Deck 11: Late Paleozoic Earth History

Question 1

The Acadian orogeny was accompanied by the closing of the Iapetus Ocean.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The Iapetus could be considered the proto-Pacific Ocean.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Deltas prograde, or grow, when sea level regresses.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Anthracite is a bituminous  coal that has not been exposed to very much heat or pressure.

Question 5

Black shales are especially abundant from the Late Devonian to Mississippian in North America.

Question 6

The Ancestral Rockies formed via continental-continental collision along the western margin of North America.

Question 7

The Pennsylvanian and Permian periods in North America, correspond to the Carboniferous period in Europe and the rest of the world.

Question 8

The Carboniferous coal deposits of North America probably were derived from plants that grew in temperate climates.

Question 9

Global warming is caused in large part by the use of nuclear energy.

Question 10

During the Cambrian Period, the Ancestral Rocky Mountains and associated basins began to form in the western part of North America.

Question 11

Worldwide cyclothem activity in the late Paleozoic was likely a consequence of glacial and interglacial cycles on Gondwana.

Question 12

Late Paleozoic limestones are used for manufacturing cement.

Question 13

Cyclothems are the same as sequences.

Question 14

Panthalassa was a global ocean surrounding Pangaea.

Question 15

Laurentia and Baltica collided to form Laurasia during the Late Paleozoic.

Question 16

Coal is a detrital (clastic) sedimentary rock.

Question 17

The Middle to Late Devonian was a time of major reef-building worldwide.

Question 18

The Caledonian orogeny closed the Iapetus Ocean and merged Baltica with Laurentia.

Question 19

During parts of the Late Paleozoic the northern hemisphere continental masses were glaciated.

Question 20

During the Devonian period, North America was largely covered by an epeiric sea.

Question 21

The three major mobile belts in North America during the Late Paleozoic were the ____.

A) Appalachian, Ouachita, and Cordilleran
B) Kaskaskia, Ouachita, and Cordilleran
C) Appalachian, Silurian, and Cordilleran
D) Kaskaskia, Silurian, and Cordilleran
E) Appalachian, Ouachita, and Taconic

Question 22

During the Permian Period, the Permian Basin in west Texas was distinguished by____.

A) orogenies
B) volcanoes
C) very deep water conditions
D) coal beds
E) barrier reefs

Question 23

Continental Permian sediments indicate that Pangaea can best be characterized as a ____.

A) mix of arid and semiarid conditions
B) landmass covered by an epeiric sea
C) landmass completely covered by glaciers
D) lush and humid tropical rainforest
E) a mix lowlands and rivers

Question 24

The Catskill Delta has three times more sediment than the Queenston Delta. This indicates that ____.

A) Pangaea was not fully formed when the Catskill Delta developed
B) the Acadian orogeny was more intense than the Taconic orogeny
C) the Early Paleozoic Appalachians were taller than the Late Paleozoic Appalachians
D) the Taconic orogeny was more intense than the Acadian orogeny
E) the Acadian Highlands was well protected from weathering and erosion-

Question 25

Erosion of the Precambrian igneous and metamorphic core of the uplifted Ancestral Rockies produced thick fans of arkose and conglomerate.

Question 26

The characteristic type of sedimentary rock shed off of the Ancestral Rockies uplift blocks was black shale.

Question 27

Which environments would be represented in a cyclothem?

A) ocean trenches and island arcs
B) deltaic, fluvial, and continental shelf
C) lacustrine and fluvial
D) deltaic and ocean trenches
E) lacustrine and continental shelf

Question 28

During the Late Paleozoic, the southern part of Pangaea was distinguished by ____ climate conditions.

A) arid
B) tropical
C) arctic
D) temperate
E) tundra

Question 29

A small lithospheric block with characteristics quite different from those of surrounding rocks is a ____.

A) cyclothem
B) asteroid
C) passive margin
D) organic reef
E) terrane

Question 30

Which mobile belts were involved in the collision between Gondwana and Laurasia during the Carboniferous period?

A) Taconic, Appalachian, Hercynian
B) Taconic, Hercynian, Ouachita
C) Hercynian, Appalachian, Ouachita
D) Ouachita, Laramide, Sonoma
E) Sonoma, Acadian, Taconic

Question 31

____ commonly contain coal beds.

A) Abyssal plains
B) Tillites Coelacanths
C) Carbonates Placoderms
D) Cyclothems
E) Evaporites Bryozoa

Question 32

The coal deposits of Siberia were probably derived from plants that grew in arctic climates.

Question 33

What is the order of Paleozoic sequences, from oldest to youngest?

A) Sauk, Absaroka, Kaskaskia, and Tippecanoe
B) Sauk, Taconic, Kaskaskia, and Absaroka
C) Tippecanoe, Kaskaskia, Absaroka, and Sauk
D) Sauk, Tippecanoe, Kaskaskia, and Absaroka
E) Sauk, Kaskaskia, Taconic, and Absaroka

Question 34

Devonian barrier-reef complexes were associated with evaporite deposition in the back reef platform.

Question 35

Long scratches formed on bedrock when a glacier moves over a land surface are ____.

A) tillites
B) moraines
C) striations
D) drumlin
E) cirques

Question 36

The climate over much of Pangaea was ____.

