Fossil Science
Paleontology blends these two fields of science to study the succession of life.
What are Geology and Biology?
Layers of rock are scientifically referred to by this term.
What are Strata?
The scientifically accepted age of the Earth.
What is 4.54 Billion Years?
Finding aquatic fossils in a desert tells scientists the land was once covered by this.
What is an Ocean?
There are this many major Eras in Earth's history.
What is 3?
The general definition of a fossil includes remains, traces, or these marks left by organisms.
What are Imprints?
This law states that rock layers extend in all directions unless something stops or erodes them.
What is the Law of Lateral Continuity?
The first life forms, Cyanobacteria, date back to this many years ago.
What is 3.5 Billion Years?
The extinction of ice age animals implies that this major factor changed in their area.
What is the Climate?
One Era ends and another begins when this specific event occurs.
What is a Mass Extinction?
Fossils range in size from giant dinosaurs to these tiny specimens.
What are Microfossils?
If rock layers are tilted or compressed, it is evidence of these acting upon them.
What are Geologic Forces?
The word "Paleozoic" translates to this phrase.
What is "Ancient Life"?
Trilobites lived between 520 and 250 million years ago. If you find one, the rock is (older, younger, or between) those ages.
What is Between?
To be a "mass extinction," the die-off must happen within this time frame.
What is Less than 2 Million Years?
Quick burial is necessary to protect the organism from physical destruction and these animals.
What are Scavengers?
Rock layers A, B, and C formed flat. This law explains why.
What is the Law of Original Horizontality?
The word "Mesozoic" translates to this phrase.
What is "Middle Life"?
These structures, called Stromatolites, formed from the growth of this organism.
What is Cyanobacteria?
The "Cambrian Explosion," where multicellular organisms appeared, happened at the start of this Era.
What is the Paleozoic Era?
Alfred Wegener matched fossils across continents to develop this theory.
What is Continental Drift?
When analyzing strata, you can assume layers are the same age even if they are separated by this process.
What is Erosion?
Cyanobacteria are significant because they used photosynthesis to put this into the early atmosphere.
What is Oxygen?
Rock layers in Utah can be matched with layers in Arizona through this method.
What is Correlation?
The current Cenozoic Era will theoretically continue until this happens.
What is another Mass Extinction?