Determining the ages of fossils is an important step in mapping out how life evolved across geologic time. Biostratigraphy enables scientists to match rocks with particular fossils to other rocks with those fossils to determine age. Paleontology seeks to map out how life evolved across geologic time.

Why is it important to identify the age of rocks and fossils?

The age can be correlated with other aspects of the fossilized organism and we can build a history of life on Earth, that is, how life changed over the last few billion years. The age determination also helps us understand the climatic changes, periods of ice ages in our history, etc.

Why is it important to find fossils?

Fossils are very useful to the study of tectonic history. When a fossil of a given species is found on several modern continents, it gives a strong indication that these continents were previously unified. Finally, fossils show us the long history of life and the past and current evolution processes on Earth.

Why is it important to understand the age of the Earth?

Earths age is relevant to biology because an old Earth is necessary for macroevolution to occur and also because some dating methods (e.g., dendrochronology, varves) use materials of biological origin. It is important to present this information, to demonstrate that macroevolution is plausible.

How do fossils help us learn about the world?

Fossils give us information about how animals and plants lived in the past. Some animals and plant are only known to us as fossils. By studying the fossil record we can tell how long life has existed on Earth, and how different plants and animals are related to each other.

How do we know how old is Earth?

4.543 billion years Earth/Age All the data from Earth and beyond has led to the estimated age of 4.5 billion years for our planet. The age of rocks is determined by radiometric dating, which looks at the proportion of two different isotopes in a sample.

How do we determine Earths age?

By dating the rocks in Earths ever-changing crust, as well as the rocks in Earths neighbors, such as the moon and visiting meteorites, scientists have calculated that Earth is 4.54 billion years old, with an error range of 50 million years.