According to the Law of Superposition, which organism would be considered the OLDEST?
• Bird
• Dinosaur
• Shell
O Trilobite
The Trilobite would be considered the OLDEST organism according to the Law of Superposition.
According to the Law of Superposition, the oldest organism would be the Trilobite.
To determine which organism would be considered the oldest according to the Law of Superposition, you need to understand the basic principle behind this law. The Law of Superposition states that in any undeformed sequence of sedimentary rocks, the oldest rocks are at the bottom, and the youngest rocks are at the top.
In this case, we have four options to consider: bird, dinosaur, shell, and trilobite. Let's analyze them one by one based on the Law of Superposition.
Bird: Birds are relatively newer organisms in terms of geological time. They are part of the class Aves and evolved from feathered dinosaurs. So, birds would generally appear in relatively younger rock layers.
Dinosaur: Dinosaurs are extinct reptiles that lived during the Mesozoic Era, which took place millions of years ago. They existed before birds and are considered to be older than birds in terms of geological time.
Shell: Shells are the hard outer coverings of marine organisms like mollusks. Shells can fossilize and become part of sedimentary rocks. The age of a shell would depend on the age of the rock formation it is found in. Shells can be found in various layers of sedimentary rocks, so their age can vary.
Trilobite: Trilobites were a diverse group of marine arthropods that were present from the Cambrian Period to the Permian Period, which spanned from about 542 to 251 million years ago. Trilobites existed much earlier than birds, dinosaurs, and shells.
Based on this analysis, the trilobite would be considered the oldest organism among the given options since it lived during the Cambrian and Permian Periods, predating the other organisms mentioned.