PALEONTOLOGY
REVIEW SHEET
1ST MEETING
HANDOUT
 WHAT IS PALEONTOLOGY?
PALEONTOLOGY
- Paleontology is the study of WHAT the
FOSSILS TELL about:
o ECOLOGIES OF THE PAST
o EVOLUTION
o PLACE OF HUMANS IN THE
WORLD.
- Paleontology incorporates knowledge
from BIOLOGY, GEOLOGY, ECOLOGY,
ANTHROPOLOGY, ARCHAEOLOGY, AND
COMPUTER SCIENCE.
o In order to UNDERSTAND the
PROCESSES that have LED to
the ORIGINATION and eventual
DESTRUCTION of the different
types of ORGANISMS since life
arose.
- Paleontology is so much more than just
the study of fossils.
- Is traditionally DIVIDED into various
DISCIPLINES.
 VARIOUS DISCIPLINES UNDER
PALEONTOLOGY:
MICROPALEONTOLOGY
- Refers to the study of general
microscopic fossils, REGARDLESS of the
group to which they belong.
PALEOBOTANY
- Refers to the study of the fossils of
plants.
- Traditionally, it includes the study of
fossil algae and fungi in addition to land
plants.
PALYNOLOGY
- Refers to the STUDY of POLLEN and
SPORES, BOTH LIVING AND FOSSIL,
produced by land plants and protists.
INVERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
- Refers to the study of INVERTEBRATE
ANIMAL FOSSILS, and this includes:
o MOLLUSKS
o ECHINODERMS
o ETC
VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY
- Refers to the study of VERTEBRATE
ANIMAL FOSSILS, from primitive fishes
to mammals.
HUMAN PALEONTOLOGY
(PALEOANTHROPOLOGY)
- Refers to the study of prehistoric
human and proto human fossils.
TAPHONOMY
- Refers to the study of the:
o DECAY PROCESSES
o PRESERVATION PROCESSES
o FORMATIVE PROCESSES OF
FOSSILS IN GENERAL.
ICHNOLOGY o Tooth debris and scratches
endoclasts.
- Refers to the study of FOSSIL TRACKS,
o Animals in amber,
TRAILS, AND FOOTPRINTS.
o DNA or proteins in fossil
PALEOECOLOGY

- Refers to the study of ECOLOGY and OPPORTUNITIES FOR FOSSILIZATION

CLIMATE of the past, as REVEALVED
- Depositional environments or habitats.
BOTH BY FOSSILS AND BY OTHER
- It can also be termed as DEPOSITIONAL
METHODS.
HABITAT.
- Some depositional environments
include the following:
 WHAT ARE FOSSILS?
o RIVERS
o DELTAS
FOSSILS o FLOODPLAINS
o OXBOWS
- Refers to the REMAINS or TRACE of
o OVERBAND DEPOSITS
organisms which were naturally
o CAVES
preserved from the geologic past.
o REEFS
- FOSSILS MUST BE AT LEAST 10,000
YEARS OLD. o LAGOONS
- Fossils may also be in the form of o ARID LANDS
SEDIMENTARY PARTICLES OR FABRIC o TREE STUMPS
- Refers to ANY EVIDENCE of past - AQUATIC
(PREHISTORIC) life. The following are opportunities for
- Fossils may be in the form of: fossilization in aquatic environments:
o BONES o Current energy
o SHELL o Temperature
o OTOLITHS o Scavengers
o BIOGENIC CARBON OR OTHER o Anaerobic lakes
MINERALS o Geological time decomposition
o FOOTPRINTS time.
o IMPRINTS - TERRESTRIAL
The following are opportunities for
fossilization in terrestrial environments:
MINERALIZATION o Sun scavengers
- Mineralization by diverse minerals in o Soil acids
solution, FILLING BONE SPACES. o Decomposers
- Some examples are the following: o Red beds
o Rare mineralization of soft o Lava
tissues o Ash
o Mummies o Anaerobic reducing
o Coprolites and their contents environment is free from
and shape (SPIRAL). decomposers.
 concerning the environment of
deposition.
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
INTRODUCTION TO TAPHONOMY
- Relationship to population size
- Completeness of fossil record

TAPHONOMY:
FOSSIL FORMATION
- TAPHOS: Burial or death
- Only a very small fraction of organism - NOMOS: Laws
that have lived on Earth represented as o This marks the transition from
fossils, and one possible reason for this the biosphere to the
is TAPHONOMIC LOSS. lithosphere.
o The study of fossil preservation
TAPHONOMIC LOSS
o The study of incorporation of
- Bias in the fossil record. living things into the
sedimentary record.
TAPHONNOMIC PROCESSES

- Food webs, chedmical cycling, deay,  THREE SUBDIVISION OF TAPHONOMY:

scavengers, currents, waves, etc.

