Quiz 4, TOPIC POOL with some comments
Precambrian to Cenozoic
Geology 1200
Here are my selections for possible Quiz 4 topics. I will select 27 of these
topics and rewrite them form aspects of the same topic.
1) Early in the Hadean we think Earth was hit by a Mars-sized rock. The pieces fell back
together. In the exchange of rocks, our Moon was formed. The Moon got
(a) more of the Iron and Nickel, and so a bigger core, stronger magnetic field, and thicker
atmosphere, compared to Earth.
(b) less of the Iron and Nickel, and so a smaller core, weaker magnetic field, and no
appreciable atmosphere, compared to Earth
2) The most common sedimentary rock in the Archean was
(a) Limestone.
(b) Chert.
3) At the beginning of the Paleozoic, the largest continent was
a) Gondwana.
b) Avalonia
4) In the Ordovician Period, ice sheets covered:
a) Laurentia
b) Gondwana
5) In the late Permian, the continent of Pangaea was ice-free because warm equatorial waters
from the Panthalassa Ocean reached both poles.
a) True
b) False
6) The folding and faulting that formed the Appalachian Mountains was caused by several
collisions. The strongest was the Allegheny Orogeny during the Carboniferous and Permian.
During that huge collision, we were hit by
a) Avalonia
b) Africa
7) A mudstone overlain by a quartz-rich sandstone (coarsening upward) is evidence of
a) Regression
b) Transgression
8) During the “Cambrian explosion” a great diversity of fossilized life forms was suddenly
visible. An abundant of animals with hard shells/exoskeletons were present, and the hard
shells left fossil impressions in the sediment. The hard shells provided the animals with, for
example
(a) better protection from predators
(b) better protection from the Sun’s rays
(c) probably both of these and more
9)
Ammonites, a type of Cephalopod related to octopi and squids, became extinct at the end of
the
(a) Permian
(b) Cretaceous
(c) Cambrian
10) The earliest fish were
a) jawless
b) had sharp teeth
11) The earliest seed-bearing plants were the:
(a) angiosperms.
(b) seed ferns.
12) Amphibians must reproduce and spend their juvenile stage
a) in water.
b) on land
13) The Permian reptile Dimetrodon had a prominent dorsal fin (aka “sail). It belonged to a
group called pelycosaurs, which had legs positioned more beneath the body than other
reptiles of the time. They also had more differentiated teeth, with skull, ear and lower jaw
structure more like therapsids. Dimetrodon was a
a) dinosaur
b) mammal-like reptile
14) Which of the following tectonic events was characterized by volcanic arcs above a
subduction zone?
(a) the Nevadan Orogeny.
(b) the Sevier Orogeny.
(c) the Laramide Orogeny.
15) Sediments of the Great Valley of California formed:
(a) as a forearc basin.
(b) as an accretionary wedge.
(c) as a volcanic arc.
16) Rugose corals and trilobites lived during
a) The Mesozoic
b) The Paleozoic
17) Angiosperms (aka “Flowering Plants) can be distinguished from other plants by their
flowers. They first appear in the
(a) Late Devonian
(b) Early Cretaceous
18) Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) must always use the wind to spread their pollen.
a) True
b) False
c) .
19) Mammals evolved from:
(a) therapsids
(b) dinosaurs
20) Saurischians are dinosaurs that have a pelvis in which the ilium, ischium, and pubis are
pointed in three different directions. Examples of Saurischian dinosaurs are the
(a) Theropods and Sauropods
(b) Ceratopsians, Stegosaurs, and duck-bills
21) Adult Sauropods could walk on the land.
a) True
b) False
22) Pterosaurs had many adaptations for flight including hollow bones and wings of skin
stretched between the fourth finger and the body.
a) True
b) False
23) The worldwide ash layer marking the K\T boundary has high levels of Iridium and shocked
quartz. The largest piece of meteorite seems to have struck Earth near
a) Perth in Australia
b) the Yucatan in Mexico
c) British Columbia in Canada
24) The Antarctic Circumpolar Current keeps warm ocean waters away from Antarctica. It
formed around Antarctica during the
a) Oligocene
b) Silurian
25) Nappes are produced by:
(a) rifting of continents.
(b) collisional folding and thrust faulting.
