1. PAGE 32 – COPY &
ANSWER THESE
QUESTIONS:1. What is the relative age of a rock or
fossil?
2. How is relative age measured?
3. What does the geologic time scale
show us?
4. How do we determine when new eras
and periods begin?
5. How do fossils show us that the
environments and climates of Earth
have changed?

2. PALEONTOL
OGY TEST
Review Game

3. QUESTION 1
 What is the death of every
member of a species called?

4. ANSWER 1
 Extinction

5. QUESTION 2
 What process compares one
rock layer with another in
sequence to determine age?

6. ANSWER 2
 Relative dating

7. QUESTION 3
 Which era do we live in?

8. ANSWER 3
 Cenozoic Era

9. QUESTION 4
 What principle says that the
geologic processes that occur
today also occurred in the past?

10. ANSWER 4
 Uniformitarianism

11. QUESTION 5
 What is a missing layer of rock
called?

12. ANSWER 5
 Uncomformity

13. QUESTION 6
 What is the study of past life
using fossils?

14. ANSWER 6
 Paleontology

15. QUESTION 7
 What principle says that younger
rock is on top of older rock?

16. ANSWER 7
 superposition

17. QUESTION 8
 At what rate does geologic
change generally occur?

18. ANSWER 8
 Slowly

19. QUESTION 9
 How do we know that the
environmental conditions on the
Earth have changed?

20. ANSWER 9
 By looking at the fossil record

21. QUESTION 10
 What is the Principle of Original
Horizontality?

22. ANSWER 10
 Sediments and sedimentary rock
are formed in horizontal layers

23. QUESTION 11
 What is the geologic column?

24. ANSWER 11
 All of the Earth’s layers of rocks
together that shows us the
Earth’s history

25. QUESTION 12
 If you find the fossil of a fish on
the top of the mountain, what
can you learn about the history
of the mountain?

26. ANSWER 12
 It was once underwater

27. QUESTION 13
 What era is the Age of Reptiles?

28. ANSWER 13
 Mesozoic Era

29. QUESTION 14
 What type of rocks usually
contain fossils?

30. ANSWER 14
 Sedimentary

31. QUESTION 15
 How many years ago did
dinosaurs become extinct?

32. ANSWER 15
 About 65 million years ago

33. QUESTION 16
 Which layer is the oldest?

34. ANSWER 16
 Layer V

35. QUESTION 17
 James is younger than George.
This is an example of what?

36. ANSWER 17
 Relative age

37. QUESTION 18
 What is the difference between
an extinction and a mass
extinction?

38. ANSWER 18
 An extinction is just one species,
and a mass extinction is many
species at once.

39. QUESTION 19
 Name a geologic change that
would qualify as an example of
catastrophism.

40. ANSWER 19
 Volcanic eruption, earthquake,
tsunami

41. QUESTION 20
 Name a geologic change that
would qualify as
uniformitarianism.

42. ANSWER 20
 Mountain building, rock cycle,
formation of volcanoes, faults