Fossil Evidence

Wolpoff MH, Wu X, Thome A (1984) Modem Homo Sapiens origins a general theory of hominid evolution involving the fossil evidence from East Asia, In The Origins of Modem Humans A World Survey of the Fossil Evidence. Smith F, Spencer F (eds), Alan Liss, New York, p 411-83... 

Stringer CB, Andrews P. Genetic and fossil evidence for the origin of modern humans. Science 1988 239 1263-1268. 

The first well-documented episode of extinction came at the time of transition from the Precambrian to Cambrian era, about 600 milhon years ago. Many species for which we have fossil evidence, the Edicarian animals, simply did not survive this... 

Archibald, . D. (1996). Fossil evidence for alate Cretaceous origin of hoofed mammals. SciencelZl, 1150-1152. 

Details of the evolutionary path from prokaryotes to eukaryotes cannot be deduced from the fossil record alone, but morphological and biochemical comparisons of modern organisms have suggested a sequence of events consistent with the fossil evidence. 

At present neither fossil evidence nor the phylogeny of extant bacteria can tell what the ancestral photosystem looked like and what properties predisposed its possessor among the progenotes to the acquisition of photosynthesis. Another approach to these questions is to search the photosynthetic apparatus itself for possible traces of its history. 

There are two main models that attempt to explain the success of the dinosaurs. According to one, dinosaurs out-competed the mammal-like reptiles over a long period of time due to superior adaptations such as upright walking. The other model, which is supported by fossil evidence, says that the dinosaurs took advantage of openings created by two mass extinctions. By the end of the Triassic, dinosaurs had taken over the land. They were dominant for 165 million years, from the Late Triassic until their extinction at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary some 65 million years ago. This massive extinction may have taken place in only a week or lasted for tens of thousands of years this has not been determined yet, but further study may provide an answer. One prominent theory for the cause of this... 

It is thus necessary to return to the controversial matter of the earth s atmosphere. Cloud (1965, p. 33) considered this in the context of fossil evidence .. . it is now generally agreed that the components of the present atmosphere came ultimately from within the earth, mainly by volcanism. 

Best guesses suggest that life began in the oceans some 4.2-3.8 billion years ago, but there is no fossil record. The oldest known fossils are bacteria, some 3.5 billion years old. In rocks of this age there is fossil evidence of quite advanced metabolisms which utilized solar energy to synthesize organic material. The very earliest of autotrophic (self-feeding) reactions were probably based on sulphur (S), supplied from volcanic vents. 

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