OCR A-Level Geology geological time and the fossil record overview quiz quiz

At the top

In the middle

It cannot be determined

At the bottom

Younger than the sandstones

Older than the sandstones

The same age as the sandstones

Impossible to date relatively

Younger

Older

The same age

Unrelated in age

Rapid burial of the organism in fine sediment

Low oxygen conditions (anoxia) on the sea floor

Slow exposure at the surface with scavengers present

The presence of resistant hard parts such as shell or bone

Being large and easy to spot in the field

Having a very long stratigraphic range through many periods

Being rare and found at only a few localities

Having a short stratigraphic range

A dinosaur footprint

A preserved ammonite shell

A petrified dinosaur bone

A carbonised fossil leaf

Period, era, eon, epoch

Eon, era, period, epoch

Era, eon, epoch, period

Epoch, period, era, eon

Rock types are always identical everywhere, so the very same lithology must always be the same age in every region worldwide

Fossils never change through time, so the same species is found through the entire geological column

Fossil species existed at the same time everywhere, so they correlate across different rock types and over distance

It does not require any rocks to be present, only the fossils themselves on their own

It forms very slowly over many millions of years, recording a long span of deep time

It is only ever found in one small isolated area close to the original volcanic vent

It contains no useful information and cannot be matched between separate localities

It is deposited almost instantly over a wide area and can be radiometrically dated

Long periods of little change (stasis) interrupted by short bursts of rapid change

Slow, steady and continuous change producing many preserved transitional forms

Evolution never actually occurs and species remain completely fixed through all time

All species change at exactly the same constant rate across the whole geological record

It permanently stops all evolution and diversification for the rest of geological time

It empties ecological niches, allowing surviving groups to undergo adaptive radiation

It has no measurable effect at all on the diversity or course of later life on Earth

It only ever affects marine organisms and leaves land-dwelling groups entirely untouched

The time taken for every one of the parent atoms in the sample to decay completely

The time taken for the daughter isotope to decay all the way back into the parent again

The time for half the parent atoms to decay to the daughter isotope

The total age of the rock measured from the moment that it first crystallised

700 Ma

2100 Ma

350 Ma

1400 Ma

Its short half-life means almost all of it has decayed beyond about 60,000 years, and granite has no organic carbon

Its half-life is far too long, so even over many millions of years almost none of the parent isotope has yet decayed

It can only be used to date metamorphic rocks and never igneous bodies such as a granite intrusion

It systematically overestimates the true ages of all ancient rocks by a very large factor