Earth History List B Vocab Quiz

What is the purpose of relative dating in geology?

• To determine the exact age of a fossil.

• To compare the age of a fossil with fossils in other layers.

• To find the chemical composition of a fossil.

• To determine the future position of a fossil.

Which principle helps determine the relative age of rock layers?

• Law of Superposition

• Law of Gravity

• Law of Thermodynamics

• Law of Conservation

What is the main focus of relative dating?

• Determining the chemical composition of rocks

• Comparing the age of fossils

• Measuring the temperature of rocks

• Identifying the color of rocks

Which technique is used to determine the actual age of a fossil?

• Radioactive decay

• Intrusion

• Absolute dating

• Extrusion

What is the breakdown of a radioactive element, releasing particles and energy, known as?

• Half-life

• Radioactive decay

• Absolute dating

• Intrusion

What is a daughter isotope?

• The isotope that undergoes radioactive decay

• The stable isotope produced by radioactive decay

• A method for studying climate change

• A process of estimating age of materials

What are ice cores used to study?

• Radioactive decay

• The age of living materials

• Climate change

• The production of isotopes

What is the relationship between parent and daughter isotopes?

• Parent isotopes are stable, daughter isotopes decay

• Parent isotopes decay to form daughter isotopes

• Both are used in ice core studies

• Both are used in carbon-14 dating

What does the process of carbon-14 dating involve?

• Drilling ice cores

• Measuring radioactive isotopes in materials

• Producing stable isotopes

• Studying climate change

What is the primary use of carbon-14 in scientific studies?

• Studying climate change

• Estimating the age of once living material

• Producing ice cores

• Measuring stable isotopes