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Biological History

Designed to meet South Carolina

Department of Education
2005 Science Academic Standards
 Table of Contents
ƒWhat is the Geologic Time Scale? (slide 4) Standard 8-2.4
`Epochs, Eons, Eras, and Periods(slide 4)
ƒ
ƒ+RZZDVWKHWLPHVFDOHDQGLW·VGLYLVLRQVFUHDWH (slide 5)
ƒA complete Geologic Time Scale with references to S.C.(slides 6-7)
ƒPrinciples of the Geologic Time Scale (slide 8)
ƒPrinciples of Superposition, Horizontality and Original lateral continuity
ƒPrinciple of biologic succession (slide 9)
ƒCharles Lyell, the Principle of cross-cutting relations & Inclusion principle (slide 10)
ƒCharles Darwin
ƒRelative Age Dating using unconformities (slide 10) Standard 8-2.6
ƒRelative Age dating using cross -cutting relations and index fossils (slide 11)
ƒAbsolute Age dating (slide 13)
ƒIsotopes and radiometric dating
ƒCarbon dating (slide 14)
ƒHow old is old? (slide 16)
ƒBreakdown of geologic time periods
ƒAre we now living in the Anthropocene Era? (slide 17)

2
Table of Contents, cont. (2 of 2)
ƒ The Earth through time (slide 19) Standard 8-2.5
ƒ Ordovician and Silurian
ƒ Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian (slide 21)
ƒ Permian and Triassic (slide 22)
ƒ Jurassic and Cretaceous(slide 23)
ƒ Triassic and Quaternary (slide 24)
ƒ Adaptation (slide 25) Standard 8-2.1
ƒ Punctuated events through time (slide 26) Standard 8-2.3
ƒ Comet impact
ƒ Climate shift
ƒ Volcanism
ƒ Extinction (slide 29) Standard 8-2.7
ƒ The study of fossils and fossil types (slide 30) Standard 8-2.2
ƒ South Carolina Standards (slide 32)

3
 What is the Geologic Time Scale?
Standard 8-2.4: Recognize the relationship among the units
³era, epoch, and period
³into which the geologic time scale is
divided.

What does the time scale represent?

ƒThe geologic time scale divides up the history of the earth based on life -forms that
have existed during specific times since the creation of the planet. These divisions are
called geochronologic units (geo: rock, chronology: time).
ƒMost of these life -forms are found as fossils , which are the remains or traces of an
organism from the geologic past that has been preserved in sediment or rock. Without
fossils, scientists may not have concluded that the earth has a history that long precedes
mankind .

ƒThe Geologic Time Scale is divided by the following divisions:

9Eons: Longest subdivision; based on the abundance of certain fossils
9Eras: Next to longest subdivision; marked by major changes in the fossil record
9Periods: Based on types of life existing at the time
9 Epochs: Shortest subdivision; marked by differences in life forms and can
vary from continent to continent.
Table of Contents 4
 What is the Geologic Time Scale, continued ?
ƒDue to the fact that early geologists had no way of knowing how the discoveries of
the Earth were going to develop, geologist over time have put the time scale together
piece by piece. Units were named as they were discovered. Sometimes unit names
were borrowed from local geography, from a person, or from the type of rock that
dominated the unit .
Examples
ƒCambrian: From the Latin name for Wales. Named for exposures of
strata found in a type-section in Wales by British geologist Adam Sedgwick.
ƒDevonian: Named after significant outcrops first discovered near
Devonshire, England
ƒJurassic: Named for representative strata first seenin the Jura Mountains
by German geologist Humboldt in 1795)
ƒCretaceous: From the Latin ´FUHWDµ meaning chalk by a Belgian geologist
ƒThe earliest time of the Earth is called the Hadean and refers to a period of time for which we
have no rock record, and the Archean followed, which corresponds to the agesof the oldest known
rocks on earth. These,with the Proterozoic Eon are called the Precambrian Eon. The remainder of
geologic time, including present day, belongs to the Phanerozoic Eon.
ƒWhile the units making up the time scaleare called geochronologic units, the actual rocks formed
during those specific time intervals are called chronostratigraphic units . The actual rock record of a
period is called a system, so rocks from the Cambrian Period are of the Cambrian system.
Table of Contents 5
 GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE
MYA ERA PERIOD EPOCH PLATE TECTONICS LIFE

-Mastadons become extinct

-Human culture flourishes
0.01 Holocene Beaches and barrier islands form
-Accelerating extinction of many
Quaternary species

