Fossil Evolution Program
Wayne Farley
Fossil Collecting: Fossils are preserved prehistoric life-forms. Invertebrate fossils have no backbones; i.e. bacteria and algae, shelled animals, insects, and plants. I chose the invertebrate fossils for this program as we rockhounds are not allowed to collect vertebrate fossils on public lands per “Title VI, Subtitle D--Paleontological Resources Preservation” act H.R.146, which can be found at the following Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Web-Site: http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ut/natural_resources/cultural/paleo/Paleontology_Documents.Par.23565.File.dat/Public%20Law%20111-011%20OPLA-PRP.pdf
H.R.146 excludes rockhounds from collecting fossils from dinosaurs, mammals, sharks, fish; and any other animals with a skeletal structure
Montana’s Oldest Fossils: I will start with the world’s oldest fossils and progress to younger and younger fossils. The world’s oldest distinct fossil were formed from cyanobacteria and algae; life-forms that lived in the earth’s seas over 3.5 Billion years ago (Bya), and which still exist as living life-forms today. The postulated absolute oldest life-forms on earth are only detected by the carbon isotopes they leave behind in the rocks, and are called chemofossils. They go back as far as 3.85 Bya. Carbon exists in nature in more than one form. Normally, carbon-13 (C-13), with atomic weight 13), is much rarer than C-12. However, biological processes concentrate C-12, so when organic debris falls to the ocean floor, the C-12 to C-13 ratio rises still further in the sedimentary rock that forms. The high ratio C-12/C-13 graphite is assumed to have come from early life-forms.
The earliest distinct macro fossils are Stromatolites; which are found in the 1.8-2.3 Bya Gunflint-chert north of Lake Superior, and in the 3.5 Bya Apex-chert in Australia. Stromatolites are originally calcareous, but fossils can be phosphorous or siliceous replacements. In Western Montana, Stromatolites can be found in the 1.47-1.40 Bya Belt-Rock sediments: described and mapped on Web-Site: http://formontana.net/slabs.html; and covered in “Roadside Geology of Montana” by David Alt and Donald Hyndman, 1997. In Montana, favorable rock formations for stromatolite fossils are the Greyson Shale in the Big Belt Mountains of central Montana, the Altyn Limestone near Essex, Montana, and the Siyeh Limestone in Glacier Park. Of course, fossil collecting, of any kind, is not allowed in our National Parks.
A large sample of Stromatolite fossil (Sample-1 Stromatolite) is shown in this program, which I purchased on eBay, and which was said to have came from central Montana. If correct, it is probably the species Newlandia Concentrica (2.0 Bya), which has been documented in the Greyson Shale in the Big-Belt-Mountains of Montana. Charles D. Walcott, head of the Smithsonian from 1907-1927, discovered the Burgess Shale fossils; and described and named this strange and unique Stromatolite in 1914
My Montana Stromatolite specimen was misidentified on eBay as fossilized wood. I discovered after I received it that it is fluorescent bright red when exposed to short-wave ultra-violet light. Stromatolite fossils come in many colors and make excellent lapidary material. For additional information on Stromatolites, and other Precambrian fossils, read “The World’s Oldest Fossils” by Bruce L. Stinchcomb, A Schiffer Book, 2007.
Other fossils covered in this book are common Cambrian sponges and trilobites. I have non-Cambrian specimens to show you, not from Montana, (Sample-2, a Sponge) and (Sample-3, a Trilobite).
The Value of Fossils:
!. Rockhounds collect fossils for their intrinsic beauty (Sample-4, a Crinoid), for lapidary material (Sample-5, a Mary-Ellen-Jasper Stromatolite); and for understanding the origin and evolution of life on earth (Sample-6, a Mason-Creek Jellyfish fossil).
2. Geologists study fossils, in order to create a geological time scale of rock formation; and to determine the evolution of rock movement on earth. This rock movement is called plate tectonics, and is the prime cause for earthquakes. See “The Earth Through Time” by Harold L. Levin, 2003.
3. Paleontologist study fossils in order to classify the fossils; which thus enables them to understand the evolution of life on earth. See “Cradle of Life” by J. William Schope,1999.
4. Climatologist study fossils, in order to postulate past paleontological climates. See “Heaven & Earth” by Ian Plimer, 2009.
What caused Cambrian Explosion of Lifeforms 550-500 Bya?
1. Increased Phosphorus from Meteorites
2. DNA in cell nucleus
3. Sexual Reproduction
4. Increased atmospheric oxygen
5. Eyesight (Andrew Parker, 2003)
6. End of Snowball Earth
1.0 Phosphorus is central to life. It forms the backbone of DNA and RNA because it connects these molecules' genetic bases into long chains. It is vital to metabolism because it is linked with life's fundamental fuel, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy that powers growth and movement. And phosphorus is part of living architecture – it is in the phospholipids that make up cell walls and in the bones of vertebrates.
“In terms of mass, phosphorus is the fifth most important biologic element, after carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen," said Matthew A. Pasek, a doctoral candidate in UA's planetary sciences department and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
"Meteorites have several different minerals that contain phosphorus," Pasek said. "The most important one, which we've worked with most recently, is iron-nickel phosphide, known as schreibersite. Schreibersite is a metallic compound that is extremely rare on Earth. But it is ubiquitous in meteorites, especially iron meteorites, which are peppered with schreibersite grains or slivered with pinkish-colored schreibersite veins. Schreibersite was found in the Seymchan-Pallasite meteorite discovered in Magadan, Russia in 1967. I have a sample of this meteorite.
