...during life; stems and trunks may be broken away from roots after death, and the result is that plant parts (even from the same plant) may end up being fossilised in different places. Some creatures molt off their hard parts during life. We have already mentioned leaf fall in deciduous plants. But all arthropods except insects molt off their outer skeletons as they grow (adult insects don't grow). So crustaceans, trilobites, and so on may drop a dozen or more outer skeletons into the fossil record before they finally die. Molting may act as a bias suggesting that a species was MORE abundant than it was in reality. Size Large fossils are easier to see Large shells or bones are stronger, so less likely to be destroyed and more likely to be preserved. Large fossils are more likely to be found sticking out of the rock. This is not the same bias as the first one, but it is just as real. On the other hand, large creatures tend to be fewer in number than small creatures, giving the reverse bias to the fossil record. Habitat: it's easy to see that creatures that live on mountain tops...
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...the past is through studying fossils. Geologists, paleontologists, biologists, and other scientists study fossils in order to uncover facts about the different species and organisms that roamed the Earth up to 3 billion years ago. Using this knowledge, scientists have learned more about the geological processes that continually happen today, as well as climate changes from the past and present, the origination and extinction of species, and the birth of certain deadly diseases. It has helped shape the hundreds of hypotheses and theories about the beginning of the earth. A fossil is defined in Clark Larsen’s book “Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology”...
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...Fossils are among the most highly prized natural objects in the world. Paleontology has its roots in two subjects: geology and biology. Geology and paleontology are intimately linked. In geology, fossils are important in piercing together rock successions from the same time interval across the globe, and in interpreting the nature of ancient sedimentary environments. Fossils are also unrivalled as stratigraphical tool. The process of evolution acts as an irreversible clock in which the appearance of successive species through time can be used to match and correlate rock successions. Every day, microfossils are used in industry as routine stratigraphical ciphers, unlocking the relative age of successions of oil-bearing rock. In paleontology,...
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...Fossil Fuel Dependency and Americans Deanna C. Rodeo SOC 120 September 30, 2012 Nada Feldman When the first Industrial Revolution came about in the late18th century, it started in the United Kingdom, and then spread through Europe, North America, and eventually everywhere. Nobody could have known the unseen consequences that the new found technology would use. The Industrial Revolution allowed us to change the way manufacturing, agriculture, mining, transportation and technology were all handled. When the replacement of organic fuels (that were based on wood), changed to the use of fossil fuels (based on coal) during the second Industrial Revolution, no one could have known the devastating effects it would have later. What they did not know was that with the continual use of fossil fuels we would endanger nature, the wildlife that lives in it, and our environment that we live in as well. They also failed to think that we would ever run out and now that our society is built around the use of fossil fuels, we need to come together to devise a plan that will keep our engines running, and the lights on for our children and our grandchildren. Fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource that can take millions of years to form, and the reserves are being used faster than new ones are having time to formulate. Fossil fuels that we mainly rely on would include; coal, natural gas, and most importantly, petroleum. With that said, this paper is going to talk about how our society...
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...Salako Tejumade Dr. Matthew Lerberg ENGL 1302-019 20 October 2014 Fossil fuel: Are they worth it? A very reasonable percentage of the UTA faction is definitely aware of the fast rising problems fossil fuels are costing our global environments and the controversy with intent of finding alternative energy sources. Nevertheless the public has appreciated most of this interference with no doubt but some others have resulted in some real dissension. One of the most common controversies that can be put before us is reason for the rise in sea level that deviates from anatomic evolution to the management of water resources to the highly debated issue of climate change. One can think that it is developing as a result of natural instability of the climate system or that it is human-induced, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels. Moreover, our global environment has many problems, If the extent of carbon radiation increment is one, low level of intellective involvement accompanying some of the extreme concurrent objections are definitely in addition. Furthermore, there is several captivating and scrutinized investigation on selective concurrent complications just as global warming, and yet some of the foundational issues have remained unresolved and unaddressed. In this paper I will review three main positions areas of neglected environmental analyses that demand immediate attention. First, is the widespread problem of not possessing anything like a general normative infrastructure...
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...The Burning of Fossil Fuels GS104-Intro to Environmental Science Steven Wimberly February 05, 2013 Fossil fuels are a very important part of our society today. Natural gas, Coal, and oil are the world’s primary and most important source of energy. “90% of the energy we use in this country [USA] comes from fossil fuels.” (http://www.ucsusa.org) Unfortunately, there are costs of using these fossil fuels to run our society. Some costs are obvious such as the cost of labor, equipment and supplies needed to extract, refine and transport the fossil fuels. These costs are taken care of in electricity bills, in the price of gasoline for automobiles and other governmental and company funding. There are many other costs that are less obvious. These costs are the effects fossil fuels have on our environment and on human health. Air pollution caused by the burning of coal and oil as well as dust in mines is causing problems for human health. The environment is suffering from acid rain, global warming and water and air pollution. Many times, the costs go unpaid for and unnoticed. It is imperative that we as a society take responsibility and strive to reduce the negative effects of fossil fuels on our environment. The global warming is a major environmental issue that is caused by the use of fossil fuels. When fossil fuels are burned, carbon dioxide is emitted. It captures heat in the earth’s atmosphere. What is happening is that the more carbon dioxide emitted the warmer the...
