NYS Earth Science Geologic History

Which group of organisms both survived the mass extinction that occurred at the end of the Permian Period?

• Trilobites and nautiloids
• Corals and Vascular Plants
• gastropods and eurypterids

Which group of organisms has the shortest record of life on Earth?

• Eurypterids
• birds
• Placoderm fish

Students plan to construct a geologic time line of the Earth's history from its origin to the present time. They will use a scale of 1 meter equals 1 billion years. What should be the total length of the students' time line?

• 10.0m
• 2.5m
• 4.6m
• 3.8m

Which type of surface bedrock is commonly found in New York State between Elmira and Ithaca?

• granite
• quartzite
• shale
• Marble

Which river in New York State flows for several miles over surface bedrock that is more than 542 million years old?

• Hudson
• Mohawk
• Genesee 
• Susquehanna