2.0 DNA: The transfer of DNA in primitive bacteria into a cell nucleus billions of years age enabled sexual reproduction, and the more rapid evolution of lifeforms. Did you know that there are fossil genes in our DNA? The human genome contains about 25,000 genes, but not all genes are used. It’s the same in other species. Birds which are believed to have evolved from small dinosaur may still retain some dinosaur fossil genes. Recently scientist activated some of those fossil genes on a chicken embryo, and produced an embryo with teeth. Jack Horner, a Paleontologist at Montana State thinks it may be possible to recreate small dinosaurs from birds by manipulations of fossil genes.
3.0 Sexual Reproduction: Before sexual reproduction, single cell bacteria reproduced by splitting of the genome, thus every pair was a clone. That inhibited evolution. After sexual reproduction came about, there was potential for slight diversity in the offspring. If that diversity was beneficial, then evolution progressed.
4.0 Increased atmospheric oxygen: Advanced lifeforms were not possible until there was adequate oxygen in the atmosphere. Why did it take so long when oxygen producing cyanobateria go back as 3.8 BYA, and advanced lifeforms don’t show up until about 550 Mya? The answer is believed to be that the early earth had much un-oxidized iron; and for a couple of billion years, all of the oxygen produced by cyanobacteria was used to oxidize the earth’s iron. The proof of this lies in the many huge beds of Precambrian iron formation on the earth.
5.0 Eyesight: Andrew Parker in his 2003 book, In the Blink of an Eye, believes that eyesight in both prey and predators in the early Cambrian enabled those species to have a better survival rate, thus advancing evolution. He gives as examples the animals fossils from the Burgess Shale in Canada.
6.0 End of Snowball Earth: Some geologist claim that they see signs of glacial deposition in Precambrian rocks everywhere in the world, therefore the entire world must have been completely covered by ice and snow during the last stages of the Precambrian. They say advanced lifeform evolution would have been suppressed until this snow and ice retreated from the tropics. Most geologists reject this theory as there would be no way for the earth to come out of such a state. The believers say that volcanic activity could have released greenhouse carbon dioxide greenhouse gas which could have warmed the earth. Resent research shows that is not possible.
Lagerstatten: A lagerstatten is a fossil deposit that exhibit extraordinary fossil richness and/or completeness. The following lagerstattens are described in the book “Fossil Ecosystems of North America” by John R. Nudds & Paul A. Selden, 2008.
1. Gunflint Chert, Precambrian, MN/Ontario
2. Mistaken Point, Precambrian, Greenland
3. Burgess Shale, Cambrian, BC, Canada
4. Beecher’s Trilobite Bed, Ordovician, NY
5. Bertie Waterlime, Ordovician, NY
6. Gilboa, Silurian, NY
7. Mazon Creek, Devonian, IL
8. Chinle Group, Permian, UT/CO/AZ/NM
9. Morrison For., Mesozoic, Rocky Mts.
10. Hell Creek For., Cretaceous, MT/ND/SD
11. Green River For. Cretaceous, WY/CO/UT
12. Floriessant, Eocene, CO
13. Dominican Amber, Oligocene-Miocene
14. Rancho La Brea, Quaternary, CA
Montana Lagerstättes:
Canyon Ferry Reservoir 2002: A diverse Oligocene insect and plant Lagerstätte has been identified recently from paper shales in a sequence of fine-grained deposits exposed on the west side of Canyon Ferry Reservoir, southeast of Helena, Montana. Limited excavation and preparation thus far has led to the discovery of at least 37 families of insects and more than 40 taxa of plants (leaves, seeds, and stems). Preservation of the insect fossils is outstanding, with color patterns, feeding and reproductive structures commonly present. Quality of the preservation compares favorably with that of other Tertiary insect and plant Lagerstätten, such as Green River, Florissant, and Republic.
Bear Gulch Limestone The Bear Gulch Limestone in the Mississippian of MT is a lagerstätten, a well-bedded sequence of limestone layers containing an extremely well-preserved assemblage of fossils. This deposit has yielded one of the most diverse and well preserved fossil fish assemblages in the world; with 130 species of fish recovered over the last 35 years. The site also contains well preserved arthropods, sponges, starfish, conulariids, worms, and other soft-bodied organisms, as well as brachiopods, bryozoans, and molluscs. http://www.sju.edu/research/bear_gulch/
Hell Creek Formation: An intensely-studied division of the Upper Cretaceous to lower Paleocene rocks in North America, named for exposures studied along Hell Creek, near Jordan, MT. The formation has produced impressive assemblages of invertebrates, plants, mammals, fish, reptiles, & amphibians. The most complete Hadrosaurid dinosaur ever found was retrieved in 2000 from the Hell Creek Formation and widely publicized in a National Geographic documentary aired in Dec. 2007. A few bird and pterosaur fossils have also been found. Teeth of sharks and rays are sometimes found in the riverine Hell Creek Formation, suggesting that some of these taxa were tolerant of fresh water then as now. From: Wikipedia Web-Site.
Fossils from 505 Mya Burgess Shale:
B - Other "recognized" species with no currently living examples:
C - Unassigned forms with no clear signs of ancestral linkage to any surviving group:
