Name:______CORE: ______

Geological Times Study Guide

*NOTE: This is merely a study guide. Students are responsible for all material in notes or material from previous assignments. Questions on this study guide may or may not show up on the test. The test may include questions that were not on this study guide. Students NEED to study their “Fossil Notes” and their “Earths History: Geological Time, Rocks, Fossils Guided notes.”

Know the definitions of the following words:

-fossils -mass extinction

-mold -geologic time scale

-cast -eon, era, period, epoch

-petrified Fossils -absolute age

-carbon film -radioactive dating

-trace fossils -relative age

-paleontologists -Law of Superposition

-fossil record - unconformity

-evolution -index fossil

- extinction -Prokaryote

-natural selection

Multiple choice:

  1. The term prokaryote refers to ______.
  1. dinosaurs
  2. prehistoric humans
  3. the first organisms
  4. the first insects

Multiple Choice Continued

  1. Scientists have found large groups of fossils of marine organisms on mountaintops. What does this tell scientists about the past?
  1. That these rocks were once below the surface of an ocean.

B. That these organisms left the ocean and climbed to the top of an inland mountain to

die.

C. That these rocks were always above the surface of an ocean.

D. That these rocks must have been moved there by some one else.

  1. Scientists can estimate the ages of rock if they contain certain ______.
  1. sediments
  2. carbons
  3. minerals
  4. Index fossils
  1. According to the diagram, which of the following statements is true?
  1. Fossil A is oldest
  2. Fossil B is youngest.
  3. Fossil C is younger than Fossil D.
  4. Fossil C and D are the same age.
  1. Fossils provide evidence of ______.
  1. how life has remained stable over time
  1. how the climate has remained stable over time
  2. how the environment has changed but life has remained stable over time
  3. how life and environmental conditions have changed over time
  1. What eventually happens to a species when the

environment changes and the organisms do not

adapt?

A. classification

B. development

C. extinction

D. regulation

  1. Scientists have discovered fossils of the same

organisms in many different parts of the world.

These fossils provide evidence that

A.the continents were once joined together

B. most life-forms that existed in the past are still present today

C. most of Earth’s surface was once covered by molten rock

D. rocks have been transformed from one type to another

  1. Radioactive dating tells us:
  1. Relative age of an object
  2. Absolute age of an object
  3. Nothing about the age of an object
  4. Don’t choose this answer 

True or False

  1. Earth is about 4.6 million years old. False
  2. A scientific theory is a well tested concept that explains a wide range of observations True
  3. Most fossils are found in igneous rock. False
  4. Eras are blocks of time when a unique rock series was laid. False
  5. We are currently living in the Cenozoic era. True

Matching:

_____C____1. unconformity A. the gradual change in living things over long

periods of time

____E_____2. index fossil B. in undisturbed sedimentary rock layers,older

rock layers lie beneath younger rock layers

____B_____3. Law of Superposition C. a place where an old, eroded rock surface is in contact with a newer rock layer

____D_____4. trace fossil D. a type of fossil that provides evidence of

activities of ancient organisms

___G______5. relative age E. fossil of widely distributed organisms that

lived during only one short period.

____A______6. evolution F. a process by which characteristics that are

suited to a certain environment have a

better chance of survival than organisms

that do not have those characteristics

____F______7. natural selection G. describes the age of an object or event in

comparison to another object or event.