-Modern humans develop

1.8 Pleistocene Ice sheets form -Asians arrive and settle the
Americas

-Volcanic activity in North

5.3 Pliocene America and Africa Hominids develop
-Grand Canyon forms
Cenozoic
Horses, mastadons, mammoths,
´$JHRI
23.8 Miocene Sandhills form in S.C. tigers, and camels live in South
0DPPDOVµ
Carolina

Appalachians uplift; erosion

33.7 Oligocene Cats, dogs, and apes appear
Tertiary increases

-Grass spreads widely

Sea levels rise; deposits of marine
-Diverse array of animals develop,
54.8 Eocene sediments ²limestone in S.C.;
including whales, rhinos, and
land bridges form
elephants

Earthquakes common; Georgia

-First horses appear (size of a cat)
65.0 Paleocene Embayment, Cape Fear Arch
-Tropical plants dominate
forms in Southeast

Mass extinction occurs at the end -T-Rex develops but number of

of the period caused by a dinosaur species decline
144 Cretaceous meteorite impact (Dinosaurs, -Snakes appear and first primates
ammonites and 25% of marine life appear
become extinct) -Angiosperms appear
Mesozoic
´$JHRI Western US: orogeny of Rockies;
-First birds appear
206 5HSWLOHVµ Jurassic North America continues to rotate
-Golden age of dinosaurs
away from Africa
-Pangea begins to break apart First dinosaurs, mammals,
248 Triassic -Rocky Mountains and Sierra crinoids, and modern echinoids
Nevada form appear

-RI(DUWK·VVSHF
extinct, including trilobites,
-Pangea forms
290 Permian blastoids , fish and amphibians
-Appalachians rise
because of heavy volcanism in
Siberia Table of Contents 6
 -Reptiles develop from
Great swamps develop (future

Carboniferous
320 Pennsylvanian amphibians
coal deposits
-Flying insects appear

-First seed plants appear

Much of North America is under -Sea life flourishes including
354 Mississippian
water coral, brachiopods, blastoids, and
bryozoa

-Dominant animals: fish

Acadian Orogeny ²SC
417 Devonian -Amphibians, evergreens and
Paleozoic metamorphism
ferns appear
´$JHRI
,QYHUWHEUDWHVµ Silurian First land plants appear and land
443 Extensive erosion
animals follow

-Beginning of the construction of

-First animals with bones appear
South Carolina
-Dominant animals: marine
490 Ordovician -Great extinction due to growth of
invertebrates including corals and
ice caps including in what is now
trilobites
northern Africa

-Explosion of life
-All existing phyla came into
being here
S.C. near the equator; island arc
-Life forms in warm seas as
540 Cambrian continues to move toward North
oxygen levels rose enough to
America
support life
-Dominant animals: trilobites and
brachiopods

Earth takes 10 million years to

No life possible as the Earth
cool: initial atmosphere escapes
initially forms 4.6 billion years
into space (H&He) and the core
ago.
forms (Fe&Ni)
Simple, single -celled forms of life
Volcanic outgassing of water and
appear 3.8 billion years ago.
Precambrian carbon dioxide occurred for
4600 They will become more complex
(Hadean, Archean , and Proterozoic Ages) millions of years, helping to build
and successful over the next 3
atmosphere and then oceans
billion years: Prokaryotes then
At 3 billion years ago, banded
Eukaryotes
iron formation rocks appear due
Cyanobacteria begins producing
to rising oxygen levels in the
free oxygen (photosynthesis)
atmosphere and sea

Modified after Carolina Rocks, contributed by J. Westmoreland Table of Contents 7

 Principles Behind Geologic Time
ƒNicholas Steno, a Danish physician (1638-1687), described how the position of a rock layer could
be used to show the relative age of the layer. He devised the three main principles that underlie the
interpretation of geologic time:
9 The principle of superposition : The layer on the bottom was deposited first and so is the oldest
9 The principle of horizontality : All rock layers were originally deposited horizontally .
9 The principle of original lateral continuity : Originally deposited layers of rock extend laterally
in all directions until either thinning out or being cut off by a different rock layer.

