Time Scale
Fossils
Rock Layers
Plate Boundaries
Vocab
Continental Drift
MISC.
100
The Longest geological time is referred to as...
Precambrian
100
What are three examples of trace fossils?
foot print, burrow, feces, trails
100
What are the people called that study rock layers and fossils?
Geologists
100
Draw the arrows and label the three types of plate boundaries.
Divergent, Convergent, Transform
100
This law states that lower layers of rock in a series are older and upper layers of rock are younger
Law of Superposition
100
What is the Name of the Supercontinent?
Pangea
100
What is a reasonable explanation for the same type of fossil being found on different continents?
The continents were once connected.
200
What Era are we living in now?
Cenozoic
200
Specific fossils that were widespread but only lived for a short period in Earth's history. These help determine the age of a rock layer.
Index Fossils
200
Which rock layer in the diagram seems to be the oldest?
A
200
What is formed when two continents collide?
Mountain Ranges
200
This is the type of age we use when comparing a rock layer to another rock layer.
Relative Age
200
Who discovered the theory of Continental Drift?
Alfred Wegener
200
Seashells have been found at the top of the Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world. What does this information show about Earth?
The Earth has evolved over time and land that had once been covered in water no longer are.
300
Which Era did flowering plants appear?
Mesozoic
300
How old is our Earth?
4.6 billion years old
300
The layers of rock in order from oldest to youngest.
C, B, A, D, E
300
What is formed when two continents pull apart?
Rift Valley
300
What os the difference between Relative Dating and Absolute Dating?
Absolute Dating gives you a specific year, Relative Dating tells you if it is younger or older than the layers around it.
300
What are two pieces of evidence Wegener used to prove his theory?
The continents fit together like a puzzle, Fossils matching on coastlines, mountain ranges matching up.
300
Relatively compare fossil 1 to fossil 2 in relation to each other.
Fossil 2 is older than fossil 1 because it appears in a lower rock layer.
400
These are the 4 Era's of Earth's history in order from oldest to newest.
Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, & Cenozoic
400
This type of fossil forms when a mold is filled with sand or mud that hardens into the organism's shape.
A cast
400
How you would describe the lower trilobite fossils compared to the scallop fossils above.
The trilobites are older than the scallops
400
WHat can happen at a transform plate boundary?
Earthquakes
400
The layers of sedimentary rock having approximately the same composition throughout.
Rock Strata
400
What are causing the plates to move?
Convection Currents
400
Using the picture above, is the following statement true or false? Dinosaur fossils over fish fossils indicate a change from a marine environment to a land environment.
True
500
What caused the mass extinction that ended the Mesozoic Era?
meteors, gases in atmosphere, no sunlight...
500
What are 3 characteristics of index fossils?
Abundant, widespread, alive for a short time span, found in only one layer.
500
Which came first, the E (fault) or D, and why?
D came first because of the Law of Intrusions or Cross-cutting Relationships
500
A fracture along blocks of the Earth's crust, caused by the shifting or dislodging of the crust, are called what?
fault
500
What is absolute dating also called?
Radiometric Dating
500
Where did Wegener go on his expeditions?
The Arctic Circle
500
The continents of South America and Africa are shaped like puzzle pieces that fit together. The Mid Atlantic ridge is found at the boundary between the South American plate and the African Plate. What does this tell us about the kind of boundary and the movement of the plates on either side of the Mid Atlantic Ridge?
The Mid Atlantic Ridge is a divergent boundary and the plates are moving away from each other.
600
What are the Epochs of the Cenozoic Era?
Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Holocene
600
This fossil forms when sediments bury an organism, the organism decays, and leaves a cavity in the organism's shape.
A mold
600
What is the oldest layer or process shown in the diagram? Why?
Layer H is the oldest because of the law of Superposition.
600
What forms in a subduction zone?
Deep Ocean Trench
600
The idea that geologic processes occurring today are similar to those that have occurred in the past.
Daily Double for spelling it correctly
Uniformitarianism
600
Why did other scientists call Alfred Wegener Crazy?
He could not prove why or how the continents would be moving.
600
Which two rock layers are the same age? How can you tell?
Layers C and G, they have the same kind of fossils in them.