Question | Answer |
What do we call the study of how the Earth was formed and changed? | geology |
What is "evidence preserved in rock of an ancient organism's activities" called? | Trace fossil |
What do we call the study of ancient life? | paleontology |
Would a paleontologist ever study rocks? | Yes. Paleontologist need to learn about the Earth's history to learn about the kinds of life that once lived. |
What do we call a naturally occurring process that slowly creates changes on Earth's surface? | a geological process |
If a geologist found an interesting sample of rock while hiking, which technique could he use to immediately determine the approximate age of it? | Relative dating |
Which dating technique would a scientist use to find the age of a sample of leaves found frozen in ice? | Carbon dating |
What do scientists call evidence of ancient life preserved as rock or minerals? | Fossils |
What is the "engine" that makes the spectacular changes on Earth's surface possible? | Time |
He was one of the 1st people to propose that Earth was much older than earlier believed. | Charles Lyell |
How old is the Earth? | About 4.6 billion years old |
How do absolute dating methods work? | By measuring the amount of atomic decay. Certain elements always decay at a predictable rate, so scientist just measure the amount of change.
decay = years |
What do we call the study of Earth's history and structure? | geology |
What are marks or material often left in rock layers by prehistoric living things. | Fossils |
Name the fossil that is formed from minerals slowly replacing the organic material of a living thing. | petrified |
When testing the age of a rock and no daughter elements are found, we know that the rock is very... | young. |
Which absolute dating technique can find the age of things millions of years old? | Radiometric. Carbon dating is good for only about 100,000 years. |
The top layer of Earth is called the... | crust |
Earth's crust is about how deep on average? | 30km or 100,000ft (about 10 miles) Much thicker on continents and thinner at ocean floors |
For something to become a fossil it needs what to happen? | A quick burial and to be removed from oxygen. |
For something to be called a fossil it usually needs to be over __________ years old. | 10,000 |
Where are all fossils found? | on Earth's crust -usually only in sedimentary rock |
What would Earth have been like 4.6 billion years ago? | Hot
no oxygen in the atmosphere
Volcanoes and lava everywhere (heavy volcanic activity)
many meteorite collisions
no liquid water
very little water vapor also |
When testing the age of a rock and most of the radioactive elements have changed into daughter elements, we know that the rock is... | old |
Which fossil resembles a picture, image or print drawn on rock? | carbon film |
The uplifting and folding of Earth's crust affect a geologists ability to easily date rocks using which method? | relative dating |
Coprolite is what 2 kinds of fossils? | trace and petrified |
Evidence of a prehistoric animals daily activities preserved in rock is what kind of fossil? | Trace |
Organic material (once living things) that was slowly replaced by sediments and or minerals is what kind of fossil? | petrified |
When a prehistoric organism is preserved in a way that is not as stable as other fossils and still contains organic tissue, we call it a... | original remains/whole animal fossil. |
Trace fossils are quite often also this kind of fossil because of the imprints left in sedimentary rock. | mold |
You can't have a cast fossil without a... | mold. |
If a mold gets filled in with sand, clay, crushed shells or other debris it may form a __________ fossil in millions of years. | cast |
About how long was the Precambrian Era? | About 4,000,000,000 years (that's 4 billion) |
In which Era did the Appalachian Mountains form? | Paleozoic |
Which era ended with the largest know extinction of life? | Paleozoic |
What happens to radioactive elements in rocks? | They decay at very predictable rates. Because of this we can use them to measure time. |
Massive forests of ferns lived during which era? | Paleozoic |
Continental collisions caused much of the Earth's crust to raise up and many of the swamps to dry out in which era? | Paleozoic |
What formed from the swamps drying out and the forests of ferns dying? | Coal beds |
Which era had land plants but not many land animals? | Paleozoic |
Which Era is often called the "Age of Invertebrates"? | Paleozoic |
Dinosaurs lived during which era? | Mesozoic |
Which Era is often called the "Age of Reptiles"? | Mesozoic |
The Sierra Nevada Mountains in California formed in which era? | Mesozoic |
Flowers and birds first evolved in which era? | Mesozoic |
Mammals evolved towards the end of which era? | Mesozoic |
The super continent Pangaea was around during these 2 eras. | Paleozoic and mesozoic |
Which mountain range is younger, the Sierra Nevada or Appalachian? | Sierra Nevada |
The coal beds that are now being mined were formed from ____________ during the Paleozoic era. | dead ferns and other organic material |
Humans first appeared during which era? | Cenozoic |
What are Homo sapiens? | The species of humans that you are! |
If all of geological time was only 12 hours, how long would the Cenozoic era be? | about 1 minute -right at the end |
What are we sure will happen to Earth in the future? | It will continue to change. |
What do scientists believe caused the mass extinction that ended the Mesozoic Era? | a large meteorite hit the Earth. |
Rocks are made of what? | Minerals |
What are minerals? | Minerals are naturally occurring, solid chemical compounds with a crystal structure and a specific chemical composition. |
What geologist read Lyell's book and came up with the Theory of Evolution? | Charles Darwin |
The Law of Superposition assumes that... | lower layers of rock are older than layers closer to the surface. |
plate tectonics and the theory of continental drift both support the idea that... | the Earth's surface is slowly changing due to the movement of Earth's tectonic plates and compression, tension and shear forces. |
Fossils are usually found in what kind of rock? | Sedimentary |
What forces Earth's crust/tectonic plates to move? | The upwelling of liquid magma beneath them. These convection currents of magma force plates apart at divergent plate boundaries. |
Fossils are normally found in what kind of rock? | Sedimentary |
What are the different types of rocks? | Sedimentary, Igneous and Metamorphic |
What are faults? | Deep cracks in Earth's rocky outer layer or crust |
What is a convergent plate boundary? | A place on Earth's surface where compression forces are making 2 tectonic plates collide, one plate will subduct under the other. |
Where are volcanoes most often found? | Along plate boundaries (most often convergent plate boundaries) and mantle hotspots |
What is a transform plate boundary? | A place on Earth's surface where shear forces are making 2 tectonic plates slide past each other. |
What is a divergent plate boundary? | A place on Earth's surface where tension forces are making 2 tectonic plates move away from each other. |
The opening of a volcano is called a _______. This is where lava, ash, cinders, steam and other hot gases escape. | vent. |
What is a volcano? | An opening in Earth's crust above a magma chamber with the potential for an eruption. |
Folded mountains form at which type of plate boundary? | Convergent |
Mid-ocean ridges and rift valleys form at which type of plate boundary? | Divergent |
What causes Continental Drift? | Plate Tectonics -the movement of magma beneath the crust. |
Who devised the idea of Continental Drift? | Wegener |
Plate Tectonics can be blamed for what 3 things? | Volcanoes, earthquakes and mountain formation |
Earthquakes happen most often near faults and ... | plate boundaries. |
What is Continental Drift? | The theory that the continents were once connected and that they have moved away from each other. |