Deck 11: A Biography of Earth

Question 1

The Hadean is a time in Earth history when ____________.

A) the first abundant shelly organisms appear in the fossil record
B) Earth's interior was so hot that any outer crust was likely being extensively remelted
C) stable continental interiors, termed cratons, first formed
D) the dinosaurs appeared and came to dominate large-scale terrestrial life

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The small cells of bacteria that lack nuclei are termed ____________.

A) prokinetic
B) prokaryotic
C) eukaryotic
D) analgesic

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Based on the figure below,in which eon did the percentage of continental crust increase the greatest amount?

A) the Hadean
B) the Archean
C) the Proterozoic
D) the Phanerozoic

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The oldest age-dated rocks or minerals found on Earth are:

A) stromatolites dated to 4.2 billion years
B) granites dated to 4.4 billion years
C) zircons dated to 4.4 billion years
D) quartzite dated to 4.4 billion years

Question 5

Which gas found in today's atmosphere was nearly absent in the Hadean Eon?

A) nitrogen
B) water vapor
C) oxygen
D) carbon dioxide

Question 6

A crustal rock dated to 150 Ma is how old?

A) 150 thousand years
B) 150 million years
C) 150 billion years
D) 150 zillion years

Question 7

A crustal rock dated to 1.9 Ga is how old?

A) 1,900 years
B) 1,900,000 years
C) 1,900,000,000 years
D) None of the above are correct.

Question 8

Earth's Hadean atmosphere had far less of which gas,compared to now?

A) oxygen (O₂)
B) ozone (O₃)
C) methane
D) Archean

Question 9

Earth is approximately how old?

A) 15 billion years
B) 4.57 billion years
C) 40 million years
D) 6,000 years

Question 10

The generally accepted scientific theory for the origin of our Moon involves ____________.

A) impact between Earth and a Mars-sized body during the Hadean
B) simultaneous formation of Earth and the Moon in neighboring parts of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago
C) gravitational capture of the Moon by Earth during the Hadean
D) gravitational capture of Earth by the Moon during the Archean

Question 11

Through geologic time,continents have drifted over the surface of Earth,but each continent has always been about as large as it is today.

Question 12

Look carefully at the figure below.Now,think why insects,reptiles and mammals might have appeared on the continents after plants.

A) There was not enough atmospheric oxygen for animals, etc., until the Devonian.
B) Land plants might have provided food and protection from the Sun.
C) There was not enough continental landmass until the Devonian Period.
D) The formation of banded-iron formations (BIFs) across the continents during the Silurian probably coincided with widespread iron poisoning of rivers and lakes

Question 13

A crustal rock dated to 150 Ka is how old?

A) 150 thousand years
B) 150 million years
C) 150 billion years
D) 150 zillion years

Question 14

Banded-iron formations (BIFs)were formed most abundantly during the ____________.

A) Archean Eon
B) Hadean Eon
C) Proterozoic Eon
D) Paleozoic Era

Question 15

Past greenhouse climate on Earth was associated with relatively high atmospheric levels of which gas?

A) nitrogen
B) water vapor
C) oxygen
D) carbon dioxide

Question 16

In the figure below,what are the areas encircled by the thick black lines?

A) orogens (areas of orogeny)
B) platforms
C) cratons
D) former shallow inland seas

Question 17

Earth became internally differentiated,with a metallic core distinct from the rocky mantle,during the ____________.

A) Archean Eon
B) Hadean Eon
C) Proterozoic Eon
D) Paleozoic Era

Question 18

Oxygen in Earth's atmosphere was probably derived from ____________.

A) volcanic outgassing
B) photosynthesis
C) animal respiration
D) water from the oceans breaking down into hydrogen and oxygen during evaporation

Question 19

A search of the Earth for Archean meteorite impact sites would probably yield a very incomplete record,for all of the following reasons,EXCEPT ________.

A) sea floor is younger than Archean and therefore won't show any Archean impacts
B) deformation at plate boundaries tends to destroy or obscure the "rock record" of prior events
C) erosion of mountains and highlands tends to erase portions of the "rock record"
D) isotopic and other evidence indicates that no significant meteorite impacts occurred during the Archean

Question 20

Stromatolites are layered structures that may be produced by the activity of ____________.

A) dinosaurs
B) methanogens
C) cyanobacteria
D) green algae

Question 21

The late Paleozoic Hercynian orogen is an event related to ____________.

A) uplift of the modern Rocky Mountains
B) uplift of the ancestral Rocky Mountains
C) assembly of the supercontinent Pangaea
D) assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia

Question 22

Huge dragonflies and tree-sized relatives of the living ferns,club mosses,and scouring rushes were common during the ____________ Period.

A) Ordovician
B) Carboniferous
C) Jurassic
D) Cretaceous

Question 23

The earliest forests containing woody trees appeared during the ____________.

A) Late Proterozoic
B) Early Paleozoic (Ordovician)
C) Middle Paleozoic (Devonian)
D) Late Paleozoic (Permian)

Question 24

The Caledonian,Acadian,and Alleghenian orogenic events all led to uplift in the region of the modern ____________.

