Earth's history

Fossil remains of a trilobite are most likely to be found in which type of rock?

• igneous
• volcanic
• sedimentary
• metamorphic

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

What role do faults play in the Law of Superposition?

• Faults create new types of rock.
• Faults are younger than the layers they cut through.
• Faults are the same age as the layers they cut through.

Many fossils of large amphibians were found in an area that is currently barren desert. Which is most likely true?

• The climate of the area was once much wetter than it is now.
• Amphibians were once better at surviving in dry environments.
• The amphibians migrated there after a catastrophic event destroyed their habitats.
• The amphibians are not native to the area and their bones were brought there by other animals.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

According to the law of superposition, the oldest fossils are found 

• At the top of the rock layers
• Near the bottom of the rock layers
• In the middle of the rock layers
• Somewhat near the surface

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Which type of dating method can be used on rock layers by applying the Law of Superposition?

• relative dating
• absolute dating
• radioactive dating
• radiometric dating

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

The idea states the same processes that occurred in the past operate in the same way as they do in the present.

• Absolute Dating
• Relative Dating
• Catastrophism
• Uniformitarianism

Fossils can tell us all of the following information about an organism except:

• How the animals might have traveled
• What kinds of food the organism eats
• What type of environment the organism may have lived in
• The organism's life expectancy (or how long the organism will live) 

Several different fossils were found in rock layers in a geologic column.  Above these rock layers, the fossils were almost nonexistent.  Which most likely explains these observations?

• A nonconformity occurred
• All the organisms migrated.
• A period of mass extinction occurred.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Which generalization can be made about the relative age of a fossil found in a sedimentary rock bed?

• The fossil is younger than the rock layer above it.
• The fossil was formed before the rock layer that contains it.
• The fossil and the rock were formed in different environments.
• The fossil was formed around the same time as the rock that contains it.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

__________________is the time it takes for half of the radioactive atoms in an element to decay.

• dating range
• half life

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8