On the Imperfection of the Geological Record
E37494
"On the Imperfection of the Geological Record" is a chapter in Charles Darwin's *On the Origin of Species* that addresses why the fossil record is incomplete and how this affects evidence for evolutionary change.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| On the Imperfection of the Geological Record canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T289327 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On the Imperfection of the Geological Record Context triple: [On the Origin of Species, notableChapter, On the Imperfection of the Geological Record]
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A.
The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man
The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man is an 1863 scientific work by Charles Lyell that marshals geological and fossil evidence to argue for the great age of humanity and to support evolutionary ideas.
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B.
Principles of Geology
Principles of Geology is Charles Lyell’s landmark 19th-century work that popularized uniformitarianism and fundamentally shaped modern geological science and Charles Darwin’s thinking on Earth’s history.
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C.
Recherches sur les poissons fossiles
Recherches sur les poissons fossiles is a foundational 19th-century multi-volume work on fossil fishes that helped establish modern paleontology and comparative ichthyology.
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D.
The Elements of Geology
The Elements of Geology is a foundational 19th-century textbook by Charles Lyell that helped establish modern geological science and popularize uniformitarian principles.
-
E.
Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species
Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species is a scientific book by Lynn Margulis that advances the idea that symbiosis and the merging of genomes are central drivers of evolutionary innovation and the formation of new species.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: On the Imperfection of the Geological Record Target entity description: "On the Imperfection of the Geological Record" is a chapter in Charles Darwin's *On the Origin of Species* that addresses why the fossil record is incomplete and how this affects evidence for evolutionary change.
-
A.
The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man
The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man is an 1863 scientific work by Charles Lyell that marshals geological and fossil evidence to argue for the great age of humanity and to support evolutionary ideas.
-
B.
Principles of Geology
Principles of Geology is Charles Lyell’s landmark 19th-century work that popularized uniformitarianism and fundamentally shaped modern geological science and Charles Darwin’s thinking on Earth’s history.
-
C.
Recherches sur les poissons fossiles
Recherches sur les poissons fossiles is a foundational 19th-century multi-volume work on fossil fishes that helped establish modern paleontology and comparative ichthyology.
-
D.
The Elements of Geology
The Elements of Geology is a foundational 19th-century textbook by Charles Lyell that helped establish modern geological science and popularize uniformitarian principles.
-
E.
Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species
Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origins of Species is a scientific book by Lynn Margulis that advances the idea that symbiosis and the merging of genomes are central drivers of evolutionary innovation and the formation of new species.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book chapter
ⓘ
scientific essay ⓘ |
| addresses |
apparent absence of transitional forms
ⓘ
gaps in geological strata ⓘ imperfection of paleontological evidence ⓘ incompleteness of the fossil record ⓘ unequal exploration of geological formations ⓘ unequal preservation of organisms ⓘ |
| argues |
that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence for transitional forms
ⓘ
that fossilization is a rare event ⓘ that geological formations represent only small, broken portions of Earth history ⓘ that geological time is vast compared to preserved strata ⓘ that many intermediate varieties existed only locally or briefly ⓘ that many species existed without leaving fossil traces ⓘ that soft-bodied organisms are less likely to fossilize ⓘ that terrestrial organisms are less likely to fossilize than marine organisms ⓘ that the fossil record is extremely imperfect ⓘ |
| author | Charles Darwin ⓘ |
| contextOf | development of evolutionary paleontology ⓘ |
| discipline |
evolutionary biology
ⓘ
historical geology ⓘ |
| explains |
how erosion and deposition affect fossil preservation
ⓘ
how geological processes destroy earlier strata ⓘ how incomplete records can still support gradual evolution ⓘ why many intermediate forms are not found as fossils ⓘ why the fossil record appears to show sudden appearances of species ⓘ |
| hasKeyConcept |
biases in the geological record
ⓘ
local versus global fossil sequences ⓘ selective preservation of fossils ⓘ stratigraphic gaps ⓘ time-averaging of fossil assemblages ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | methodological naturalism ⓘ |
| includedIn | first edition of On the Origin of Species ⓘ |
| influenced | later discussions of fossil record incompleteness ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| partOf | On the Origin of Species ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1859 ⓘ |
| respondsTo |
objections based on apparent stasis in the fossil record
ⓘ
objections based on missing transitional fossils ⓘ |
| subject |
evolution
ⓘ
fossil record ⓘ geology ⓘ natural selection ⓘ paleontology ⓘ |
| supports | Darwin's theory of gradual evolutionary change ⓘ |
| workLocation | United Kingdom ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: On the Imperfection of the Geological Record Description of subject: "On the Imperfection of the Geological Record" is a chapter in Charles Darwin's *On the Origin of Species* that addresses why the fossil record is incomplete and how this affects evidence for evolutionary change.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
On the Origin of Species