SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Department of Education
National Capital Region

SCHOOLS DIVISION OFFICE

MARIKINA CITY

General Biology 2
Third Quarter-Module 3
History of Life on Earth

What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help you master the nature of
Biology. The scope of this module permits it to be used in many different learning situations. The
language used recognizes the diverse vocabulary level of students.

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. identify the dates and sequence of the periods in the geologic time scale;
2. identify the major events in each major period;
3. describe the characteristics of the major groups of organisms present during a time period;
4. identify types of fossils; and
5. describe causes of mass extinctions

What I Know
Define the following terms:
1. Precambrian
2. Paleozoic
3. Mesozoic
4. Cenozoic
5. Epoch
6. Cambrian
7. Ordovician
8. Silurian
9. Devonian
10. Carboniferous
11. Permian
12. Triassic
13. Jurassic
14. Cretaceous

What’s New
Pre-Activity:
Answer the following questions:
1. What is the age of the Earth?
2. What was the Earth like million of years ago?
3. When did man first appear?

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 4. How old is the Earth?
5. What is the biggest time frame in the GTS?
6. What is the smallest time frame in the GTS?
7. Where did scientists discover the first dinosaurs?
8. Who coined the term dinosaurs?
9. How did the discovery of dinosaurs make scientists become more interested in the geologic
record?
10. How can fossils be used as evidence for the evolution of living forms?

What Is It
Introduction
The Geological Time Scale (GTS)
A. Four eras - Precambrian; Paleozoic; Mesozoic; Cenozoic
B. Periods under the Paleozoic era - Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian
C. Periods under the Mesozoic era - Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous
D. Periods under the Cenozoic era - Tertiary and Quaternary

Geologic time is divided into four large segments called Eons: Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic and
Phanerozoic. The Phanerozoic is divided into Eras: Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. Extinction events
and appearance of new life forms characterized the divisions among Eras. Smaller divisions, called
Periods, characterized by a single type of rock system, make up each Era. Some Periods are further
divided into smaller time frames called Epochs.

There is a mnemonics (memory device) to remember the Periods in exact order (from the
earliest to the recent); jumps between periods and epochs.
Pregnant Plentiful
Camels Early
Often Oiling
Sit Might
Down Prevent
Carefully. Partial
Perhaps Rheumatism!
Their
Joints
Creak?

CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION is the belief

that there was a sudden, apparent explosion
of diversity in life forms about 545 million
years ago. The explosion created the
complexity of multi-celled organisms in a
relatively short time frame of 5 to 10 million
years. This explosion also created most of the
major extant animal groups today.

The start of the Cambrian was

characterized by the breaking up of
supercontinent Gondwana into smaller land

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masses opening up new environmental niches where organisms can colonize and specialize.

FOSSILS are evidence of organisms that lived in the past. They can be actual remains like bones,
teeth, shells, leaves, seeds, spores or traces of past activities such as animal burrows, nests and dinosaur
footprints or even the ripples created on a prehistoric shore.

In exceptional preservation, fine details such as original color and individual muscle fibers are
retained, features often visible in electron microscopes. This is referred to as the “Medusa effect.”

TYPES OF FOSSILS DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES

Molds Impression made in a substrate = negative Shells

image of an organism

Casts When a mold is filled in Bones and Teeth

Petrified Organic material is converted into stone Petrified trees; Coal balls
(fossilized plants and their
tissues in round ball shape)

Original Remains Preserved wholly (frozen in ice, trapped in tar Woolly Mammoth; Amber from
pits, dried/desiccated inside caves in arid the Baltic Sea Region
regions or encased in amber/fossilized resin)

Carbon Film Carbon impression in sedimentary rocks Leaf impression on the rock

Trace / Record the movements and behaviors of the Trackways, tooth marks, gizzard
Ichnofossils organism rocks, coprolites (fossilized
dungs), burrows and nests

THE SIX WAYS OF FOSSILIZATION

1. Unaltered preservation - Small organism or part trapped in amber, hardened plant sap
2. Permineralization/ Petrification - The organic contents of bone and wood are replaced with
silica, calcite or pyrite, forming a rock-like fossil
3. Replacement - hard parts are dissolved and replaced by other minerals, like calcite, silica, pyrite,
or iron
4. Carbonization of Coalification - The other elements are removed and only the carbon remained
5. Recrystallization - Hard parts are converted to more stable minerals or small crystals turn into
larger crystals
6. Authigenic preservation - Molds and casts are formed after most of the organism have been
destroyed or dissolved

DATING FOSSILS
Knowing the age of a fossil can help a scientist establish its position in the geologic time scale
and find its relationship with the other fossils. There are two ways to measure the age of a fossil: relative
dating and absolute dating.
1. RELATIVE DATING
• Based upon the study of layer of rocks

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 • Does not tell the exact age: only compare fossils as older or younger, depends on their
position in rock layer
• Fossils in the uppermost rock layer/ strata are younger while those in the lowermost
deposition are oldest

How Relative Age is Determined

Law of Superposition: if a layer of rock is undisturbed, the fossils found on upper layers are
younger than those found in lower layers of rocks. However, because the Earth is active, rocks move and
may disturb the layer making this process not highly accurate.