TAPHONOMIC SIGNATURE
NECROLYSIS
- Gain of environmental information.
- Deals with the question: “how did the
organism die?”
- It will involve the study of the “break-
BIAS IN THE FOSSIL RECORD up” of organisms after death.
- Which realm has the more complete BIOSTRATINOMY
fossil record? Is it terrestrial or marine?
Why? - Involves the study of sedimentary and
- Fossil record contains 250,000 species biological interactions.
- 1.5 million living plant and animal - This refers to the BURIAL process itself.
species. o Many German contributions
- Fossils represents only 5% of total living o Can APPLY UNIFORMITARIAN
forms. OR ACTUALISTIC APPROACH
- 14 phyla of animals only 9 are abundant o THE 3D’s
as fossils.  DECAY
 DISARTICULATION
2 POINTS TO CONSIDER:
 DISINTEGRATION
(1) FOSSIL RECORD IS VERY INCOMPLETE. o Biological and sedimentological
WHY? factors
- Must make a distinction between - BIOLOGICAL FACTORS:
incompleteness and inadequacy.  Bacterial decay
(2) The same processes that inhibit  Scavengers
preservation can provide information  Borers and encrusters
 o Biological factors don’t end  See signs of BREAKAGE
with burial – BIOTURBATION and DISARTICULATION
o Biological destruction inhibited or sorting.
by low dissolved oxygen. o Transport can lead to SORTING
o SORTING
- MECHANICAL FACTOS  SIZE SORTING
 MECHANICAL
o Breakage and abrasion caused SEPARATION
by environmental disturbance. BASED ON
o Happens in high—energy DENSITY
environment.  SHAPE SORTING
- CHEMICAL FACTORS  DIFFERENT
o DISSOLUTION SHAPES
o SKELETAL DISSOLUTION can TRASPORT
occur at sediment or water BETTER.
interface or down under o ORIENTATION
sediment.  ALIGNMENT
o Different skeletal materials  Elongated
have different stabilities in fossils align to
different environments: currents; can
o EXAMPLE: get
o ACIDIC ENVIRONMENT paleocurrent
 Arag < calcite and direction
apatite is very stable. - BURIAL
o ALKALINE ENVIRONMENT o Rates of burial
 Silica is NOT stable. o Burial is usually slow and
- TRANSPORT gradual.
o Post-mortem transport o When really slow can get a lag
o Very few body fossils are or time-averaged assemblage
preserved in situ. or death assemblage.
o Some fossils can’t even be o Rapid or catastrophic burial can
preserved in life position. happen due to storms,
o Differential transport (teeth vs turbidites, and volcanic
bones). eruptions.
o Most sessile, benthic organisms LIFE ASSEMBLAGE:
don’t get transported too far,
how can you detect transport? o Refers to community at one
o Detecting post-mortem point in time preserved
transport together.
 Find a fossil in a
DIAGENESIS
“wrong” depositional
environment. - Will deal with the different types of
preservation.
 - This will deal with the POST-BURIAL
TRANSFORMATION of the organic
All the above represent TAPHONOMIC FILTERS.
material.
Different organisms therefore have different
potential for fossilization.

- Hard parts vs no hard parts

 TYPES OF FOSSIL ASSEMBLAGES - Single hard parts (gastropods and
cephalopods) vs two hard parts
(1) BIOCOENOSIS (brachiopods and bivalves).
(2) THANATOCOENOSIS - Microscopic to sediment-sized immense
(3) TAPHOCOENOSIS - Live in erosive r=environment which
includes:
o Mountains
LIFE ORIENTATIONS - Lives accessible vs inaccessible
environments.
- Refer to fragile organisms that are well-
o Continental shelves vs oceanic
preserved in life orientation.
basins.
REFUGEE COMMUNITIES

- Refer to escape burrows.

