Fossil RecordoReveals events that we would never know aboutE.g., North American primatesoIntermediate forms (“missing links”) shows us how modern groups got the waythey areEx: Lucy, ChimpsoProvides temporal framework for evolutionGeological time is vast, we experience only an instant of Earth HistoryIf the age of earth(4.6 billion years) were condensed into one yearoJan 1 – Earth bornoEarly Feb – oldest known rocks formedoLate mar – first primitive life formedoMid nov – first complex life with shells or skeletons formedoLate nov – first land animalsoDec 25 – Extinction of the dinosaurs (earliest primates)oDec 31 – Humans evolved in the eveningFossil Record of lifeoFirst dinosaurs – Triassic Period of Mesozoic eraoFirst primates – tertiary period of Cenozoic eraWhat is the “fossil record”oRocksIgneousMelting of rocks in hot, deep crust and upper mantleCrystallization (solidification of magma)SedimentaryWeathering and erosion of rocks exposed at surfaceDeposition, burial and lithificationMetamorphic rocks