paleontology

The article "How Did Life Originate?" focuses on the scientific issue of the origin of life, which has not been fully resolved to date. It introduces various hypotheses about the origin of life, including the aggregation theory, the theory of the origin of land and ocean on early Earth supported by Miller's experiment, the theory of extraterrestrial origin, and the theory of origin from deep-sea "black chimneys", as well as the current research status of related evidence such as studies on ancient bacteria, fossil records, and sedimentological research.

This article explains why we can understand ancient climate change based on geological strata and fossils. It illustrates this from two aspects: on the geological stratum level, glacial sediments, sea level changes, and oxygen-carbon isotope measurements; and on the fossil level, the characteristics of individual organisms and the correlation between animal distribution and climate.

This article focuses on the question of "Was the Earth once a giant snowball?" It introduces the formation causes of ice ages, the basic situations and characteristics of the five major ice ages in geological history, and points out that the Neoproterozoic Ice Age, which occurred between 750 million and 630 million years ago, was called the Snowball Event because the Earth's surface was basically covered by ice and snow at that time. At that time, the Earth was called the Snowball Earth.

This article focuses on the question of "what changed the ancient climate", and introduces the basic situation of the five major glacial periods and four major warm periods that the Earth has experienced over the past 2.7 billion years, the two hypotheses put forward by scholars on the causes of ancient climate change - changes in the Earth's orbit and crustal movements, the division and cyclical patterns of the Quaternary glacial period, and the climate and landscape changes of the Little Ice Age and subsequent interglacial periods 18,000 years ago. It points out that the study of ancient climate is of great significance and there are still many issues to be explored.

This article answers the question of why there are fossils of terrestrial reptiles in marine strata, and introduces the phenomenon of rare fossils of terrestrial reptiles in marine limestone of Yunnan and Guizhou in the Triassic period. Based on the research conclusion that the fossils are intact and have not been transported over long distances, scientists speculate that there were once small islands inhabited by terrestrial reptiles in the area, which are the source of these fossils.

This article explains why all marine reptile fossils in China originate from the south. During the Triassic period, southern China was part of the ancient Mediterranean Sea, where a large number of marine reptiles lived, while the north was a landmass at the same time. It also introduces the distribution, taxonomy, and preservation status of marine reptile fossils from southern China and Tibet during the Triassic period, reflecting the differences in the ancient marine environment.

This article answers the question of why corals and shells can be found on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, introduces the geological history of the plateau's transformation from the ancient Tethys Sea, glacial coverage, and the new Tethys Sea, to its eventual uplift into a plateau due to the collision of the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, and points out that fossils of marine animals such as corals are one of the examples of the earth's ever-changing landscape through geological shifts over time

This article revolves around the question of "why scientists can know the living environment of pterosaurs", and introduces that scientists have gradually inferred that pterosaurs could not only live by the sea, but also in inland lakes and forests, based on the pterosaur fossils discovered in the marine limestone of Solnhofen, Germany, and the lacustrine environments of Wulong, China, especially the exquisite pterosaur fossils preserved intact due to volcanic activity in the Early Cretaceous of Liaoxi, and the conclusion that some small pterosaurs had arboreal habits.

This article explains why fossils can serve as a "thermometer" for the Earth, including the distribution characteristics of organisms, the growth rings of fossilized hard tissues, the ratio of oxygen isotopes, and the components of elements such as manganese and strontium, which can reflect environmental temperatures. Moreover, the color of trilobite fossils can indicate the temperature of rocks, which can serve as a reference in oil exploration work.

This article focuses on the question of "besides humans, have other creatures influenced the global environment?" and introduces the significant impacts of organisms such as cyanobacteria, algae, and plants on the global environment by altering atmospheric composition, contributing to the formation of the ozone layer, transforming seawater composition and forming various sedimentary minerals, and improving terrestrial ecology and climate through landfall.

The topic of this article is paleontology and paleoenvironment

This article focuses on the question of "why can soft tissues of ancient organisms form fossils", explaining that the formation of fossils is a complex and low-probability process. Most common fossils come from animals with hard shells, bones, or teeth, which account for less than 20% of all animal species today. Fossils of organisms lacking hard structures mainly come from specific burial fossil groups, the formation of which requires special environments such as oxygen-free water bottoms and the assistance of microorganisms.