The Rock and Fossil Record
Chapter 3 Study Guide
Your success on Thursday’s test will depend upon your knowledge
of the following.
Vocabulary:
 uniformitarianism
 catastrophism
 Principle of
Superposition
 relative dating
 geologic column
 unconformity
 fossil
 permineralization
 petrification
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trace fossils
coprolite
mold
cast
index fossil
fault
Intrusion
folding
tilting
You should be well informed about the following topics:
 How rock layers are disturbed- recognize/identify the different
disturbances in a picture
 Explain how these disturbances occur
 Types of Unconformities - recognize/identify the different
unconformities in a picture
 The geologic column-how it’s made, what it tell scientists, how it helps
us understand the Earth.
 Fossil formation
 Types of Fossils
 How index fossils are used
 How fossils help scientists to understand the Earth
Short Answer Essay – You will need to respond to two of them on the
assessment.
 Why do Earth scientists need the principle of uniformitarianism in
order to make predictions?
 Consider a fault that cuts through all the layers of a rock-layer
sequence. Is the fault older or younger than the layers? Explain
 Unlike other types of unconformities, disconformities are hard to
recognize because all the layers are horizontal. How does a
geologist know when he/she is looking at a disconformity?
 If you find rock layers containing fish fossils in a desert, what can you
infer about that area?
 Describe uniformitarianism.
 Would a shark tooth make a good index fossil? Why or why not?
 How do the frigid temperatures of Siberia and the sticky tar of the
LaBrea Tar Pits preserve fossils so well?
 How do you know an intrusion is younger than its surrounding rock?
 You will be given a picture of part of a geologic column: you will
have to
1. tell whether the intrusion is older or younger than a
specific layer or
2. identify a specific unconformity or
3. tell whether an intrusion is older or younger than a specific
fault
 You will be given a series of 5 pictures of geologic change that are
out of order. You will have to put them in order and justify your
order by explaining the changes that occurred between each
picture.
Bold type questions are intermediate that give you the opportunity for
an 9 or 9.5.