No lecture notes will be posted for my first two lectures because my notes were mostly simplified versions of excellent lecture notes posted here by Bruce Walsh, University of Arizona. Some useful web links on relative and absolute dating are here.
New 3/17/03: See also review questions (not assigned) and especially helpful links related to the hand-out of Zimmer's Chapter 5 here
1. What is the difference between relative and absolute age estimates in paleobiology?
2. How are paleontologists able to age some fossils that do not contain any radioactive isotopes?
3. What are two important precambrian time intervals referred to by geologists?
4. What is the Principle of Uniformitarianism?
5. Where are the oldest rocks on Earth? How old are they?
6. What are stromatolites? How are they formed? When did they become abundant?
7. What is the relationship of stromatolites to banded iron formations (BIFs)?
8. What is the significance of the enzyme, superoxide dismutase (SOD)?
9. How did the conditions for life change during the "oxygen revolution."
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