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WorksheetsFossils
Total questions: 29
Worksheet time: 15mins
Joanie brought home several different seashells from the beach. Which one is a fossil?
a clam that died on the way home
a rock with an imprint of a seashell
a clump of seashells stuck together
two seashell halves that fit together
Steve was studying fossil fuels. He learned that a common type of fossil fuel forms from dead plants. What type of fuel is it?
oil
coal
gasoline
natural gas
Oil and natural gas are two types of fossil fuels used to heat homes. What did oil and natural gas form from?
sediment
dead plants
dead ocean fish
tiny marine animals
A scientist who studies fossils is called a
biologist.
botanist.
paleontologist.
physicist.
Fish live in many different environments such as lakes, ponds, and oceans. Which is one feature in fish that has changed greatly over time?
scales
bones
eyes
jaws
At a family reunion, people are talking about everyone's age. The members all line up without saying anyone's exact age. What principle is the family using?
absolute age
relative age
estimate age
approximate age
Sharon is studying some rock layers near her home. She uses the terms Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic to name them in order of their age. What are all these terms part of?
the world calendar
Earth's history
the geologic time scale
the fossil record
Scientists know that the continents have moved across Earth's surface throughout history. What is the name of the idea that first described the movement of continents?
plate tectonics
continental drift
continent movement
landform change
Scientists use fossils to describe how all of the environments on Earth have changed over time. Which fossil discovery represents a change in the environment where the fossil was found?
fish in rocks on top of a mountain
seashells in the sand at a beach
horse bones in the soil in the prairie
polar bear bones in Alaska
Many fossils found today are from plants and animals that no longer live on Earth. Sometimes this is due to a large number of species dying out over a relatively short time. What do scientists call this type of dying out?
great die-off
species death
mass extinction
population change
Julian was given a bag with several fossils in it from the rock layers shown in the image. If the top layer is #1 and the bottom is #5 and Julian is given a fossil that is older than layer 1 but younger than layer 3, which rock layer was it collected from?
1
2
3
4
Which fossil's relative age cannot be determined based on its position?
a fossil found in every rock layer
a fossil found in the bottom rock layer
a fossil found in the top rock layer
a fossil found in a middle rock layer
Which fossil could be a good index fossil?
a fossil found in every rock layer
a fossil found only one place in the world
a fossil found only in a top rock layer
a fossil found in a middle rock layer in many places in the world
In a laboratory activity, students are using symbols to represent types of fossils. Several of the symbols look similar to each other. Why is it important for the students to draw each symbol carefully?
so the symbols cannot be confused
so there are enough symbols
so the symbols resemble fossils
so the symbols are familiar
Which can you conclude about a fossil that appears in many rock layers?
The fossil is useful for scientists
The organism lived in many places in the world.
The organism lived for a geologically short period of time.
The organism lived for a geologically long period of time.
Kyle found a rock and used a hammer to split it open. One half of the rock had a raised shape of a shell. The other had an impression of the shell. What type of fossil did Kyle find?
a shell preserved in amber
a mold and a cast of a shell
a shell frozen in rock
a trace fossil of a seashell
Look at the image. The Green River Formation in Wyoming is made of layers of rock that contain fabulous fish fossils. The figure above shows the type of fossils that are found in these rocks. What most likely occurred to allow the fish to be preserved so well?
Animals ate the fish so the bones were clean and ready to turn to fossils.
The fish got buried in sediment.
The fish moved along until it landed in a safe quiet place.
The temperature increased until conditions were right to form fossils.
Oil and natural gas are fossil fuels. What is oil formed from?
shells of tiny sea organisms
stalks and leaves of sea plants
shells and bodies of sea organisms
hydrogen and carbon from sea organisms
The end of the Paleozoic era is marked by a mass extinction. What is a mass extinction?
one species evolves into another similar species
all members of the same species die out unexpectedly
large numbers of certain species become extinct overnight
many species become extinct over a short period of geologic time
Which of the following fossils would make a good index fossil?
a snail that lived in Ohio, in a small population during the Cenozoic
a trilobite that lived in all areas east of the Mississippi River, in large populations during the Paleozoic
a tree fern that lived in northeastern Pennsylvania, in a small population during the Mesozoic
a magnolia flower that lived in the eastern United States, in large populations, during the Cenozoic
Come coal produces a lot of heat and little pollution. What makes this kind of coal form?
a lot of plant material
certain kinds of plants
high temperature and pressure
fast burial once the plant dies
What have scientists determined about woolly mammoths?
They were able to live in the very cold climate of the ice age.
The more fur on their bodies, the older they are.
Their fur helped block spears from hunters.
The fur made their bodies too warm and caused them to become extinct.
How could you demonstrate relative dating using a stack of newspapers?
by identifying the age of each paper by the date listed at the top of each one
by noting the dates of the top and bottom papers
by describing the placement of the papers within the entire stack
by comparing the stack of papers to a stack from a different paper
What does the fossil record refer to?
the fossils in the rock layers on Earth
the fossils in a layer being studied
an encyclopedia of fossil photos
a recording of fossil names
After examining the rock layers in one place, your class hiked a mile away and looked at another set of rock layers. How can you determine if these rock layers are the same age as those at the first location?
by picking random fossils and comparing them to those at the first location
by comparing the rock types from both locations to see if they are the same
by trying to match all of your rocks and fossils with those at the first location
by using a fossil guidebook to identify the fossils and then matching them to the layers
The fossils of Mesosaurus are found in South America and Africa. what does this suggest?
the Mesosaurus lived in the ocean
that Mesosaurus at the plant glossopteris
that Mesosaurus can be used as an index fossil
that these two continents were once connected
Emilio's school was having an addition put on. Once the ground was dug up, his teacher brought his class out to examine the rock layers exposed in the ground. They were able to see fossils such as coral, clams, and fish. What did this tell them about the environment many years ago?
an ocean once covered the area
the environment was cold and icy
there was a forest in the area
desert sand covered this area
Which could result in mass extinction?
heavy thunderstorm
no rain for long periods of time
alternating dry and wet seasons
rainy seasons followed by short periods of dry weather
Chantal visited the La Brea tar pits in California with her family last summer. She learned that the plants that lived in the area 40,000 years ago were not much different from those that live in and around Los Angeles today. What does this information tell scientists?
none of the plats has changed since that time
the animals that lived then are the same as now
the climate is not much different from what it was back then
yearly rainfall has increased steadily
