Question 14
If the fossil of an organism is found in the deeper layers of earth, then we can predict that
(a) the extinction of organism has occurred recently.
(b) the extinction of organism has occurred thousands of years ago.
(c) the fossil position in the layers of the earth is not related to its time of extinction.
(d) time of extinction cannot be determined.
(b) the extinction of organism has occurred thousands of years ago.
There are two components to estimate the age of the fossil. One is relative, that is, if we dig into the earth and start finding fossils, it is reasonable to suppose that the fossils we find closer to the surface are more recent than the fossils we find in deeper layers. The second way of dating fossils is by detecting the ratios of different isotopes of the same element in the fossil material. These two methods are very useful for estimating the extinction of organism.