Geologic Time Notes

Studying the Past

Fossils are the preserved _______________ or traces of ____________ things.

Most fossils form when living things die and are buried by __________________. The
sediments slowly harden into ____________ and preserve the ________________ of the
organisms.

Fossils are usually found in _______________________________ rock.

Scientists who study fossils are called paleontologists. Paleontologists collect fossils
from sedimentary rocks all over the world. They use this information to determine what
past life forms were like.

There are six types of fossils that we will study:

_______________ - hollow area in sediment in the shape of an organism or part of an

organism.

Casts - solid ____________ of the shape of an organism.

________________ fossils where minerals have replaced all or part of an organism

Trace fossils evidence of ancient animals activities (______________________)

____________

Preserved fossils whole organisms encased in amber or __________.

____________ thin coating of carbon on rock

Layers in the Earth

The law of _____________________- in horizontal sedimentary rock layers the _______________

layer is at the ______________________. Each higher layer is younger than the layers below it.

Intrusion Lava that hardens ________________ existing layers of rock

Extrusion - Lava that hardens on the __________________.

Intrusions, extrusions and faults are younger than the rock layers found around them.

________________ a break or crack in rock layers

Dating/Age
Paleontologists dates rocks in a few different ways. Fossils have a relative age and an absolute
age.

Relative age an ___________________ of a fossil or rocks age based on the fossils and
rocks found near it

Absolute age the ______________ age of a rock or fossil. Usually found using
radioactive dating.

Radioactive decay elements break down, or _____________, and release energy. Atoms
of one element break down to form ___________________ element.

The rate of decay is ____________________ for each element. Scientists called the rate of
decay an elements half-life. This is the amount of time it takes for _______ of the element
present to change.

Carbon-14 dating is used to find the __________________ age of organisms that have lived
in the past. The element carbon-14 changes to nitrogen-14 as time passes. Scientists
measure the amount of both of these substances in a fossil to date the fossil.

It can only date organisms that have lived in the last _____________________ years. This is
because the half-life of carbon-14 is pretty short.

Evolution

The ____________

_______________ provides evidence to support the theory of evolution.

A _______________
observations.

_____________ is a well-tested concept that explains a wide range of

Evolution is the ________________ change in living things over ___________ periods of time.

_______________ that help an organism to be __________________ are more likely to be passed

on to ____________________________.

So these traits will be seen more often as time goes by. A perfect example of this is the
white and black moths we talked about in class. Depending on the environment either
color could be better for the moth. As the environment changed black moths had an
advantage and scientists began to see more of them in nature.

Geologic Time

Era there are three eras in the Earths history (the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic).
Eras are
hundreds of
millions
of years long.

Period into
called
Periods
divided
at the

eras are divided

smaller sections
periods.
are usually
based on the
organisms living
time.