6ES2: Earth: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

While digging in the side of a mountain, a scientist found a fossil that resembled a sea shell. Choose the BEST explanation for the fossil discovery.

• Someone lost the fossil and dropped it while hiking up the mountain.
• Millions of years ago some sea animals lived on land.
• Millions of years ago there was an ocean where the mountains exist today.
• The scientist was mistaken about the fossil resembling a sea shell.

Which of the following would prove MOST useful in the relative dating of a fossil?

• salt deposits
• humidity
• rock layers
• calendars

The surface of the Earth is made up of about a dozen huge slabs of rock or crust called the tectonic plates. The plates move very slowly, one to ten centimeters per year. What causes the motion of the tectonic plates?

• ocean waves and currents
• heat from inside the Earth
• the rotation of Earth on its axis
• the vibrations from earthquakes

Scientist Alfred Wegener revealed the idea that the continents were moving or drifted. What evidence did Alfred Wegener use as evidence for drifting continents?

• pictures of the Earth from space over the past 50 years
• the distance between the continents over 100 years
• fossils of reptiles and seed fern found on different continents
• the location of the edges of the tectonic plates

The Earth is made up of three basic layers. Choose the answer that describes the layers of the Earth.

• core, mantle, and crust
• magma, rock, and soil
• igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary
• iron, magma, and tectonic plates

The center of the Earth is:

• molten lava
• magma
• solid
• gaseous

By collecting and plotting earthquake data, students should be able to learn:

• the amount of damage caused by earthquakes in 8 weeks.
• what caused the earthquakes in each area over 8 weeks.
• the number of people affected by the earthquakes over 8 weeks.
• where earthquakes occurred most frequently over 8 weeks.

What is the best explanation for the earthquakes in some areas on Earth and not in other areas? The earthquakes occur:

• along the borders of the tectonic plates as they move into one another.
• where there are deposits of molten magma below the surface.
• where the ocean and the continents come together and collide.
• when they are located in the same area as volcanoes and mountains.

What geological event occurs when two plates rub against one another, causing great pressure to build?

• mountain building
• volcanic eruptions
• earthquakes
• tsunamis

Choose the answer that BEST describes conditions at the plate edges that result in a volcanic eruption.

• Plates collide causing cracks or holes where magma and gases push up from deep inside the Earth.
• Plates remain stationary while gas and magma build up pressure.
• Plates rub back and forth against one another, building pressure and magma, and gases push through the cracks,spewing lava and gases.
• Plates vibrate from earthquakes causing cracks or holes where magma and ash erupt.