Why fossils record is gappy and crappy
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Why fossils record is gappy and crappy
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
~Niebuhr
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
~Niebuhr
But it isn't gappy with common widely-distributed shelled marine animals; the problem is that no one cares about the record of those animals, they want the big sexy vertebrates. If you try to imagine where in the world today large vertebrates are dying under conditions that would fossilize them, you can see why finding their remains a few million years later is difficult.
They would have needed to be buried in clay or a similar sort of material almost immediately with no oxygen present. The only example I've heard about that is really good was in the Dinosaur mummy of the Hadrosaur in the Bad Lands.
That fossil still had skin and muscle and possibly internal organs.
That fossil still had skin and muscle and possibly internal organs.
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alextemplet
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It depends on how you define "gappy." In studying human history, for example, we may not know exactly where a given person went or what he did on every single day of his life, but that doesn't mean we can't have a clear idea of what happened. The problem I find with the anti-evolution crowd is that they seem to expect us to know history to such an extent as to be able to tell exactly what time of day (down to the second) George Washington brushed his teeth!
Generally speaking, the more people talk about "being saved," the further away they actually are from true salvation.
~Alex
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~Alex
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AstusAleator
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Also take into account geological processes that may have destroyed fossils after-the-fact, or otherwise rendered them useless.
Furthermore, a great deal of fossil beds are still undiscovered, or have limited access due to funding or political reasons.
Furthermore, a great deal of fossil beds are still undiscovered, or have limited access due to funding or political reasons.
What did the parasitic Candiru fish say when it finally found a host? - - "Urethra!!"
Good point, the sedimentary layers that make up the sea bed are put under such pressure that folding of the material occurs.
Furthermore some areas of the sea floor are also too deep for excavation work to take place because of the pressure exerted is too much for a human to survive.
Furthermore some areas of the sea floor are also too deep for excavation work to take place because of the pressure exerted is too much for a human to survive.
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February Beetle
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Darby wrote:they want the big sexy vertebrates.
LOL so true.
Man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. - Henry Benson
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