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...Phoenix Material Fossil Fuels and Alternative Energy Resource Worksheet Using the textbooks, the University Library, or other resources, answer each of the following questions in 150 to 200 words. 1. Select a fossil fuel. How is this fossil fuel used? What are the adverse effects on the environment? The fossil fuel I am selecting is coal. Coal is very important and is very important worldwide for its many uses. There are many different types of coal that are used for many purposes. One of the most important usages of coal is in electricity generation, steel production, cement manufacturing and as a liquid fuel. About 6.6 billion tons of hard coal was used throughout the world last year, and 1 billion tons of brown coal. Coal making needs great amounts of water, which disturbs the environments of the marine and land-based wildlife as well as individuals who use the water. The methods of burning coal for energy gives off greenhouse gases with additional dangerous toxins which include carbon dioxide, mercury compounds and sulfur dioxide. Toxins made from coal mining can also add to acid rain, mainly in the Appalachian area. Also, burning coal creates ash, a solid waste that has alkali and metal oxides. 2. Select a local or regional alternative energy resource. How might this resource be used to supplement or replace fossil fuels? Alternative energy is the term that is used for an energy source that is an alternative for the use of fossil fuels. An alternative...
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...Nicholas Wiltzius American Intercontinental University SCIE210-1301A-05 Environmental Science Unit 3 Individual Project Instructor Beverly Hamilton Abstract There have been laws passed about the use of different energy which include fossil fuel: oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear energy, solar energy, wind power, water (hydro) power, and bioconversion (biofuel) these laws could allow the possibility of tax incentives. The use of different types of natural energy can pave the way for a greener earth. Although, some may argue that there are pros and cons of such energy. In this paper we will be discussing these pros and cons as well as two provisions of the Energy Policy Act, 2005, including its tax incentives. 1.) The law of conservation of energy states that energy may neither be created nor destroyed (The law of conservation of energy, n.d). 2.) The pros and cons of fossil fuel: oil, natural gas, and coal. The pros are its high efficient, cheaper than non-conventional forms of energy because it is easy to extract and process them and it the potential to power the entire globe. The cons are Fossil fuels are believed to be the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, responsible for global warming and climate change. It is also believed that coal mining creates earthquakes. The biggest con of all is that they are non-renewable. Nuclear Energy creates little amount of CO2 and it can generate a great amount of electrical energy in one single plant. But these plants...
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...Michael Ruppert, After I watched your documentary interview with Chris Smith in Collapse, I know how serious the environmental problem we facing is. A hundred years ago, oil improved our society tremendously through industry. It can be regarded as the most important discovery in the 20th century. In the mean time, the use of petroleum has caused a lot of trouble. Most wars after World War II happened in the Middle East because of oil, and for this reason alone,-- I think oil is a thing that causes and has caused the most serious trouble among humans in history. Now, the whole world’s population relies on oil deeply. Since the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century, it is hard to imagine how our lives would be possible without fossil fuel energy, especially oil. Nearly every machine we use today needs petroleum products to work. I strongly agree with your idea that using ethanol or alcohol as a substitute for oil is stupid. This is happening in China. Because the number of people in China is so large, China has already become a country lacking in oil supply years ago. Today, most of the fuel for cars in China is a mixture of petrol and alcohol. It cause some serious problems, like lack of food and increasing food prices, because a large measure of wheat is use to produce alcohol. Another fact we have to face is that, although we can substitute oil with alcohol, how will we solve the need to substitute plastic? No matter where you are while you reading this letter, it...
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...The Fossil Record and Theories of Evolution. Introduction In general, the term 'evolution' can imply a drastic orgradual change from a very broad perspective. Life on earth, the universe,galaxies, as also the earth in general have evolved through millions of years.In this essay we consider only one aspect of evolution emphasizing on evolutionas a biological tool for change among species and consider fossil record assupportive of both evolution theories and also the other theories contrary toevolution. Evolution is the central unifying concept, a theory thatsuccessfully connects biology, paleontology and other branches of science.Evolution is a gradual descent of organisms accompanied by changes that helpthe organisms to adjust and adapt to the surroundings. 'Descent withmodifications' as Darwin contended implies changes in organisms in successivegenerations (Mayr, 1976). These changes are triggered by the derivation of newspecies and there is a change in the properties of populations of organisms andthese properties tend to transcend the lifetime of any single individual. Newerspecies are modified versions of older species. Although, individual organisms do not biologically evolve,populations evolve when heritable genetic materials are transmitted from onegeneration to another. Biological evolution can range from very limited changesto drastic transformations on a large scale changing the entire speciesaltogether and bringing in new forms. Evolution can thus be defined asinheritable...
