EARTH HISTORY

Question 1

Which of the following was a significant component of Earth’s Hadean atmosphere?

Answer 1

Ammonia

Question 2

The great oxygenation event, which added abundant oxygen to the atmosphere beginning about 2.4 Ga, was possibly caused by

Answer 2

a large increase in photosynthetic organisms in the oceans.

Question 3

When Laurentia collided with Gondwana during the Alleghanian orogeny, a broad region of warped, faulted rocks formed, the remnants of which still crop out in the Appalachian and Ouachita Mountains. This broad region of deformed rocks is called

Answer 3

a fold-thrust belt.

Question 4

Gymnosperms (naked-seeded plants like conifers) were widespread in the late Paleozoic, but angiosperms (flowering plants) gained dominance in the

Answer 4

late Mesozoic.

Question 5

Geologists believe the impact of a large meteorite 66 million years ago

Answer 5

generated a hot air blast that caused worldwide forest fires.

Question 6

Differentiation of the young Earth occurred about

Answer 6

4.54 Ga.

Question 7

The image shows the supercontinent Rodinia, which existed around 750 Ma. Which modern-day landmass was closest to the South Pole at this time?

Answer 7

India

Question 8

The first feathered birds appeared in the

Answer 8

Jurassic.

Question 9

Rodinia, Pannotia, and Pangaea are all names of

Answer 9

supercontinents.

Question 10

During the Cretaceous period, widespread continental seas flooded North America because of

Answer 10

sea level rise.

Question 11

The process that formed the Earth’s first semi-permanent atmosphere from volcanic activity is called

Answer 11

outgassing.

Question 12

The earliest land on Earth probably formed at

Answer 12

hot spots.

Question 13

This image shows the supercontinent Gondwana, which existed around 510 Ma. Which modern-day landmass was closest to the South Pole at this time?

Answer 13

North Africa

Question 14

Which of the following are fossil plants?

Answer 14

Gymnosperms and angiosperms

Question 15

The Late Devonian fossil shown in this image, Tiktaalik, is significant because it represents

Answer 15

a transitional organism between fish and amphibians.

Question 16

The first continents, the first life, and the first cratons appeared in which geologic time interval?

Answer 16

Archean Eon

Question 17

Theoretically, snowball Earth conditions of the late Proterozoic Eon would have persisted forever were it not for greenhouse warming caused by volcanically derived

Answer 17

carbon dioxide.

Question 18

The Cambrian explosion refers to

Answer 18

a dramatic increase in species diversity at the beginning of the Paleozoic.

Question 19

The continents that comprised Pangaea began to split apart during the

Answer 19

Late Triassic through Early Jurassic.

Question 20

Because humans have dramatically altered the environment, a new geologic interval beginning in the past few centuries has been proposed, named the

Answer 20

Anthropocene.

Question 21

Which eon saw the first single-celled organism?

Answer 21

Archean

Question 22

The heavy bombardment was a time in which Earth was struck by many

Answer 22

meteorites

Question 23

Which of the following provide evidence of past life and thus help geologists understand how life, and the environments they lived in, changed throughout Earth’s history?

Answer 23

fossils

Question 24

Which of the following is NOT a likely reason for global sea level change in the Proterozoic?

Answer 24

changes in the volume of water in the Earth system

Question 25

The Himalayas were produced during the Cenozoic by the collision of southern Asia with

Answer 25

India

Question 26

Why were mammals able to become the dominant species at the beginning of the Cenozoic?

Answer 26

The dinosaurs died off and the small rodentlike mammals of the Mesozoic evolved to fill the niche.

Question 27

True continental crust did not form until the __________ Eon, when Earth had finally cooled enough for protocontinents to form.

Answer 27

Archean

Question 28

The evolution of shells was important for the diversification of life because shells

Answer 28

protect organisms from predators and environmental conditions.

Question 29

Relatives of the living ferns, club mosses, and scouring rushes were common in environments termed coal swamps during the __________ Period.

Answer 29

Carboniferous

Question 30

Did the dinosaurs walk on Pangea?

Answer 30

Yes, some of them did, because Pangea did not break up until the Jurassic Period.

Question 31

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

Answer 31

Phanerozoic.

Question 32

Banded iron formations (BIFs) show evidence of an

Answer 32

oxygen-rich atmosphere that forced the oceans to become oxidizing and precipitate iron-oxide minerals.

Question 33

Why did banded iron formations form between 2.4 and 1.8 Ga?

Answer 33

The oceans began to absorb large amounts of oxygen.

Question 34

Oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere is derived from

Answer 34

photosynthesis

Question 35

Earth is approximately how old?

Answer 35

4.54 billion years

Question 36

The first supercontinent, Rodinia, formed at the end of the

Answer 36

Precambrian

Question 37

The Great Oxygenation Event occurred ~2.4 Ga and forced large amounts of __________ to precipitate out of the ocean.

Answer 37

iron minerals

Question 38

The earliest continental crust likely had a __________ composition.

Answer 38

mafic

Question 39

Stromatolites are layered structures produced by the activity of

Answer 39

cyanobacteria

Question 40

Dinosaurs first appeared during the __________ Period.

Answer 40

Triassic