Questions tagged [paleontology]
Paleontology (also Palaeontology) is the scientific study of past life. Questions about the biological aspect of paleontology (such as taxonomy and anatomy) are off-topic here and should be asked on biology.stackexchange.com
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Potential fossil location in remote location in Northern Ontario, Canada?
This location has a lot of ancient-looking sedimentary rocks. Do you think it may be a good candidate for Ediacaran or Pre-Cambrian fossils?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/jdQJ7muDryNrpHSC8
It's quite remote,...
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Reliable and accurate books about current palentology/fossils
I'm working on a project with my Geography professor, where we are collecting various rocks, minerals and fossils to show various processes (substitution and casting in fossils; metamorphization in ...
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Three fossils which I can't seem to identify
I found some fossils some time ago which I can't identify. Things are further complicated by the fact that I don't know with certainty where two of the fossils were found. The pictures are below.
The ...
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Are these Microfossils? And if not, why are there none?
I recently took a piece of limestone from the late Jurassic, from a rock that contains quite a few fossils (mostly ammonites and belemnoids), and ground it as flat and smooth as possible. Then, I ...
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Is this a fossil or something nonorganic?
I've found and object that has an unusual shape - claw like with cube shaped corner. Is it a fossil or only weird looking stone?
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(Fósil hallado en Zapala, Neuquén) Fossil found in Zapala, Neuquén, Argentina
(Alguien podría decirme qué es?)
Could someone tell me what it is? Zapala is in Western Argentina, east of the Andes Mountains.
enter image description here
English translation via Google Translate
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What other areas of the planet might be rich in Mesozoic-era fossils that have yet to be explored?
China is a region rich in sedimentary rocks from the Mesozoic period and incredible discoveries about dinosaurs have been made there since the 1990s.
I was wondering which other areas of the planet ...
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If the asteroid that wiped out most of the dinosaurs had impacted much closer to the poles, would the extinction event have be smaller?
The case is that, if it landed at the North Pole or the South Pole, the global after-impact effects such as gases and dust spreading through the atmosphere, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanism and ...
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Is this a fossil?
Found this on open heath land close to RAF Honington, Suffolk, UK. Its about the size/shape of a cherry tomatoe cut in half.
Thanks
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Is this a fossil or something anorganic?
So, i found a weird structure in a piece of jurassic limestone. It is cylindrical and roughly one cm in diameter, enters the stone on one side and leaves on the other. Under the microscope, you can ...
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When did mosquitoes reach Australia?
When and how did mosquitoes reach Australia?
It's east of the Wallace line, so 'they got there from Asia' is not an obviously unproblematic conclusion.
In general, when and how mosquitoes reached ...
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What is the difference between permineralization and replacement
I am reading on the petrification process. I found that there are two processes which are permineralization and replacement. I am not sure I fully comprehend the difference between them. I wonder if ...
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What materials are fossils made of?
I was reading on fossilization and I came across petrifaction. Are fossils that take the shape (have the shape) of the original organism made of only stone or iron? Can there be a fossil made of any ...
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Will the fossil record ever be complete enough to see inside punctuated equilibria?
It is generally believed that the time over which speciation occurs is too short (~10,000-100,000 years) for our museum collections to include many transitional forms between species. (Transitional ...
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Why aren't diatoms' shells used as a temperature proxy, but foraminifera shells are?
Changes in oceanic oxygen isotope ratios (18O to 16O) are reflected in the shells of ancient foraminifera.
However, I have not read of diatom shells being used, despite the fact that they were (and ...
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