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Fossils may be preserved in folded rocks that have not been changed by metamorphism.
Fossils are common in rocks from low seas that have been undisturbed.
Fossils are uncommon in ancient rocks that were formed before 600 million years ago.
Fossils are common in sediments of the ocean floors, but none is very old.
Fossils are uncommon in metamorphic rocks.
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The importance of fossils
Fossils have provided the evidence for the evolution of life on earth. By comparing fossils with their living relatives, we can reconstruct ancient climates, environments, and geography.
Fossils are also important as markers for prospectors. Many fossils can be used as indicators of the places where natural resources are most likely to be found. Oil exploration is just one branch of prospecting that relies heavily on the fossil record for its discoveries.
Fossils and plate tectonics
plate tectonics is the study of the movement of the earth’s crust through geological time. (For more information see the book Plate Tectonics in the Earth Science set.) Fossils have played a critical role in helping to find out the positions of the continents over time.
When scientists mapped the pattern of fossils over the earth, they felt that the distribution of the earliest fossils made no sense if the continents had always been where they are now. For example, fossils of identical species that could not swim were found on continents separated by tens of thousands of kilometres of ocean. Trying to solve this problem was one strand that led to the revolutionary idea that the continents might have moved during the history of the
(Above) Fossils are more frequent in certain geological conditions.