Multiple Choice
Identify the
choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
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1.
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Basaltic clasts within the conglomerate have been
radiometrically dated to 50 million years ago (Eocene epoch of the Tertiary period). Is this a
reliable age for the conglomerate?
a. | Yes. | b. | No, this age is likely too old. | c. | No, this age is likely too young. | d. | No, basalt never contains minerals bearing radioactive
isotopes. |
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2.
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Buried erosional surfaces between parallel
sedimentary strata are termed ____________.
a. | disconformities | b. | angular unconformities | c. | nonconformities |
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3.
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Uniformitarianism is succinctly summarized by which
phrase?
a. | The future is the key to the
present. | b. | The present is the key to the
past. | c. | The past is the key to the
present. | d. | The present is the key to the
future. |
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4.
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In the area immediately surrounding an igneous
intrusion, a host limestone is locally metamorphosed to produce marble. Which of the following
statements is correct?
a. | The intrusive igneous rock must be older than the
limestone. | b. | The limestone must
be older than the marble. | c. | The marble must be
older than the intrusive rock. | d. | The relative ages
of the three units cannot be determined with the information
given. |
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5.
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Which gas found in today’s atmosphere was
absent in the Hadean’s and Archean’s?
a. | nitrogen | b. | water vapor | c. | oxygen | d. | carbon
dioxide |
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6.
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Tree-sized relatives of the living ferns, club
mosses, and scouring rushes were common in environments termed coal swamps during the ____________
period.
a. | Ordovician | b. | Carboniferous | c. | Jurassic | d. | Cretaceous |
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7.
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The Western Interior Seaway reached its greatest
level of continental inundation during the ____________ period.
a. | Ordovician | b. | Carboniferous | c. | Jurassic | d. | Cretaceous |
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8.
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North and South America have been physically
connected for the last ____________.
a. | 65 million years | b. | 5 million years | c. | 2.5 million
years | d. | 75,000 years |
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9.
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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 |
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10.
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Humans belong to a lineage of mammals called the
____________.
a. | carnivores | b. | primates | c. | odd-toed
ungulates | d. | edentates |
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11.
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The fossil fish Tiktaalik made headlines in
2005 because it ____________.
a. | was preserved with a hook in its mouth and represents
the oldest evidence of human fishing | b. | was the largest
shark ever recovered from the fossil record | c. | represents a
transitional form between more typical bony fish and terrestrial
vertebrates | d. | was found alive in
the modern deep ocean; previously, the fish was thought to be
extinct |
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12.
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Once an ancient mountain range is destroyed by
erosion, it leaves no detectable record, and therefore geologists can never learn of its past
existence.
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13.
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Oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere is derived from
____________.
a. | volcanic outgassing | b. | photosynthesis | c. | animal
respiration | d. | water from the
oceans breaking down into hydrogen and oxygen during
evaporation |
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