Name: _________________________________________ Date: ____________ Period: ______ ASSIGN

Rock Detective Clues and Questions

Use the picture below and the clues on the back to answer the questions.
Clues:

1. Footprints are sometimes preserved in soft soil or mud, which then turns to stone.
2. The Principle of Superposition states that rock layers on top of a formation are
younger than the rock layers beneath them (if the layers are undisturbed). This also
follows that most anything that is on top of anything else in the fossil record is younger
than whatever it is on (Oldest=bottom, Youngest = top).
3. Index fossils can tell a great deal about the environment of the rocks that they’re found
in and the other fossils that they’re buried with.
4. Sedimentary rock is the best rock for fossils as it is made from the deposition of sediment
over long period of time.
5. Fossilization cannot occur in igneous rock because molten rock is too hot and destroys
any fossils before it cools.
6. Some organisms can be trapped in tree sap and preserved as a fossil encased in amber
7. Much information can be discovered from an organism’s bones and teeth, like what it ate
and how it moved.
8. The farther apart a set of footprints are, the faster the organism that made them was
moving.
9. Animals and plants can develop different forms over time, which help them survive in an
environment.
10. Plant-eating (herbivorous) dinosaurs were usually much bigger than the meat-eating
(carnivorous) dinosaurs, outweighing them by several tons.
11. Sometimes fine and delicate remains can be imprinted in fine sediment, like birds and
leaves.
12. If an organism died and was undisturbed by scavengers, then its remains will be more
complete. The opposite is also true that an organism’s remains will be damaged and
incomplete if it was eaten.
13. The half-life of C-14 is 5730 years.
Name: __________________________________________ Date: ___________ Period: ______ ASSIGN
Questions for Rock Detective:
1. Which layers show an aquatic environment? ____________________________ How do you know
these layers were aquatic?

2. The snail fossil in layer A has been seen alive in environments today that are very cold. The snail is
not able to live in warm environments. What changes can you conclude occurred in the environments in
layers B and C by looking at the fossil record?

3. Was there a volcano nearby? (HINT: can there be fossils in igneous rock?) ___________ What
evidence was there of this?

How many times did it erupt and affect the area? __________________________________
Which eruption produced swampy conditions in this area? How can you tell?

4. What changes do you notice about the aquatic plants in Layers A, B, and C?

How might this feature account for the changes in the plant’s population?

5. The Fish species in Layer A and B were known to eat the aquatic plants in the layers with them.
What changes do you notice in the aquatic plants during the times they were living?

What can you conclude about the fish population during these three time periods?

How did the plants affect the fish?

6. What kind of environment was evident in Layers E and F? ___________________________

How can you conclude this?

7. Did the footprints in Layer E belong to a plant-eater or meat-eater? ___________________ How do

you know?

8. Did the footprints in Layer F belong to a plant-eater or meat-eater? ___________________ How do

you know?

9. What happened in Layer F between the two organisms?

10. What kind of fossils do you see in Layer H? (name both) ___________________________________
11. What kind of environment do you conclude was present in Layer H? __________________
How did you come to this conclusion?

12. How does Layer H differ from Layers E and F?

13. The fossilized skeletal remains in Layer I are of a carnivorous cave bear, now extinct. The fossil leg
bone in Layer I was of a prehistoric horse. Based on the completion of the two skeletons, what can you
conclude of their relationship together?

14. Give an example and the location (layer) of a trace fossil. ________________________________
Give an example and the location of an original remains fossil. _______________________
Give an example and the location of a mold and cast fossil. _________________________
Give an example and the location of a carbon film fossil. ____________________________

15. Which layer is the oldest layer? ________________________________________________How do

you know this?

Which layer represents present day? ____________________________________________

How do you know this?

16. The snail shells in layer B contain the isotope C-14. There is 6.25% of the sample left. How old is
layer B? How do you know?

The horse skeleton in layer I contains C-14. There is 25% of the sample left. How old is layer I? How do
you know?

How much time passed between layer B and layer I? How do you know? (SHOW YOUR WORK!)