Paleontology Review Game 1 Question Preview (ID: 32920)


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Scientists use radioactive dating to determine ____________.
a) relative age of rocks.
b) age of rock in years.
c) what region it formed in.
d) past environments of rocks and fossils.

Which of the following is an example of minerals being replaced in an organism to form a fossil?
a) tar pits
b) freezing
c) petrified wood
d) amber

A fossil is ________________.
a) any dead organism.
b) a clone of a rock.
c) a living organism.
d) the preserved remains or traces of an organism.

Which of the following events is an example of a catastrophic event that might lead to the formation of fossils?
a) mudslide
b) volcanic eruption
c) flood
d) all of the above

What is an organism that no longer exists on Earth called?
a) extinct
b) evolved
c) petrified
d) fossilized

Stuart wants to preserve the remains of a dead organisms. What is the best environment for fossil formation?
a) wet and cool temperatures
b) dry and hot temperatures
c) dry and freezing temperatures
d) wet and warm temperatures

The Law of Superposition states that in sedimentary rock, the youngest layer of rock is ______________.
a) at the top
b) at the bottom
c) in the middle
d) You cannot tell.

What best describes relative age?
a) the number of years since the rock formed
b) its age compared to the ages of other rocks
c) more than the age of the fossils the rock contains
d) its age based on carbon-14 dating and half life

How old do scientists believe Earth is?
a) About 4.6 billion years old
b) About 5.9 billion years old
c) About 12 million years old
d) About 40 billion years old

What principle of geology states that layers of sediment are deposited parallel (horizontally) to Earth's surface?
a) nonconformity
b) uniformitarianism
c) normal faults
d) original horizontality

The geologic time scale is a record of __________.
a) how fast fossils form.
b) the thickness of rock layers.
c) only the time since the evolution of the woolly mammoth.
d) the life forms and geologic events in Earth’s history.

How do geologists use the geologic time scale?
a) to date rock layers
b) to predict future extinctions
c) to record daily earthquake activity
d) to divide Earth’s history into manageable parts.

Why is the fossil record incomplete?
a) There is not enough amber or tar.
b) There are not enough sedimentary rocks.
c) Most organisms never became fossils.
d) Most organisms have too many parts to become fossils.

Geologic changes occur _______________.
a) suddenly (quickly)
b) gradually (slowly)
c) every few months
d) after a storm

What does the principle of uniformitarianism state?
a) Older rocks lie at the bottom of newer rocks.
b) The continents were once joined in a large land mass.
c) Layers of sedimentary rock contain more fossils than layers of metamorphic rock.
d) The forces that act to change Earth’s surface today are the same forces that acted upon Earth’s surface in the past.

Which of the following can scientists NOT discover from fossil remains?
a) The age of rock layers
b) How the pull of gravity has changed
c) How organisms have changed over time
d) How Earth’s environment has changed over time

Geologists could study the geologic record to determine __________.
a) simple organisms.
b) more complex organisms
c) both simple and complex organisms.
d) only organisms that are currently living today.

What do paleontologists study?
a) astronomy
b) water cycle
c) weather
d) past life

Trilobites and dogs did not exist in the same geologic era. How do scientists know this?
a) Dogs would have killed all of the trilobites.
b) Dogs had become extinct before the trilobites.
c) There are no rock layers that have fossils of both trilobites and dogs remains.
d) Dog fossils are found only in rock layers below layers with trilobites.

If you found a seashell fossil in the desert, what would it MOST LIKELY tell you?
a) The desert was once underwater.
b) Sea animals live in the desert.
c) All deserts were once underwater at one time.
d) All of the above

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