Geology Test

The principle of crosscutting relationships states that a disrupted pattern is older than the cause of disruption.

By the principle of____, the surface feature known as the Grand Canyon is____ than the sedimentary formations that are exposed in the side walls of the Grand Canyon.

The relative-dating principle of____ states that fragments included in a host rock are older than the host rock.

"uniformitarianism" reflects the belief among geologists that the earth remains uniform and unchanging through time.

The earth is approximately___ years old

"relative time" refers to the time sequence in which events take place rather than the number of years involved.

The principle of original horizontality states that beds of sediment deposited in a body of water formed as nearly horizontal layers.

The moon formed as a result of a collision between Earth and a Mars sizes planet.

The principle of superposition states that within a sequence of undisturbed sedimentary rocks, the layers get older going from bottom to top.

When a marine geologist collects a core of underformed ocean-floor sediment, she knows that the youngest layer is on top of the core and the oldest is at the bottom because of the principle of___.

The principle of____ states that fragments included in a host rock must be____ than the host rock.

The Earth began to firm by the static electrical charge of tiny mineral dust particles accreting into a size large enough for gravity to take over and draw in more massive objects until it grew to its current size.

Earth's compositional layers differentiated when the planet became molten due to getting too close to the sun.

William Smith's_____ allows rock layers in different places to be correlated on the basis of their fossils.

Under some circumstances, correlation between two regions can be made by assuming that similar rock types in the two regions formed at the same time.

Fossils are common in____.

Geologists use the fossils in sedimentary rocks to assign their correct place in geologic history.

Am index fossil is a fossil from a very short-lived, geographically widespread species known to exist during a specific interval of geologic time.

In a _____ the erosional contact represents missing rock strata and separates sedimentary beds that are parallel.

An____ fossil is a fossil from a very short-lived, geographically widespread species that existed during a specific interval of geologic time.

The oldest fossils date back to approximately___ years ago.

An____ is an erosional surface that represents a gap in the geologic record.

____ first pointed out that fossil species succeed one another through successive lays of sediment in a predictable order.

A____ is a contacts in which an erosional surface on a pluton or metamorphic rock has been covered by sedimentary (or volcanic) rock.

An angular unconformity is an erosion surface that is tilted from the horizontal.

The truncation of bedding where sedimentary dick layers abut a granite pluton suggests an____.

The principle of____ allows rock layers in different places to be correlated on the basis of their fossils.

The oldest fossils date back to approximately ____ years ago .

The___ era began with the appearance of complex life, as indicated by fossils like trilobites.

The earth's largest mass extinction coincides with ____ in Siberia.

The___ ended with the greatest mass extinction ever to occur on earth.

The____ era is the "age of mammals"

The___ includes most of geologic time (87%).

____ are the subdivisions of eras.

The principle of___ allows rock layers in different places to be correlated on the basis of their fossils.

When the___ era came to a close, dinosaurs became extinct.

Alvarez and others proposed a hypothesis that dinosaur extinction occurred because____.

____ first pointed out that fossil species succeed one another through successive layers of sediment in a predictable order.

Fossils are common in____.

An____ fossil is a fossil from a very short-lived, geographically widespread species that existed during a specific interval of geologic time.

We love in the recent Epoch of the___.

____ denotes the vast amount of time that precedes the Paleozoic era.

Dinosaurs were the dominant group of the land vertebrates in the ____ era.

William Smith's___ allows rock layers in different places to be correlated on the basis of their fossils.

During what period was Wyoming covered with warm, shallow seas that resulted in the formation of fossil rich Madison Limestone?

The rest needs of the Chugwater Formation was deposited in Wyoming during what period of geologic time.

During what epoch of geologic time did the Laramie Orogeny end?

The Baxter Shales formed from the bottom of the "western interior seaway" during the Permian period

The Rock Springs formation formed during the cretaceous period.

The Boars Tusk volcano and the Leucite Hills formed during the Pliocene epoch.

The Yellowstone super-volcano explosively erupted 3 times during the Pleistocene epoch of the quarternary period.

Ancient Lake Goisutte covered the local region of Sweetwater County during the eocene epoch.