Section 4.0: The fossil record provide evidence of Earth’s changes over time.
Question 1
1.
What is a fossil and how is it different from a rock or mineral?
Question 2
2.
What kinds of information or data do paleontologists gather?
Question 3
3.
What information do the layers of sedimentary rock give scientists who study fossil records?
Question 4
4.
If fossils are found on the side of a mountain at 2500 m, and the same kind of fossil is found 30 km north at 1900 m, what could be said about the strata they are found in? Could they be the same? Would it be likely that more would be found along the same layer? Explain your answer.
Question 5
5.
What can the study of life forms on Earth today tell us about life forms of the past?
Question 6
6.
What are some of the types of fossils found in Alberta?
Question 7
7.
Why are inferences necessary when studying fossils?
Question 8
8.
What environmental influences could explain the appearance of some life forms and the disappearance
of others?
Question 9
9.
What kind of life forms appeared in each of the four eras of Earth’s history?
Question 10
10.
Why do you think it took about one billion years before the first life forms appeared on Earth?
Question 11
11.
The preserved remains (even the soft parts) of a plant or animal can likely be found in ...
Question 12
12.
Trilobites are one of the most famous groups of fossils. They are now extinct. They lived in ...
Question 13
13.
Layers of sedimentary rock stay in their original position, with the newest layers on the top and the older layers on the bottom. These layers of rock are called ...
Question 14
14.
The general time periods that organize the history of the Earth are called ...
Question 15
15.
In the Geologic Time Scale, dinosaurs ruled the land and then became extinct during this era.
Question 16
16.
Scientists have inferred that there might be some relationship between dinosaurs and birds from some of the Archaeopteryx fossils because they discovered a few impressions of:
