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[] divergent boundary
[] convergent boundary
[] transform boundary
[] subduction boundary
[] none of these

Question 2: What fundamental geologic principle states that the oldest layer is on the bottom of a succession of sedimentary rocks and the youngest is on the top?

[] lateral continuity
[] fossil succession
[] original horizontality
[] superposition
[] cross-cutting relationships

Question 3: Which of the following is a trace fossil?

[] Roman coin
[] worm burrow
[] cast of a clam shell
[] dinosaur tooth
[] elephant tusk

Question 4: When sand and gravel are transported, their sharp corners and edges are worn smooth by a process known as:

[] sorting
[] selective transport
[] rounding
[] lithification
[] compaction

Question 5: The theory of natural selection was proposed by Charles Darwin and _____.

[] William Smith
[] Erasmus Darwin
[] Alfred Wallace
[] Charles Lyell
[] Jean Baptiste de Lemarck

Question 6: The name of the supercontinent that formed at the end of the Paleozoic Era is:

[] Laurasia
[] Gondwana
[] Panthalassa
[] Atlantis
[] Pangaea

Question 7: The current theory for the origin of the solar system is known as the:

[] Big Bang theory
[] encounter theory
[] evolutionary theory
[] planetesimal theory
[] solar nebula theory

Question 8: The largest exposed area of the North American craton is the:

[] Wyoming craton
[] Grand Canyon
[] Canadian Shield
[] American platform
[] Minnesota lowlands

Question 9: One indication of the presence of free oxygen in the Proterozoic atmosphere 1.8 billion years ago is:

[] continental red beds
[] animals much like those of the present
[] extinction of stromatolites
[] evolution of prokaryotes from protobionts
[] deposition of passive margin sediments in the Lake Superior region

Question 10: An elongated area marking the site of mountain building is a(an):

[] craton
[] platform
[] shield
[] epeiric sea
[] mobile belt

Question 11: What is the main economic deposit of a cyclothem?

[] evaporates
[] carbonates
[] gravels
[] ores
[] coals

Question 12: An exoskeleton is advantageous because it:

[] provides protection against predators
[] prevents drying out in an intertidal environment
[] provides attachment sites for development of strong muscles
[] provides protection against ultraviolet radiation
[] all of these

Question 13: The "Age of Fish" refers to which period?

[] Cambrian
[] Ordovician
[] Silurian
[] Devonian
[] Mississippian

Question 14: The Jurassic formation famous for dinosaur fossils is the:

[] Navajo
[] Chinle
[] Sundance
[] Morrison
[] Franciscan

Question 15: All carnivorous dinosaurs belong to the group known as:

[] theropods
[] ankylosaurs
[] mosasaurs
[] ammonites
[] gymnosperms

Question 16: The phenomenon in which the crust rises following unloading, as when glaciers melt, is known as:

[] postglacial response
[] progradation
[] neoglaciation
[] glacial maxima
[] isostatic rebound

Question 17: One feature of Late Eocene whales that indicates they had land-dwelling ancestors is:

[] incisors enlarged into tusks
[] an elongated body and small head
[] vestigial rear limbs
[] nostrils on top of the head
[] enlarged eyes

Question 18: Which of the following evolutionary trends characterize primates?

[] grasping hand with opposable thumb
[] stereoscopic vision
[] increase in brain size
[] change in overall skeletal structure
[] all of these

Question 19: The premise that present-day processes have operated throughout geologic time is known as the principle of:

[] plate tectonics
[] seafloor spreading
[] continental drift
[] organic evolution
[] uniformitarianism

Question 20: If a radioactive element has a half-life of 4 million years, the amount of parent material remaining after 12 million years of decay will be what fraction of the original amount?

[] 1/32
[] 1/16
[] 1/8
[] 1/4
[] 1/2

Question 21: Which one of the following might cause a marine regression?

[] subsidence of a continent
[] rapid seafloor spreading
[] rising sea level
[] widespread glaciation
[] extensive volcanism

Question 22: Which one of the following sedimentary structures is a good paleocurrent indicator?

[] lamination
[] current ripple mark
[] graded bedding
[] trace fossils
[] desiccation cracks

Question 23: In the classification scheme now used, and organism is referred to by its _____ names.

[] family and phylum
[] genus and species
[] order and class
[] subphylum and phylum
[] kingdom and family

Question 24: The driving mechanism of plate movement is thought to be:

[] isostasy
[] Earth's rotation
[] magnetism
[] thermal convection cells
[] none of these

Question 25: The atmosphere of Venus is:

[] thick and composed of carbon dioxide
[] similar to Earth's
[] nonexistent
[] thin, like that of Mars
[] none of these

Question 26: Earth's atmosphere was probably derived from volcanic gases, a process known as:

[] dewatering
[] photosynthesis
[] autotrophism
[] fermentation
[] outgassing

Question 27: The large landmass made up mostly of North America and Greenland that formed during the Proterozoic is:

[] the Wyoming craton
[] Gowganda
[] Ediacara
[] Laurentia
[] the Trans-Hudson orogen

Question 28: The Taconic orogeny resulted from what type of plate movement?

[] oceanic-oceanic convergent
[] oceanic-continental convergent
[] continental-continental convergent
[] divergent
[] transform

Question 29: Weathering of which highlands or mountains produced the Catskill Delta?

[] Acadian
[] Alleghenian
[] Antler
[] Appalachian
[] Caledonian

Question 30: The greatest recorded mass-extinction event to affect the marine invertebrate community occurred at the end of which period?

[] Cambrian
[] Ordovician
[] Silurian
[] Devonian
[] Permian

Question 31: The most significant evolutionary change that allowed reptiles to colonize all parts of land was:

[] endothermy
[] origin of limbs capable of supporting animals on land
[] evolution of the amniote egg
[] evolution of a watertight skin
[] evolution of tear ducts

Question 32: The first major seaway to flood North America was the:

[] Sundance
[] Newark
[] Zuni
[] Cordilleran
[] Cretaceous Interior Seaway

Question 33: Much higher than expected levels of iridium at a number of Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary sites is cited as evidence for a(an):

[] marine regression
[] meteorite impact
[] change in vegetation
[] episode of mountain building
[] Mesozoic ice age

Question 34: The Pleistocene Epoch began ___ years ago and ended ___ years ago.

[] 66 million / 24 million
[] 100,000 / 1,350
[] 1.6 million / 10,000
[] 4.6 billion / 225 million
[] 2 million / 4,000

Question 35: The only existing egg-laying mammals are:

[] therians
[] multituberculates
[] monotremes
[] diatoms
[] ungulates

Question 36: Which genus do humans belong to?

[] Australopithecus
[] Ardipithecus
[] Homo
[] Proconsul
[] Ramapithecus