The Fossil Record and

the History of Life

• The fossil record provides evidence about the
history of life on Earth.
• The fossil record also shows
- How organisms have changed over time
- That some species exist for long time while
others don’t
- When species go extinct
• Paleontologists study fossils
 How fossils form
• Fossils form when any evidence of an organism
is quickly buried by sediment (sand, dust,
mud, silt, ashes, clay) and prevents decay
• Most fossils are found in sedimentary rock
• Sedimentary rocks are formed by the
accumulation of sediment in horizontal layers.
• Older layers are at the bottom. New layers at
the top.
• Sediments accumulate faster in places near
water (rivers, lakes, ocean) because water
carries sediments easily. [Sand storms too]
 How fossils
Figure 17-2 form
Formation of a Fossil

Dead
organisms are The preserved
Water carries buried by layers remains may
small rock of sediment, later be
particles to lakes which forms discovered
and seas. new rock. and studied.
 How old is a fossil?
1. Relative Dating: estimate
the age of the fossil based
on its position on the rock
layers.
Old: bottom New: top
Index Fossils: Fossils that
are well known, existed for
a short period, and had a
wide geographic range
 How old is a fossil?
2. Radioactive Dating: Use radioactive
isotopes (extra neutrons) to determine
the age of rocks or fossils.
• Atoms of isotopes break down (decay) over
time. The amount of radiation left
decreases.
• A half-life is the length of time required for
half of the radioactive atoms in a sample
to decay.
- Carbon 14: 5730 years
- Potassium 40: 1.26 billion years
Radioactive dating: Half-life
 Geologic Time Scale with
Section 17-3Key Events
The Geologic Time Scale
(millions of
Era Period Time years ago) Key Events
Cenozoic Quaternary 1.8–present Glaciations; mammals increased; humans
Tertiary 65–1.8 Mammals diversified; grasses
Mesozoic Cretaceous 145–65 Aquatic reptiles diversified; flowering plants; mass extinction
Jurassic 208–145 Dinosaurs diversified; birds
Triassic 245–208 Dinosaurs; small mammals; cone-bearing plants
Paleozoic Permian 290–245 Reptiles diversified; seed plants; mass extinction
Carboniferous 363–290 Reptiles; winged insects diversified; coal swamps
Devonian 410–363 Fishes diversified; land vertebrates (primitive amphibians)
Silurian 440–410 Land plants; land animals (arthropods)
Ordovician 505–440 Aquatic arthropods; mollusks; vertebrates (jawless fishes)
Cambrian 544–505 Marine invertebrates diversified; most animal phyla evolved
Precambrian 650–544 Anaerobic, then photosynthetic prokaryotes; eukaryotes,
Time then multicellular life
Mixture of The Miller-Urey
gases Spark simulating
simulating lightning storms experiment
atmospheres
of early Earth

Condensation Cold water cools

chamber
chamber, causing
droplets to form water
vapor

Liquid containing amino

acids and other organic
compounds
 History of Life on Earth p. 423-428!!
• The planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old (4,500
million years
• Early Earth atmosphere contained hydrogen
cyanide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide,
nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, and water (toxic)
• First evidence of life: 3.8 billion years ago
-Prokaryotic cells (bacteria) are the oldest
fossils known (no oxygen yet)
• Photosynthetic bacteria start producing
oxygen 2.2 billion years ago
 Origin of Life
• Alex Oparin- a Russian scientist that proposed
that life began 3.9-3.5 years ago
• In the 1930’s, he proposed that simple organic
carbon compounds formed and joined together
to make the first early life forms
• Miller and Urey tested Oparin’s hypothesis in the
1950’s by recreating the early earth atmosphere
and tried to create life. They were successful in
creating amino acids.
 The Origin of Eukaryotic Cells:
The Endosymbiotic Theory
• 2 billion years ago: smaller prokaryotic cells
began living inside other prokaryotic cells
• Endosymbiotic Theory: eukaryotic cells
formed from a symbiosis (close relationship)
among prokaryotic cells
• Prokaryotes that carried out photosynthesis
evolved into chloroplasts
• Prokaryotes that were able to used oxygen and
carbohydrates to produce ATP evolved into
mitochondria
Endosymbiotic Theory: Evidence
1. Mitochondria and Chloroplasts contain their
own DNA, which is similar to the DNA of
bacteria
2. Mitochondria and chloroplasts have their own
ribosomes, which closely resemble the
ribosomes of bacteria

Lynn Margulis proposed

this theory in the 1960’s
 Endosymbiotic Theory
Plants
and
Chloroplast plantlike
Aerobic
bacteria protists
Ancient Prokaryotes Photosynthetic
bacteria
Nuclear
envelope
evolving Mitochondrion
Primitive
Photosynthetic
Eukaryote

Primitive
Animals, fungi,
Ancient Aerobic (uses O2) and non-plantlike
Anaerobic (no O2) Eukaryote protists
Prokaryote
 Fossils
• Fossil: Any evidence of an organism that
lived long ago.
• Fossils can be
– complete organisms (plant, animal, fungi,
protista, bacteria)
– parts of organisms
– footprints
– eggs
– seeds
– pollen
– droppings (coprolites)