EOSC 116 Study Guide - Final Guide: Siberian Traps, Permian, Greenhouse Effect

• School: UBC
• Department: Earth and Ocean Sciences
• Course: EOSC 116
• Professor: Stuart Sutherland

Document Summary

Fossil: any physical trace of past life (ex. bones, teeth) Trace fossils (ichnofossils): indirect evidence of life in the past rather than actual preserved remains of the body itself (ex. dinosaur footprints) Processes include trapping in amber, freezing, mineralization, commonly preserved by impressions or having original living mineral replaced after death. Common replacement minerals include calcite, iron and silica (quartz) Most common for dinosaurs (bones and teeth formed out of calcium phosphate) Taphonomy: the study of what happens to an organism after death until its discovery as a fossil (movement and decay) Biostratinomy: physical and biological movement before final burial. Necrolysis: decay; the study of the death of an organism (bias: soft part creatures decay much faster than creatures with hard shells) Slow down decay by reducing supply of oxygen (less scavengers and microbes), having ph extremes, material having lower volatiles (cellulose) Diagenesis: the changes in the environment that take place after the final burial and impact a fossil.