Ediacan Fossils Research Paper

He noticed that the rocks at the top of the section had a very high percentage of fossils of living mollusc species. Those at the bottom of the section had very few living forms. He deduced that this difference was because of the extinction of older forms and the evolution of living forms during the time that the rocks were being deposited. He divided the Tertiary rocks into three sub-ages: the Pliocene, the Miocene, and the Eocene. 90% of the fossil molluscs in Pliocene rocks were living today. In the Miocene rocks, only 18% of the molluscs were of living species, and in Eocene rocks, only 9.5%.” (Polly et al.,

The author and his colleagues specifically chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks in their search for fossils because this was the time frame that provided fish that would be useful to study from. The 385 million year old rocks provided fish that look too similar to the ones we have now and the 365 million year old rocks have fossils that don’t resemble fish. The 375 million year old rocks, however, provide fossils that show the transition between fish and land living animals.

Fossils Tell of Long Ago uses accessible language and illustrations to aid all students in vocabulary and new concept growth. Explicit instructions, reading the book allowed to the class, and allowing conversation among individual students as they work through learning new words will aid ELL students in expanding their word knowledge. Furthermore, having ELL students translate new word to into their native language will help them activate their previous knowledge. Encouraging all students to be actively engage in learning words will ensure that ELL students and all students will gain knowledge and make connections to new words.

They chose the time period of 375 million year old rocks because they thought that it was an ideal age to check the transition. They were only able to find fish found in 380 million year old rock and the animals with limbs in 365 million year old rocks. Sedimentary rocks are ideal because they are made due to the turns of the river, ocean and lakes. This is the place where fishes and animals are ideal to live and survive upon. Also the environment, in which they are made, doesn’t destroy the fossils and they preserve them. In 2004, the fossils were found on Ellesmere Island in Northern Canada. This location was chosen because this is the place where there are no humans or roads or any disturbance that would forbid them to dig anywhere they want.

In order to find evidence of the transition from fish to land animals, the author and his colleagues chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks. In 2004, they studied sedimentary rock on Ellesmere Island in Canada’s Arctic as they thought that the rocks there would be exposed and untouched by humans, which would be ideal for fossil excavations. They studied sedimentary rocks (limestone, sandstone, siltstone and shales) because these

1. Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish, and his colleagues travel to Ellesmere Island to look for and study the shift from fish living in water to creatures living on land (4). Fossils from 360 million years ago include amphibians and reptiles. Fossils 385 million years old, only fish are found. Because of this, Shubin and his colleagues look at the time in the middle of this, 375 million years ago (10). In 2004, they give it another try, after failed previous tries (21). What gradually emerges from the rocks they searched for in the bottom of the quarry is an “intermediate” right between fish and land animals, Tiktaalik, “large freshwater fish” (22-25).

The palebians made up the majority of the population. But they were not allowed to have any say in political issues. The palebians were the poor, lower class citizens who couldn't become priests or be a part of the senate. They were the peasants, craftsmen, farmers, and shopkeepers. On the other hand, the patricians were the ones who were wealthy (the upper class) and the only ones that could have power in religious offices, in the senate, and could control over the military. Unllike the Palebians, the patricians were the smaller part of the population that had all the power. But just because the Patricians had all the control over Rome, this did not mean that the Palebians weren't important or "necessary"

Just last year, some researchers stated that the extinct aquatic animal, the ‘Tully Monster’ was a vertebrate, possibly a relative of today’s lampreys. Like a mismatched puzzle, the Tully monster lacks some vertebrate pieces and has others that are the wrong shape, researchers and colleagues report in the March issue of Palaeontology. (Palaeontology includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environment, their paleoecology).

At the time, although it was understood that fossils were the hardened remains of dead animals, it was not yet accepted that these animals might be extinct species from hundreds of millions of years ago. So, when Anning showed up with a giant marine reptile fossil (the world’s first Ichthyosaur) it caused quite a stir, because at the time the Bible was widely used for interpreting scientific ideas and religion ruled people’s lives. Hence Anning’s findings encouraged the largely creationist population, to rethink the history of the Earth. Her fossils had helped scientists understand how things

The author and his colleagues chose to focus on 375 million year old rocks in their search for fossils because amphibians that look dissimilar to fish were discovered in 365 million year old rocks, while fish without amphibian characteristics were discovered in 385 million year old rocks. Thus, it is possible that the evolutionary intermediary, or the “missing link” between fish and amphibians, would be discovered in 375 million year old rocks, between the two time periods. The rocks examined were sedimentary in composition, as the gradual and relatively gentle formation of sedimentary rock under conditions of mild pressure and low heat are conducive to the fossilization of animal remains. Sedimentary rock is also often formed in rivers and seas, where animals are likely to live. This site provides a resource that describes means by which fossils are formed and how the fossil record may be interpreted, and shows some examples of fossils demonstrating evolution through geological periods: http://www.fossilmuseum.net/fossilrecord.htm. In 2004, Shubin and his colleagues were looking for fossils on Ellesmere Island, in northern Canada. This location was chosen because of its lack of human development, as well as of obstructing natural formations and life forms such as trees, which

Earth’s time has been divided up into different eras which are, Precambrian 4.6 billion-544 million years ago, Paleozoic 544-245 million years ago, Mesozoic, 245-66 million years ago, and Cenozoic 66 million years ago- present day. In each of these eras, many organisms were created, and evolved. In Precambrian, bacteria were the main living organism. But the Precambrian also includes the seapen and the jellyfish. In the Paleozoic era, also known as the age of ocean or sea animals that include the shark, fish, and trilobite.

(1987), the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary is located in-between Ediacaran Fauna, which is found somewhere between 620-700 million years ago and trilobites, such as the fallotospid group. This creates a period ranging between 30-50 million years in which we can define the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary, making it difficult to determine an accurate timeframe (Morris, 1987). Biomineralization is seen as another key indicator of the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary, this has recently been identified as occurring around 570 million years ago. Kerr (1993) addresses the recent understanding of the Cambrian explosion, which is believed to have occurred simultaneously with the presence of hard skeletal parts. Globally, it is seen that Ediacaran Fauna has been well preserved despite being soft bodied. This has given a good understanding on metazoan evolution (Morris, 1987). Evolution rates of metazoan started to become evaluated with higher precision geochronology. Ultimately, this resulted in a better understanding of Ediacaran Fauna, leading to the belief that the lack of Ediacaran Fauna during the Cambrian, compared to its presence in the Precambrian was due to its continuous evolution, rather than the sudden disappearance due to an event (Bowring and Erwin,

: Fossils are the remains or traces of ancient organisms which have been preserved. For example, a fossil can exist as skeletal remains or even as a footprint. Such organisms are subjected to a slow rate of decaying since they have been rapidly buried under conditions that facilitate this. It is common for fossils to occur as hard-bodied organisms as these are more resistant to environmental influences. Fossils are usually found embedded in rock. The layers of rock are of different age and makeup. Hence fossils found in one layer would vary in characteristics from those found in another layer. They can be observed and analyzed through visual as well as radiometric means so that the age and morphology can be determined. These features indicate

My outside source for questions 3 and 4 is a journal by Pat Shipman titled Fossils. This journal was published in The New Scientist Vol. 215, Issue 2876, p. 8-16.

These techniques led to the discovery of the boundary between the two eras. A single thin layer of clay found within predominantly limestone rocks established this. By comparing the marine life found in, above, and below the clay, the marine life, like the dinosaurs, had been terribly affected by the extinction event. The percentage of life in the upper layers was dramatically lower than that in the lower. This was far more compelling than what was suggested by dinosaur’s fossils.