STRATIGRAPHY HOMEWORK QUESTIONS
1. Scientists estimate that Earth is about 4.5 billion years’ old
a. True
b. False
2. Which is the best analogy for the relative ages of three layers of rock?
a. A girl is 3 years older than her brother and 33 years younger than her father.
b. A girl is older than her brother and younger than her father.
c. A girl is 12, her brother is 8, and her father is 45.
3. Why are fossils rarely found in metamorphic rock?
a. The heat and pressure that forms metamorphic rock destroys fossils.
b. It isn’t old enough to contain fossils.
c. The minerals that make it up are so acidic they destroy fossils.
d. It forms too far underground for fossils to form.
4. Suppose you want to date rock found in undisturbed layers. Which law will help you determine which
layers are the oldest?
a. Law of Original Horizontality
c. Steno’s Law
b. Law of Unconformity
d. Law of Superposition
5. Suppose the sedimentary rock layers in an area you are studying are not horizontal. Using the Law of
Original Horizontality, what can you infer about how these layers came to be that way?
a. The layers were changed by geologic processes after they formed.
b. The layers were affected by geologic forces while they formed.
c. The area was mountainous during the time the rock formed.
d. There were earthquakes in the area at some time in the past.
6. Which best identifies the image to the right?
a. Fault Line
c. Syncline
b. Anticline
d. Unconformity
7. What is stratigraphy?
8. Describe the Law of Horizontality.
9. Describe the Law of Superposition.
10. What is the difference between an anticline and syncline?
11. What are the different cross-cutting relationships and how do these relationships help date rock
relative to one another?
12. How do index fossils help to date rock?