Why the fossil record has gaps, and what fossils say about past environments

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Drawing

   a shell on a sea floor being covered by mud.

2. 1.

   What two things most raise the odds that remains become a fossil, by Ari's reading (NPS)?

   • Lying on the surface for years
   • Slow burial and soft parts
   • Warm air and bright sunlight
   • Rapid burial and hard parts
3. 2.

   Why does rapid burial help a fossil form, by Bo's reading (NPS)?

   • Remains fossilize just as well when they are left lying on open ground
   • Burial turns soft parts to stone at once
   • Burial adds shells to the remains
   • Sediment shields the remains from decay, weathering and scavengers
4. 3.

   How likely is any one living thing to become a fossil, by Kira's reading (NPS)?

   • Very unlikely; the odds are very small
   • Certain, if it lived long enough
   • Very likely; most living things become fossils
   • About as likely as a coin landing heads
5. 4.

   A footprint in rock is which kind of fossil, by Jun's reading (NPS)?

   • A trace fossil
   • A preserved remain of the foot
   • A piece of amber
   • A body fossil, since a foot made it
6. 5.

   Fossil reef animals, such as brachiopods and crinoids, are found in limestone high in the Guadalupe Mountains (NPS). What does this show, by Noah's reading?

   • The animals climbed the mountain
   • The rock formed in a sea and was later lifted up
   • The fossils formed in the last 100 years
   • Sea animals once lived on mountaintops
7. 6.

   Most fossils are found in which kind of rock, by Pia's reading (NPS)?

   • Igneous rock cooled from deep magma
   • Rock from deep in the mantle
   • Metamorphic rock baked deep underground
   • Sedimentary rock
8. 7.

   A layer holds fossil fish and clams. Where did the layer most likely form, by Ren's reading?

   • Inside a volcano
   • Under water, such as a lake or sea
   • On a dry mountaintop
   • In a desert dune field
9. 8.

   Why does the fossil record have gaps, by Tala's reading (NPS)?

   • Scientists have already found each fossil there is
   • Gaps mean no life existed at those times
   • Few remains are buried fast enough to become fossils
   • Gaps mark times when the oceans dried up
10. 9.

    Which living things leave fossils more often, by Zee's reading (NPS)?

    • Animals of high mountains
    • Jellyfish with no hard parts
    • Sea animals with shells
    • Flying insects
11. 10.

    the middle one has no Q fossils. In one model layer, no fossils of animal Q appear, though layers above and below have them. What is the most careful reading, by Esme's reading?

    • Q vanished and later came back
    • Q did not exist at that time
    • The middle layer must be younger than both
    • Q may have lived then but left no fossils here