Biology 10 CHAPTER 19-1 “THE FOSSIL RECORD” P 538-545

Biology 10 CHAPTER 19-1 “THE FOSSIL RECORD” P 538-545

Objectives Describe how fossils reveal information about ancient life. Describe how we date events in Earth’s history. Explain what the geologic time scale is, and be able to list its major divisions. Analyze how Earth’s environment and it’s organisms affect each other.

Fossil Evidence Provides much of evolutionists evidence Most fossils formed when organism is buried by sediments, which prevents bacteria from decomposing Hard parts (bones, teeth, shells, etc) most common Other fossils- frozen mammoths, insects trapped in amber, minerals leaching into organism

Fossil Formation Images Fossil Cast Fossil Mold

Dating Earth’s History Two types of dating relative dating radiometric (absolute) dating

Relative Dating Places rock layers and their fossils in a temporal sequence Oldest fossils on the bottom, youngest fossils on top. Scientists must use index fossils to determine how old other fossils are index fossils- fossils that are widely distributed, and only appear in a narrow time band (ex: trilobites) Relative dating just tells you how old a fossil is RELATIVE to other fossils, it can’t tell you the age of a fossil in years!

Relative Dating Example

Radiometric Dating Uses radioactive isotopes to determine a fossils age in years Radioactive isotopes lose particles and energy as they decay to form stable isotopes The rate of decay is constant for a radioisotope By measuring the ratio of radioactive isotope to its stable product, we can estimate how old a fossil is

Half-Life half-life: the amount of time it takes for 50% of a radioisotope to become stable ie: For every half-life that passes, the amount of radioisotope remaining is cut in half! Each type of radioisotope decays at a different rate ex: carbon 14 has a half life of 5700 years, can be used to measure objects that are less than 60,000 years old ex 2: potassium-40 has a half life of 1.26 billion years, so can be used to determine ages of much older things

Quick Lab: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Find a partner Take a sheet of paper, cut out 100 1-cm squares. Place an X on each square. Put the squares in a cup. Mix squares in the cup and dump out. Remove all the squares that show an X, and record how many squares are left in the data table below. Return the unmarked squares to the cup. Repeat steps 5-7 until there are 5 or fewer squares left. Make a graph with the number of spills on the x axis, and the number of squares remaining after each spill on the y-axis

Data Table for Quick Lab Spill Number Number of Squares Returned

Questions How many spills did you need to remove half the squares? To remove ¾ of the squares? 2. If each spill represents 1 year, what is the half-life of the squares? 1.

The Geologic Time Scale Paleontologists developed the geologic time scale by studying rock layers and index fossils Where major changes in the rock layers or mass extinctions occur, boundaries between different eons, eras, and periods were established The ages were then determined using radiometric dating

Geologic Time Scale demonstration

Divisions of the Geologic Time Scale Largest divisions are eons eons broken down into eras eras broken down into periods Names come from locations of rocks, or some other feature of that period ex: Cambrian period named after Cambria, where rocks were first found

Changing Earth Earth is constantly changing ex: Pangaea is now broken down into today’s continents Earth’s features have affected organisms ex: mountain ranges affect climates, which forces organisms to evolve to the change Organisms have also affected Earth! ex: Evolution of photosynthesis changed the composition of Earth’s atmosphere, which allowed organisms to move up on land ex 2: humans have caused drastic changes to our planet