History of Earth Unit 11 Test

Why is it important for geologist to use relative and absolute ages to determine the age of rocks.

• Scientists want to learn about the age of rocks.

• Scientists need only one way to determine the age of rocks.

• Scientists may not be able to determine the absolute age of some rocks.

• Scientists can tell the age of rocks using the law of superposition.

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Which of the following are examples of how rock layers may be disturbed or changed?

CHOOSE THREE

• igneous intrusion

• superposition

• extrusion

• fault

• fossil formation

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What are index fossils?

• Index fossils, usually preserved in sedimentary rock layers.

• Index fossils are fossils or organisms that were widely distributed and lasted only for a short time geologically.

• Index fossils help geologists match and date rock layers, even if they are far apart or spread out and show their relative age.

• All of the above

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geologists can infer from index fossils that layers containing matching fossils are the same age.

• True

• False

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After looking at the diagrams below, Sara noticed that the rock layers at Location 4 differed from those of the other three locations. What likely explains this difference?

• Layer B isn't shown due to the absence of index fossils.

• Location 4 held index fossils similar to the other locations.

• Location 4 had heavy erosion, and soon a layer of rock will be deposited on top of it.

• Layer B eroded away, and layers C and D were deposited on top of layer A at a later time.

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Emily was interested in how geologists date rocks, and she learned about two methods. She learned that potassium-40 is used to find the _______ of ancient rocks, because it has a long _______.

• absolute age /

  half-life  

• half-life / relative age

• relative age/ absolute

•   half-life / half-life

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Carbon-14 is used for dating much _______ rocks due to its shorter _______.

• younger /

  absolute age

• older / half-life

• younger / half-life

• older / absolute age

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Nikki was putting together a presentation about the geologic time scale to share in class. What is the purpose of the geologic time scale?

• to organize and sequence events by eras and periods in the different divisions of time and to serve as a timeline

• to show the evolution of life forms and to model how those life forms behaved and what they ate

• to organize and sequence events in the history of Earth and to serve as a model for a vast amount of time covered

• to determine the relative ages of rocks and when and how they formed to create a timeline of their development

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Isabella's part in a group project on the history of Earth was researching and presenting on the Precambrian time. Which TWO Phrases best characterize the Precambrian time?

• a time of great evolutionary change

• a time with multiple periods in it

• a time of few fossils

• a time that covers 88 percent of Earth's history

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Daniel recently read a news article about geologists updating the geologic time scale. This happens when new physical evidence is discovered. Which of the following would provide physical evidence that could change the divisions on the geologic timeline?

• the discovery of ancient ruins buried deep in ocean floor sediments

• the discovery of fossilized microorganisms in ocean floor sediments

• the discovery of evidence of humans who lived long ago

• the discovery of evidence of different kinds of rocks that recently appeared

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