STRAIN YOUR BRAIN

1. Which of the following habitats was layer 1 apart of when it was laid down?

A. forest B. freshwater marsh C. desert D. seashore E. saltwater pond

Circle answer and tell how you knew.

2. The scallop-like fossil in layers 2-5 is found in sediment all over the world. It's abundant everywhere it's found, but it always suddenly "drops out of the picture" after a certain point. What might have happened to the animal this fossil represents?

Write your answer here and how would you prove it?

3. TRUE or FALSE: The rock in layers 6, 8, and 10 formed when sediment had settled in the mouth of a river (or some other body of water) gradually was buried, pressed together, and cemented into rock.

Circle True or False and write down the proof you have.

4. In which layer would you expect to find the most coal?

LAYER _______  What evidence would you use to support your answer?

5. The igneous rock that makes up layer 8 contains the radioisotope called "FAKIUM." If 50% of the FAKIUM in the layer has changed to "hokium," how old is the layer?

AGE OF LAYER_______________ What evidence can you find to support your answer?

6. What might be one reason that the sea plants in layers 2-5 gradually evolved spines?

The sea plants grew spines because _______________________________________________

7. Look at layer 4 and compare the number of clockwise fossil snail shells to the number of counter-clockwise fossil shells. Based on your observations, what can you say about the climate of the area when layer 4 was laid down?

Number of clockwise fossil snail shells _______ Number of counter-clockwise fossil snail shells _______

I know the climate was ____________

Explain your answer.

8. TRUE or FALSE: Layers 6, 8, and 10 probably were located near a volcano or some other area where magma was rising.

Circle your answer and what evidence can you use to prove your answer.

9. Look at the tracks in layer 9. If you were told that the tracks showed that the larger animal captured and ate the smaller one, would you believe it?

We would believe it. ______ We would not believe it. ______

Explain how your group was able to arrive at an answer.

10. based on the fact that the bone in layer 11 belonged to a dinosaur and that gamlonia trees were present at this time, which of the following statements is most accurate?

_____ Layer 11 was laid down just as the dinosaurs were getting started.

_____ Layer 11 was laid down about the time dinosaurs were starting to die out.

_____ Layer 11 was laid down during the middle of the dinosaurs' reign as the most dominant animals on
          Earth.

Explain what evidence your group could use to prove your answer.

11. The fossil jawbone in layer 12 represents an animal whose remains are known from only one other location. This other location is thousands of miles away, on another continent. Explain how the fossils came to be located so far apart.

12. Do you think the animal whose fossil jaw is in layer 12 was a plant eater or a meat eater?

Plant eater ______ Meat eater ______ How do you know for a fact?

13. When layer 7 was forming, was the area a desert, ocean, swamp, tundra, or prairie?

Layer 7 was a ________________. State your facts as to why.

14. If the area in which all of the layers occur is now mountainous, would you say that the fossils in layer 12 probably formed before or after the mountains pushed up?

Before ______ After ______ Your reasons are?