Chapter 11 Clues to Earth's Past

What did early scientists believe caused the formation of fossils?

True or False: Microfossils are larger than dinosaur bones.

Fill in the blank: _______ are remains of ancient creatures that can be found in various sizes.

Fill in the blank: For an organism to be preserved, it must be completely enclosed in some material over a ______ period of time.

Which of the following is an example of preserved remains?

Petrified wood is an example of ______.

Petrified wood is an example of minerals filling in ______ spaces.

Mineral replacement is the process of minerals ______ the tissues of dead organisms.

What is an example of mineral replacement?

How many years ago did a shallow ocean cover much of North America?

Fill in the blank: The document discusses how shallow seas have ________ Earth's continents in the past.

True or False: Plants are not useful in understanding past climates.

Which layer of rocks is older?

Geologists use a set of principles to compare the ages of rock layers by ______.

What is the first principle of relative age dating?

In the diagram, which layer is the youngest?

What does the principle of original horizontality imply about the age of rock layers?

What are dikes in geological terms?

What is the principle of cross-cutting in geology?

In the diagram, which layer is the oldest?

Which layer in the diagram is the youngest?

In the diagram, which layer does the fault cut through?

In the diagram, which layer is directly above Layer B?

In the diagram, which layer is directly below Layer D?

Which period does the fossil Nerinea trinodosa belong to?

Isotopes are elements of the same type with different numbers of ______.

The release of energy from unstable atoms is known as ______.

What makes hydrogen-3 unstable?

What is the percentage of daughter isotopes after three half-lives?

What is the purpose of using radioactive isotopes in measuring the age of materials?

Which element does radiocarbon break down into after the death of an organism?

What is radiocarbon dating primarily used for?

Which isotope decays into lead-207?

The individual crystals of the mineral zircon in igneous rocks in Australia have been dated at ____.

What dating method is used to determine the age of the oldest known rock formation?

The oldest known rock formation is located in which country?

The oldest known rock formation is dated between ____. A) 3.03 and 3.28 billion years B) 4.03 and 4.28 billion years C) 5.03 and 5.28 billion years D) 6.03 and 6.28 billion years.

Radiometric dating shows Earth is ____ billion years old.