Deck 18: The Paleogene World

Question 1

The earliest primates evolved during

A) Late Cretaceous.
B) Middle Paleocene.
C) Late Paleocene.
D) Early Eocene.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

An example of a mammal group that existed during Cretaceous and persisted during Paleogene is

A) ungulates.
B) whales.
C) marsupials.
D) horses.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The largest known terrestrial predator of Early Eocene was a(n)

A) mesonychid.
B) even-toed ungulate.
C) elephant.
D) rhinoceros.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Moeritherium was a

A) flightless bird.
B) mammalian carnivore.
C) small elephant.
D) bat.

Question 5

The most profound geographic change during Paleogene was

A) significant cooling of Earth's polar regions.
B) uplifts of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.
C) formation and filling of the Paris and London basins.
D) mountain-building events of western North America.

Question 6

It is likely that Early Eocene global (greenhouse) warming was sustained by

A) dense tropical and subtropical forests.
B) production of alkenones by coccolithophores.
C) the continuous release of massive amounts of methane hydrates.
D) changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation.

Question 7

One mammal group that survived the end-Cretaceous mass extinction but died out during Oligocene is called

A) multituberculates
B) lagomorphs
C) creodonts
D) pantodonts

Question 8

What adaptation allowed Paleogene grasses to invade open country with great success?

A) Being confined to wooded or swampy areas
B) Not being confined to wooded or swampy areas
C) Leaves not growing continually
D) Leaves growing continually

Question 9

The modern ice age began about 34 million years ago because

A) extinctions at that time transformed global ecosystems.
B) a major glacier began to form in Antarctica.
C) Australia separated from Antarctica.
D) clasts dropped from melting sea ice and ice bergs.

Question 10

Paleogene was a time of significant evolutionary radiation of the

A) dinosaurs.
B) ammonoids.
C) foraminifera.
D) rudists.

Question 11

The relatively strong Paleogene shift toward isotopically light carbon was probably due in large part to

A) carbon dioxide produced by photosynthesis.
B) increased organic matter burial at sea.
C) release of methane hydrates.
D) melting of the glaciers.

Question 12

Whales evolved during

A) Paleocene.
B) Eocene.
C) Oligocene.
D) Miocene.

Question 13

The end-Paleogene appearance of primates, ungulates, and opossums in North America was due to habitat changes associated with

A) less oxygen in the atmosphere.
B) climatic warming.
C) sea-level change.
D) loss of forest habitat.

Question 14

Reefs made of corals began to form massive structures again during

A) Paleocene.
B) Eocene.
C) Oligocene.
D) Miocene.

Question 15

In the rock record, the Paleocene-Eocene transition is marked by an abrupt shift of oxygen isotope ratios toward __________ values, signaling the onset of a much __________ interval of Earth history.

A) lighter; cooler
B) lighter; warmer
C) heavier; cooler
D) heavier; warmer

Question 16

It is likely that Eocene heat transport from tropics to poles was accomplished by

A) water-laden air currents.
B) warm oceanic currents.
C) general greenhouse warming.
D) hurricanes and tropical storms.

Question 17

New Paleogene predators included the huge flightless birds called __________, which were the dominant predators of the forested ecosystems through Eocene.

A) mesonychids
B) bronototheres
C) diatrymas
D) creodonts

Question 18

By the end of __________, most modern orders of mammals existed.

A) Cretaceous
B) Paleogene
C) Eocene
D) Miocene

Question 19

On the plains of Nebraska and South Dakota, the large Early Oligocene top predator was

A) Brontotherium.
B) Protapirus.
C) Merycodon.
D) Hoplophoneus.

Question 20

Which two continents were connected to each other during Eocene, but are NOT in direct contact today?

A) North and South America
B) Africa and Arabia
C) India and Asia
D) Australia and Antarctica

Question 21

During Eocene, Ellesmere Island was at high latitude, yet the Eocene fossil assemblage consisting of __________ indicates that warm temperatures existed there.

A) trees with smooth margin leaves, large tortoises, and crocodiles
B) palms and other sub-tropical flora
C) ungulates, both odd- and even-toed
D) fossil sand dollars and teeth of enormous sharks

Question 22

During much of Cenozoic, land animals could migrate directly between

A) Greenland and Scandinavia.
B) Africa and South America.
C) North and South America.
D) North America and Eurasia.

Question 23

A sudden mid-Oligocene decline of global sea level resulted from

A) substantial expansion of the Antarctic glacial ice cap.
B) establishment of the circum-polar current.
C) an oxygen isotope shift in the skeletons of planktonic foraminifera.
D) a large meteorite impact on the eastern coast of the United States.

Question 24

In the central region of the Laramide orogeny, the rate of __________ movement of North America changed the angle of subduction, making the angle __________.

A) westward; lower
B) eastward; steeper
C) westward; steeper
D) eastward; lower

Question 25

The size of the meteorite that formed the Chesapeake Bay crater is estimated to have been __________ km in diameter.

A) 2 to 3
B) 3 to 5
C) 5 to 7
D) 7 to 9

Question 26

The Eocene and Oligocene strata in the Badlands of South Dakota are

A) clastics shed from the Laramide orogeny.
B) deposits in the Green River lake.
C) pyroclastics from Rocky Mountain volcanoes.
D) thrust sheets of the Front Range.

Question 27

Unusual features of the Laramide orogeny, including a broad area of tectonic quiescence, are found in a broad area from the

A) Great Valley of California to the Colorado Plateau.
B) Colorado Plateau to the Canadian Rockies.
C) Great Valley of California to the volcanic terranes of Mexico.
D) Olympic Range to the Absaroka Range.

Question 28

The difference in global temperature between Early Eocene climatic optimum and the beginning of the modern ice age (end of Late Eocene) is __________ degrees C.

A) 21
B) 14
C) 7
D) 0

Question 29

Of the Paleogene eastern uplifts and basins, the most easterly of these Laramide features is the

A) Colorado Plateau.
B) Great Valley.
C) Black Hills.
D) Rocky Mountains.

Question 30

During Eocene, the volcanoes of the __________ resulted from the low angle at which the Pacific plate was being subducted beneath western North America.

A) Mississippi Embayment
B) Green River basin
C) Yellowstone region
D) Colorado Plateau