Interactive Earth Science: A Trip Through Geologic Time

What are fossils?

• molds and casts of organisms that live today

• drawings of ancient animals and other organisms

• footprints or burrows of small animals that live today

• the preserved remains or traces of organisms that lived in the past

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NGSS.MS-LS4-1

The relative age of a rock is

• its age compared with the ages of other rocks.

• less than the age of the fossils the rock contains.

• the number of years since the rock formed.

• its age based on how much carbon-14 the rock contains.

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Earth’s earliest atmosphere lacked which gas that is necessary for life as we know it to exist today?

• nitrogen

• oxygen

• carbon dioxide

• argon

Late in the Paleozoic Era, the supercontinent Pangaea formed. The climate in the center of Pangaea was probably a(an)

• extremely cold, polar climate.

• hot, dry desert climate.

• wet, tropical climate

• warm, mild climate

Which answer best describes Earth’s climates during the Paleogene and Neogene Periods?

• extremely cold, polar climate.

• hot, dry desert climate.

• wet, tropical climate

• warm, mild climate

A fossil formed when minerals replace all or part of an organism is called a

• mold.

• petrified fossil.

• cast.

• trace fossil.

Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and continents began to form during the first several hundred million years of

• Precambrian Time.

• the Paleozoic Era.

• the Mesozoic Era.

• the Cenozoic Era.

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

NGSS.MS-ESS2-2

During the Devonian Period, animals that could live on land began to evolve. These animals still spent part of their lives in the water. What were these animals called?

• dinsaurs

• trilobites

• reptiles

• amphibians

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NGSS.MS-LS4-2

According to scientists, both Earth and the moon are

• about 1.6 billion years old.

• about 4.6 billion years old

• about 9.6 billion years old

• about 14 billion years old

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Because the time span of Earth’s past is so great, geologists use the ________________________ time scale to show Earth’s history.

• geologic

• ice ages

• mammals

• reptiles

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