Fossils
Relative Dating
Trivia
Vocabulary
Fossils Continued
100
What is a fossil and what are some of the different types of fossils?
A fossil the evidence or remains of a living things. Fossils found in rock include molds and casts, petrified fossils, carbon films, and trace fossils.
100
Compare relative versus absolute age.
The relative age of a rock is its age compared to the age of other rocks. The absolute age of a rock is the number of years since the rock formed. The absolute age is more exact.
100

How are sedimentary rocks formed?

sediments being compacted and cemented together

100
What is the origins of the word fossil?
The word fossil comes from the Latin word fossils, which means "dug up."
100
True or False? The fossil of a bone doesn't have any bone in it; a fossilized object has the same shape as the original object, but is chemically more like a rock.
True
200

Describe what a trilobite looks like.

small, similar to an underwater cockroach

200

What is the cross cutting principle 

When something cuts across a body of rock that something is always younger

200

bird like dinosaur. Mentioned in the bill nye video

Archaeopteryx

200
What is paleontology?
It is the branch of biology that studies the forms of life that existed in former geologic periods, chiefly by studying fossils.
200
True or False? Most animals fossilized.
False. Most animals did NOT fossilize; they simply decayed and were lost from the fossil record. Paleontologists estimate that only a small percentage of the dinosaurs that ever lived have been or will be found as fossils.
300
What are some conditions under which entire organisms might be preserved?
Organisms were preserved with little or no change if they became trapped in tar (organisms sometimes fell in tar pits looking for water), if they were frozen (trapped in ice), or if they were preserved in amber (hardened resin, or tree sap, from evergreen trees).
300
What is an index fossil, and why is it helpful in determining relative age?
An index fossil is the fossil of an organism that is widely distributed (not just found in a limited area) and lived only a short period of time. Because they live only a short period of time but are found all over the place, they are helpful in telling the relative ages of the rocks in which they occur.
300

What is an intrusive rock?

rocks formed below earths surface

300

Define Law of Superposition

Oldest layer is on the bottom new layers are on the top

300
Describe the two categories into which fossils can be divided.
Fossils can be divided into two categories, fossilized body parts (bones, claws, teeth, skin, embryos, etc.) and fossilized traces, called ichofossils (which are footprints, nests, dung, toothmarks, etc.) that record the movements and behaviors of the dinosaurs.
400
Paleontologists study fossils. What kind of information have learned from doing so?
Paleontologists have used information gained from studying fossils to put them in order chronologically to form the fossil record. This has helped them to determine what past life forms were like, how they changed over time, where an when they lived, what their environment was like, what they ate, and what ate them.
400
Why are fossils only found in sedimentary rock?
Fossils would be destroyed by heat and/or pressure during the formation of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Sedimentary rocks are formed when sediments build, layer upon layer, and gradually cement and harden. Fossils can easily become trapped and preserved in the layers.
400

What can carbon - 14 help us determine 

The age of rocks

400

What is radioactive dating used for?

any of several methods of determining the age of an artifact, rock, or bone based on the known rate of decay of radioactive isotopes.

400

For fossils to form, the remains must be covered quickly by

sediment

500
What is a scientific theory and how is the theory of evolution related to fossils?
A scientific theory is a well-tested concept that explains a wide range of observations. The theory of evolution, which says that there has been a gradual change in living things over time, is supported by the fossil record, because organisms appear to go from simple to more and more complex.
500

How is the relative age of rock determined?

The relative age of a rock is determined by using the Law of Superposition, which states that, in horizontal sedimentary rock layers, the oldest layer is at the bottom, and each higher layer is younger than the layers below it. Faults, intrusions/extrusions, and unconformities complicate this process.

500
How can something become petrified?

Minerals fill up pores in an organism 

500
What are index fossils?
They are fossils that are widely distributed around the Earth but limited in time span, so they are important in determining ancient biological history.
500

Give and example of an index fossil

trilobite
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