Biology S2 Unit 3: Earth History
Name: _______________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ____________
History of Geologic Time
Use the following link: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/geotime/gtiframe.html. Click through the activity and look at the
information provided. Answer the questions as you work.
1. How old is the Earth? _______________________________________________________
2. When did the earliest life form? _______________________________________________
3. Did the majority of events occur immediately after the formation of earth or in more recent history? ______________________________________________
4. When did early land plants form? What would be required in the atmosphere for plants to exist? _________________________________________________
5. When did dinosaurs go extinct? _____________________________________________________
6. When do we have evidence of early hominids, ancestors to modern humans? _________________________________________________________________
7. Place the fossils in order from when they first appeared on earth.
Use the following list of fossils:
Archaeopteryx—an early bird
Lucy—a hominid
A fossil skate—related to shark
Early synapsid—mammal ancestor
Ptilophyllum—a fossil fern
Triceratops—ornithischian dino
Fossil trilobite—an arthropod
Earliest
Most Recent
Biology S2 Unit 3: Earth History
8. How do we determine the relative age of fossils? ________________________________________________________________________________________
9. How do we determine the actual age of rock/fossils? _____________________________________________________________________________________
10. What is shown within each time period on the geologic time scale? _________________________________________________________________________
SELF-QUIZ
1. Scientific evidence suggests that the Earth is:
A. less than 1 million years old
B. less than 1 billion years old
C. more than 4 billion years old
D. more than 6 billion years old
E. none of the above
2. Evidence for past events in Earth’s ancient history are provided by:
A. rocks and the fossils within them
B. history books
C. time lines
D. the clothes people wore
E. the biodiversity of North America
3. The law of Superposition allows us to determine:
A. Which rock layers are the oldest
B. the relative age of layers of rocks and fossils in them
C. the exact or absolute age of rock layers
D. A and B are correct
E. A and C are correct
4. Radiometric dating allows us to determine:
A. Which rock layers are the oldest
B. the relative age of layers of rocks and fossils in them
C. the exact or absolute age of rock layers
D. A and B are correct
E. A and C are correct
5. The divisions of time in the Geologic Time scale represent:
A. The Law of Superposition
B. The results of radiometric dating
C. Major changes in biodiversity
D. Multiples of 35 million years
E. All of the above