In the case of vertebrates, it is common for
different individual bones to be transported at
different distances from the point of death:
Many differences between: VOORHIES GROUPS.
- BIOCENOSIS
o LIFE ASSEMBLAGE
- THANATOCENOSIS
o DEATH ASSEMBLAGE
AUTOCHTHONOUS FOSSILS
As revealed by studies of:
- Refer to fossils that have been BURIED
AKTUOPALAONTOLOGIE IN PLACE.
- These are fossils that have been
- Refers to studies based on comparisons PRESERVED WITHOUT DISTURBACE or
to natural or experimental examples of distraction.
modern organisms being incorporated
into sediment). ALLOCHTHONOUS FOSSILS

EXISTING DIFFERENCES (BETWEEN BIOCENOSIS - Refer to fossils that have formed

AND THANATOCENOSIS): elsewhere than its present location.
- If the fossil found had formed in a
1. PRESERVATION POTENTIAL OF different location and had only been
ORGANISM transported to its current site, then the
2. PRESERVATION POTENTIAL IN fossil is said to be ALLOCHTHONOUS.
SUBSTRATE - REQUIRES TRANSPORT
3. DIAGENETIC EFFECTS AFTER BURIAL.
 o For this reason, there has to be o MAZON CREEK (Carboniferous).
IMPRINTS of transport
processes on the fossil.

 RULES OF TAPHONOMY
 MODES OF FOSSILIZATION
The probability of preservation is enhanced by:

1. PRESENCE OF HARD PARTS

UNALTERED
2. RAPID BURIAL
o Removal from TAZ - Simple burial and some weathering.
- During the transition from life to death - Progressively becomes rare further bac
assemblages, DISARTICULATION and in the fossil record.
CHEMICAL ALTERATION results in LOSS
PERMINERALIZATION/PETRIFICATION
of:
o Species abundances - Is a very common mode
o Community diversity and - Pore spaces are FILLED with ground
structure water with some DISSOLVED MINERALS
- Fossil assemblages may consists of: that will later on PRECIPITATE in pores
o Autochthonous remains - COMMON MINERALS IN
o Paratochthonous remains PERMINERALIZED FOSSIL:
o Allochthonous remains o SILICA
- TAPHONOMIC LOSS is most SEVERE in o CALCITE
SHALLOW-MARINE ENVIRONMENTS. o PHOSPHATES (rarer include
- Information loss in terrestrial uraninite).
environments is largely the RESULT of: - Hard parts remain, but EXTRA
o TRANSPORT MATERIAL Is added to the pores
o DISARTICULATION o Pores filled with silica
o SORTING o Light material becomes heavier.
o BREAKAGE by:
RECRYSTALLIZATION
 Water
 Predators - Is very common in CALCAREOUS
 Scavengers FOSSILS.
 Trampling - AFTER burial, CALCITE CRYSTALS
- TAPHONOMIC PROCESS REORDER AND GROW into each other.
o Time averaging of fossil ORIGINAL MINERALOGY REMAINS, but
assemblages. the STRUCTURE IS LOST.
o Information gain
REPLACEMENT
LAGERSTATTEN
- Grades from permineralization.
- SNAPSHOTS in time - Refer to atom for an atom replacement.
- Ex:
 - Refer to partial to complete - Death assemblage can partially BUT
replacement of crystals of one NOT COMPLETELY reflect life
mineralogy with another, controlled by assemblage.
hart part material and by dissolved -
material in ground water.
o BONE (HYDROXYLAPATITE) can
be replaced with unranium-
bearing minerals.

- COMMON FORMS OF REPLACEMENT:

o SILICIFICATION
o PYRITIZATION
o PHOSPHATIZATION

CARBONIZATION

- Organic material is DISTILLED under

pressure.
- Many volatiles are lost with the
CARBON FILM BEING THE ONLY THING
LEFT BEHIND.
- This is the MODE OF PRESERVATION OF
COAL.
- Also PRESERVES SOFT TISSUES of
various animals and plants.
- IS BACTERIALLY CONTROLLED.

Continue with discussion

A fossil:

- Naturally preserved
- Element of antiquity (at least 10,000
years old).
- Derived from an organism.

Note: