Station 1 1. Look at the fossil labeled # 16. Identify each of the following: a. Kingdom b. Phylum c. Class d. Genus 2. Look at the fossil labeled #7. Identify each of the following: a. Kingdom b. Phylum 3. Look at the fossil labeled #23. Identify each of the following: a. Kingdom b. Phylum c. Class 4. A group of trilobite fossils was recently found while digging 10 m above sea level. Another similar group of trilobites was found nearby at 1,000 m above sea level. It is known that these particular fossils are from animals that lived in near shore environments and became extinct in the Permian period. What conclusion can a scientist make about the geologic history of that area? a. Both layers of rock were deposited between 245 and 286 million years ago. b. Both layers of rock were below sea level during the Permian. c. The rock layers must have been uplifted at some time after the Permian. d. All of the above are true. 5. Which of the following is not a characteristic of an index fossil? a. An index fossil can be found in a variety of rock layers. b. An index fossil lived during a relatively short time period. c. An index fossil can only be found in one layer. d. An index fossil can be used to determine the relative age of a rock layer. 6. Suppose while hiking the Canadian Rockies you found fossil from a marine animal such as a shark. What could you assume based on this fossil? a. Marine animals, such as sharks, once lived on land. b. The rocks on the mountaintop were once beneath the ocean s surface. c. The rocks had probably been preserved in amber. d. The rocks had probably eroded away. 7. Which 2 layers are the same? a. A and D b. A and C c. B and G d. B and C 8. How can you tell?
9. Which of the following index fossils shows the order in which organisms appeared on earth? a. Oldest Youngest b. Oldest Youngest c. Oldest Youngest d. Oldest Youngest
Station 2 10. Identify the genus, common name, environment and geologic range of each of the organisms shown below. a. b. c. d. e. f.
11. Place the fossil species a-f in the chart in order from oldest to youngest. 12. What is the major significance of fossil f? 13. What makes a fossil an ideal index fossil?
Station 3 14. What time period did the extinction event that killed the dinosaurs occur in? 15. What extinction event likely killed the dinosaurs? 16. At which point in Earth s history did the greatest massextinction event take place? a. at point 1, the Ordovician-Silurian boundary b. at point 3, the Permian-Triassic boundary c. at point 4, the Triassic-Jurassic boundary d. at point 5, the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary 17. Immediately following the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction, represented by point 5, approximately how many genera of marine organisms remained in the Earth s oceans? a. 200 marine families b. 300 marine families c. 500 marine families d. 700 marine families 18. Approximately how many million years ago did the Ordovician-Silurian mass-extinction event, represented by point 1, take place? a. 200 million years ago b. 250 million years ago c. 350 million years ago d. 420 million years ago 19. Which era ended with the largest mass extinction in Earth s history? 20. What was the name of the largest mass extinction in Earth s history? 21. What percent of all life went extinct in this event? 22. What percent of marine life went extinct in this event? 23. What era was referred to as the age of the reptiles? 24. What era are we now living in? 25. How old is the earth? 26. Suppose you were hiking in the Canadian Rockies and you found a fossil of a marine animal such as a shark. What could you assume based on this fossil? 27. According to fossil remains, what were the first life forms on this planet? 28. Which time period was known for the wide rapid spread of the jawless fish? 29. Which time periods occurred during the Mesozoic Era? 30. Which time period were the first trees and forest appear in the fossil record? 31. Which time period did the world s land masses collect together to form Gondwana? 32. In which time period did the continents form the land mass known as Pangaea?
Station 4 33. Complete the chart below. Half Life Number of Years Mass of Original C-14 Remaining (grams) Mass of N-14 (grams) 0 0 16 g 100 g 1 5,700 2 3 4 5 6 34. Compare absolute dating and relative dating. 35. Determining the age of objects or events in relation to other objects or events is called. 36. The principle that states that younger rocks lie above other rocks in an undisturbed sequence is called. 37. What is the geologic column? 38. Molten rock that has squeezed into existing rock and hardened is called. 39. Rock layers bent and buckled by the earth s internal forces is called. 40. Rock layers slanted by the earth s internal forces but without folding is called. 41. What is a half-life? a. The amount of time it takes a quarter of the parent material to become daughter material. b. The amount of time it takes half of the parent material to become daughter material. c. The amount of time it takes half of the daughter material to appear. d. The amount of time it takes a quarter of the daughter material to become parent material. 42. After every half life, what happens to the parent material? a. Half of the parent material disappears. b. Half of the parent material changes into daughter material. c. The parent material doubles by half. d. The parent material stays the same.
