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- 1. Multiple Choice
What is the most likely reason the saber-toothed cat became extinct?
The temperature became too cold.
Saber-toothed cats were hunted by other animals.
The area in which they lived became an ocean.
Animals they depended upon for food became extinct.
- 2. Multiple Choice
What is a scientist who studies fossils called?
a biologist
a botanist
a paleontologist
a physicist
- 3. Multiple Choice
Scientists know that the continents have moved across Earth’s surface throughout history. What is the name of the idea that first described the movement of continents?
plate tectonics
continental drift
continent movement
landform change
- 4. Multiple Choice
Scientists use fossils to describe how all of the environments on Earth have changed over time. Which fossil discovery represents a change in the environment where the fossil was found?
fish in rocks on top of a mountain
seashells in the sand at the beach
horse bones in soil in the prairie
polar bear bones in Alaska
- 5. Multiple Choice
Which fossil’s relative age cannot be determined based on its position?
a fossil found in every rock layer
a fossil found in the bottom rock layer
a fossil found in the top rock layer
a fossil found in a middle rock layer
- 6. Multiple Choice
Which can you conclude about a fossil that appears in many rock layers?
The fossil is useful for scientists.
The organism lived in many places in the world.
The organism lived for a geologically short period of time.
The organism lived for a geologically long period of time.
- 7. Multiple Choice
Kyle found a rock and used a hammer to split it open. One half of the rock had a raised shape of a shell. The other had an impression of the shell. What type of fossil did Kyle find?
a shell preserved in amber
a mold and a cast of a shell
a shell frozen in rock
a trace fossil of a seashell
- 8. Multiple Choice
Which of the following fossils would make a good index fossil?
a snail that lived in Ohio, in a small population during the Cenozoic
a trilobite that lived in all areas east of the Mississippi River, in large populations during the end of the Paleozoic
a tree fern that lived in northeastern Pennsylvania, in a small population during the Mesozoic
a magnolia flower that lived in the eastern United States, in large populations during the Cenozoic
- 9. Multiple Choice
What can the presence of fossils tell us?
Oceans once covered what is now dry land.
Forests once covered what are now deserts.
Glaciers once covered much of North America.
All of the answers are correct.
- 10. Multiple Choice
Plants and animals become fossilized in several different ways. Which object fossilized most recently?
A
B
C
D
- 11. Multiple Choice
Fossils of Mesosaurus are found in South America and Africa.
What does this suggest?
that Mesosaurus lived in the ocean
that Mesosaurus ate the plant Glossopteris
that Mesosaurus can be used as an index fossil
that these two continents were once connected
- 12. Multiple Choice
Which of the following fossil discoveries best demonstrates a change in the Earth's surface?
Scientists discover a large number of footprints of different sizes.
Scientists discover fossils of underwater organisms in an area of dry land.
Scientists find an area that contains a variety of plant fossils but no animal fossils.
Scientists discover fossils of straight teeth buried below fossils of curved teeth
- 13. Multiple Choice
A scientist found a fossil of a plant. The plant looked much like a pine tree. The plant that made the fossil most likely
lived in climates like the climates pine trees live in today.
lived in shallow lake water.
lived in the deeper parts of the ocean.
lived in sandy soil like the soil that cacti live in today.
- 14. Multiple Choice
The image below shows the fossil of a sea scorpion, a type of marine animal that could grow up to 6 feet long.
Scientists have discovered many fossils, like the one above, that look very different from any known plant or animal alive today. Which statement best explains why this is?
Most species of plants and animals alive now will not form fossils when they die.
Most kinds of plants and animals that once lived on Earth are now extinct.
Most species of plants and animals have changed what they look like over time.
Most kinds of plants and animals that live on Earth now have not been identified yet.
- 15. Multiple Choice
The picture below on the left is a fossil of a leaf from a sweetgum tree. The fossil was found in Wyoming and is about 40 million years old. The picture on the right is a leaf from a sweetgum tree living today.
Sweetgum trees grow in about half of the United States. They grow in places that are not too dry and not too cold. They do not grow in Wyoming, which is dry and very cold in the winter.
Based on the fossil, which of these is most likely true about the environment in Wyoming 40 million years ago?
It was colder and drier than it is now.
It was on a the coast of an ocean.
It was warmer and wetter than it is now.
It was under water.
- 16. Multiple Choice
Chantal visited the La Brea tar pits in California with her family last summer. She learned that the plants that lived in the area 40,000 years ago were not much different from those that live in and around Los Angeles today. What does this information tell scientists?
None of the plants has changed since that time.
The animals that lived then are the same as now.
The climate is not much different from what it was back then.
Yearly rainfall has increased steadily.
- 17. Multiple Choice
The diagram below shows a stack of rock layers. These layers have not changed position since they formed. Examine the diagram, and answer the question that follows.
If the age of Layer 4 is 400 million years and the age of Layer 1 is 500 million years, then the age of Layer 2 is
between 400 million and 500 million years.
younger than 400 million years.
400 million years.
older than 500 million years.
- 18. Multiple Choice
Scientists found some fossil bones from an extinct animal. the scientists used the bones to make a model of the animal's skeleton.
Based on the features shown, which of these is the best conclusion the scientists can make?
The animal lived in water.
The animal blended in will with its environment.
The animal had many offspring each year.
The animal migrated long distances to find food.
- 19. Multiple Choice
Scientists study a fossil of an extinct fish. The scientists compare the extinct fish to fish at are living today.
Which of these is the best conclusion the scientists can make about the extinct fish?
The extinct fish had fins on its body similar to the fins on many fish that are living today.
The extinct fish had stripes on its skin similar to the stripes on some fish that are living today.
The extinct fish could live for many years, similar to some fish that are living today.
The extinct fish had many predators, similar to many fish that are living today.
- 20. Multiple Choice
What is mass extinction?
one species evolves into another similar species
all members of the same species die out unexpectedly
large numbers of certain species become extinct overnight
many species become extinct over a short period of geologic time
- 21. Multiple Choice
The table compares features found on woolly mammoth fossils to features of modern African elephants.
Woolly mammoths were adapted to cold climates. African elephants have adapted to warmer climates. Which statement about the animals' features best shows this difference?
The animals have the same tusk shape and different-sized ears.
The animals have similar trunks and different-sized tails.
The animals are about the same height and have different-sized tusks.
The animals have different body coverings and different-sized ears.
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