Deck 16: The Early Mesozoic ERA

Question 1

Early Triassic diversification of the __________ seems to have issued from two genera that survived the end-Permian mass extinction.

A) mollusks
B) ammonoids
C) lacy bryozoans
D) gastropods

Answer 1

B

Question 2

In sustained flight, __________ tended to soar instead of flap wings.

A) Archaeopteryx
B) Allosaurus
C) Pterodactylus
D) Saurosuchus

Answer 2

C

Question 3

For a brief interval during Early Triassic, shallow subtidal environments flourished with __________ for the first time since early Paleozoic.

A) sea urchins and sea stars
B) stromatolites and thrombolites
C) hexacorals and rugose corals
D) lacy and other forms of bryozoans

Answer 3

B

Question 4

During Mesozoic, the __________ was the embayment of the sea that projected into equatorial Pangaea.

A) Mediterranean
B) Pacific
C) Gulf of Mexico
D) Tethys

Question 5

A feathered fossil once considered to be the oldest bird, but now is viewed as a feathered dinosaur, is named __________, and it lived during __________.

A) Saurosuchus; Early Triassic
B) Allosaurus; Late Jurassic
C) Archaeopteryx; Late Jurassic
D) Tyrannosaurus; Late Jurassic

Question 6

All __________ died out at the end of __________.

A) stegosaurians; Jurassic
B) therapsids; Triassic
C) saurischians; Triassic
D) dinosaurs; Jurassic

Question 7

During Mesozoic, the swim bladder, which evolved from the lungs of some fish, allowed fish to regulate their

A) breathing.
B) parasites.
C) buoyancy.
D) shell crushing.

Question 8

Although these reptiles evolved as terrestrial animals during Triassic, by earliest Jurassic they had become formidable, ocean-going predators related to the dinosaurs.

A) Plesiosaurs
B) Ichthyosaurs
C) Crocodiles
D) Nothosaurs

Question 9

The survival of only a small percentage of Permian species produced some strikingly wide biogeographic distributions of some very early Triassic fossils, including these fossils:

A) Claraia and Lingula.
B) Stegosaurus and Allosaurus.
C) Archaeopteryx and Pterodactylus.
D) Dapedius and Ceresiosaurus.

Question 10

_________ were the largest (physically), which were herbivorous saurichians.

A) Sauropods
B) Ornithischians
C) Thecodonts
D) Therapsids

Question 11

During Mesozoic, the __________ became the first reptiles to invade the marine realm.

A) placodonts
B) nothosaurs
C) plesiosaurs
D) ichthyosaurs

Question 12

The Mesozoic evolutionary legacy of the therapsids was the __________, which evolved from them near the end of Triassic.

A) ornithischians
B) mammals
C) dinosauromorpha
D) saurischia

Question 13

During Late Jurassic, the boreal realm was associated with

A) Antarctica.
B) Africa.
C) Arabia.
D) Europe.

Question 14

The most common fossils in Lower Triassic rocks are

A) rugose corals.
B) lacy bryozoans.
C) mollusks.
D) trilobites.

Question 15

Reefs did not recover from the end-Paleozoic extinction until

A) Early Triassic.
B) Middle Triassic.
C) Late Triassic.
D) Early Jurassic.

Question 16

__________ were major Mesozoic invertebrate predators of the seas.

A) Sea urchins
B) Bony fishes
C) Ray-finned fishes
D) Belemnoids

Question 17

__________ were an important planktonic algal group that appeared during earliest Jurassic.

A) Dinoflagellates
B) Coccolithophores
C) Belemnoids
D) Conodonts

Question 18

With the possible exception of the __________ family, all of the modern conifer families were present during Early Mesozoic.

A) ginkgo
B) pine
C) oak
D) maple

Question 19

By Late Triassic, reef-building had been taken over by

A) sponges and algae.
B) stromatolites.
C) hexacorals.
D) thrombolites.

Question 20

The most spectacular geographic development of Mesozoic was the

A) rifting of North and South China.
B) development of the Gulf of Mexico.
C) fragmentation of Pangaea.
D) effects of a large meteorite impact.

Question 21

Regarding Figure 6 in Earth System Shift 16-1, the body mass of a 25-year-old Tyrannosaurus is between __________ kilograms.

A) 1000 and 2000
B) 2000 and 3000
C) 3000 and 4000
D) 5000 and 6000

Question 22

The Palisades sill is part of the

A) Chile Formation.
B) Golconda and Roberts Mountains terranes.
C) Klamath Arc.
D) Central Atlantic Magmatic Province.

Question 23

Comparing Early Triassic and Late Jurassic paleogeography, shows that __________ have moved much farther north than Arabia during this interval.

A) Antarctica and Australia
B) North and South China
C) India and Africa
D) North and South America

Question 24

What U.S. state was completely submerged in the Sundance Sea?

A) Texas
B) Oklahoma
C) Arizona
D) Wyoming

Question 25

Select the line of evidence below that would NOT suggest that dinosaurs were warm-blooded.

A) In dinosaur communities, less than ten 10 percent of the individuals were carnivores.
B) Ecologic suppression of mammals suggests dinosaurs had endurance and speed.
C) Dinosaurs exhibited egg-laying behaviors such as positioning eggs in rows and then abandoning the nests.
D) There is an abundance of tubes exist in dinosaur bones, suggesting numerous blood vessels like similar to those in modern birds and mammals.

Question 26

During Middle Jurassic, North America began to break away from __________ following the same suture as the __________ orogeny.

A) Africa; Alleghenian
B) Europe; Hercynian
C) Africa; Hercynian
D) Europe; Alleghenian

Question 27

Before becoming attached to North America, the __________ was an accretionary wedge deposit that formed in a subduction zone off western North America.

A) Navajo Sandstone
B) Franciscan sequence
C) Morrison Formation
D) Sundance Formation

Question 28

During Mesozoic, coral reefs were largely restricted to

A) equatorial regions of the Pacific.
B) the Tethyan realm.
C) the Gulf of Mexico.
D) southern and northern Florida.

Question 29

The end-Triassic mass extinction is closely associated with

A) a sudden increase in the rate of subduction without volcanic eruptions.
B) emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province.
C) deposition of the Newark Supergroup across wide areas of eastern North America.
D) deposition in the Sundance Sea over wide areas in western North America.

Question 30

During Early Triassic, after the Antler episode of accretion, the __________ approached the Pacific margin of North America and collided with it, thus causing the __________ orogeny.

A) Eastern Klamath Arc; Antler
B) Golconda Arc; Sonoma
C) Franciscan mélange; Antler
D) Cache Creek terrane; Sonoma