26) About 5.5 mya the Strait of Gibraltar closed and the Mediterranean became an isolated basin.
As a consequence 2,000 meters of gypsum and halite (salt rock) were deposited on the basin
floor.
(a) True
(b) False
27) In the Pliocene Epoch, a three-way rift (Triple Junction) opened between Africa and Arabia,
forming:
(a) the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Great Rift Valley of Africa
(b) the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Algerian rift
(c) The Indian Ocean, The Ganges Rift, and the Bay of Bengal
28) The warm climate of the Early Eocene was indicated by fossils of:
(a) tropical plants near the equator.
(b) tropical plants near the polar regions.
(c) tropical plants in the high latitudes. Fan Palms, tropical fish
(d) tropical plants in the deserts.
29) Formation of the Gulf Stream can be attributed to:
(a) the land bridge between North and South America. i.e. the volcanoes above a
subduction zone that formed Panama
(b) the separation between Antarctica and Australia.
(c) the separation between Antarctica and South America.
(d) the land bridge between Asia and North America.
30) Glacial advances are indicated by all of the deposits below EXCEPT:
(a) till.
(b) outwash deposits, including Loess.
(c) overrun moraines called drumlins.
(d) soils containing plant debris. nearly all soils contain plant debris
31) All of the following stages represent glacial advances EXCEPT:
(a) Illinoian.
(b) Nebraskan.
(c) Sangamon.
(d) Wisconsinan.
32) During glacial stages, the proportion of 18O isotope compared to 16O isotope in ocean water
is:
(a) about the same as in interglacial stages.
(b) greater than during interglacial stages.
(c) less than during interglacial stages.
(d) unknown.
33) The transitional period between the end of a glacial stage and the onset of an interglacial
stage can last:
(a) about 100,000 years.
(b) from 10,000 to 15,000 years.
(c) a few tens of years.
(d) there is insufficient evidence to predict the time interval.
34) The close proximity of glaciers in western North America caused normally dry regions to
form:
(a) large rivers.
(b) extensive wetlands.
(c) pluvial lakes.
(d) widespread karst.
35) The largest ice sheet in North America covered almost all of:
(a) Alaska.
(b) Canada.
(c) Greenland.
(d) Scandinavia.
36) The glacial stage for which standard radiocarbon dating can be applied is the:
(a) Kansan.
(b) Nebraskan.
(c) Illinoian.
(d) Wisconsinan.
37) Evaporation of Lake Bonneville left behind:
(a) salt flats and a very salty lake.
(b) an epeiric sea extending from the Gulf.
(c) a rift valley sequence.
(d) an accretionary wedge.
38) All of the following represent the effects of lowered sea level EXCEPT:
(a) river valleys cut down into the continental shelf.
(b) continental shelves with forests and animal populations.
(c) formation of land bridges.
(d) glacial rebound.
39) The Holocene period of global warmth, which exceeded that of today was the:
(a) Medieval warm period, between A. D. 900 and A. D. 1300. ****
(b) Sangamon interglacial stage, between 125,000 and 75,000 years ago.
(c) Yarmouth interglacial stage, between 300,000 and 265,000 years ago.
(d) Aftonian interglacial stage, between 500,00 and 435,000 years ago.
40) The Holocene period of global cooling, which exceeded that of today was the:
(a) Little Ice Age, between A. D. 1300 and A. D. 1850. ****
(b) Wisconsinan glacial stage, between 75,000 and 10,000 years ago.
(c) Illinoian glacial stage, between 265,000 and 125,000 years ago.
(d) Kansan glacial stage, between 435,000 and 300,000 years ago.
A series of questions about end of Era extinctions, Trilobites, Rugosan corals, marine reptiles,
dinosaurs pterosaurs, plus the end of Pleistocene large mammal extinctions
41) A continental hot spot beneath western North America has been implicated in the formation
of all the features below EXCEPT:
(a) Columbia Plateau.
(b) Snake River Plain.
(c) Cascade volcanoes. No, these are a volcanic arc above a subduction zone
(d) Yellowstone Plateau.
42) All of the following statements describe the structure of the Basin and Range province
EXCEPT:
(a) the crust here is the thickest in any part of the Cordillera. this is wrong
(b) the narrow mountain ranges are bounded by normal faults.
(c) these mountain ranges were formed by extensional forces.