43. What is the relationship between the parent material and the daughter material? a. The parent material and daughter material both have 14 protons, and 14 neutrons. b. The parent material and daughter material both double after 1 half life. c. The parent material and daughter material both are divided in half after each half life. d. The parent material is decreased by half and the daughter material increases by the number the parent material lost after each half life. 44. What does a scientist need to know to figure out the absolute age of a rock? a. The rate of decay for all elements in the rock. b. The rate of decay for a radioactive element in a rock. c. The rate of superposition for a radioactive element in the rock. d. The rate of decay for the rock s half life. 45. The more material there is in a rock sample, the older the rock is. a. isotope b. daughter c. unstable d. parent 46. A fossil is found that contains 32 grams of a radioactive isotope. The isotope has a half-life of 10,000 years. How old would the sample be if 2 grams of the original isotope remained in the sample? a. 10,000 years old b. 20,000 years old c. 30,000 years old d. 40,000 years old 47. A whale bone that originally contained 200 grams of radioactive Carbon-14 now contains 25 grams of Carbon-14. How many Carbon-14 half lives have passed since this whale was alive? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4
Station 5 48. Use the information provided in the chart below to complete the range chart and to answer the following questions.
49. If you have a rock that has a Ceratite in it what time period(s) is it from? 50. If you have a rock that has a Goniatite and a Nautiloid what time period(s) is it from? 51. If you have a rock that has an Ammonite and an Orthocone in it, what time period(s) is it from? 52. If you find a rock that has an Orthocone what time period(s) is it from? How do you know? 53. Which fossils might you expect to find in a rock of Jurassic age? 54. If you find a sedimentary rock that has no Cephalopods in it, can you tell what time period it is from (using the information available in this chart only)? Why or why not? 55. Which cephalopod makes the best fossil in the chart above? What characteristics make a good index fossil?
Station 6 M C W R J 56. Place the events in the cross section above in order from oldest to youngest. 57. Which fossil is the oldest in the cross section above? 58. Which geologic principle helped you determine the oldest rock layer in the cross section above? 59. Which geologic principle helped you determine when A occurred in the cross section above? 60. What is A? 61. What occurred at X-Y? 62. Put the fossils in order from oldest to youngest. 63. What type of rock is Valcouroceras found in?
64. According to the outcrops above, which rock layer is the oldest? 65. What geologic processes are represented by the 2 unconformities in outcrop B? 66. Which geologic feature is the youngest in outcrop C, the igneous instruction or the unconformity? 67. Which geological principle allowed you to answer question 66? 68. Which rock layer is the youngest?
Station 7 69. Place the events in the cross section below in order from oldest to youngest. 70. Place the events in the cross section below in order from oldest to youngest.
Station 8 Match the vocabulary words to their definitions. 71. Atmosphere a. The oldest layers are found on the bottom, because they were laid down first. 72. Geosphere b. The study of the Earth which incorporates both the idea that change occurs quickly, and that change happens slowly through time. 73. Hydrosphere c. The process in which materials such as sediment are laid down, or stop moving. 74. Biosphere d. A crack in the Earth s crust. 75. Unconformity e. A break or a gap in the geologic record. 76. Weathering f. The actual date of a rock based on radioactive material that has gone through decay. 77. Erosion g. The idea that changes on Earth happens quickly, or all at once. 78. Sediment h. A fossil that is found in only one layer of rock and can be used to determine the age of the rock. 79. Deposition i. The process by which sediment is moved from one location to another by water, ice, wind or by animals. 80. Fault j. All of the water found on Earth. 81. Intrusion k. This occurs when magma squeezed between rock layers. 82. Folding l. A scientific idea that is proven through a series of tests and experiments. 83. Uniformitarianism m. The idea that change occurs slowly over time through processes such as the rock cycle. 84. Catastrophism n. All of the rock and layers of the Earth. 85. Paleontology o. The process in which rock is broken into smaller pieces by wind, water, ice or heat. 86. Theory p. Small pieces of rocks or minerals. 87. Geology q. When rock layers have been pushed together and bend. 88. Fossils r. The trace or remains of a living thing that lived long ago. 89. Index fossils s. A process of determining whether an object or event is older or younger than another object or event. 90. Superposition t. All of the living things found on Earth. 91. Relative Dating u. The study of fossilized plants and animals. 92. Absolute Dating v. All of the air found on Earth.