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Clues to Earth's Past Quiz

Total questions: 25

Worksheet time: 14mins

Name
Class
Date
1.

What is a fossil?

a)

A living organism

b)

A type of rock

c)

preserved remains of ancient living things

d)

A volcanic rock

2.

Which principle states that Earth's history was shaped by a series of sudden, violent catastrophes, such as floods and volcanic eruptions

a)

Catastrophism

b)

Superposition

c)

Uniformitarianism

d)

Radioactive dating

3.

Who is considered the father of modern geology for promoting uniformitarianism?

a)

Georges Cuvier

b)

Alfred Wegener

c)

James Hutton

d)

Charles Lyell

4.

What type of fossil forms when minerals fill in a mold?

a)

Trace fossil

b)

Carbon film

c)

Mold fossil

d)

Cast fossil

5.

Which of the following is a type of trace fossil?

a)

Petrified wood

b)

Footprint

c)

Shell

d)

Leaf imprint

6.

What condition increases the chances of fossil formation?

a)

Slow burial and decay

b)

Lack of hard parts

c)

Rapid burial and hard body parts

d)

Dry environment

7.

What is a petrified fossil?

a)

A soft tissue preserved in ice

b)

An organism's remains turned to stone

c)

A hollow impression in rock

d)

A fossil made of carbon

8.

Which principle helps determine the relative age of rock layers?

a)

Radiometric dating

b)

Superposition

c)

Fossil succession

d)

Catastrophism

9.

What does the principle of lateral continuity state?

a)

Older rocks are always found at the bottom

b)

Sediments extend in all directions until they thin or meet a barrier

c)

Layers are always tilted

d)

Fossils appear in a predictable order

10.

What process is used to determine the absolute age of rocks?

a)

Superposition

b)

Inclusion

c)

Correlation

d)

Radiometric dating

11.

Fossils only form from soft parts of organisms.

a)

True

b)

False

12.

Trace fossils can include footprints, nests, and burrows.

a)

True

b)

False

13.

Carbon film fossils are formed when an organism's carbon outline is preserved.

a)

True

b)

False

14.

Catastrophism supports slow and steady changes over time.

a)

True

b)

False

15.

In geology, an inclusion is a piece of older rock that becomes trapped inside a newer rock during the formation process.

a)

True

b)

False

16.

Unconformities represent gaps in the geologic record.

a)

True

b)

False

17.

Mold fossils are 3D replicas of organisms.

a)

True

b)

False

18.

True-form fossils can be preserved in amber, tar, or ice.

a)

True

b)

False

19.

Relative age tells the exact number of years a rock has existed.

a)

True

b)

False

20.

Geologists study fossils to learn about Earth's past.

a)

True

b)

False

21.

A (a)   fossil is formed when the organic material of an organism is replaced by minerals, turning it into stone over time. Usually they are wood or bones.

22.

(a)   decay is the process where isotopes break down into stable ones over time.

23.

The preserved evidence of the activity of an organism is called a (a)   fossil.

24.

(a)   is a method where geologists study rocks and fossils from separate locations.

25.

The idea that geological processes occur slowly and steadily over time is called (a)   .