A) warm and moist due to sea breezes
B) cool and moist due to sea breezes
C) arid due to a rain shadow effect caused by the position of mountain ranges
D) moist on the interior, but dry and arid along the shorelines
E) unable to be determined because the rocks were destroyed during subduction

Question 37

Throughout the Late Paleozoic, Gondwana was located ____.

A) at the North Pole
B) in the Northern Hemisphere
C) at the equator
D) in the Southern Hemisphere
E) spans the Northern Hemisphere and equator at the South Pole

Question 38

The sedimentary environment from which coal most commonly is derived is ____.

A) desert
B) shallow marine
C) swamp
D) Arctic
E) organic reef

Question 39

Economic mineral deposits of ____ are common in Carboniferous and Permian strata in the northeastern part of the U.S., where they formed as organic sediments (i.e., the remains of plants) deposited in wetland environments west of the Appalachian Mountains.

A) gold
B) uranium
C) platinum
D) coal
E) archaeocyathid

Question 40

The end of a cyclothem cycle is marked by an erosional unconformity on marine sediments.

Question 41

When Pangaea was assembled, the ocean surrounding it was the ____________________.

Question 42

The primary disadvantage of fracking is the ____.

A) large-scale nature of shale deposits
B) high cost of development
C) potential for groundwater pollution
D) large quantities of water used
E) noise effects of drilling equipment on nearby homes

Question 43

The two techniques that are most commonly used to mine coal are ____________________ and ____________________.

Question 44

The ____________________ ____________________ is a thick clastic wedge formed by mountains created during the ____________________ orogeny.

Question 45

Deposits in western North America and central Europe that indicate arid conditions on the Pangaea supercontinent include ____________________ and ____________________.

Question 46

The Ouachita Mountains are located in ____.

A) Oklahoma and Arkansas
B) Kansas and Texas
C) Oklahoma and Texas
D) Kentucky and Tennessee
E) Nebraska and Wyoming

Question 47

The first orogeny in the Cordilleran mobile belt was the ____________________ orogeny.

Question 48

Erosion of the Acadian highland resulted in deposition of ____.

A) reefs
B) fluvial sediments
C) evaporites
D) volcanic tuffs
E) limestones

Question 49

The Ancestral Rockies were unique because they were the only mountain ranges in North America to form ____.

A) via volcanism
B) via continental-continental collision
C) in a direction perpendicular to collision
D) via intracratonic deformation
E) in a direction parallel to collision

Question 50

The most abundant rock type deposited during the Kaskaskia sequence was ____.

A) the Oriskany Sandstone
B) carbonates
C) coal
D) igneous
E) arkose

Question 51

The aqueous environment during the formation of the Kaskaskian black shale was ____________________ in its oxygen content.

Question 52

When geologists identify coal, they know the past environment was a(n) ____.

A) anaerobic swamp
B) shallow sea
C) aerobic swamp
D) mountain
E) desert

Question 53

During the Mississippian, an epeiric sea covered part of North America. What type of rock deposit would provide supporting evidence for the sea?

A) granite
B) slate
C) schist
D) shale
E) coal

Question 54

Throughout the Late Paleozoic, North America was located ____.

A) near the North Pole
B) close to its present location
C) at the equator
D) in the middle to high Southern Hemisphere
E) at the South Pole

Question 55

With movement of Gondwana over the South Pole, extensive glaciation occurred during the ____.

A) Carboniferous
B) Devonian
C) Permian
D) Silurian
E) Ordovician

Question 56

The Upper Devonian-Lower Mississippian _________________ _________________ of North America are typically noncalcareous, thinly bedded, less than 10 m thick, and rarely contain fossils.

Question 57

During ____________________ ____________________, high pressure fluid is injected into rocks to create cracks that will allow gas to escape.

Question 58

The mountain building event associated with intracratonic uplift in western North America during the Late Paleozoic produced the ____________________.

Question 59

The red color in red rocks usually indicates the presence of ____.

A) magnesium
B) carbon
C) silica
D) fossilized blood
E) iron

Question 60

____________________ consist of alternating layers of marine and non-marine rocks.

Question 61

What rock evidence leads geologists to conclude that much of Pangaea was an arid or semi-arid environment?

Question 62

Discuss the environment of deposition of the Late Devonian-Early Mississippian black shales. Describe the characteristics of black shales. Include some examples of formation names for these black shales.

Question 63

How did the sedimentary environments of the Kaskaskia sequence differ from those of the Absaroka sequence in North America?

Question 64

Discuss the environmental conditions required for the formation of organic reefs.

Question 65

Compare the Taconic, Caledonian, and Acadian orogenies in terms of the tectonic forces that caused them and the sedimentary features that resulted.

Question 66

Discuss the sources and formation of Late Paleozoic minerals. How are these resources used?

Question 67

Discuss the paleogeography and tectonic history of the Appalachian mobile belt.

Question 68

Describe the formation of coal deposits. What environmental conditions are required to produce these deposits? Why is coal important?

Question 69

Write a short essay describing and discussing cyclothems. What are they composed of and what do they indicate about the near-shore environment? Why are they distinguished by coal deposits?

Question 70

Discuss and describe the evidence for glaciation on Gondwana during the Late Paleozoic.