ƒThese important principles have formed the framework for the geologic area of stratigraphy,
which is the study of layered rock (strata).
Geologist studying the stratigraphy in
Younger the Copper Basin, Idaho. These rock
layers were deposited horizontally,
and uplifted later so they are now
tilted at an angle (along the red arrow).
Older (Photo contributed by K. McCarney
-Castle)

ƒDecadeslater, other European scientists rediscovered ¶6WHQR·V /DZV· and began applying them.
Abraham Gottlob Werner became famous for his proposal that all rocks came from the ocean
environment . He and his followers were called ´1HSWXQLVWV .µ An opposing view (by Voisins)
argued that all rocks of the earth came from volcanic environments . These scientist were called
´SOXWRQLVWV
.µ Table of Contents 8
 Principles Behind Geologic Time, continued
ƒJames Hutton , a Scottish physician and geologist (1726-1797), thought the surface of the earth
was an ever-changing environment and ´WKH past history of our globe must be explained by what
can be seen to be happening now .µ This theory was called ´XQLIRUPLWDULDQLVP which was later
catch-phrased as ´WKHpresent is the key to the past.µ
ƒWilliam Smith was a surveyor who was in charge of mapping a large part of England. He was
the first to understand that certain rock units could be identified by the particular assemblagesof
fossils they contained. Using this information, he was able to correlate strata with the same fossils
for many miles, giving rise to the principle of biologic succession.
9 The principle of biologic succession: Each age in the HDUWK·V history is unique such that
fossil remains will be unique . This permits vertical and horizontal correlation of the rock
layers basedon fossil species.

Even though these two outcrops are

Rock Outcrop 1 separated by a large distance, the same
rock layer can be correlated with the
other becauseof the presence of the
same shark teeth This . lets scientists
know that the two layer were deposited
at the sametime, even if the surrounding
rocks look dissimilar from eachother.
Rock Outcrop 2

300 km Table of Contents 9

 Principles Behind Geologic Time, continued
ƒDuring the early 1800·V English Geologist, Charles Lyell published a book called ´3ULQFLS
of
*HRORJ\µ which became a very important volume in Great Britain . It included all of +XWWRQ
ideas, and presented his own contemporary ideas such as:
9 The principle of cross-cutting relationships : A rock feature that cuts across another feature
must be younger than the rock that it cuts.
9 Inclusion principle : Small fragments of one type of rock but embedded in a second type of
rock must have formed first, and were included when the second rock was forming .

ƒCharles Darwin (1809-1882) was an unpaid naturalist who signed up for a 5-yr
expedition around the world aboard the H .M .S. Beagle. On this trip, he realized
two major points . In spite of all speciesreproducing, no one speciesoverwhelmed
the Earth, concluding that not all individuals produced in a generation survive . He
also found that individuals of the same kind differ from one another and concluded
that those with the most favorable variations would have the best chance of
surviving to createthe next generation.

ƒThe theory of natural selection was credited to Darwin (along with Alfred Russel Wallace) and
he went on to write the famous ´Origin of Species
.µ'DUZLQ·V two goals in that work were:
1. To convince the world that evolution had occurred and organisms had changed over
geologic time
2. The mechanism for this evolution was natural selection. Table of Contents 10
 Relative Age Dating
Standard 8-2.6: Infer the relative age of rocks and fossils from
index fossils and the ordering of the rock layers.
ƒ´5HODWLYH DJHµ means the age of one object compared to the age of another, not the exact age of
an object. This method can only be used when the rock layers are in their original sequence.
ƒAll six of the original stratigraphic principles may be applied to determine the age of a rock.
This processis called age dating . Correlation of strata by rock unit type (lithology) or fossil type
(biology) using species,composition, or texture leads scientists to extrapolate relationships over
large areas of land . Becauserock layers can be ´PDWFKHG XSµ we can guess that they were
formed during the sameperiod, so they usually are the sameage.
ƒUsing the principles of original horizontality and superposition, we can conclude that oldest
rock is always on the bottom becauseis was deposited 1st.
ƒDeciphering the sequenceof a rock outcrop is sometimes complicated by a features within the
rock record called unconformities, which are specific contacts between rock layers. There are
three types of unconformities that help us determine relative agesof rock layers:

1. Angular : Horizontal beds are uplifted and tilted or

eroded followed by new deposition of horizontal
beds. The figure to the right is an angular
unconconformity . Horizontal bed of
sedimentary rock
2. Disconformity : Episodes of erosion or non-
deposition between layers Tilted bed of
sedimentary rock
3. Nonconformity : Sediment is deposited on top of
eroded volcanic or metamorphic rock (indicates
very long passageof time) Wikipedia (public domain)
Table of Contents 11
 ƒRelative ages can also be determined using /\HOO·V
principle of cross-cutting relationships . In the figure to
the right, both the gray and the yellow horizontal strata
needed to be in place for the pink layer to cut them,
therefore, the pink layer is the youngest. (Imagefrom Plummer/
McGeary,7th edition,1996)

