Foss Earth History

If a geologist is looking for early human fossils, rocks from what era would be most interesting to them?

• Cenozoic
• Mesozoic
• Paleozoic
• Precambrian

Why do geologists use eras and periods (instead of days, months, years) to divide geological time into huge chunks?

• Geological time is very long.
• Months aren't long enough.
• Geological time is very long, so days, months, and years isn't practical.

Eras or periods are not considered lengths because the length of an era or period is________________.

• Based on whoever discovered it
• Based on significant evolutionary events in Earth's history
• Related to the thickness of each rock layer
• Related to the depth of each rock layer

Geological time extends from _______________________.

• 500 million years ago to the beginning of human history
• The beginning of human history to the present day
• Earth's origin to the beginning of human history
• Earth's origin to the present day

Bottom of picture

• You can correlate the sties by lining up the Reservoir Limestone and the Gifford Shale because of the two matching kinds of fossils, and then you can see that Gifford would be below Reservoir.
• You can correlate the sties by lining up the Reservoir Limestone and the Berkeley Limestone because of the sponge fossil (index fossil), and then you can see that Gifford would be below Reservoir.
• It is found below De Long Shale
• It is found above De Long Shale

Describe the sedimentary environment that eventually led to the formation of Gifford Shale

• Slow moving/still water, muddy environment (fine particles settle), fossil evidence.
• Slow moving/still water, muddy environment (fine particles settle)
• Bottom of river
• Desert where sediment is blown and cements together

What are two reasons that an organism that lived in ancient times may not have been discovered as a fossil?

• Fossil may not have been found yet; fossil was eaten or otherwise destroyed
• Fossil was eaten
• Fossil hasn't been found yet

What is the most important use of index fossils to geologists?

• They show what kind of life existed long ago
• They provide evidence for the principle of original horizontality
• They can be used as indicators for the age of the sediments that formed the rock
• They provide the ingredients for sedimentary rocks

Evidence of past life, including remains, traces, and imprints, preserved in earth material, such as rock 

• Unconformity
• Fossil
• Paleontology
• Mesozoic

The study of fossils 

• Unconformity
• Cross Section
• Formation
• Paleontology