What does the fossil record tell us about the history of life on Earth?

By studying the fossil record we can tell how long life has existed on Earth, and how different plants and animals are related to each other. Often we can work out how and where they lived, and use this information to find out about ancient environments. Fossils can tell us a lot about the past.

How can fossils teach scientists about different landforms and about Earth’s history?

Along with other geological evidence from rocks and structures, fossils even give us clues about past climates, the motions of plates, and other major geological events. Since the present is the key to the past, what we know about a type of organism that lives today can be applied to past environments.

How do geologists use metamorphic rocks to understand Earth’s past?

Likewise, metamorphic rocks, created when sediment is subjected to intense heat and pressure, provide important clues of past mountain-building events, and geologists often use them to map the extent of now-vanished mountain ranges.

What are some of the most intriguing fossils?

Dinosaur fossils are some of the most intriguing fossils. Fossils in general appear in a certain order in the earth’s layers; all the way at the bottom we find bacteria, on top of those we find marine animals, then land animals and flowering plants, and at the top we find humans.

Why are billions of years necessary for the formation of fossils?

These billions of years are supposed to be necessary for the formation of a thick layer of strata with fossils. Fossils are petrified remnants of plants and animals that lived in the past. Many different types of fossils exist in the earth’s layers.

Do the earth’s layers reveal an account of creation?

The view that God created all life forms during some long creation eras implies that the earth’s layers reveal an “account” of creation. This is where the first problem surfaces, because the order of the fossils in the earth’s layers is significantly different from the order of creation in Genesis 1.

How old are modern man’s fossils?

According to mainstream science, these fossils have been formed over a time span of 3.5 billion years. In this view on history it is believed that modern man “only” evolved some 500,000 years ago. This idea of millions of years poses problems for us Christians.