Relative Age dating with index fossils

ƒBiostratigraphy is the correlation of stratigraphic units based on fossil content.
Biostratigraphically useful speciesare known as index fossils (or guide fossils) becausethey can be
used as guides for recognition of chronostratigraphic units .
ƒIndex fossils are widespread, have short temporal durations resulting from rapid life spans, are
abundant throughout their geographic and geologic ranges, and are easily recognized (unique) .
ƒTrilobites are a commonly used index fossil becausethey
are easy to recognize. We know exactly when certain
species became extinct, such that we can compare rock
layers that contain trilobites with a second rock layer and,
based on position, determine if the second rock layer is
younger . The photo to the right is a trilobite from the
Mississippian period (photocourtesyof K. McCarney-Castle)

ƒFossils found in many rock layers have lived for long

periods of time and cannot be used as index fossils.
Table of Contents 12
 Absolute Age Dating
ƒAbsolute ages,or geochronometric ages,of rock can be assigned to the geologic time scaleon the
basis of properties of atoms that make up the minerals of a rock. Unlike relative dating, which
relies on sequencing of rock layers (i.e. younger vs. older), absolute dating can produce an actual
age in years.
ƒThe number of neutrons in a nucleus of an atom determines the isotope of the element, just like
the number of protons determines the identity of an element.
ƒSome isotopes are unstable and break down into other isotopes through a process called
radioactive decay. Radioactive decay is characterized by beta decay, where a neutron changesinto
a proton by giving off an electron, and alpha decay, when isotopes give off 2 protons and 2
neutrons in the form of an alpha particle and changes into a new product . The original isotope is
called the parent and the new isotope product is called the daughter .
ƒWhat is a Half -Life?
ƒEach radioactive parent isotope decaysto its daughter product at a specific and measurable
rate. This measurement is reported in half -lives. The half -life of an isotope is the time it
takes for ½ of the parent atoms in the isotope to decay.
ƒIf an isotope has a half-life of 4000 years, then after 4000 years ½ of the parent isotope
remains. After another 4000 years, ½ of ½ remains, or ¼ of the original amount of parent
isotope. In another 4000years (12,000 years total), ½ more of the remaining amount decays,
so after 3 half-lives, there only remains 1/ 8 (½ of ½ of ½) of the original parent isotope.
ƒIf a scientist knows the half -life of the parent and measures the proportion of parent
isotope to daughter isotope, he/she can calculate the absolute age of the rock. This valuable
method is called radiometric dating .
Note: Radioactive isotopes can be found in the rock record because radioactive
isotopes are incorporated into the crystals of igneous rock as it cools. Table of Contents 13
 Radioactive Decay
100%
50%
93.75%
Scientists used the proportion of parent
75% 87.5%
material remaining to the proportion of
daughter material produced in order to
50% predict the age of the rock. During eachhalf -
25% life, only one-half of the parent material
12.5%
6.25%
decaysto the daughter product .
DECAY
PARENT DAUGHTER
ƒIsotopes with very long half -lives are not suitable for dating rocks younger than ~1 million years
because there are too few daughter atoms to be measured accurately.
ƒExperimental error limits measurements to those rocks younger than about 12 half-lives of the
isotope used.
Radiocarbon Dating
ƒRadiocarbon dating is a common method used to date anything that was once alive (including
plants) and up to 70,000years old .
ƒAll living things take in carbon from the environment in the form of carbon-12 and carbon-14.
When an organism dies, carbon intake stops and the carbon-14 begins to decay at a known rate.
Scientists can determine how much C-14 remains in an organism by measuring radiation emitted
by the C-14 isotopes.
ƒCarbon dating can be used on wood, plants, humans, and even old paper made out of papyrus .
ƒThe half -life of C-14 is 5,730years. Becauseof this, it should not be used with material older than
~70,000years or 12 half-lives. Table of Contents 14
 Commonly used radioactive isotopes
Parent Daughter half -life Mineral or Material

Uranium238 Lead 206 4.56 BY Zircon, Uraninite, Pitchblende

Uranium 235 Lead 207 704 MY Zircon, Uraninite, Pitchblende

Potassium 40 Argon 40 1.251 BY Muscovite, biotite, hornblende, K -feldspar,

volcanic rock, glauconite, conodonts
Rubidium 87 Sr 87 48.8 BY K-mica, K-feldspar, Biotite, Metamorphics

Thorium 230 Lead 206 75 KY Ocean sediments

Thorium 232 Lead 208 1.39 BY Zircon, Uraninite, Pitchblende

Carbon 14 Nitrogen 14 5730 yr Wood, bone, shell

KY- thousand years. MY- million years. BY - billion years

Uranium -Lead decay series (U-Pb series)

