Whenever you learn something interesting in, for example, a book, your question might be "Why should I care?" Index fossils are very important in understanding human history, mapping geologic time, and understanding the order in which things came in. Index fossils are so rooted in human history that they even provide evidence for evolution. As you can see, Index fossils might not be the biggest or the greatest fossil, but index fossils are extremely useful from a scientific point of view.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
What makes a good index fossil?
As you can see, index fossils are an extremely useful element for geologists and paleontologists. But not every fossil qualifies as an index fossil. In order to be useful as an index fossil it needs to be widespread and it needs to live only within a certain period of time. When these two criteria are met, it makes for a great index fossil. An example of a great index fossil is trilobites. Trilobites, when they lived, were pretty much everywhere. They also lasted all the way to the end of the Palezoic period, making it easy to date. Here is a chart of the most useful index fossils:
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