Chapter 7 Test: A Trip Through Earth's History

Name (Last, First)

Which of the following lists all the characteristics that must be true for a fossil to be considered an index fossil?

• must be widely distributed and exist only briefly
• must have lived over a long span of time and widely distributed
• must only have lived in a specific place
• must have been found in a certain rock layer

A(n) ________ is a solid copy of the shape of an organism.

• cast
• carbon film
• petrified fossil
• mold

Mummified remains are found in _______ climates.

• dry
• cold
• moiste
• hot

Dinosaur footprints are examples of ________ fossils.

• cast
• trace
• petrified
• preserved

Which of the following lists the units of time from LARGEST to SMALLEST?

• era, eon, period, epoch
• epoch, eon, era, period
• eon, epoch, era, period
• eon, era, period, epoch

The Ordovician period ended with

• a mass extinction
• mountains forming
• the dawn of the dinosaurs
• an earthquake

Which of the following is NOT a reason there are not many fossils left from Precambrian time?

• most Precambrian organisms had soft bodies with no hard parts
• organisms shells were made of limestone
• organisms during early Precambrian time were microscopic
• rocks were buried causing fossils to be changed by heat and pressure

Flowering plants appeared in which era?

• Cenozoic
• Precambrian
• Paleozoic
• Mesozoic

The MIDDLE of the Paleozoic Era is often known as the age of the ________.

• reptiles
• fish
• amphibians
• birds