B.Sc. I / Pap.

II/
Evolution: Formation & dating of fossils

Fossils are defined as the remains of organisms or prints of animals and

plants of past ages preserved in the rocks or earth crust. The remains
include bones, teeth, shells other hard parts.
Importance (Significance) of fossils:
i) They form concrete evidence of evolution.
ii) Fossils indicate geological period during which respective animal was
living on the earth.
iii) They are used to determine ancient environment and also indicate
nature of ancient climate.
iv) Fossils reflect the geography of the ancient earth i.e. distribution of
mountains, seas, deserts, forests etc.
v) They indicate the routes of migration of ancient organisms.
vi) Fossils help in understanding the evolutionary history of some animals
like horse, camel, elephant, man, etc.
vii) Fossils are of greatest economic use in exploration of petroleum.
Fossils of foraminifers and other microorganisms are indicators of oil
reservoirs.
Condition for fossilization (requirements)
i) Possession of hard parts: - Organisms should contain hard parts such as
bones, hair, nails, scales, spicules, shells, chitin, feathers, beak etc. than
can be preserved naturally in the earth crust.
ii) Immediate burial: - After their death, if organisms are buried under
earth crust there is more likely to be getting preserved without much
change.
Formation of fossils
The process of formation fossils is called fossilization. It occurs in many
ways, producing several types of fossils.
Different kinds of fossils can be classified as below;
1) Intact or actual remains:
a) Ice: - Such type of preservation is possible if the animals are buried
under the ice land, which form the natural cold storage house. The best
example of such fossils is that of extinct mammoths of Sibera, which have
been preserved in ice. Wooly Rhinoceros has also been found frozen in ice.
In these rare cases ancient animals are perfectly preserved so that the
eyes, skin, blood, flesh and partly digested vegetation in the stomach are
found preserved.
b) Amber: - Another means of actual preservation of the entire animal is in
amber, a fossil resin from pines. Large number of inset species are found
preserved intact from amber. Colour & cellular details are also well
preserved in amber.
c) Asphalt: - Near petroleum springs, oil evaporates leaving a mass of
sticky far which later on changes in to this hard material called asphalt.
Asphalt or salt is the most suitable substance for preserving the details of
animals. Mollusk shells, teeth of shark pieces of buried logs, bones of
animals etc. are found preserved in asphalt lakes. Birds & mammals
crossing such lakes gets entangled & preserved nicely.
d) Volcanic ash: - After eruption of volcanoes, number of animals, plants,
gets buried in the volcanic ash and are preserved completely, especially
hard parts.
2) Petrification: - It means ‘conversion into stones’. It involves the
replacement of organic matter of a dead animal or a plant by mineral
matter. The petrification is so fine that the cellular structures are also
retained intact. The resultant fossil exhibits morphological as well as
histological details of the original forms.
Iron oxides, iron pyrites, sulphur, malachite, silica or carbon, woody
tissue, the limy molluscan shells, calcareous skeleton of corals and certain
sponges are replaced by silica giving a perfect replica of the original form.
These fossils are therefore also called as pseudomorphs.
3) Moulds and Casts: - These fossils are formed by hardening of the
surrounding sediments in which the organism was buried. This is followed
by the decay and removal of organic material, leaving a cavity that retains
the exact form of the original. The appearance of the animal later on can
be studied by making plaster- of- Paris casts.
Casts are similar to moulds but in casts the cavity of the moulds is filled
with other minerals and the natural cast is formed. In this case internal
structures of the organism is not preserved.
4) Trails, Tracks and Footprints: - These are the impressions of the body
parts such as the foot, hand and tail on the wet soil, mud, and sand
bottom. Later on the impressions are preserved by sedimentation and
hardening. Foot prints represents the fossils of living begins at that time,
their weight, age and sex.
5) Burrows, borings and tubes: - Some burrowing animals prepare burrows
in sand, in solid rocks. Some secrete chitinous and calcareous tube in
which they live. Later on some other material may fill in these tubes. Such
fossils are called as trace fossils as no part of organism is preserved in
these cases.
Dating of fossils
It is essential for an investigator to find out the age of fossil. It is known
as dating of fossils. The age of fossil indicates the age of the earth’s strata
and rock from which it is collected. Following methods can do dating of
fossils.
i) Stratigraphy ii) Biostratigraphy iii) Radioetry
In stratigraphy and biostratigraphy age of strata is studied which give an
idea about age of fossil. Radiometry is the most sensitive and universally
accepted method. In this method the age of fossil is calculated by using
radioactive isotopes. These isotopes disintegrate very slowly and steadily
into stable elements. One gram of radioactive element changes into a half
gram in a definite time period. This duration is called as half-life period.
This duration differs from element to element. The most common
radioactive elements used in dating of fossils are uranium, carbon,
potassium, rubidium etc. Some of the elements are given below;
Rubidium87 6 Billion years
Uranium236 4.51 Billion years
Carbon14 5568 years
Potassium10 1350 years
Method of use of radioactive isotopes is as below;
1) Lead Method: - Uranium238 slowly disintegrates into Lead206. One half
amount of uranium gets converted into lead within 4.51 billion years. The
age of rock is calculated by the radio of uranium and lead present in rock
or fossil. This method was firstly introduced by Baltwood (1907). There are
some limitations of this method. A) Uranium is not common element in all
rocks. B) Only ancient rock can be dated by this method.
2) Carbon Method: - This method was introduced by Libby (1956). It is
based on the estimation of C14 found in the tissues of living organisms.
After the death of the organism C14 disintegrates into C12 at a common
rate. The half-life is 5568 years. The age of fossil can be calculated by
measuring the amount of C14 still present in the fossil. The difference in
the amount of C14 present in the living tissue and in the fossil can be
compared. The fossil should contain at least small quantity of carbon to
measure its age by this method. The age of fossils, which are older than
70,000 years, cannot be determined by this method.
3) Potassium-Argon Method: - Natural form of Potassium has little amount
of K46 whose half-life is 1350 years. It decays into two compounds of
Calcium40 and Argon46. The age of fossil is calculated by the presence of
Argon gas emitted in a particular unit of time.
4) Rubidium-Strontium Method: - Age of very old fossils can be calculated
by this method. Rubidium 87 decays to Strontium 88 with a half-life of 6
million years.
5) Fusion-Track Method: - This method is used for rocks containing glass
or crystal with age of about 2000 years. Uranium239 undergoes
spontaneous fission and causes appearances of tracks in the rock. By
using hydrofluoric acid these tracks can be etched and then can be studied
microscopically. By counting track age of the glass or rock can be
calculated.

QUESTIONS: -
1) What are fossils? Describe formation of fossils.
2) What are fossils? Give an account of dating of fossils.
3) Dating of fossils.
4) Types of fossils.
5) Radioactive dating of fossils.