CAS AN 102 Study Guide - Final Guide: Canine Tooth, Sagittal Crest, Meave Leakey
27 Mar 2014
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Document Summary
An animal dies and eventually just bones remain. Minerals in water or soil replace bone mineral turning bone to stone (petrification) Later erosion uncovers fossil so we can discover it. Fossils are rare and represent a small fraction of past life. Have to have unique conditions of preservation, volcano, flood. Teeth and jaws more likely to be recovered taphonomy: the study of what happens to the remains of an animal from the time of death to time of discovery. Were cut marks on animal bones due to humans or animals? stratigraphy: the study of the order of rock layers and the sequence of events they reflect. Sedimentary rocks are formed layer by layer. Over time these layers pile up on each other. Bottom layers are older than top layers. Geological processes can deform once horizontal layers. Uniformitarianism - geological processes in the past same as those in present. All earth"s layers are laid down parallel to earth"s gravitational field.
