Fossils
True or False: Fossils can be preserved remains, preserved traces, or mineral replacements of hard parts of ancient organisms.
True! These all describe different types of common fossils.
What are the 3 main types of rock?
Sedimentary, Metamorphic, Igneous
What are the 3 main types of tectonic plate boundaries?
Convergent, Divergent, and Transform Boundaries
Name that vocabulary word: A crack in Earth's crust where movement happens.
Fault
What is a trace fossil?
Evidence of an organism's activities, such as preserved footprints, burrows, or scat.
True or False: any type of rock can be changed into any other type of rock. Ex = metamorphic into igneous
True! Like many other cycles of matter (such as the water cycle or nitrogen cycle), the rock cycle has no clear beginning or end, and many processes help to change between the 3 main types.
What kind of plate boundary commonly has new crust made?
Divergent Boundary
Name that vocabulary word: Remains, imprints, or traces of ancient organisms preserved in rock.
Fossil
Fossils are incredibly rare. Describe at least 2 separate reasons why this is true.
Answers vary.
1. Unless the entire organism is preserved in amber, tar, or ice, only hard parts such as bone can be fossilized.
2. Very specific conditions are required for fossilization.
3. Most organisms decompose, are eaten, or are otherwise destroyed before they can become fossils.
4. Once a fossil breaks, it cannot be replaced.
What is the geosphere?
This refers to the inorganic (non-living) parts of Earth that are found or trapped in rocks, minerals, soils, or landforms from the crust to the inner core.
If I regularly experience earthquakes, what kind of plate boundary do I likely live near?
Transform Boundary
Name that vocabulary word: Theory explaining how Earth's surface is made of moving plates.
Plate Tectonics
Why do scientists study fossils?
Answers vary.
1. To better understand Earth's history.
2. To provide evidence for different scientific theories, such as evolution, climate change, and plate tectonics.
Name the 4 layers of the geosphere, and name one characteristic of each layer.
From outside to inside:
1. Crust = thin, solid, made of rock, where life is found.
2. Mantle = hot, soft solid, made of magma, where convection currents transfer heat from the core to the plates.
3. Outer Core = hotter, liquid, made of metal
4. Inner Core = hottest, solid, most pressurized.
What kind of plate boundary commonly has underwater trenches?
Convergent Boundary
Bonus Points to the team that can name the type of natural hazard/disaster that is nearby.
Name that vocabulary word: Where one tectonic plate sinks under another into the Earth’s mantle.
Subduction Zone
Fossils are most commonly found in one type of rock. Name that type of rock, and explain why it's the most common source of fossils.
A) Sedimentary Rock.
B) Sedimentary rock is formed with relatively small amounts of heat and pressure. This helps to preserve the original shapes of dead organisms as they fossilize.
Can we ever reach the center of the Earth? Why or why not?
No, we cannot reach the center of the Earth because as we get closer to the center, pressure, heat, and density increases.
Why do scientists call plate tectonics a theory (instead of something like a fact or law)?
Plate tectonics is a theory because it has a lot of supporting evidence (complementary shapes of far away continent coastlines, fossils of the same ancient species on different continents, and different geologic evidence like glacial movements and rock types), but it cannot be witnessed or re-created.
Name that vocabulary word: Layers of rock that can show the sequence of Earth's history.
Rock Strata