Quiz: Fossils

1. Fossils are:
A only dinosaur bones and fern impressions made in rock
B the carbonised remains of animals that were killed by an asteroid 20 000 years ago
C direct evidence of organisms that lived more than 10 000 years ago
2. The unaltered remains of fossilised animals include:
A petrified wood
B carbon imprints of ferns
C mummified and frozen remains
3. Fossilised insects have been found preserved in amber which is hardened:
A tree resin
B flower nectar
C blood
4. In petrified wood, the original wood has been slowly replaced by:
A another type of harder wood
B preserving salts
C minerals
5. Examples of imprints are:
A drawings on rock made by prehistoric men
B frozen remains of elephant-like mammoths
C footprints and animal tracks
6. Casts are:
A the remains of broken dinosaur bones
B moulds that have been filled by another type of rock over time
C the hollow remains of animal burrows
7. The scientific name for fossilised faeces is:
A coprolites
B peat
C no scientific name exists
8. Fossilised stomach contents may indicate:
A social structures of animal groups
B the diet of the animal and the vegetation type in its habitat
C whether an animal walked, swam or flew
9. Larger fossil animals are thought to be:
Aadults or males
Bthe most common type of animal that existed throughout earth's living past
Cextinct because they ate too much
10. Scientists who study fossils are:
Afossilologists
Bpalaeontologists
Creptilogists
11. The assumption that the earth's geological changes (e.g. volcanoes, erosion) probably occurred at a similar rate throughout earth's history is the:
ATheory of Plate Tectonics
BLaw of Cause and Effect
CLaw of Uniform Change
12. The Law of Superposition states that:
Aolder rocks are found deeper in the earth's crust than younger rocks
Bcarnivorous dinosaurs were more deadly than herbivorous dinosaurs
Canimals that evolved at a later time are more advanced than those from an earlier time
13. Index fossils are distinctive fossils that existed for only short time periods. They are used to:
Aalphabetise the names of new fossils that are found
Bindicate the age of certain layers of sedimentary rocks
Cdetermine the social structure of the larger dinosaurs of the Jurassic Period
14. The half-life of a radioactive element is:
Ahalf the estimated age of the earth's crust
Bthe time taken for half of the mass of the original element to break down
Chalf the weight of the original radioactive element
15. The half-life of carbon-14 is about:
A80 000 years
B23 500 years
C5 730 years
 
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