Rules of Relative Dating

A. LAW OF SUPERPOSITION: Sedimentary
layers are deposited in a specific time-
youngest rocks on top, oldest rocks at the
bottom

B. LAW OF ORIGINAL HORIZONTALITY:

Deposition of rocks happen
horizontally- tilting, folding or breaking
happened recently

C. LAW OF CROSS-CUTTING
RELATIONSHIPS:
If an igneous intrusion or a fault cuts
through existing rocks, the
intrusion/fault is YOUNGER than the
rock it cuts through.

INDEX FOSSILS (guide fossils/ indicator

fossils/ zone fossils): fossils from
short-lived organisms that lived in
many places; used to define and identify geologic periods.

2. ABSOLUTE DATING
• Determines the actual age of the fossil
• Through radiometric dating, using radioactive isotopes carbon-14 and potassium-40
• Considers the half-life or the time it takes for half of the atoms of the radioactive element to
decay
• The decay products of radioactive isotopes are stable atoms.

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Activity 1
Take a look at the table below. A living organism has carbon-14. For the amount of Carbon in the
organism’s body to become half, it will take about 5,700 years; which is the half-life of carbon-14. Fill up
the remaining data in the table. What is the limit in using carbon-14 as a measure to determine a fossil’s
age?

What I Can Do
Two methods used to create fossils
A. Imprint
• Choose the object you want to make a fossil of. Any natural object (shells, leaves, animal bone)
will do as long as it fits in the container. If you choose leaves, be sure it is not dry.
• Coat the object with petroleum jelly. This will keep the object from sticking to the plaster when
you try to remove it. Coat it thoroughly.
• Mix plaster and water in a bowl. Follow the directions on the plaster of Paris packaging. Mix them
together thoroughly and let the concoction sit for a few minutes without stirring. You should
need about 2x more water than plaster, but you can adjust the ratio as you see fit.
• Press the object into the plaster of Paris. Be careful not to push too hard! Now your part is done;
all it has to do is dry. Set it aside and check it the next day; drying will take at least one day.
• Remove the object. After you've waited 24 hours, pop your natural item out of the plaster of
Paris. It's just like a shell that was enveloped in soil for thousands of years. It disintegrated and
this image was left behind.

B. 3-D Object (Cast)

• Choose the object you want to make a fossil of. Any natural object (shells, leaves, animal bone)
will do as long as it fits in the container. If you choose leaves, be sure it is not dry.
• Combine the plaster of Paris with water. Use 1 part plaster of Paris to 2 parts water and mix well
in a paper cup with a plastic spoon. Let it sit while you work with the clay.
• Choose an object as the template of your fossil. Generally, leaves, shells, branches, or bones work
best. Just make sure you have enough clay and plaster to cover it.
• Knead the modeling clay until it is soft and pliable. This will be what your object rests and forms
an impression on. It needs to be kneaded until it can cover the area of your object.

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 • Coat the object with petroleum jelly. Firmly yet slowly press it into the modeling clay to make an
impression. The petroleum jelly prevents it from sticking to the clay, so be generous. Remove the
object carefully to create a mold in the shape of the item you used.
• Fill the impression left by your object with plaster of Paris. Smooth the plaster to the level of the
clay to form a flat surface. Place your clay and plaster mold on a newspaper, paper towel, or
other disposable surface and allow it to harden. You'll need to wait at least overnight, but 2 or 3
days is preferable and safer.
• Peel the clay off the hardened plaster to free the fossil. The shape of your object should be
recreated in the plaster, details intact.

Website:
1.https://www.britannica.com/science/genetic-engineering
2.https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/plant_breeding.htm#:~:text=Classical%20plant%20breeding%
20uses%20deliberate,into%20a%20new%20genetic%20background.
3.https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Genetic
Engineering#:~:text=Genetic%20engineering%20is%20the%20process,selecting%20offspring%20wit
h%20desired%20traits4.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/13/the-five-geneticallymodified-fruit-edited-bananas-t
omatoes 5.https://clarkscience8.weebly.com/geologic-time-scale.html
6.https://www.dogalize.com/2016/12/dog-breeds/
7.https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-concept-of-race-is-a-lie/
https://www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/biology-and-genetics/genetics-andgenetic-engi
neering/hardy-weinberglaw#:~:text=Hardy%E2%80%93Weinberg%20law%20The%20law,generation%2C
%20with %20no%20overlap%20between
8.https://www.ck12.org/book/ck-12-life-science-concepts-for-middle-school/section/4.9/
9.https://www.nature.com/scitable/definition/hardy-weinberg-equation299/#:~:text=Science%20at%20
Scitable-
,Hardy%2DWeinberg%20equation,In%201908%2C%20G.%20H.&text=If%20the%20p%20and%20
q,using%20the%20Hardy%2DWeinberg%20equation.
10.https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/her/heredity-and-genetics/a/hardy-weinbergmechan
isms-of-evolution 11.https://www.britannica.com/science/species-taxon
12.https://www.ck12.org/book/cbse_biology_book_class_xi/section/1.3/
13.https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-wmopen-biology2/chapter/phylogenies-and-the-historyoflif
e/#:~:text=In%20scientific%20terms%2C%20the%20evolutionary,closely%20related%2C%20and
%20so%20forth