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Question 01

Which sequence is ordered from oldest to youngest?

a) Phanerozoic - Mesozoic - Silurian

b) Permian - Cambrian - Jurassic

c) Miocene - Silurian - Triassic

d) Ordovician - Carboniferous - Oligocene

Question 02

Which sequence is ordered from earliest origin to latest origin?

a) Oxygen - Hydrogen - Iron

b) Nitrogen - Helium - Hydrogen

c) Hydrogen - Carbon - Zinc

d) Phosphorus - Lithium - Sulfur

Question 03

Which series of origins is in correct sequence first to last?

a) Insects - Frogs - Mosquitoes - Orchids

b) Mammals - Fungi - Land Plants

c) Homeothermy - Multicellularity - Photosynthesis

d) Fish - Bats - Crocodiles

Question 04

Which of the following statements is correct?

a) Ferns and mosses originated in the Silurian and radiated in the Devonian.

b) Angiosperms originated in the Jurassic and radiated in the Cretaceous.

c) Mollusks originated in the Silurian and radiated in the Devonian.

d) Arthropods originated in the Devonian and radiated in the Carboniferous.

Question 05

Which of the following statements is correct?

a) The North American accretionary belt was part of Pangaea.

b) The continental cratons are older than the current continents.

c) Terranes are regions of smooth plains and gentle rivers.

d) All of North America accreted from island arcs and ribbon continents born on drifting crustal plates within the last 450 million years.

Question 06

Which of the following features of the Earth is not important to life as we know it?

a) The existence of an atmosphere.

b) Abundant surface water in liquid state.

c) A rich supply of water-soluble ions and simple compounds.

d) Free hydrogen in the atmosphere.

Question 07

Which of the following does not happen when increased heat flow from the Earth's interior causes more rapid sea-floor spreading at the Mid-Ocean Ridge?

a) Continents drift more rapidly.

b) The inflation of the Mid-Ocean Ridge causes sea levels to rise, flooding the low-lying parts of the continents.

c) Rainfall increases in temperate regions.

d) Volcanic eruptions become more frequent and more violent at the continental borders of subduction zones.

Question 08

The geographical distribution of which of the following lineages suggests the prior existence of the southern continent Gondwana?

a) Tree ferns and colubrid snakes.

b) Ratites, Nothofagus, and Araucaria.

c) Proboscideans, cichlids, and pines.

d) Hylid frogs, basidiomycetes, and suboscine birds.

Question 09

Which of the following is not a consequence of continental glaciation?

a) Ocean levels dropped exposing large regions of continental shelf.

b) Areas that are now islands were connected to continents.

c) Terrestrial organisms at high latitudes had to move towards the equator or go extinct.

d) Volcanoes erupted more frequently because of the weight of the ice pressing on the Earth's crust.

Question 10

How many mass extinctions have occurred in the history of life?

a) At least 5

b) More than 20

c) 3

d) Just 1

Question 11

What was the probable cause of the Permian mass extinction?

a) A meteorite impact.

b) A reversal the Earth's magnetic field.

c) The release of stored gas from the world ocean caused by the breakup of Pangaea coupled with gas emissions from massive volcanic eruptions in Siberia leading to warming and poisoning of the global environment.

d) A nearby supernova.

Question 12

Evidence that a meteorite impact contributed to the end-Cretaceous extinction does not include which of the following statements?

a) Dinosaur fossils with shock quartz projectiles embedded in their skulls.

b) Widely scattered soot deposits suggesting hemispheric fires.

c) A large impact crater of precisely the right age.

d) A spike in iridium concentrations right at the Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary.

Question 13

If a large meteorite impacted the Earth in the middle of the North Pacific, the maximum expected height of the resulting tsunami as experienced halfway around the world in Madagascar would be:

a) 10 meters

b) 1 meter

c) 1000 meters

d) 100 meters

Question 14

What are two of the major contributions bacteria have made to the planet on a geological scale?

a) Disease and soil.

b) Carbon dioxide and hydrogen in the atmosphere.

c) Oxygen in the atmosphere and much of the ore deposits of the planet.

d) River deltas and clean water.

Question 15

99.9% of the carbon on the planet is now to be found in:

a) the atmosphere.

b) the water in the ocean.

c) lava flows.

d) sedimentary rock.

Question 16

The history of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide in the Phanerozoic suggests that:

a) it was much colder 450 million years ago.

b) the average surface temperature of the planet might have been cooler than it now is in part of the Permian.

c) today's average surface temperature is unusually warm.

d) life has never experienced conditions comparable to those likely to result from anthropogenic global warming.

Question 17

After the Permian and Cretaceous mass extinctions, it took how long for the biodiversity of the planet to recover to pre-extinction levels?

a) Hundreds of years.

b) Thousands of years.

c) Millions of years.

d) Several tens of millions of years.

Question 18

What mechanism causes giant floods from lakes formed by glacial dams?

a) The melting of the glacier.

b) The destruction of the dams by earthquakes elicited from the lubrication of existing faults by groundwater penetrating from the glacial lake.

c) The fact that ice is lighter than and floats on water when water is present in sufficient depth.

d) Tectonic separation of the canyon walls forming the boundary of the glacial dam.

Oxford University Press, Online Resource Centre, Chapter 16.

Chapter 16

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