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...BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS NAME:- NAME OF PROFESSOR:- DATE:- BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS The burning of fossil fuels is the major contributor to human caused climate change. Once taken out of the ground and burned , coal, oil and gas add to the amount of carbon cycling between the atmosphere and the oceans, soil, rock and vegetation. On human time scales, this transfer is irrevocable, once mined and burned, fossil carbon cannot be locked away safely underground again in the form of new deposits of coal, oil and gas, or in the form of carbonate rock, for millions of years. The transfer is also unsustainable: there is simply not enough “space” in above-ground biological and geological systems to park safely the huge mass of carbon coming out of the ground without carbon dioxide building up catastrophically in both the air and the oceans. At the most fundamental level, therefore, the climate solution revolves around initiating a new pathway away from fossil fuel dependence. Industrialized societies locked in to fossil fuels need to turn to structurally different, non-fossil energy, transport, agricultural and consumption regimes within a few decades to minimize future dangers and costs. Infrastructure, trade, even community structure will have to be reorganized, and state support shifted from fossil-fuelled development toward popular movements constructing or defending low-carbon means of livelihood and social...
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...BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS NAME:- NAME OF PROFESSOR:- DATE:- BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS The burning of fossil fuels is the major contributor to human caused climate change. Once taken out of the ground and burned , coal, oil and gas add to the amount of carbon cycling between the atmosphere and the oceans, soil, rock and vegetation. On human time scales, this transfer is irrevocable, once mined and burned, fossil carbon cannot be locked away safely underground again in the form of new deposits of coal, oil and gas, or in the form of carbonate rock, for millions of years. The transfer is also unsustainable: there is simply not enough “space” in above-ground biological and geological systems to park safely the huge mass of carbon coming out of the ground without carbon dioxide building up catastrophically in both the air and the oceans. At the most fundamental level, therefore, the climate solution revolves around initiating a new pathway away from fossil fuel dependence. Industrialized societies locked in to fossil fuels need to turn to structurally different, non-fossil energy, transport, agricultural and consumption regimes within a few decades to minimize future dangers and costs. Infrastructure, trade, even community structure will have to be reorganized, and state support shifted from fossil-fuelled development toward popular movements constructing or defending low-carbon...
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...Fossil Fuel Risks Worldwide dependency on fossil fuel and increased consumption in the 20th century has resulted in a negative impact on the earth’s atmosphere and presents many risks to society. The consumption or burning of oil emits carbon dioxide while burning coal releases nitrous oxide. The emitted carbon dioxide is “considered to be the largest contributing factor to the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. (McLamb, 2011) Other risks to society include air pollution, water pollution, solid waste, and human illness. (essortment.com) Humans can suffer in many ways as a result of the consumption of fossil fuels. Coal miners can develop black lung disease while others can suffer from asthma or other respiratory diseases as a result of exposure to the air pollution from fossil fuels. (uscusa.org) The United States’ dependency on oil not only creates the environmental and health issues mentioned previously, it gives us the problem of integrating national security with our need for oil. We have been faced with protecting the oil of foreign nations to reassure our ongoing supply. An example of this was the Persian Gulf War. (uscusa.org) Greenhouse gases contribute to the effects of global warming. These effects are evident in countries around the world. For example, “in the Antarctica, warmer temperatures may result in more rapid ice melting which increases sea level and compromises the composition of surrounding waters.” (essortment.com) “During...
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...What fossil fuels are: Fossil fuel is a general term for buried combustible geologic deposits of organic materials, formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils. How fossil fuels are formed: Fossil fuels are formed over time where sand, sediment and rock bury the organic matter, it eventually forms large quantities of fuels by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. Different types of fossil fuels form depending on what combination of animal and plant debris was present, how long the material was buried, and what conditions of temperature and pressure existed when they were decomposing. For example, oil and natural gas were created...
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...The Abilities of Fossil Fuels HUM/114 25 Apr 2011 Fossil fuels provide 85% of the energy used in the United States. At the same note, fossil fuels also cause 80% of the global warming pollution in this country. Therefore, there is no doubt that the United States should seek other energy sources. I believe harnessing the unlimited power provided by the wind and the sun is our best recourse. Some people would debate that these projects would be expensive. On the other hand, I think these will be cost effective, as trying to clean up the air, sea, and land from pollutants produced by coal, oil and petroleum, is even more expensive. If we are to spend money on finding other energy sources, rather than finding oil sources in the country, we might as well invest in technology to harness wind, solar and geothermal power. Sadly, some politicians do not support this idea because of vested interests. Oil and gas companies have donated $238.7 million to candidates and parties since the 1990 election cycle. Greenpeace, an independent environmental organization, states in their website that with the current technology, renewable energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal can provide 96% of our electricity and 98% of our total heating needs. Business companies can begin transitioning into using clean energy sources and should educate themselves about the different incentives at the local, state and federal levels. Greenpeace further stated that investing in...
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