A) Rockies
B) Appalachians
C) Alps
D) Himalayas

Question 25

The oldest terrestrial insect fossils are found in rocks from the ____________ Period.

A) Cambrian
B) Devonian
C) Permian
D) Triassic

Question 26

Geographically,a shield and surrounding platform together are ____________.

A) a low-lying region where Precambrian rocks crop out
B) a low-lying region where Precambrian rocks are covered by Phanerozoic sedimentary strata
C) a region of compressed rock located behind a volcanic arc at a convergent continental margin
D) synonymous with "craton"

Question 27

The Cambrian explosion not only produced an abundance of new animal species but also gave rise to the first shells,spines,and active swimmers.This suggests the important influence of ____________ in driving animal evolution.

A) photosynthetic organisms
B) atmospheric oxygen
C) carnivorous predators
D) filter-feeding organisms

Question 28

Why might abundant shallow (epicontinental)seas have contributed cooling to the global climate?

A) More sunlight would have reflected off the shallow sea floor and directly back into space.
B) Shallow-water marine life forms would have consumed more methane, a greenhouse gas.
C) Extensive growth of corals and creatures that grew hard skeletal parts would have removed the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the ocean-atmosphere system.
D) More iron oxides would have precipitated out of the shallow waters, creating banded-iron formations (BIFs), which are a greenhouse rock.

Question 29

Toward the end of the Archean Eon,____________.

A) the first abundant shelly organisms appear in the fossil record
B) Earth's interior was so hot that a solid outer crust, if present, was likely being extensively remelted
C) stable continental interiors, termed cratons, first formed
D) the dinosaurs appeared and came to dominate large-scale terrestrial life

Question 30

In the early Paleozoic,the majority of continental landmass was found in the southern hemisphere,and now the majority of continental landmass is found in the northern hemisphere.Why might this be?

A) rotation of the poles of the Earth's axis
B) the subduction of the former southern hemispheric supercontinent and igneous and tectonic construction of the newer northern hemisphere landmasses
C) conservation of energy, following the collision of an approximate 8-km-wide meteorite with Earth at the K-T boundary event
D) mantle convection, which rifted apart the southern supercontinent and caused most pieces of it to migrate northward

Question 31

Rodinia and Pangaea are supercontinents that assembled during the ____________ and ____________,respectively.

A) Hadean; Archean
B) Archean; Proterozoic
C) Proterozoic; Paleozoic
D) Paleozoic; Mesozoic

Question 32

The first amphibians lived on land by the late ____________ Period.

A) Cambrian
B) Devonian
C) Permian
D) Triassic

Question 33

A cratonic platform is ____________.

A) a low-lying region where Precambrian rocks crop out
B) a region where Precambrian rocks are covered by Phanerozoic sedimentary strata
C) a region of compressed rock located behind a volcanic arc at a convergent continental margin
D) synonymous with "craton"

Question 34

A shield is ____________.

A) a low-lying region where rocks older than approximately 1 billion years age crop out
B) a low-lying region where Precambrian rocks are covered by Phanerozoic sedimentary strata
C) a region located behind a volcanic arc at a convergent continental margin
D) synonymous with "craton"

Question 35

What may have brought an end to the nearly worldwide glacial episode called snowball Earth?

A) Oxygen released by sea-floor volcanism at mid-ocean ridges and hot spots resulted in increased ocean water temperatures.
B) The K-T boundary event took place.
C) There was increased photosynthetic activity by opisthokonts.
D) Carbon dioxide entered the atmosphere from volcanic eruptions.

Question 36

Cells that house DNA within nuclei are termed ____________.

A) prokinetic
B) prokaryotic
C) eukaryotic
D) analgesic

Question 37

The eon represented by abundant deposits of strata with shelly fossils is the ____________.

A) Archean
B) Hadean
C) Proterozoic
D) Phanerozoic

Question 38

The fossil fish Tiktaalik is noteworthy because it ____________.

A) was preserved with a hook in its mouth and represents the oldest evidence of human fishing
B) is the largest fossil shark ever recovered
C) represents a transitional form between fish and land creatures
D) was found alive in modern oceans; previously, it was thought to be extinct

Question 39

The late Proterozoic Grenville orogen is an event related to ____________.

A) uplift of the modern Rocky Mountains
B) uplift of the ancestral Rocky Mountains
C) assembly of the supercontinent Pangaea
D) assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia

Question 40

The Cambrian Period is a time in Earth history when ____________.

A) the first abundant shelly organisms appear in the fossil record
B) Earth's interior was so hot that any outer crust was likely being extensively remelted
C) stable continental interiors, termed cratons, first formed
D) the dinosaurs appeared and came to dominate large-scale terrestrial life

Question 41

An iridium-rich layer of clay,glass spherules,and shocked quartz grains strongly suggest that the K-T boundary extinctions were at least in part caused by ____________.

A) a long trend of global warming
B) a long trend of global cooling
C) worldwide explosive volcanism
D) the impact of a bolide (meteoroid or comet)

Question 42

The Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau were produced by the collision of ____________ with southern Asia during the Cenozoic.

