Geologic Time Scale Activity
Name ___________________________________
Part One:
Answer the following questions after watching the Discovery Ed video:
http://assignments.discoveryeducation.com/?cdPasscode=T960F-43CC
Required Question:
Why do you think it is important to measure periods of geologic time?
Questions: (answer in a different color)
1. What two scales do geologists use to measure time?
2. How do rocks help geologists determine time periods?
3. What clues do scientists use to learn about prehistoric life?
4. What is a fossil?
5. How do fossils form?
6. What kinds of events can change Earth’s geology?
7. Describe an organism from each of the four time periods on the geologic
scale.
8. How do scientists study plants and animals that lived millions of years ago?
9. What can fossils teach us about the Earth?
10. What have scientists learned about dinosaurs by studying fossils?
Part Two:
Use the following event phrase boxes to fill in the chart on the next page. You can
use your textbook Unit A Ch. 2.3 p. 61-67 for help when matching them (there is a
copy of these textbook pages on my webPage if you need it).
You will Highlight the event phrase box you are selecting each time and copy it.
Then paste each event phrase box where you think they go In the “Major
Biological and Geological Events Organizer” chart on the next page of this
document. You can change the color if you want to.
Make sure you pay careful attention as to whether each “event phrase” is
biological or geological. Also make sure you use your textbook to place it under
the correct Era
Major Biological and Geological Events in Earth’s History
Mammals, flowering
plants, and insects
dominate the land
Oceans form and
cover the Earth
Pangaea splits
Bacteria appear
Pangaea forms
First grasses appear
Humans appear
Largest dinosaurs
thrive
Soft-bodied
multi-cellular
organisms appear
Earth began
First reptiles appear
Trilobites become
extinct
Dinosaurs appear
Hot, dry conditions
dominate Pangaea
Rocky Mountains and
Himalayas form
Seas rise and fall over
North America
Dinosaurs become
extinct
Trilobites appear
Ice age ends
Great explosion of
invertebrates in the
sea
Appalachian
mountains form
Coral reefs develop
Age of fish begins
Widespread volcanic
activity
Continental glaciers
cover Antartica
Land plants appear
Insects and spiders
appear
Shallow seas cover
much of the land
EXPLAIN, Part 3
Handout
Name___________________________________
Major Biological and Geological Events Organizer
Precambrian
Paleozoic
Mesozoic
Cenozoic
Geological
Geological
Geological
Geological
Biological
Biological
Biological
Biological