ƒUnlike carbon-14 dating, uranium dating cannot be used to date formerly living things;
however, it is the most commonly used method in igneous rock dating becauseof the abundance
of zircon minerals.
ƒThe subscripts of 235 and 238 are the atomic mass numbers of the element. Though each
isotope has 92 protons in its nucleus, U-235has 143neutrons and U-238has 146neutrons.
ƒIgneous rocks, or the magma from which it was formed, often intrudes overlying sedimentary
rocks. By dating the magma, one can get at least a minimum age for the sedimentary rock.
Table of Contents 15
 How Old is Old?
ƒFrom the time of Hutton, scientists were convinced that the earth was much older than the 6000
years predicted by the religious scholars.
ƒCharles Lyell tried to estimate the age of the earth through the amount of evolution
exhibited by marine mollusks in a specific time system.
ƒAnother method was to estimate the rate of deposition for sedimentary rocks.
ƒSir Edmund Halley proposed to estimate the age of the earth using salt content of the
oceans, assuming that the oceans were once non-saline and that salt addition to the oceans
corresponded in some linear fashion with time.
ƒLord Kelvin estimated the age of the Earth at 24-40 million years. He proposed that the
Earth has been cooling since it formed, and he calculated the rate of cooling using principles of
heat conduction .
ƒIt ZDVQ·Wuntil Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity in 1896and Madame Curie isolated
radium 2 years later that people realized that the Earth had LW·V
own source of heat. Thus it
becameone of the most useful tools for future scientists.
ƒThe oldest rocks found so far on Earth (based on zircon grains from Australia) have
been dated at 4.1-4.2 billion years.
ƒMeteorites have also been dated at 4.6 billion years. Meteorites are considered to be
remnants of a plant or asteroid that originally formed at the same time as the Earth, so
that the (DUWK·V
age is currently estimated to be 4.6 billion years.
ƒThe oldest fossils are preserved remains of stromatolites, which are layers of lithified
blue-green algae, dating to approximately 3.5 billion years before present.
Table of Contents 16
Eons:
Precambrian: Earliest span of time
Phanerozoic: Everything since

Eras:
Periods:
Paleozoic
Cambrian
Mesozoic
Ordovician
Cenozoic
Silurian
Paleozoic Devonian
´$JHRI
,QYHUWHEUDWHVµ
Carboniferous
(Missipp. & Pennsylvanian)
Epochs:
Permian
Paleocene
Triassic
Mesozoic Eocene
Jurassic
´$JHRI5HSWLOHVµ Oligocene
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Cenozoic Miocene
Neogene
´$JHRI Pliocene
0DPPDOVµ
Quaternary
Pleistocene
Holocene
We are living in the Phanerozoic Eon, Cenozoic Era, Quaternary
3HULRG+RORFHQH(SRFK««%87
Table of Contents 17
A new concept has been gaining
momentum since LW·V introduction by
Paul Crutzen in 2000. He proposed that
the Holocene Epoch is over and a new
geological epoch called the Anthropocene
has begun.
0DQV· impact on the (DUWK·Vclimate and
ecosystems since the Industrial
Revolution is quite evident . Support for
this theory comes from data derived from
glacial ice cores showing the growth in
greenhouse gases starting from the
1800·V .
Does this justify a new Epoch on the
Geological Time Scale? Some scientists
question this, however, there is no doubt
that there has been a shift in (DUW
atmosphere and biosphere as we emerge
from the most recent ice age which ended
approximately 10,000years ago.

This is strong indication that

geologic time is not a thing of the
past!
Photo used with permission from the cover of GSA
Today, Geological Society of America, Vol. 18, 2, Feb.
2008.
Table of Contents 18
 The Earth Through Time
Standard 8-2.5: Illustrate the vast diversity of life that has been present on Earth over time by using the geologic ti

The Proterozoic:
ƒNo life possible as the Earth initially forms 4.6
billion years ago.
ƒSimple, single-celled forms of life appear 3.8
billion years ago, becoming more complex and
successful over the next 3 billion years:
Prokaryotes then Eukaryotes
ƒCyanobacteria begins producing free oxygen
(photosynthesis)
ƒLand masses gather to make up a continent
FDOOHG´5RGLQLDµ

Cambrian:
ƒExplosion of life
ƒAll existing phyla come into being at this time
ƒLife forms in warm seas as oxygen levels rise
enough to support life
ƒDominant animals: Marine invertebrates
(trilobites and brachiopods)
ƒSupercontinent Gondwana forms near the South
Pole (note position of present-day Florida)

PaleoMaps used with permission from Christopher Scotese and are under 19
copyright of C.R. Scotese, 2002

Table of Contents 19