5. INDEX FOSSILS
• Fossils in relatively young
rocks tend to resemble
animals & plants that are
living today.
• (Index Fossil: A fossil known to
6. INDEX FOSSILS…Contd…
• In older rocks, fossils are less
similar to modern organisms.
• As scientists collected fossils
from different rock layers &
formations,
7. INDEX FOSSILS…Contd…
• The fossil record shows clearly
that over time, life on Earth has
changed.
• Fossils in relatively young rocks
tend to resemble animals & plants
that are living today.
8. INDEX FOSSILS…Contd…
• They discovered that they
could often recognize the
rock layer by the
assemblage of fossils it
contained.
12. LIVING FOSSILS
• Fossils which range from ancient
time up to the present day
• without any change in primitive
characters are referred to as Living
Fossils.
13. LIVING FOSSILS…contd…
• In contrast to index fossils, living
fossils are organisms
• that have existed for a
tremendously long period of time
• without changing very much at all.
14. LIVING FOSSILS…contd…
• E.g., The Lingulata brachiopods
have existed from the Cambrian
period to the present,
• A time span of over 500 MYs!
15. LIVING FOSSILS
• Modern specimens of
Lingulata are almost
indistinguishable from their
fossil counterparts (Fig.8).