Geologic History

If a layer of sandstone lies on top of a layer of limestone in which a 450-million-year-old fossil is found, and there are no unconformities, the layer of sandstone must be ____.

• older than 450 million years

• younger than 450 million years

• exactly 450 million years old

• to old to determine its age

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

According the graph, a piece of timber containing one-fourth of the amount of carbon-14 that is found in a living tree, died about how many years ago?

• 11,400 years

• 22,800 years

• 5,700 years

• 17,100 years

When did the unconformity occur?

• Before the fault occurred

• After the fault occurred

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Which is the best sequence of events shown in the figure, listed from oldest to youngest?

• FEDABC

• ABCFED

• DEFCBA

• FEDCBA

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Fossils of species that lived on Earth for short periods of time, were abundant, and were widespread geographically are...

• absolute date

• original remains

• index fossils

• trace fossils

A sample of a radioactive element has a mass of 80 g. How much parent and daughter materials are in the sample after two half-lives?

• parent = 20 g; daughter = 60 g

• parent = 80 g; daughter = 80 g

• parent = 2; daughter = 1/2

• parent = 60 g; daughter = 20 g

How old do Paleontologists believe the Earth is?

• 2015 years old
• 3.6 billion years old
• 4.6 billion years old
• 4.6 million years old

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Which is the most recent era of time- the one that we are currently in?

• Mesozoic 
• Paleozoic 
• Cenozoic 
• Precambrian 

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Half-life means

• the entire time to decay

• the time it takes for 1/2 the unstable atoms to decay into stable atoms

• how many rounds of decay it takes for unstable atoms to decay into stable atoms

• half the life of a rock before it melts into magma

Which best describes a fossil that helps determine the relative age of a rock layer?

• trace fossil
• index fossil
• radioactive fossil
• unconformity fossil

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4