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Earth's History Practice Tests

These Grade 8 Science practice tests cover geologic time, fossils, relative and radiometric dating, rock layers, unconformities, plate tectonics, seafloor spreading, past climates, mass extinctions, scientific models, and evidence used to reconstruct Earth's history.

Skills covered

  • Interpreting fossils, sedimentary layers, and the geologic time scale
  • Using relative dating and radioactive decay evidence
  • Explaining plate boundaries, seafloor spreading, and changing continents
  • Inferring past environments and climate from geological evidence
  • Evaluating models, uncertainty, and multiple lines of evidence

How to use these practice tests

Start by identifying the evidence described, such as a fossil, rock layer, map, or measurement. Then determine what the evidence can show about relative order, past conditions, geological processes, or the timing of an event.

For more Grade 8 Science practice, return to the Grade 8 Science category.

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Grade 8 Earths History Practice Tests

Practice Grade 8 Science questions about geologic time, fossils, rock layers, plate tectonics, Earth changes, and evidence of Earths history.

Choose the best answer. Use rock layers, fossils, geological processes, and scientific evidence to interpret events in Earth history.

10 Questions
0/10 Questions0 %
Correct 0
Incorrect 0
Unanswered 10
1. QuestionMultiple choice

What is the main idea of plate tectonics?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: A

The correct answer is Earths outer plates move over the softer layer below them..

  1. Identify the evidence: Determine whether the question uses fossils, rocks, layers, geological time, or a model of Earth history.
  2. Connect the evidence to time: Plate tectonics explains how large pieces of the lithosphere move and interact over geologic time.
  3. Check the conclusion: The correct choice is Earths outer plates move over the softer layer below them..

Plate tectonics explains how large pieces of the lithosphere move and interact over geologic time.

2. QuestionMultiple choice

What process inside Earth can help drive plate movement?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: B

The correct answer is Convection caused by heat transfer in the mantle.

  1. Identify the evidence: Determine whether the question uses fossils, rocks, layers, geological time, or a model of Earth history.
  2. Connect the evidence to time: Heat inside Earth can cause slow convection in the mantle, contributing to plate motion.
  3. Check the conclusion: The correct choice is Convection caused by heat transfer in the mantle.

Heat inside Earth can cause slow convection in the mantle, contributing to plate motion.

3. QuestionMultiple choice

What commonly happens at a divergent plate boundary?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: C

The correct answer is Plates move apart and new crust can form..

  1. Identify the evidence: Determine whether the question uses fossils, rocks, layers, geological time, or a model of Earth history.
  2. Connect the evidence to time: At divergent boundaries, rising material can cool and form new crust as plates separate.
  3. Check the conclusion: The correct choice is Plates move apart and new crust can form..

At divergent boundaries, rising material can cool and form new crust as plates separate.

4. QuestionMultiple choice

What commonly happens when an oceanic plate meets a continental plate at a convergent boundary?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: D

The correct answer is The denser oceanic plate can subduct beneath the continental plate..

  1. Identify the evidence: Determine whether the question uses fossils, rocks, layers, geological time, or a model of Earth history.
  2. Connect the evidence to time: Oceanic crust is often denser, so it can sink beneath continental crust at a convergent boundary.
  3. Check the conclusion: The correct choice is The denser oceanic plate can subduct beneath the continental plate..

Oceanic crust is often denser, so it can sink beneath continental crust at a convergent boundary.

5. QuestionMultiple choice

What happens at a transform plate boundary?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: A

The correct answer is Plates slide horizontally past one another..

  1. Identify the evidence: Determine whether the question uses fossils, rocks, layers, geological time, or a model of Earth history.
  2. Connect the evidence to time: Transform boundaries involve side-by-side motion and can produce earthquakes.
  3. Check the conclusion: The correct choice is Plates slide horizontally past one another..

Transform boundaries involve side-by-side motion and can produce earthquakes.

6. QuestionMultiple choice

What evidence supports seafloor spreading?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: B

The correct answer is Newer oceanic crust is found near mid-ocean ridges and older crust is farther away..

  1. Identify the evidence: Determine whether the question uses fossils, rocks, layers, geological time, or a model of Earth history.
  2. Connect the evidence to time: Patterns of rock ages and magnetic stripes on the seafloor support new crust forming at ridges and moving outward.
  3. Check the conclusion: The correct choice is Newer oceanic crust is found near mid-ocean ridges and older crust is farther away..

Patterns of rock ages and magnetic stripes on the seafloor support new crust forming at ridges and moving outward.

7. QuestionMultiple choice

How can the collision of two continental plates change Earths surface?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: C

The correct answer is It can compress and uplift rock to form mountains..

  1. Identify the evidence: Determine whether the question uses fossils, rocks, layers, geological time, or a model of Earth history.
  2. Connect the evidence to time: Continental collision can fold and uplift crust, building large mountain ranges.
  3. Check the conclusion: The correct choice is It can compress and uplift rock to form mountains..

Continental collision can fold and uplift crust, building large mountain ranges.

8. QuestionMultiple choice

Which event is commonly associated with sudden movement along a fault?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: D

The correct answer is An earthquake.

  1. Identify the evidence: Determine whether the question uses fossils, rocks, layers, geological time, or a model of Earth history.
  2. Connect the evidence to time: Sudden release of stored energy along a fault can produce an earthquake.
  3. Check the conclusion: The correct choice is An earthquake.

Sudden release of stored energy along a fault can produce an earthquake.

9. QuestionMultiple choice

What was Pangaea?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: A

The correct answer is A past supercontinent made of many present-day continents.

  1. Identify the evidence: Determine whether the question uses fossils, rocks, layers, geological time, or a model of Earth history.
  2. Connect the evidence to time: Pangaea was a supercontinent that later broke apart as tectonic plates moved.
  3. Check the conclusion: The correct choice is A past supercontinent made of many present-day continents.

Pangaea was a supercontinent that later broke apart as tectonic plates moved.

10. QuestionMultiple choice

What can matching magnetic patterns on both sides of a mid-ocean ridge show?

Please select an answer first.

Correct answer: B

The correct answer is That new seafloor formed over time as the plates moved apart.

  1. Identify the evidence: Determine whether the question uses fossils, rocks, layers, geological time, or a model of Earth history.
  2. Connect the evidence to time: Symmetric magnetic patterns record changes in Earths magnetic field as new crust spread away from the ridge.
  3. Check the conclusion: The correct choice is That new seafloor formed over time as the plates moved apart.

Symmetric magnetic patterns record changes in Earths magnetic field as new crust spread away from the ridge.

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