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Fossil Formation
Chapter 4 Vocabulary
Chapter 4
Vocabulary and some
True or False
Applying Concepts
Essay Questions
100
Fossilized tracks and other evidence of the activity of organisms
What is trace fossils
100
process in which some isotopes break down into other isotopes and particles.
What is radioactive decay
100
states that in undistributed rock layers, the oldest rock are on the bottom and the rocks become progressively younger toward the top.
What is principle of superposition
100
A fossil may tell a geologist when, where, and how an organism lived.
What is True
100
Where is the oldest rock found based on the law of superposition?
What is the layers had to be there before the fault could form if the fault ran through the horizontal layers. The relative age of rocks is older than the relative age of the fault.
200
a type of body fossil that forms in rock when an organisms with hard parts is buried, decay and or dissolved and leaves a cavity in the rock and hardens.
What is a mold
200
principle stating that Earth processes occurring today are similar to those that occurred in the past
What is Uniformitarianism
200
the age of something compared with other things
What is relative age
200
A permineralized bone is composed of calcium
What is False. A permineralized bone is composed of a mineral, such as quartz, that has replaced the calcium.
200
What is the difference between relative and absolute dating?
What is Relative dating compares layers of rocks; ages are stated relative to other layers. Absolute dating involves half-lives and can tell in which geologic period a rock was formed.
300
thin film of carbon residue preserved as a faossil
What is carbon film
300
process used to calculate the absolute age of rock by measuring the ratio of parent isotope to daughter product in a mineral and knowing the half-life of the parent.
What is radiometric dating
300
gap in the rock layer that is due to erosion or periods without any deposition
What is unconformities
300
The soft parts of organisms are most likely to become fossils.
What is False. The hard parts of an organism are most likely to become fossils.
300
Where is the youngest rock found based on the law of superposition?
At the top
400
fossils in which the spaces inside are filled with minerals from groundwater
What is permineralized remains
400
time it takes for half the atoms of an isotope to decay
What is half-life
400
remains, imprints, or traces of prehistoric organisms that can tell when and where organisms once lived and how they lived
What is fossil
400
Only a radioactive isotope will have a half-life.
What is True
400
The geologic time scale is divided into ...
Eras and Periods
500
a type of body fossils that forms when crystals fill a mold or sediments wash into a mold and harden into rock.
What is a cast
500
age, in years, of a rock or other object; can be determined by using properties of the atoms that make up materials
What is absolute age
500
remains of species that existed on Earth for a relatively short period of time, were abundant and widespread geographically, and can be used by geologists to assign the ages of rock layers.
What is index fossils
500
Any fossil can be dated by the amount of carbon-14 it contains.
What is False. Only fossils up to 75,000 years old can be dated by carbon-14.
500
Do all rocks contain fossils? Describe the conditions necessary for fossils to form.
What is No, not all rocks contain fossils. Dead matter is usually destroyed by scavengers or bacteria. Only when the organism was quickly covered could it be preserved. Hard parts or organisms were less apt to be consumed or eroded by weather.