1. What factors make it more likely that an animal will be preserved as a fossil?
2. What are the five main processes of fossilization?
3. A scientist wants to determine the age of a rock. The rock contains an index fossil and an ancient relative of a
living organism. Which is more useful for dating the rock, and why?
4. A 15th century farmer finds a rock that looks exactly like a clamshell. What did he likely conclude about how the
fossil got there?
5. Why didn't the early geologic time scale include the number of years ago that events happened?
6. Dinosaurs went extinct about 66 million years ago. Which period of geologic time was the last in which dinosaurs
lived?
7. Why are sedimentary rocks more useful than metamorphic or igneous rocks in establishing the relative ages of
rock?
8. Which is likely to be more frequently found in rocks: fossils of very old sea creatures or very old land creatures?