Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology, 11e (Tarbuck)
Chapter 22 Earth’s Evolution Through Geologic Time
22.1 Multiple-Choice Questions
1) The first primitive organisms on Earth came into existence approximately ________ years
ago.
A) 6,000
B) 550 million
C) 3.8 billion
D) 4.6 billion
2) Stars like our Sun (G2V – yellow dwarf) have a life span of roughly ________ years.
A) 1 billion
B) 4.6 billion
C) 5 billion
D) 10 billion
3) What geologic era are we in today?
A) Cenozoic
B) Mesozoic
C) Paleozoic
D) Precambrian
4) Which of the following eras covers the largest expanse of time?
A) Cenozoic
B) Mesozoic
C) Paleozoic
D) Precambrian
5) Which of the following is not one of the subdivisions of the Precambrian?
A) Hadean
B) Phanerozoic
C) Proterozoic
D) Archean
E) All of the above
6) When did the Big Bang begin?
A) 3.8 billion years ago
B) 4.6 billion years ago
C) 7.8 billion years ago
D) 13.7 billion years ago
7) What is the name of the theory that describes the formation of the universe?
A) Theory of Gravitational Attraction
B) Big Bang Theory
C) Theory of Continental Drift
D) Solar Nebula Theory
8) Which of the three most abundant elements in the universe has the highest percentage?
A) Lithium
B) Helium
C) Hydrogen
D) Iron
9) What environmental condition had to change before subatomic particles could come together
and form the first atoms after the Big Bang?
A) Pressure had to increase to force the subatomic particles together
B) Solar radiation had to increase to fuse the subatomic particles together
C) More interstellar material had to collect to have enough material to create atoms
D) Temperature had to decrease so the subatomic particles could join into an atom
E) All of the above
10) A(n) ________ is defined as a cataclysmic, explosive death of a star.
A) Supernova
B) Accretion
C) Planetesimal
D) Condensation
11) ________, meaning sun in the making, refers to the earliest mass that became the Sun.
A) Protoplanet
B) Solar Nebula
C) Protosun
D) Planetesimal
12) Which of the following gases was present in Earth’s early atmosphere?
A) Water vapor
B) Carbon Dioxide
C) Hydrogen
D) Methane
E) All of the above
13) Why is there no hydrogen and helium present in the atmosphere today?
A) These gases were burned off by solar radiation
B) The gravitational force of the Earth was not strong enough to hold them
C) These gases were consumed by rock-forming processes
D) Acid rain removed these gases from the atmosphere
14) Which process is responsible for the oxygen in the atmosphere today?
A) Photosynthesis
B) Outgassing of volcanoes
C) Weathering of carbonate rocks
D) Asteroid impact
15) ________ was a period of global glaciation that ended ~650 million years ago.
A) Wisconsin Episode Glaciation
B) Little Ice Age
C) Late Paleozoic Glaciation
D) Snowball Earth
16) How might atmospheric oxygen have contributed to Snowball Earth?
A) Creation of iron oxide deposits would have removed O2, resulting in cooling
B) The creation of the ozone layer reflected solar radiation, resulting in cooling
C) O2 combined with methane, which removed atmospheric methane, resulting in cooling
D) O2 combined with sulfur to produce sulfur dioxide, reflecting solar radiation and resulting in
cooling
17) What is the molecular formula for ozone?
A) O
B) O2
C) O3
D) O4
18) What percentage of carbon in the carbon cycle is taken up by the oceans every year?
A) 10%
B) 25%
C) 35%
D) 50%
19) How does the ocean remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere?
A) By creating calcium carbonate
B) By converting seawater to carbonate gas
C) By neutralizing the carbon dioxide with glacial ice
D) By converting it to a food source for marine animals like foraminifera
20) How do foraminifera remove carbon dioxide from the seawater?
A) By breathing it in and converting it to oxygen
B) By consuming it and creating carbonic acid
C) By consuming it to create calcium carbonate shells
D) By breathing it in to create carbonic acid
21) Scientific knowledge of many events of the Precambrian is limited because ________.
A) Metamorphism altered and deformed many rocks
B) Plate tectonics consumed many of the oldest tectonic plates
C) Many ancient rocks have been eroded
D) Any ancient rocks have been covered by a mantle of sediments
E) All of the above
22) How old is the oldest known rock on Earth?
A) 13.7 billion years old
B) 4.6 billion years old
C) 4.031 billion years old
D) 2.657 billion years old
23) Where is the oldest known rock on Earth located?
A) Ural Mountains, Russia
B) Slave Craton, Alberta, Canada
C) Gobi Desert, Mongolia
D) Dharwar Craton, India
24) The oldest known terrestrial material (included in a younger rock) dates back to 4.404 billion
years ago. Where is this material located?
A) Dharwar Craton, India
B) Slave Craton, Alberta, Canada
C) Narryer Gneiss Terrane, Western Australia
D) Grenville Terrance, United States
25) Due to a lack of terrestrial plants and specific animals, fossils fuels are not found in rocks
from which time period?
A) Mesozoic Era
B) Cenozoic Era
C) Precambrian
D) Paleozoic Era
26) Because of the original molten state of the Earth, it is likely that the first crust was ________
in composition.
A) Ultramafic
B) Mafic
C) Intermediate
D) Felsic
27) What is a craton?
A) The highly deformed, leading edge of a continent where subduction is occurring
B) The oldest part of a continent that has not been significantly deformed for 600 million years
C) An exotic terrane being accreted to a landmass
D) A down-dropped graben bounded by normal faults
28) The ________ of a continent consists of a core area of Precambrian rocks exposed at the
surface.
