Geologic Time Probe Review

What is a fossilized mark that formed in sedimentary rock by the movement of an animal on or within soft sediment?

• Trace fossil

• Body fossil

• Mold fossil

• Cast fossil

What is the numeric age of an object or event, often stated in years before the present, as established by an absolute-dating process?

• Relative age

• Absolute age

• Radiometric age

• Fossil age

What is a break in the geologic record created when rock layers are eroded or when sediment is not deposited for a long period of time?

• Fault

• Unconformity

• Discontinuity

• Erosion

What is the scientific study of fossils called?

• Paleontology

• Archaeology

• Geology

• Anthropology

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

What is the time required for half of a sample of a radioactive isotope to breakdown by radioactive decay to form a daughter isotope?

• Decay time

• Half-life

• Isotope time

• Radioactive period

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

What is a fossil that is used to establish the age of rock layers because it is extinct, abundant, and widespread and existed for only a short span of geologic time?

• Trace fossil

• Index fossil

• Body fossil

• Cast fossil

What is the law that a sedimentary rock is older than the layers above it and younger than the layers below it if the layers are not disturbed?

• Law of Superposition

• Law of Original Horizontality

• Law of Cross-Cutting Relationships

• Law of Lateral Continuity

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

What is the principle that a fault or body of rock is younger than any other body of rock that it cuts through?

• Principle of Superposition

• Principle of Cross-Cutting Relationships

• Principle of Original Horizontality

• Principle of Lateral Continuity

What is the trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock?

• Fossil

• Mineral

• Crystal

• Rock

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

What is the principle that geologic processes that occurred in the past can be explained by current geologic processes?

• Principle of Uniformitarianism

• Principle of Catastrophism

• Principle of Gradualism

• Principle of Actualism