Fossil Dating

The Devonian period is considered the Age of Fishes. Would you expect to find a tetrapod (animal with four legs) fossil closer to the Carboniferous period or the Silurian period? Why?

Answer explanation

The Carboniferous period.

Tetrapod fossils were found after the Devonian period; the Silurian came before.

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Certain kinds of shells are always found in rock layers lower than layers with plant fossils. Dinosaur fossils show up only in layers above or with plant fossils. What does this tell you about when these organisms lived?

Answer explanation

Organisms with shells were oldest, plants next, and dinosaurs more recent. The dinosaurs and plants lived at the same time.

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

What information would you need to find a more precise age of dinosaurs and plants?

Answer explanation

The age of the sedimentary rock that the fossils were found in, as determined by absolute or radioactive dating.

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Would you expect to find fish fossils in rocks 550 million years old? Explain.

Answer explanation

No. Fish did not appear until later in the fossil record (the Ordovician period).

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Consider your the fossils you've looked at. What do the echinoid, snail, and shark tooth fossils have in common?

Answer explanation

They are mine animals; the fossils are made from hard parts, either bone or shell.

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NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

What don't we have fossils of the echinoid's, snails, or shark's soft parts?

Answer explanation

The organisms rotted or were eaten.

Why don't we have fossils of every organisms that ever lived?

Answer explanation

- if an organism didn't have hard parts, it wouldn't fossilize.

- An organism might die in a place where it won't get fossilized.

- The entire organism could have been eaten.

- An organism might have fossilized, but the fossil could have been destroyed or not yet found.

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NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Which two events could lead to mass extinction?

• An ice age

• Hurricane

• Massive volcanic eruption

• Tsunami

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NGSS.MS-ESS3-2

Which fossil would make the best index fossil?

• Beetle

• Flower

• Frog

• Fish

Which is the youngest rock layer?

• Siltstone

• Conglomerate

• Mudstone

• Limestone

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4