Name ________________________________
Advisory Teacher _______________________
Study Guide for Test on Earth’s Changing Surface – Weathering, Erosion, Soil, Fossils, & Geologic Time
Weathering
1. What is weathering?
1. Weathering is:
2. What are the agents of weathering?
2. Agents of weathering include: plants, animals, ________________, wind, and temperature.
3. What affects the rate of weathering?
3. The rate of weathering depends on the type of rock and on the ________________.
Erosion
4. What is erosion?
4. Erosion is:
5. What are the agents of erosion?
5. Agents of erosion include wind, ________________, waves, gravity, and glaciers.
6. Which agent of erosion causes the
6. ________________ is the agent of erosion that causes the greatest change.
greatest change?
Soil
7. What is soil?
7. Soil is loose, weathered material in which ________________ can grow.
8. What are the ingredients of soil?
8. Soil is made up of 45% ________________, 25% ________________, 25% ________________, and
5% ________________.
9. How does soil form?
9. Soil formation begins with the weathering of ________________ over hundreds of years.
10. What is ________________?
10. ________________ is organic material in soil formed by living things.
Fossils
11. What is a fossil?
11. Fossils are remains of organisms that died long ago. Most fossils form when living things die and are
buried by sediments. They are usually found in ________________ rock.
12. What are different kinds of fossils?
13. Why are fossils important?
12. Matching: Draw a line from each kind of fossil to its description.
Kind of Fossil
Description
carbon film
a. hollow area in rock in the shape of an organism
mold
b. solid copy of an organism in rock
trace fossil
c. organism that has turned to stone
petrified fossil
d. thin layer of carbon on rock
cast
e. preserved trace such as a footprint or animal poop
13. The Earth was not always like it is today. Fossils give evidence about how ________________
changed over time.
14. What is the law of superposition?
14. The law of superposition states that the location of the layer determines the fossil’s
________________. The oldest layer is at the ________________.
15. What is the relative age of a rock?
What is the absolute age of a rock?
15. The ________________ age of a rock is its age compared with the ages of other rocks. The
________________ age of a rock is the number of years since the rock formed.
Geologic Time Scale
16. What is the geologic time scale?
16. The ________________________________ is a record of how Earth and its life forms have changed
through time. The scale begins when Earth formed ________________ years ago and goes to the
present.
17. How is geologic time divided?
17. The geologic time scale starts with Precambrian Time, then the Paleozoic Era, then the Mesozoic
Era, and continues with the ________________ Era today.