Deck 17: The Cretaceous World

Question 1

Among the changes listed below, select the Cretaceous change in Earth that did NOT occur along with the other three.

A) Mass extinction of life that eliminated large numbers of plant and animal species
B) Long interval of reversed magnetic field and no reversals of polarity
C) Change from high to low magnesium-calcium ratio in seawater
D) Global high sea level that inundated large low-lying areas on the continents

Answer 1

A

Question 2

__________ originated during Jurassic, but did not enjoy success until Late Cretaceous, when they expanded to include more than 100 genera.

A) Foraminifera
B) Modern crabs
C) Neogastropoda
D) Cheilostomes

Answer 2

D

Question 3

__________ were all herbivores.

A) Boring snails
B) Horned dinosaurs
C) Terrestrial crocodiles
D) Flying reptiles

Answer 3

B

Question 4

With the survival of one unknown taxon of __________ at the end of Cretaceous, the Cenozoic radiation of mammals was possible.

A) placental
B) marsupials
C) theraspidstherapsids
D) multituberculates

Question 5

By Late Cretaceous, only __________ and __________, which were once parts of Gondwanaland, remained attached to one each another.

A) Greenland; North America
B) South America; Africa
C) Antarctica; Australia
D) Africa; India

Question 6

The decline of brachiopods and stalked crinoids, which began during Cretaceous, was probably the result of

A) hiding in the crevasses in coral reefs during the day and only coming out at night.
B) diversification of modern predators, including crabs, fishes, and snails.
C) the ability to swim or to burrow actively as a defense against predation.
D) defensive spines or unusually heavy protective shells.

Question 7

Stagnation of mid-Cretaceous oceans resulted in

A) the deposition of organic-rich, dark muds in deep oceans and shallow shelves.
B) cold waters sinking and spreading along the seafloor toward the equator.
C) the development of tropical rudist reefs around the Tethys Seaway.
D) the end of a greenhouse world and the onset of a Cretaceous ice age.

Question 8

Cretaceous angiosperms, such as __________, tended to dominate in __________ environments.

A) grasses and ferns; volcanic
B) maples and oaks; tropical
C) palms; polar
D) sycamores; near-river

Question 9

Endothermy in mammals requires that they have

A) pointed, cutting teeth.
B) brains that are large for the body size.
C) a secondary palate.
D) two sets of teeth during life.

Question 10

During Cretaceous, planktonic __________ diversified greatly for the first time.

A) coccolithophores
B) foraminifera
C) diatoms
D) dinoflagellates

Question 11

The evolutionary step that allowed flowering plants to provide food for their seeds was

A) 18-month reproductive cycles.
B) double fertilization.
C) the development of seeds.
D) the speciation of the insects.

Question 12

Adaptive radiations of these two groups altered depositional patterns in the pelagic realm.

A) Foraminifera and coccolithophores
B) Coccolithophores and diatoms
C) Diatoms and dinoflagellates
D) Dinoflagellates and foraminifera

Question 13

During Cretaceous, the primary change among phytoplankton was the evolutionary expansion of the

A) foraminifera.
B) diatoms.
C) coccolithophores.
D) dinoflagellates.

Question 14

Hesperornis was a

A) marine lizard.
B) marine turtle.
C) diving bird.
D) encrusting bryozoan.

Question 15

By Middle Cretaceous, __________ became the primary builder of low organic banks on the shallow seafloor.

A) neogastropoda
B) rudists
C) hexacorals
D) cheilostomes

Question 16

New members of the Cretaceous pelagic food web that featured symmetrical tails, overlapping scales, specialized fins, and short jaws were called

A) ammonoids.
B) teleosts.
C) plesiosaurs.
D) mosasaurs.

Question 17

During Cretaceous, the birds were more like to the __________ that we see today.

A) vultures
B) shorebirds
C) songbirds
D) eagles

Question 18

Late Cretaceous was a time of __________ oceans and __________ polar climates.

A) cooler; warmer
B) warmer; cooler
C) cooler; cooler
D) warmer; warmer

Question 19

Sea level stood perhaps as high throughout __________ as at any other time during Phanerozoic.

A) all of Cretaceous
B) Early Cretaceous
C) mid-Cretaceous
D) Late Cretaceous

Question 20

The greatest change in terrestrial ecosystems during all of Cretaceous was

A) diversification of the angiosperms.
B) predomination of the conifers.
C) collapse of the gymnosperms.
D) dawn of the Age of Cycads.

Question 21

During Late Cretaceous, the Interior Seaway connected the

A) Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
B) Tethys Seaway and Atlantic Ocean.
C) Mowry Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
D) Gulf of Mexico and Arctic Ocean.

Question 22

Global evidence of terminal Cretaceous extinction occurs at the boundary between Upper Cretaceous strata and __________ strata.

A) Paleocene
B) Paleogene
C) Paleozoic
D) Proterozoic

Question 23

The Maastrichtian chalk seas of Europe completely covered the countries of

A) France and England.
B) Denmark and the Netherlands.
C) France and the Netherlands.
D) Denmark and the England.

Question 24

A typical Upper Cretaceous sequence of formations (from bottom to top) in the a depositional (transgressive-regressive) cycle of the North American Interior Seaway is

A) Graneros Shale, Greenhorn Limestone, and Carlile Shale.
B) Jurassic carbonates, evaporates, and siliciclasticssiliclastics, which are followed by Cretaceous deep-sea sediments.
C) Maastrichtian chalk, coarse limestones, and siliciclasticssiliclastics.
D) Morrison Formation, Dakota Group, and Mancos Shale.

Question 25

The rocks of the Yucatán Peninsula that were struck by the near-Earth asteroid 65.5 million years ago had a composition that directly resulted in __________ as a major consequence of impact.

A) release of carbon dioxide
B) global cooling from giant dust clouds
C) global warming due to wildfires
D) groundwater contamination and cenotes

Question 26

In the chalk seas of Europe and the U.S. Western Interior, the productivity of coccolithophores was greater during Late Cretaceous than any time in Earth's history, and this was due to the

A) general presence of oxygenated conditions on the seafloor.
B) very low ratio of magnesium to calcium in seawater during this time.
C) addition of fossil debris from bryozoans, arthropods, foraminifera, and others.
D) changing ratio of calcium carbonate to clay in the sediments.

Question 27

A change in the angle of subduction on the west coast of North America during Cretaceous resulted in

A) subduction of the Franciscan complex and associated igneous activity.
B) igneous activity in Nevada and Idaho.
C) Sierra Nevada volcanism.
D) decreased rates of westward movement of the North American plate.

Question 28

Early Cretaceous rudist reefs existed

A) along the east and west coasts of the Mowry Sea.
B) across northern Mexico and the U.S. Gulf Coast.
C) along the western margin of North America.
D) from Florida to Cuba and then up the eastern U.S. coastline.