WorksheetsChapter 19: Fossils
Total questions: 25
Worksheet time: 28mins
Name
Class
Date
1.
Fossils usually provide paleontologists with information about each of the following except:
a)
An organism's structure
b)
An organism's DNA
c)
An organism's size
d)
Where the organism came from
2.
Most fossils are found in:
a)
Murky water
b)
Sedimentary rock
c)
Volcanic rock
d)
Ice
3.
The fossil record shows:
a)
Most organisms that ever lived on Earth are now extinct
b)
That only bones and teeth can become fossilized
c)
That only soft tissues are fossilized
d)
DNA evidence of once living organisms
4.
To compare the relative ages of rocks, scientists sometimes use an easily recognized and widespread fossil type called:
a)
Radioactive decay
b)
An inventory fossil
c)
An index fossil
d)
A radioactive fossil
5.
After Precambrian Time, the basic divisions of the geologic time scale, from largest to smallest, are:
a)
Periods, Eras, Eons
b)
Eons, Periods, Eras
c)
Eras, Eons, Periods
d)
Eons, Eras, Periods
6.
Fossilized evidence of Earth's first forms of life would most likely consist of:
a)
Mammals from Precambrian
b)
Invertebrates from Precambrian
c)
Eukaryotes from Precambrian
d)
Prokaryotes from Precambrian
7.
An event during which many types of living things suddenly die out is called a(n):
a)
Tsunami
b)
Spontaneous Event
c)
Extinction
d)
War
8.
What are fossil fuels made of?
a)
Products made in refineries
b)
Remains of marine plant and animal life
c)
Renewable plant and animal matter
d)
Living bacteria byproducts
9.
Which of the following theories explains why the edges of Africa and South America fit together like a puzzle?
a)
Continental Drift
b)
Plate Tectonics
c)
Big Bang
d)
Meteor
10.
Length of time for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay
a)
Radioactive decay
b)
Half-life
c)
Relative dating
d)
Index fossil
11.
What is a way an organism can become a fossil?
a)
amber
b)
strata
c)
geologic column
d)
superposition
12.
What type of fossil is a mold?
a)
a cavity made by a shell (cake pan)
b)
a type of fossil that forms when sediments fill in the cavity left behind by a shell
13.
What type of fossil is a cast fossil?
a)
a cavity made by a shell (jello mold)
b)
a type of fossil that forms when sediments fill in the cavity (jello)
14.
What is an example of an index fossil?
a)
t-rex fossils
b)
insect in amber
c)
trilobites or ammonites
d)
woolly mammoth fossils
15.
What is relative dating?
a)
determining whether an event or object is older or younger than other events or objects
b)
the principle that states that younger rocks lie above older rocks
c)
an arrangement of rock layers in which the oldest rocks are at the bottom
d)
an intrusion
16.
Fossils are most often preserved in?
a)
ice
b)
amber
c)
tar pits
d)
rock
17.
Is this cake pan the mold or cast?
a)
mold
b)
cast
18.
a scientist who studies fossils
a)
geologist
b)
biologist
c)
paleontologist
d)
chemist
19.
Which of the following is NOT an example of a fossil?
a)
a petrified dinosaur bone
b)
a footprint captured in mud
c)
a seashell found on the beach
20.
gone forever. all one kind of a plant or animal dies
a)
trace fossil
b)
extinct
c)
preserved
d)
paleontologist
21.
Fossils of fish are found under land where cows now live. What does this tell you?
a)
the fish were dropped their by flying birds
b)
this land was once under the ocean
c)
farmers fed the fish to the cows
d)
fish used to live on land
22.
Why don't all living things become fossils?
a)
because some living things are too small
b)
because some living things are too big
c)
because some are subject to catastrophism and others are not
d)
because environmental conditions have to be just right to prevent decay
23.
How are fossils formed?
a)
Insects are caught in tree sap that turns into amber
b)
Hard parts of animals are trapped in sedimentary rock
c)
Both a and b
d)
None of the above
24.
Which of these animals are extinct?
a)
elephants
b)
mammoths
c)
caterpillars
d)
sea animals
25.
Most fossils are found in metamorphic rocks
a)
true
b)
false
100 %
