The Fossil Record

Fossils can be as large as an entire animal or as small as ____.

• A) A mountain

• B) A grain of sand

• C) A molecule

• D) A cell

Most fossils are preserved in sedimentary rocks that form when particles of ____, silt, clay, or lime muds settle to the bottom of a body of water.

• Sand

• Metal

• Wood

• Plastic

The quality of fossil preservation varies depending on what factors?

• Color of the fossil

• Environmental factors

• Age of the fossil

• Size of the fossil

Leaves and pollen can suggest what kind of ____ was there.

• Animal

• Environment

• Rock

• Water

The type of sedimentary rock affects the quality of ____.

• Fossil preservation

• Fossil destruction

• Fossil color

• Fossil size

Radiometric dating relies on: A) The presence of index fossils B) The decay of radioactive isotopes C) The chronological order of rock layers D) The geologic time scale.

• The presence of index fossils

• The decay of radioactive isotopes

• The chronological order of rock layers

• The geologic time scale.

Fill in the blank: The ________ time scale is a timeline of Earth's history.

• Radiometric

• Index

• Geologic

• Relative

Which technique uses the proportion of radioactive isotopes to calculate the age of a sample?

• Relative dating

• Index fossil dating

• Radiometric dating

• Geologic time scale

Which of the following is not one of the four eons recognized by geologists?

• Hadean

• Archean

• Proterozoic

• Cambrian

What is the name given to all geologic time before the Cambrian Period?

• Precambrian

• Paleozoic

• Mesozoic