Fossil Layers Show Change Practice Test

Fossil layers show changes in life forms over time. A student draws this stratigraphic model (older at bottom, younger at top):

• Layer 1 (top): dinosaur bones
• Layer 2: flowering plant pollen
• Layer 3: dinosaur bones
• Layer 4 (bottom): fern fossils

The student claims: “Dinosaurs disappeared and then came back later because dinosaur fossils are in both an older and a younger layer.” Which evaluation is best supported by the evidence in the fossil layers?

Fossil layers show changes in life forms over time. A stratigraphic model (older at bottom, younger at top) is shown below.

Which prediction about an even deeper layer (older than Layer 4) is supported by the pattern in the fossil layers?

Layers (older  younger):

• Layer 1 (youngest): rabbit bones + grass seeds
• Layer 2: lizard bones + grass seeds
• Layer 3: lizard bones only
• Layer 4 (oldest shown): fish fossils only