Deck 19: The Late Cenozoic World Before the Holocene

Question 1

Early during the Neogene ice age, glacial oscillations corresponded to the __________ cycle of Earth's axis of rotation, but beginning about 850,000 years ago, glacial oscillations began to follow a new periodicity related to the __________ cycle.

A) eccentricity; obliquity
B) obliquity; eccentricity
C) obliquity; precession
D) precession; obliquity

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Glacial minima result in phenomena such as

A) a poleward expansion of tropical species ranges.
B) depression of the land surface.
C) a substantial global drop in sea level.
D) ice spreading over half of the world's ocean area.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Neogene radiations of grasses and herbs ultimately stimulated radiation of the group of predators called

A) rats.
B) mice.
C) snakes.
D) songbirds.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The most recent glacial minimum, in which we live today, began about __________ years ago, and the previous glacial maximum was called __________.

A) 80,000; Sangamon
B) 11,700; Wisconsin
C) 41,000; Sangamon
D) 100,000; Wisconsin

Question 5

The same hot spot that exists today at Yellowstone was the source for extensive older basaltic lava flows of the

A) Sierra Nevada.
B) Great Valley.
C) Snake River.
D) Cascades.

Question 6

The Neogene volcanic arc associated with subduction of the Pacific plate is called the

A) Columbia Plateau.
B) Sierra Nevada.
C) Cascade Range.
D) California Coast Ranges.

Question 7

A group that was poorly represented before Neogene, whose radiation benefited from the seed production of newly developed herbs, is called

A) small mammalian herbivores.
B) horses and rhinoceroses.
C) passerine birds.
D) cloven-hoofed ungulates.

Question 8

Early Neogene saw the evolution of a group within the family Compositae, called the ________, that were very well adapted to invading open ground.

A) daisies
B) sunflowers
C) weeds
D) lettuces

Question 9

The modern ice age began during

A) Eocene.
B) Miocene.
C) Pliocene.
D) Pleistocene.

Question 10

The rate of southwestward movement of the North American plate over the Yellowstone hot spot is about __________ km per 1 million years.

A) 222
B) 22
C) 2
D) 0.2

Question 11

During the most recent glacial maximum, the latitude of Paris today was a __________, and during the preceding glacial minimum, it was a __________.

A) tundra; deciduous mixed forest
B) deciduous mixed forest; tundra
C) boreal conifer forest; continental ice sheet
D) continental ice sheet; boreal conifer forest

Question 12

At the end of the last glacial maximum, great discharges of water from melting glaciers burst through sediment and ice dams to form the

A) Rocky Mountains.
B) Grand Canyon.
C) Channeled Scablands.
D) Chesapeake Bay.

Question 13

In California's Great Valley, great thicknesses of siliciclastic sediment from the adjacent Sierra Nevada was deposited during

A) Miocene.
B) Early Pliocene.
C) Late Pliocene.
D) Pleistocene.

Question 14

A Neogene mammal predator group that expanded successfully because of the spread of grasslands was the

A) cheetahs.
B) antelopes.
C) elephants.
D) monkeys.

Question 15

The underlying cause of extinction of large herbivores near the end of Miocene was

A) the evolution of the grasses.
B) a drop in carbon dioxide levels.
C) the spread of the grasslands.
D) some molars that were too long.

Question 16

The key late Neogene event that brought about widespread changes in salinity and temperature of ocean waters-and thus the oceanic conveyor belt-was

A) a change in the trade wind belt.
B) the formation of the Isthmus of Panama.
C) the development of the Greenland ice cap.
D) the obliquity cycle of Earth's orbit around the Sun.

Question 17

The Neogene western North American area of north-south trending block-fault valleys and intervening ridges is called the

A) Rocky Mountains.
B) Basin and Range.
C) Colorado Plateau.
D) Columbia Plateau.

Question 18

Modern ice age glacial scouring resulted in

A) depression of the land surface.
B) U-shaped valleys.
C) lowering of sea level.
D) outwash plains instead of moraines.

Question 19

Which occurred first?

A) Uplift of the Colorado Plateau
B) Cutting of the Grand Canyon
C) Formation of the Columbia Plateau
D) Uplift of the Rocky Mountains

Question 20

The carnivorous whales appeared during

A) Paleocene.
B) Miocene.
C) Oligocene.
D) Eocene.

Question 21

Regarding the Neogene collision of India and Tibet that formed the Himalaya, which rocks listed below are the youngest?

A) Siwalik beds
B) Ophiolites
C) Accretionary wedge
D) Forearc basin sediments

Question 22

The Mediterranean evaporated almost completely near the end of

A) Pleistocene.
B) Pliocene.
C) Miocene.
D) Eocene.

Question 23

__________ is located not far from the front of the Himalaya.

A) The Ganges delta
B) Mount Everest
C) The Tibetan plateau
D) Indochina

Question 24

__________ form(s) a broad carbonate platform that lies to the west of the Caribbean.

A) The Lesser Antilles
B) The Yucatán Peninsula
C) Hispaniola
D) Cuba and Haiti

Question 25

Neogene clastic wedge deposits of the Himalaya are called the

A) Siwaliks.
B) Tibetan plateau.
C) Ganges Plains.
D) Indus floodplain.

Question 26

The genus __________ originated slightly before 4 million years ago and much later gave rise to our genus, Homo.

A) Sahelanthropus
B) Australopithecus
C) Paranthropus
D) Gorilla

Question 27

Australopithecus gave rise to the genus Homo about 2.5 million years ago for the following likely reason:

A) lack of advanced weaponry.
B) sudden climate change.
C) retention of the tree-climbing habit.
D) swift predators.

Question 28

The earliest known species in the genus Homo is approximately __________ years old, whereas Homo sapiens appears in the fossil record approximately __________ years ago.

A) 2.3 million; 1.4 million
B) 2.4 million; 150,000
C) 3.0 million; 2.3 million
D) 1.8 million; 15,000

Question 29

__________, an extinct species that was similar to, but has been shown to be separate from, our own species, branched from some common ancestor more than __________ years ago.

A) Homo heidelbergensis; 200,000 to 700,000
B) Homo antecessor; 780,000
C) Homo erectus; 150,000 to 200,000
D) Homo neanderthalensis; 500,000

Question 30

Heinrich layers in the sedimentary record show us that, during each 10,000- to 15,000- thousand-year cooling cycle over the past 80,000 years,

A) there was a sudden warming event occurred at the end of the cycle.
B) there were massive discharges of icebergs into the oceans occurred.
C) there was mass death of phytoplankton in the oceans occurred.
D) sudden global cooling can happen without a known reason.