Geologic Time

Which of these numbers is closest to the age of the Earth?

• 4,600 years

• 460,000 years

• 46 million years

• 4.6 billion years

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

What is the main purpose of the geologic time scale?

• To organize the major eras of Earth's history

• To compare very short & very long periods of time

• To compete with other, non-geologic time scales

• To help people understand that the planet is very old

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Place the following units in order, from smallest to largest.

• Epoch, period, eon

• Eon, epoch, period

• Period, eon, epoch

• Epoch, eon, period

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

Generally speaking, which rock layers are the oldest?

• The thinnest ones

• The thickest ones

• The ones furthest from the surface

• The ones closest to the surface

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

What can you conclude from the fact that there have been just four eons in Earth's history?

• Eons are very short periods of time

• Eons always last less than 1 billion years

• Geologists only began naming eons recently

• There have been at least 8 periods in Earth's history

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

What event might mark the end of a period?

• The fact that 100 million years had elapsed since the end of the previous period

• A major geologic change

• The appearance of one new species

• The gradual drifting of the continents

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

What can you infer about the Maastrichtian Age from its name?

• That it was the most strict geological age in history

• Nothing -- the names of geologic ages are arbitrary

• Rocks from this era were first studied near the city of Maastricht, Netherlands

• That it was an extremely long, complicated age

How would the human time scale be different if we measured it in relative, instead of specific, time? Choose the best answer.

• Days would be longer than months.

• One week might be longer or shorter than the next.

• No one would know what time it was.

• The future would occur before the past & present.

What does a stratigraphist study?

• Dinosaurs

• Time

• Rock layers

• The formation of the Earth

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3

How does radiometric dating differ from the ages of the geologic time scale?

• Radiometric dating involves absolute dates; the geologic time scale is measured with relative dates.

• Radiometric dating can only be used on fossils; the geologic time scale applies only to rocks.

• Radiometric dating involves unstable, radioactive isotopes; the geologic time scale deals only with stable rocks & compounds

• Radiometric dating involves relative dates; the geologic time scale is measured with absolute dates