree resin 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?
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 and cast 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?
This method dates volcanic rock by measuring argon gas trapped in crystals
Wooly Mammoths and other ice age creatures preserved in these are called "Frozen Fossils"
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?