A) Shield
B) Platform
C) Rift zone
D) Plateau
29) The ________ of a continent consists of Precambrian rocks of the craton covered by a thin
mantle of sedimentary rocks.
A) Shield
B) Platform
C) Rift zone
D) Plateau
30) What was the name of the supercontinent that formed approximately 1.1 billion years ago?
A) Rodinia
B) Pangaea
C) Numa
D) Gondwanaland
31) Some of the most widespread Paleozoic fossils are ________.
A) Stromatolites
B) Worm burrows
C) Brachiopods
D) Fish
32) During which geologic time period did Pangaea form?
A) Mississippian
B) Permian
C) Triassic
D) Cretaceous
33) What environment was responsible for creating the raw materials for the late Paleozoic coal
seams in North America?
A) Lacustrine
B) Reef
C) Swamp
D) Alluvial fan
34) Which geologic event would have resulted in the formation of the Cretaceous coal seams in
the western United States?
A) Encroachment of Cretaceous Seaway
B) Uplift of the Rocky Mountains
C) Extinction of the dinosaurs via asteroid impact
D) Formation of Delaware Basin
35) During which period did the break-up of Pangaea begin?
A) Permian
B) Tertiary
C) Triassic
D) Jurassic
36) The Navajo Sandstone, such as that exposed at Zion National Park in Utah, is evidence of a
________ environment during the Jurassic Period in the western United States.
A) Beach
B) Continental Shelf
C) Lacustrine
D) Desert
37) The earliest fossil evidence of life is in the form of ________.
A) Cyanobacteria
B) Trilobites
C) Tully Monsters
D) Brachiopods
38) Which type of bacteria will thrive in an oxygen-free environment?
A) Anaerobic
B) Aerobic
C) Organic
D) Photosynthetic
39) Which of the following organisms is defined as a primitive organism that reproduces
asexually and lacks an organized nucleus?
A) Eukaryote
B) Prokaryote
C) Brachiopod
D) Bryozoan
E) All of the above
40) One hypothesis for the creation of life suggests that amino acids were carried to Earth by
________.
A) Comets
B) Aliens
C) Carbonaceous chondrites
D) Stony meteorites
41) When did eukaryotes evolve on Earth?
A) 3.8 billion years ago
B) 3.5 billion years ago
C) 2.8 billion years ago
D) 2.1 billion years ago
42) The first multicellular organisms evolved ________ years ago.
A) 3 billion
B) 2.1 billion
C) 978 million
D) 700 million
43) The ________ Period was called the golden age of trilobites.
A) Silurian
B) Cambrian
C) Jurassic
D) Mississippian
44) In what geologic period did cephalopods evolve?
A) Cambrian
B) Devonian
C) Triassic
D) Ordovician
45) The ________ refers to a huge expansion in biodiversity 530 million years ago, which also
marks the first appearance of invertebrate organisms
A) Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event
B) Cambrian Explosion
C) Rise of Reptiles
D) Great Dying
46) The main tetrapods on the land surface in the Late Paleozoic were ________.
A) Reptiles
B) Mammals
C) Amphibians
D) Birds
47) When did the first terrestrial plants appear on the land surface?
A) 400 million years ago
B) 327 million years ago
C) 225 million years ago
D) 65 million years ago
48) Which of Earth’s major extinctions was the most extensive, eliminating 70% of all terrestrial
organisms and up to 95% of marine organisms?
A) Cambrian Explosion
B) Permian Extinction
C) Cretaceous Extinction
D) Late Devonian Extinction
49) The dominant plant group during the Mesozoic Era was ________.
A) Exosperms
B) Methanogens
C) Angiosperms
D) Gymnosperms
50) For how long were dinosaurs the dominant species on the Earth?
A) 5 million years
B) 57 million years
C) 160 million years
D) 546 million years
51) Flying reptiles such as the Archaeopteryx led to the evolution of ________.
A) Dinosaurs
B) Birds
C) Mammals
D) Insects
52) The dominant plant group in the Cenozoic Era was ________.
A) Exosperms
B) Methanogens
C) Angiosperms
D) Gymnosperms
53) The most economically important resource found in Cenozoic strata along the Gulf Coast is
________.
A) Petroleum
B) Coal
C) Iron Ore
D) Uranium
54) Which of the following does not characterize the early development and specialization of
mammals?
A) Increase in brain capacity
B) Increase in body size
C) Increase in lung capacity
D) Specialization of teeth to accommodate diets
55) Which group of animals will bear live young that are underdeveloped and must stay in the
mother’s pouch to complete their development?
A) Placentals
B) Marsupials
C) Prokaryotes
D) Angiosperms
56) Which organism, developing approximately 4.2 million years ago, represents the link
between humans and primates?
A) Homo habilis
B) Homo erectus
C) Homo sapiens
D) Australopithecus
22.2 True/False Questions
1) The early Earth was not hospitable to life as we know it because of meteorite bombardment,
an oxygen-poor atmosphere, and the molten state of the planet for the first few million years.
2) If the Earth were 10% closer to the Sun, the atmosphere would be thick and heavy like that of
Venus. If the Earth were 10% farther away from the Sun, it would be too cold for liquid water.
3) The Geologic Time Scale records the history of the Earth all the way back to the formation of
the universe.
4) Pluto has been downgraded to the status of a protoplanet.