(d) breakup of the Farallon plate beneath the continent caused upwelling and stretched the
crust.
(e) I added in class: restoration of a steeper subduction angle and partial melting of the
mantle
43) The formation of the San Andreas transform involved the nearly complete subduction of the:
(a) Juan de Fuca plate.
(b) Farallon plate.
(c) Cocos plate.
(d) the Nazca plate.
44) All of the following statements concerning the San Andreas transform are true EXCEPT:
(a) the total offset on the San Andreas transform is 315 kilometers.
(b) the San Andreas transform moves 2 centimeters per year.
(c) San Francisco and Los Angeles will both fall into the ocean in 30 million years.
(d) the Juan de Fuca ridge and the East Pacific Rise are connected by the San Andreas
transform.
45) All of the following regions were covered by Early Tertiary transgressions EXCEPT:
(a) New England.
(b) the Mississippi River valley.
(c) the Gulf Coastal Plain.
(d) the Atlantic Coastal Plain.
46) The modern rise of sea level is due to all of the following EXCEPT:
(a) thinning of the Greenland ice sheet.
(b) melting of alpine glaciers.
(c) expansion of oceanic surface waters as they warm.
(d) increased rates of seafloor spreading.
47) Which of the following is NOT a product of glacial deposition?
a) Manhattan Island.
b) Cape Cod.
c) Long Island
48) The Green River Formation of Eocene age in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado represents a(n):
a) varved pluvial lake.
b) abyssal plain.
c) arctic coastal plain.
d) exceptionally large subtropical lake. I’ll probably ask about fossils, climate
49) The warm, tropical climate of the Eocene Epoch is supported by all of the following
EXCEPT:
(a) fossil palms and ferns
(b) nearby glacial moraines.
(c) fossil crocodiles
(d) fossil subtropical fish.
50) Which of the following is NOT true concerning marine invertebrates of the Cenozoic?
(a) Ammonite cephalopods survived the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction to radiate still again.
(b) Bivalves and gastropods were little affected by the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction.
(c) Scleractinian corals returned to prominence as important reef-builders.
(d) Bryozoans came to be important components of modern temperate reefs.
51) The plants best adapted to the drier, cooler climate of the Oligocene, Miocene Epoch and
Pliocene epochs were:
(a) gymnosperms.
(b) seedless vascular plants.
(c) conifers.
(d) grasses.
52) The main difference between grasses and herbaceous plants is:
(a) grasses grow taller than herbaceous plants.
(b) grasses do not grow from the top of the plant.
(c) grasses require certain insects to pollinate.
(d) grasses produce more seed than herbaceous plants.
53) The Eocene bird Diatryma:
(a) was a sparrow sized seed-eater
(b) foraged for small insects
(c) consumed leaves from small trees
(d) was a huge flightless predator.
54) The remains of early mammals that are most likely to be fossilized are:
(a) limb bones.
(b) skull bones.
(c) individual teeth.
(d) individual vertebrae.
55) The high-crowned teeth of larger, later horses were a response to:
a) taller grass of the late Tertiary.
b) more abrasive, silica-rich grass of the late Tertiary.
c) deeper roots of the grasses in the late Tertiary.
d) a natural response to eating twigs and branches.
56) Which of the following statements concerning primate characteristics is NOT true?
a) Primates have five fingers and five toes.
b) Primates have laterally set eyes with a wide field of view.
c) Primates have hands with opposable digits for grasping.
d) Primates have front-set eyes with overlapping fields of view for accurate depth
perception.
57) All of the following are characteristics of hominids EXCEPT:
a) upright stature.
b) a flat face.
c) a large brain.
d) a distinctly long pelvis that is tilted forward.
58) The human-great apes divergence is estimated to have occurred sometime between 6 million
and 4 million years ago, based on:
a) estimated rates of genetic change in DNA between humans and chimpanzees.
b) remains of fossil chimpanzees dated at between 6 million and 4 million years ago.
c) remains of fossil humans dated at between 6 and 4 million years ago.
d) remains of both fossil chimpanzees and humans dated at between 6 and 4 million years
ago.
59) The australopithecines were apelike in all of the following features EXCEPT:
a) a large protruding jaw.
b) bony ridges above the eye.
c) long arms and shorter legs.
d) a short, vertically-oriented pelvis