100 200 300 400 500 Final Jeopardy Earth’s Story Relative Dating Absolute Looking at Fossils Time Marches On 100 200 300 400 500 Final Jeopardy

Scientists believe that this caused the extinction of the majority of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago?

$100 asteroid Back

What is the principle that states that geologic change occurs suddenly?

$200 Catastrophism Back

What is the science that studies past life on Earth?

$300 Paleontology Back

What principle states that geologic processes that occurred in the past can be explained by current geologic process?

$400 Uniformitarianism Back

Where in Scotland did James Hutton observe rock formations that had to have taken millions of years to form?

$500 Siccar Point Back

What method is used to determine whether an event or object is older or younger than other events or objects?

$100 Relative dating Back

What is the ideal sequence of rock layers that contains all the known fossils and rock formations on Earth, arranged from oldest to youngest?

$200 geologic column Back

A fault, intrusion, fold, or tilt can create an ________________ in rock layers, causing a missing part of the geologic column?

$300 unconformity Back

What is the principle that states that younger rocks lie above older rocks, if the layers have not been disturbed?

$400 superposition Back

What unconformity do we call molten rock that squeezes into existing rock and cools?

$500 intrusion Back

What method is used to measure the age of an event or object in years?

$100 absolute dating Back

What is the time needed for half of a sample of a radioactive substance to undergo radioactive decay?

$200 half-life Back

What is an atom that has the same number of protons as other atoms of the same element, but has a different number of neutrons?

$300 isotopes Back

When parent isotopes decay into daughter isotopes, what is given off?

$400 heat or thermal energy Back

What method can be used to date dead organic life forms or rocks younger than 50,000 years old?

$500 Carbon-14 Method Back

Where are the majority of the oldest fossils in the world found?

$100 Burgess Shale Quarry Back

What are insects often times trapped in to help preserve their remains?

$200 amber or tree sap Back

Preserved animal tracks, burrows, or coprolite (animal dung) are good examples of ___________ fossils.

$300 trace Back

What is the name of a cavity that has been filled in with rock, where a plant or animal was buried?

$400 cast Back

What is a fossil that is found in the rock layers of only one geologic age and that is used to establish the age of the rock layers?

$500 index fossil Back

What do we call the death of every member of a species?

$100 extinction Back

What is the scale that divides Earth’s 4 What is the scale that divides Earth’s 4.6 billion-year history into distinct intervals of time?

$200 geologic time scale Back

What kinds of animals were present in the Mesozoic Era, which lasted from 248 million years ago to 65 million years ago?

$300 dinosaurs Back

Where in North America is the best example to see the Earth’s history recorded in rock layers?

$400 The Grand Canyon Back

In which era did humans and mammals begin appearing and have flourished for over 65 million years?

$500 Cenozoic Era Back

What organic creatures are responsible for the creation of the majority of the original oxygen in the atmosphere?

Stromatolites Back