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fossil record
Question | Answer |
---|---|
physical factors | non living factors such as erosion wind and sun exposure |
biological factors | living factors such as decomposers scavengers and predators |
cast | casts are formed when sediment leaks into a mold and hardens to form a copy of the original structure |
compression | fossils formed when an organism is flattened (compressed), leaving a dark stain in the structure |
coprolite | fossilized feces |
decomposer | an organism that breaks down the tissue and/or structures of dead organism |
erosion | weathering or wearing away of rock and and earth caused by wind sun and or water |
fossil | the natural remains |
fossil record | ALL of the fossils that have existed throughout lifes history whether they have been found or not |
groundwater | water found underwater as a result of rainfall and the natrual causes |
Ichnology | the study of trace fossil |
Igneous rock | type of rock produced when molten magma cools and solidifes |
Inorganic | not contataining carbon. Not from living things |
impression | fossilized prints or marks made by a living thing. Leaf prints, skins prints and footprints are good examples |
intertidal | the coastal zone between the low and high tide mark where waves impact the land |
metamorphic rock | rock produces when any type of rocl is changed by heat pressure and chemical activity in the earth |
mineralization | the process wherby living material is replaced with minerals |
benthic | living at the bottom of ocean or on the ocean floor |
mold | the impression of an organism left behind in the rock |
paleontology | the study of life in the past |
paleontologist | are people who study fossils and other type of evidence to learn about life in the past |
plate tectonics | the concept that explains the movement of the Earth's crustal plates sea floor |
rock cycle | the process through which one type of rock is converted into together |
scavenger | an organism that feeds on dead and dying organism |
sedimentary rock | rock that is formed when layers of small particles are compressed and cemented together |
trace fossils | evidence left caused by organisms such as burrows imprints coprolites or footprints |
uplift | the process that causes part of the Earth's crust to to rise above surrounding areas.This can cause layers of rock to become exposed at the surface |
body fossils | body parts of organism that become fossils such as bones teeth skins leaves tree trunks |
relative age | the age of a rock composed to the ages of other rocks |
absolute age | the number of years since rock since formed |
law of superposition | layers of rock gets older as you go down |
extrusion | lava that hardens on the surface |
intrusion | the magma cools and hardens into a mass of igneous rock |
fault | a break in the earth's crust |
unconformity | the surface where new rock meets old rock |
index fossil | a fossil must be widely distributed and represent a type of organism |
sedimentary rock | from sediments that have been deposited and are pressed together |
atoms | Tiny particles |
elements | One class of substance that cannot be separated into simpler substance by chemical means |
half-life | The process by which the nucleus often usable atom loses enery |
radioactive decay | The time required for one half the atoms of a given amount of radioactive substance to disintegrate |