In this article we will talk about such a science as paleontology - what is it studying, what is needed and what is the use of it to the modern world.
Ancient times
Most often, at the mention of the first life forms onEarth, people come to mind dinosaurs. But the opinion that they are the most ancient inhabitants of our world, since the time of their disappearance, as much as 65 million years have passed, erroneously. According to some scientists' calculations, life on the planet originated 3.9 billion years ago, and it is very difficult to realize this figure.
During those periods, the Earth was inhabited mainly by the first bacteria and microorganisms, and much later the first invertebrates, amphibians and reptiles appeared.
Even in ancient Greece, scientists have found petrifiedthe remnants of different forms of life, but, of course, they could not learn anything about their age and origin, and therefore did not study them purposefully. But already in the Middle Ages, in the Renaissance, interest in the ancient inhabitants of our world broke out with a new force. And at the beginning of the XIX century, the term "paleontology" was proposed. What is she studying and why?
Nowadays
So according to the official definitionPaleontology studies ancient forms of life that existed in past geological periods and have survived to the present day in the form of fossil remains and their fragments. It is also worth noting that this science reproduces intermediate links of biological species based on the theory of biological evolution.
Studying fossil bones, analyzing traces andother facts of the existence of organisms - all this is in the sphere of interests of such a science as paleontology. What can research give us? In addition to theoretical knowledge and understanding of the course of evolution, a little. But the fact is that the basic humanities do not set themselves the goal of pursuing any material gain.
Probably the most famous part of the objects of study.of a similar science, thanks to which everyone at least once, but heard about it, is the study of dinosaurs of all kinds and eras. But in practice it is becoming more and more prosaic - their fossils are rarely found and far from being complete, so even in museums you can only see reconstructions of skeletons, where there are only a small part of these bones.
In answering the question, what is studying paleontology,It is worth mentioning the inhabitants of the ancient oceans - various trilobites and others. Their remains are preserved quite well in rocky sediments and sandstone formations. Well, the “youngest” representatives of the historical fauna are the mammoths. Due to the conditions of permafrost in Siberia, their remains are remarkable for their preservation and detail.
What is useful paleontology
What the described science can give us and howdoes it apply in other areas? The fact is that the mentioned discipline, unlike the others, cannot boast of effective research methods and results that fundamentally influence our lives, such as physics, engineering or medicine. But on the basis of knowledge collected bit by bit, scientists will learn a lot about the history of our world before the advent of man and fill up the intermediate branches of the theory of evolution. For example, using radiocarbon analysis of the remains, you can find out what the climate was millions of years ago, from whom birds or other animals originated, and make predictions about how they will change in a few hundred thousand more years.
The fact that studying paleontology, in practice it seemson an exciting, but very difficult game, where it is easy to make a mistake or wishful thinking, because at the disposal of researchers there is much less material than we would like.
Excavations
But if fragments of living organisms are so many years old, then why haven’t they rotted at their times? How are they preserved after millions of years, and what is the reason for their rarity?
As already mentioned, paleontology is the science ofancient forms of life, and they came to us in the form of fossils. And the thing is that for their education, we need the appropriate conditions. Most often they are found in sandstone, and this is no accident. Petrification is a special process of mineralization of a biological material, when, under the action of pressure, in the absence of a sufficient amount of air and moisture, the bones or cells of the “victim” are gradually soaked with mineral compounds. And in the end, turn to stone.
This process is very long, and it is often violated.by some kind of physical intervention, therefore the fossil remains have reached our days less than they could. In addition, they must first be found, and they are not always in the form of an ideal whole skeleton. Sometimes paleontologists spend several months in order to simply assemble them correctly.
The most promising areas are canyons, ravines, ancient sandstone deposits, when, for example, an earthquake collapses and animals remain under a multi-meter layer of rock.
Branches
In paleontology, there are several majorbranches is paleozoology and paleobotany. The first studies vertebrates and invertebrates, and the second - ancient plants and everything connected with them. And they, in turn, are divided into many sections, of which it is impossible not to mention the paleoanthropology, which is engaged in the study of human ancestors. So paleontology, is the science of once living organisms in general.
