Does the Fossil Record Prove Common Descent?

Preliminary Note: Stratigraphy

Fossils are found in sedimentary rock. This rock is formed from sediments, such as sand, mud, or organic material, deposited in horizontal layers. The layers are like layers of paint and wallpaper on an old wall. The oldest layers are on the bottom, the newest on top. Layers of rock of the same age in a different location can be correlated by presence of the same group of fossils.

1. Simple to Complex within Phylum chordata
2. Missing Links: Whales from Northeastern Ohio U. College of Medicine, Department of Anatomy, www.neoucom.edu/Depts/Anat/whales
3. A nice discussion of various whales and supposed ancestors. Did whales evolve?
4. The Cambrian Explosion: Sudden Appearance of Wide Variety of Organisms

• Most Phyla appeared suddenly at the beginning of the Cambrian.
• Fossils from shortly before the Cambrian Explosion from the University of California Museum of Paleontology, www.ucmp.berkeley.edu
• Creatures of the Cambrian Explosion
• Typical Cambrian Creatures:
  • Perm's Trilobite Fossils
  • Brachiopods, shellfish with two non-identical shells.