Full Test Bank A Biography of the Earth Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11: A Biography of the Earth

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

11 A. Describe the tools geologists use to study the Earth’s history.

11 B. Outline changes that our planet underwent during its first 2 billion years.

11 C. Correlate key geologic events with the tectonic conditions and settings in which they formed.

11 D. Provide evidence for Proterozoic glaciations, and explain the concept of Snowball Earth.

11 E. Outline major stages in life evolution, and describe how the land surface changed as life evolved.

11 F. Identify supercontinents and mountain-building events (orogenies), and tie their occurrence to the geologic time scale.

11 G. Place the Age of Dinosaurs in the context of Earth history, and indicate the favored hypothesis for why it came to an end.

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Which of the following is the correct abbreviation for “millions of years ago”?

2. Which of the following provides evidence of past life and thus helps geologists understand how living things, and the environments in which they lived, changed throughout the Earth’s history?

3. Chalk rock containing fossils of algae and tropical sea creatures is found in southern England and other locations in Europe. What does this tell us about the past environment of that region of the world?

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

5. Which of the following best describes the Hadean Eon of Earth’s history?

6. From what did the Earth’s atmosphere during the Hadean originate?

7. The Late Heavy Bombardment at the end of the Hadean Eon was a time of

8. Which gas found in today’s atmosphere was absent during the Hadean and Archean Eons?

9. The earliest known rocks that are silica-rich (felsic and intermediate) date to the

10. Archean plate tectonics resulted in collisions and suturing of volcanic arcs, oceanic basalt plateaus, and rifts into buoyant crustal blocks called

11. There is a record of marine sediment deposition extending back to 3.8 Ga. This means that ______ has/have also existed since that time.

12. Stromatolites are layered structures produced by the activity of

13. Toward the end of the Archean Eon,

14. Oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere is derived from

15. Where would you be most likely to find an example of the earliest continental crust?

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

17. Collisions of continental crust blocks and fragments during the Proterozoic led to the formation of a single supercontinent called

18. The Canadian Shield is

19. The cratonic platform of North America is

20. Which of the following is true of the Earth’s glacial history?

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

22. The earliest known complex, multicellular life forms originated toward the end of the

23. The Great Oxygenation Event was a time in the middle Proterozoic when

24. The deposition of banded iron formations during the Proterozoic Eon tells us that large amounts of iron settled out of the ________ as the result of rising atmospheric oxygen concentrations.

25. The enigmatic fossils of multicellular organisms that arose during the end of the Proterozoic Eon are known as the _______ fauna.

26. The Phanerozoic Eon, with its widespread shelly fossils similar to groups of marine organisms living today, began in

27. The late Proterozoic Grenville orogeny in eastern North America is an event related to

28. According to the graph below, continental crust was mostly done forming by

29. The earliest forests containing woody trees appeared during the

30. During the Carboniferous Period, much of Laurentia (the ancestral North American continent) lay near the equator and experienced very high rainfall, leading to widespread swamps with dense vegetation. As a result, rocks from the Carboniferous Period in eastern North America commonly contain

31. The fossil fish Tiktaalik made headlines in 2005 because it

32. At the end of the Paleozoic, nearly all continental land masses were joined together into a supercontinent called

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

34. A warm climate and high sea level throughout much of the ________ resulted in a shallow seaway in western North America extending from the Arctic south to what is now the Gulf of Mexico.

35. The Chicxulub crater is located on which continent?

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

37. Dinosaurs first appeared during the ________ Period.

38. The first mammals appeared during the ________ Period.

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

40. The Mesozoic Era is a time in the Earth’s history when

41. During the Cretaceous Period there was globally very high sea level at a time of overall warm climates. What is the mechanism for creating this high sea level?

42. The most recent interval of Neogene glaciation gave way to warmer, interglacial conditions ________ years ago.

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

44. The Alps, the Himalayas, the Cordillera, and the Andes are mountain belts that resulted from orogenic events during the

45. The Himalayas were produced during the Cenozoic by the collision of Southern Asia with

46. Humans belong to a lineage of mammals called the

47. The Miocene Epoch saw the spread of which new vegetative zone?

48. 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.

49. During the Cenozoic Era, __________ rapidly diversified to fill the ecological niches left by the K-Pg mass extinction.

1. Describe how fossils can be used to interpret the geologic history of an area.

2. By the end of the Hadean, the Earth had a primitive atmosphere and early oceans. Contrast these with the oceans and atmosphere of today.

3. Why are rocks formed before 3.85 Ga so rare?

4. What is meant by the term “Snowball Earth?” What period of time in the Earth’s history does this refer to, and what were conditions like at this time? Support your answer with evidence.

5. What caused the buildup of oxygen in the atmosphere at roughly 2.5 Ga?

6. Present day orogens are identified by finding regions of high, rugged peaks. How can geologists identify orogens that have been eroded away? How might the age of these orogens be determined?

7. What major change took place on the Earth at the beginning of the Paleozoic? What is the Cambrian explosion?

8. What is an epicontinental sea? Why might an epicontinental sea form and then disappear? Are there any examples of such seas today?

9. During what time period did dinosaurs roam the Earth? What is the accepted theory for why they went extinct?

10. How does the cause of end-Permian mass extinction compare with the K-Pg extinction event? In which did more species go extinct?