What two things cause rocks to change from one type to another?
heat and pressure
100
What group of rocks is formed from hot, molten rock material that has cooled and hardened?
igneous rock
100
Rocks formed from bits or layers of materials cemented together.
Sedimentary rock
100
Any evidence of an organism that lived in the past.
fossil
200
What type of rock is most likely to have a fossil?
sedimentary rock
200
How can a dinosaur skull give us clues to what a dinosaur ate?
Meat eaters have sharp teeth and strong jaws.
Plant eaters have flat teeth and weaker jaws.
200
What type of scientist study the properties of rock and the Earth?
Geologist
200
What type of fossil is a thin film that shows detailed outlines?
carbon films
200
What is the never ending process by which rocks are changed from one type to another?
rock cycle
300
What group of rocks is formed by heat and pressure?
metamorphic rocks
300
How can a fossilized tree truck tell us about the age of the tree?
The growth rings show in the petrified tree.
300
What are 3 major steps followed once a fossil is discovered?
Collecting the bones, removing rocks from the bone, assembling the bones
300
What can fossil footprints show?
An animal's size, whether it was walking or running, how heavy it was, whether it walked on 2 or 4 feet
300
Why do most living organisms never become fossils?
When organisms die, they must become covered rapidly to prevent them from decaying. The organisms may also be scattered and eaten before they can become fossils.
400
What do we call naturally occuring substances that are neither plants nor animals?
minerals
400
What does a rock's position in rock layers tell us?
Relative age
400
How can we tell if an igneous rock cooled on the inside or the outside of the Earth?
Igneous rocks that cool slowly inside the Earth have larger crystals. Igneous rocks that cool quickly on Earth's surface do not have crystals.
400
What are 3 ways that rocks are used today?
roads, statues, gravestones, countertops, houses
400
Why are geologists unsure of exactly what a dinosuar looked like?
The soft parts, such as the skin, decayed away and did not become fossils.
500
What can fossils teach us about past environments?
Fossil ferns tell us a place was hot and moist.
Fossil evergreens tell that an area was cool.
500
What are the two groups of metamorphic rock?
Rocks with bands and rocks without bands.
500
What are 4 properties used to identify rocks?
color, luster, streak, hardness
500
What clue to the past do deposits of limestone tell us?
The area was under water, because limestone is made of the shells of sea animals.
500
Name 5 kinds of fossils and explain how each is formed.
1. imprint: mark made by pressing
2. mold: hollow form with a particular shape
3. cast: fossil formed or shaped in a mold
4. amber: fossil preserved in hardened sap
5. frozen: preserved by being frozen 6. tar: trapped in tar
7. petrified: parts turned to stone 8. mummy: dried