Geologic Time – Report Sheet

Name: ______

Date: ______

Past Event / Number of Years Ago / Distance on Scale
Inferred age of the earth / 4.6 x 109 = ______years / = ______mm
Oldest rock found on earth / 3.7 x 109 = ______years / = ______mm
Oldest fungi / 1.7 x 109 = ______years / = ______mm
Early sponges / 6.0 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Beginning of Paleozoic Era (first abundant fossils) / 5.4 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Trilobites dominant / 5.2 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Earliest fish / 5.0 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Earliest land plants and animals / 4.2 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Formations of Appalachian Mountains / 3.4 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Great coal-forming forests and first reptiles / 3.0 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Beginning of Mesozoic Era / 2.5 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Earliest dinosaurs and beginning of the Cenozoic Era / 2.3 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Rocky Mountains and Atlantic Ocean form / 1.9 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Earliest birds / 1.6 x 108 = ______years / = ______mm
Extinction of dinosaurs / 6.6 x 107 = ______years / = ______mm
Modern mammals, first horse / 5.0 x 107 = ______years / = ______mm
First man (Homo habilis) in Africa / 1.6 x 106 = ______years / = ______mm
Last U.S. continental glacier / 1.0 x 104 = ______years / = ______mm
Mt. Vesuvius destroys Pompeii / 1.9 x 103 = ______years / = ______mm
Columbus “discovers” America / 5.0 x 102 = ______years / = ______mm
Today / 0.0 x 100 = ______years / = ______mm
Past Event / Distance on Scale in mm / Distance on Scale in cm / Distance on Scale in m
Inferred age of the earth
Oldest rock found on earth
Oldest fungi
Early sponges
Beginning of Paleozoic Era (first abundant fossils)
Trilobites dominant
Earliest fish
Earliest land plants and animals
Formations of Appalachian Mountains
Great coal-forming forests and first reptiles
Beginning of Mesozoic Era
Earliest dinosaurs and beginning of the Cenozoic Era
Rocky Mountains and Atlantic Ocean form
Earliest birds
Extinction of dinosaurs
Modern mammals, first horse
First man (Homo habilis) in Africa
Last U.S. continental glacier
Mt. Vesuvius destroys Pompeii
Columbus “discovers” America
Today

Questions: Answer the following questions in complete and grammatically correct sentences.

  1. Name the longest time PERIOD and determine how long it lasted in millions of years.
  2. Name the shortest PERIOD and determine how long it lasted in millions of years.
  3. In which ERA did dinosaurs live?
  4. In which ERA do humans live?
  5. What is scientifically incorrect about the cartoon series with Fred Flinstone and Dino the Dinosaur?
  6. Which lived on the earth for the longer time, dinosaurs or humans?
  7. If the scale used on your number line is 1 mm = 1 million years, how many years are represented by 1 cm?
  8. Compare the length of the existence of humans with the length of the entire time scale. [Hint – set up a fraction with the First man in the numerator (on top) and Inferred age of the earth in the denominator (on bottom). Use either the number of years ago or the distance on the scale for your numbers. Multiply this fraction by 100 to find out what percent of the history of the earth humans have existed]
  9. Many forms of life have become extinct. How does the number of species that have become extinct compare with those presently living?