Name: Date: Unit 4 Lesson 3
Can You Apply It?
Lesson Quiz: Rock Layers Record Landform Changes
Read each question. Circle the letter of the correct answer.
1. After examining the rock layers in 2. A class took a field trip to look at
one place, a class hiked a mile some rock layers and the fossils in
away and looked at another set of the rock. The fossils found in each
rock layers. How can they rock layer are shown.
determine if these rock layers are
the same age as those at the first
location?
A. by picking random fossils and
comparing them with those at the
first location
B. by comparing the rock types from
both locations to see if they are Which fossil is the youngest?
the same
A. trilobite
C. by trying to match all of the
rocks and fossils with those at the B. cow skull
first location C. clamshell
D. by using a rock guidebook to D. dinosaur bone
identify the rock types and then
match them to the layers 3. Scientists use fossils to describe
how environments on Earth have
changed over time. Which fossil
discovery represents a change in
the environment where the fossil
was found?
A. polar bear bones in Alaska
B. seashells in the sand at the beach
C. horse bones in soil in the prairie
D. fish in rocks on top of a mountain
Lesson Quiz 1 Grade 4 • Assessment Guide
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Name: Date: Unit 4 Lesson 3
Can You Apply It?
Read each question. Follow the instructions to answer the questions.
4. An archaeologist found fossils in the rock wall of a desert canyon. She found
fossils in this pattern:
• The bottom layer of rock has whale and trilobite fossils.
• The middle layer of rock has fern imprint fossils.
• The top layer of rock has snake and large lizard fossils.
Which statements are supported by the patterns in the rock layers?
Circle the letters of all of the correct answers.
A. This environment has always been a desert.
B. This environment used to have a sea but now is a desert.
C. This environment was first a desert and then became a marshland.
D. The rock layers act as a timeline of changes in the environment that scientists can
study.
E. The fossil evidence shows a change over time from an aquatic to a dry land
environment with little rain.
Lesson Quiz 2 Grade 4 • Assessment Guide
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Name: Date: Unit 4 Lesson 3
Can You Apply It?
5. The diagram shows three rock layers.
A scientist studying these three layers says that this area once was under the ocean.
She says that later the area was not covered by water.
Write your answer on the lines.
Explain the evidence that supports her statements about what happened at this place
over time.
Lesson Quiz 3 Grade 4 • Assessment Guide
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Name: Date: Unit 4 Lesson 3
Can You Apply It?
Directions: Read the passage, then answer the questions that follow.
Relative Ages
The Earth’s crust has many layers of rock. These layers hold ancient plant and animal
fossils. Scientists can often tell how old fossils are by comparing the rock formations
where the fossils are found. Scientists have located a formation of rock on a desert cliff
where they want to determine relative ages of various fossils but are having a difficult
time doing so because of some changes in Earth’s crust. A diagram of the rock
formation the scientists are investigating is shown.
Lesson Quiz 4 Grade 4 • Assessment Guide
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Name: Date: Unit 4 Lesson 3
Can You Apply It?
6. What evidence of motion inside Earth is recorded in this rock formation?
Draw a circle around the area where evidence of an earthquake is present.
7. The rock formation shown in the passage has fossils in some layers. Examine the
patterns in the rock layers.
Read each statement. Write your answer on the lines.
Describe what happened to cause the rock layers to have changed like they did in
the diagram.
Explain why it may be a challenge for scientists to determine the relative age of the
fossils in Layers X and Y.
Lesson Quiz 5 Grade 4 • Assessment Guide
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