A) India
B) Australia
C) Africa
D) Europe

Question 43

The Western Interior Seaway reached its greatest level of continental inundation during the ____________ Period.

A) Ordovician
B) Carboniferous
C) Jurassic
D) Cretaceous

Question 44

A fold-thrust belt is ____________.

A) a low-lying region where Precambrian rocks crop out
B) a low-lying region where Hadean and Archean rocks are covered by Phanerozoic sedimentary strata
C) a region of compressed rock located near a convergent continental margin
D) synonymous with "shield"

Question 45

Convergence along the Cenozoic western margin of North America gave way to rifting forces that created the characteristic topography of the ____________.

A) Coast Ranges
B) Basin and Range Province
C) Colorado Plateau
D) Columbia Plateau

Question 46

Dinosaurs first appeared during the ____________ Period.

A) Cambrian
B) Devonian
C) Permian
D) Triassic

Question 47

The Chicxulub crater is located in which country?

A) Mexico
B) Venezuela
C) Brazil
D) India

Question 48

The Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T)boundary event took place how many millions of years ago?

A) 540
B) 245
C) 65
D) 25

Question 49

Permian,Triassic,and Jurassic forests were dominated by large ____________.

A) angiosperms (flowering plants)
B) mosses
C) conifers and cycads
D) club mosses and scouring rushes

Question 50

What term or phrase would best apply to the letters A,B,C,D and E in the figure below?

A) accreted terranes
B) orogeny
C) superplume
D) K-T boundary event

Question 51

During which period did the Atlantic Ocean begin to open?

A) the Triassic
B) the Cretaceous
C) the Permian
D) the Jurassic

Question 52

Which flying creatures first appeared during the Triassic?

A) dragonflies
B) aerogekkos
C) archaepteryx
D) phytosaurs

Question 53

Once an ancient mountain range is destroyed by erosion,it leaves no detectable record; therefore geologists have very little likelihood of learning of its past existence.

Question 54

North and South America have been connected via the Isthmus of Panama for the last ____________.

A) 65 million years
B) 5 million years
C) 2.5 million years
D) 75,000 years

Question 55

The first mammals appeared during the ____________ Period.

A) Cambrian
B) Devonian
C) Permian
D) Triassic

Question 56

Where today would you expect to find rocks deposited by late Paleozoic glaciers?

A) United States
B) Siberia
C) South Africa
D) India

Question 57

The most recent interval of Quaternary glaciation gave way to warmer,interglacial conditions ____________ ago.

A) 1 million years
B) 200,000 years
C) 75,000 years
D) 11,000 years

Question 58

Tyrannosaurus rex,one of the largest carnivorous dinosaur species,lived during the ____________ Period.

A) Ordovician
B) Carboniferous
C) Jurassic
D) Cretaceous

Question 59

When did the human genus,Homo,first appear on Earth?

A) 200 million years ago
B) 2.4 million years ago
C) 100,000 years ago
D) 10,000 years ago

Question 60

The Mesozoic Era is a time in Earth history when ____________.

A) the first abundant shelly organisms appear in the fossil record
B) Earth's interior was so hot that a solid outer crust, if present, was likely being extensively remelted
C) stable continental interiors, termed cratons, first formed
D) the dinosaurs appeared and came to dominate large-scale terrestrial life

Question 61

Humans belong to a lineage of mammals called the ____________.

A) carnivores
B) primates
C) odd-toed ungulates
D) edentates

Question 62

The Miocene epoch saw the spread of which new vegetative zone?

A) Savannah grasslands
B) angiosperm forests
C) gymnosperm forests
D) tree fern forests

Question 63

When does the fossil record indicate that the first species of the genus Homo that used tools evolved?

A) 16 million years ago
B) 1.6 million years ago
C) 600 thousand years ago
D) 200 thousand years ago

Question 64

Which statement about Cretaceous paleogeography (shown below)is INCORRECT?

A) India lay much closer to the South Pole than it does now.
B) The Pacific Ocean was probably larger than it is now.
C) North America consisted of several very large pieces of land separated by shallow seas that were hundreds of miles wide.
D) Subduction of oceanic lithosphere between India and Asia had ceased.

Question 65

The earliest large,mobile life forms that may have been able to live and reproduce on land were amphibians.Most amphibians lay eggs.Why would laying eggs have been a logical step in the evolution of mobile life forms from sea to land?

A) Eggs have hard shells, which would have prevented predatory dinosaurs and early flying birds/mammals from smelling and eating the tiny new amphibian life.
B) Egg shells are opaline, which could have been dissolved by the growing reptile embryos to produce chemicals to create calcium carbonate skeleton as they grew.
C) Eggs contained chemically stable solutions from which growing life forms could reliably extract nutrients, in a manner resembling fish eggs laid in seas and oceans.
D) Egg shells would have provided sufficient protection from solar radiation to allow an embryo to grow without damage.

Question 66

During the Cenozoic Era,most large-bodied terrestrial animals inhabiting regions of temperate climate have been ____________.

A) birds
B) dinosaurs
C) mammals
D) crocodiles