Exam 8: Fossils and Their Place in Time and Nature

The Danish physician who developed the geologic principle of superposition,according to which rocks (and fossils)higher in a sequence are younger than those buried farther down,was:

The significant drying up of the Mediterranean Basin at the end of the Oligocene epoch was probably due to:

Historically speaking,scientists were able to provide relative ages for fossils before they were able to provide numerical ages.

The ratio of C3 to C4 plants in a paleoenvironment can be estimated using the ratio of two stable isotopes of which element derived from fossils or ancient soils?

The "supercontinent" that existed about 200 mya,from which the modern continents ultimately emerged,is called:

Which geological time period is referred to by geologists as the oldest portion of Earth's history,accounting for roughly 87% of that history?

Paleomagnetic dating relies on:

C4 plants are associated with open grasslands typical of tropical savannahs.

In an excavation you notice that near the surface there are multiple strata in which you find the remains of multiple trilobites with the same type of exoskeleton.Beneath this is a layer where you see an individual with this type of exoskeleton in addition to many with a differing type of exoskeleton.Farther beneath this layer you find multiple strata containing the remains of trilobites with the second type of exoskeleton.This indicates which of the following?

The chart that shows the different time periods in Earth's history and also indicates significant evolutionary events is called the:

While on a paleontological dig in the United Kingdom,you come across a completely preserved (including skin)extinct species of mammal within a bog.You note that for a mammal it is relatively hairless.In order to determine the adaptive significance of hairlessness,you must:

Which of the following is NOT one of the main methods for reconstructing ancient environments?

Rapid burial after death usually impedes fossilization.

The study of what happens to an organism's remains after death is:

The first logical step in a sequence of events that leads to the discovery and analysis of primate fossils is the:

The English surveyor who developed the technique of stratigraphic correlation between regions was:

A diagram (family tree)that proposes hypothetical ancestor-descendant relationships between species is a:

Which U.S.president reported the discovery of a fossilized ground sloth in Virginia to the American Philosophical Society?

If fossil species A is consistently recovered from geological deposits beneath layers containing fossil species B,then A is considered older than B.This relative dating technique is based on the principle of:

With a half-life of 5,730 years,14C dating is useful for dating carbonbearing objects as far back as: