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The Nature of the Fossil Record

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2017

Susan M. Kidwell  and
J. John Sepkoski Jr.
Susan M. Kidwell
Affiliation:
Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 45469 USA
J. John Sepkoski Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 45469 USA
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Extract

The term “fossil record” is used in two ways: to mean either the totality of fossils preserved in all rocks or the sum of human knowledge of those fossils. In both cases, the term carries the connotation also of the geologic context of the fossils—their distribution in time and space and their relationship to the enclosing rock. One of the primary scientific interests of the fossil record is what it can teach us about the history of life and the processes of large-scale transformation, or evolution, in the forms, diversities, and biological interactions of living things.

Type
Section 2: Organizing the Data
Information
The Paleontological Society Special Publications , Volume 11: Evolution: Investigating the Evidence, 2nd ed. , 2002 , pp. 47 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © 1999, 2002 by The Paleontological Society 

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