Geological Time Scale Lesson

Which of these numbers is the closest to the age of the earth?

• 4,600 years

• 46 million years

• 4.6 billion years

• 460,000

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NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

What is the main purpose of the geologic time scale?

• To organize the major eras of Earth's history

• To compare very short and very long periods of time

• To complete with other, non-geologic time scales

• To help people understand that the planet is really old

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Place the following units in order, from smallest to largest.

• Eon, epoch, period

• Period, eon, epoch

• Epoch, eon,period

• Epoch, period,eon

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Generally speaking, which rock layers are the oldest?

• The thinnest ones

• The thickest ones

• The ones furthest from the surface

• The ones closest to the surface

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What can you conclude from the fact that there have been just four eons in Earth's history

• Eons are very short periods of time

• Eons always last less than 1 billion years

• Geologists only began naming eons recently

• There have been at least eight periods in earth's history.

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What event might mark the end of a period?

• The fact that 100 million years had elapsed since the end of the previous period

• A major geologic change

• The appearance of one new species

• The gradual drifting of the continents

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What can you infer about the Maastrichtian Age from its name?

• That it was the most strict geological age in history

• Nothing--the names of the geologic ages are arbitrary

• Rocks from this era were first studied near the city of Maastricht, Netherlands

• That it was an extremely long, complicated age

How would the human time scale be different if we measured it in relative, instead of specific, time? Choose the best answer.

• Days would be longer than months

• One week might be longer or shorter than the next

• No one would know what time it was

• The future would occur before the past and present

What does a Stratigraphist study?

• Dinosaurs

• Time

• Rock layers

• The formation of the earth

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

How does radiometric dating differ from the ages of the geologic time scale?

• Radiometric dating involves absolute dates; the geologic time scale is measured with relative dates

• Radiometric dating can only be used on fossils; the geologic time scale applies only to rocks

• Radiometric dating involves unstable, radioactive isotopes; the geologic time scale deals only with stable rocks and compounds

• Radiometric dating involves relative dates; the geologic time scale is measured with absolute dates

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4