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Two Notches on the Switchstone Trail worksheet preview

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Two Notches on the Switchstone Trail

Compare fossils and rock layers at two mountain-trail stops to explain past landscapes and evaluate claims about change.

Grade 4ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to4-ESS1-1

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What’s included

  • Single worksheet
  • Auto-graded online
  • 1 NGSS standard
  • Printable answer key
  • 13 questions
  • Classroom-ready

Details

Format
Interactive · Printable
Grade
Grade 4
Subject
Science
Question types
Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

  • Students use layer order and fossil evidence to explain changes in past landscapes.
  • Students compare rock records at two places to identify shared patterns and limits of the evidence.

How to use

Read the field notes together and identify the top and bottom of each record. Have students use specific layers as evidence when comparing the two places.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

4-ESS1-1

Use patterns in rock layers and fossils to explain how a landscape changed over time.

Preview

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Name Date

Two Notches on the Switchstone Trail

Compare rock-layer records to uncover a mountain landscape’s past.

Read the Field Records

Read the notes. Use the fossil guide and layer order to answer the questions.

Field Notes from Two Trail Notches

A hiking club is preparing signs for the Switchstone Trail. The trail passes two openings in a rocky mountain ridge: West Notch and East Notch. Both places are high above the sea today. A geologist studies the exposed rock from safe viewing areas. She records each layer’s rock type, thickness, and fossils. These records will help the club describe the area’s past.

The layers at both notches are flat and have not been turned upside down. In each stack, a lower layer formed before a layer above it. Thickness tells how much rock is present, not how old it is or how long it took to form. The geologist finds no signs that the fossils were carried in from a different environment.

Fossil guide: The coral and clam kinds found here lived in saltwater seas. The snail and water-plant kinds found here lived in freshwater ponds. Branching root traces in their growing positions, together with land-plant leaf fossils, are evidence of plants growing in soil on land. A fossil’s identity matters: different kinds of snails or clams can live in different environments.

West Notch — top to bottom
W3: Gray mudstone, 20 centimeters thick; freshwater-snail and water-plant fossils.
W2: Reddish mudstone, 35 centimeters thick; branching root traces in growing positions and land-plant leaf fossils.
W1: Limestone, 55 centimeters thick; coral and saltwater-clam fossils.

East Notch — top to bottom
E4: Limestone, 15 centimeters thick; coral and saltwater-clam fossils.
E3: Gray mudstone, 25 centimeters thick; freshwater-snail and water-plant fossils.
E2: Reddish mudstone, 70 centimeters thick; branching root traces in growing positions and land-plant leaf fossils.
E1: Limestone, 40 centimeters thick; coral and saltwater-clam fossils.

The notes do not give ages in years. They also do not explain why West Notch has no limestone above W3. Rock might not have formed there during a later time, or later rock might have worn away. More evidence would be needed to choose between those explanations.

1.
What does the position of W1 tell you about its age compared with W3?
  • A. W1 is younger because it is farther from the surface.
  • B. W1 is older because it lies below W3.
  • C. W1 is the same age because both contain fossils.
  • D. W1 is younger because it is the thicker layer.
2.
Match each group of fossil clues to the environment it supports.
  1. Coral and the saltwater-clam kinds in the notes
  2. Roots in growing positions and land-plant leaves
  3. The freshwater snails and water plants in the notes
  1. A. Freshwater pond
  2. B. Saltwater sea
  3. C. Land with plants growing in soil

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