Deck 20: Paleozoic Earth History

Question 1

The basal unit of the transgressive Kaskaskia sequence is marked by extensive black shale deposition.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

_____ are the relatively stable and immobile parts of continents and form the foundation on which Phanerozoic sediments were deposited

A)Shields
B)Platforms
C)Cratons
D)Epeiric seas
E)Orogenies

Answer 2

Cratons

Question 3

In a cratonic sequence, which phase is commonly well-preserved?

A)regressive
B)sedimentary
C)transgressive
D)evaporite
E)epeiric

Answer 3

transgressive

Question 4

Polar ice caps existed through most of the Cambrian.

Question 5

The Appalachian and Ouachita mountains represent ancient mobile belts.

Question 6

Geologists use sequence stratigraphy most in what industry?

A)petroleum
B)coal
C)uranium
D)mapping
E)gemstone

Question 7

The Taconic, Caledonian, and Acadian orogenies were all part of the same major orogenic event related to the closing of the Iapetus Ocean.

Question 8

A cratonic sequence is distinguished by a ____.

A)transgressive phase followed by regressive phase
B)regressive phase followed by a transgressive phase
C)regressive phase only
D)transgressive phase only
E)lack of any sequence

Question 9

During the _____ Period, southern Gondwana moved over the South Pole, resulting in extensive glaciation.

A)Permian
B)Carboniferous
C)Devonian
D)Ordovician
E)Cambrian

Question 10

The boundary between the Tippecanoe and Sauk sequences is a vast unconformity with deep erosional relief.

Question 11

Which of the following was not a mobile belt around the North American continent during the Paleozoic?

A)Franklin
B)Cordilleran
C)Hercynian
D)Ouachita
E)Appalachian

Question 12

After the Sauk Sea had regressed, the exposed surface of the North American continent was subjected to extensive glaciation.

Question 13

Platform sedimentary rocks are entirely carbonate rocks.

Question 14

Terranes and microplates were part of the formation of Pangaea.

Question 15

Rocks of the shield are ____.

A)exclusively igneous
B)exclusively metamorphic
C)exclusively sedimentary
D)primarily igneous and metamorphic
E)primarily igneous and sedimentary

Question 16

Mobile belts form when convergent plate margins develop.

Question 17

During the Sauk transgression, the Transcontinental Arch was a highland estimated to be tens of thousands of feet high.

Question 18

Each of the major continents at the beginning of the Paleozoic had two major components. These were a(n)____.

A)trough and a range
B)craton and a mobile belt
C)immobile belt and a rift margin
D)craton and a ocean basin
E)volcano and a desert

Question 19

What were the general climatic conditions on the Paleozoic supercontinent (Pangaea)?

A)arid
B)arid to semiarid
C)semiarid to subtropical
D)subtropical to humid
E)humid

Question 20

Paleozoic paleogeographic reconstructions are based primarily on ____.

A)magnetic anomalies
B)volcanic rocks
C)metamorphic assemblages
D)structural relationships
E)transgressive sequences

Question 21

Most _____ coal in Europe and North America is bituminous.

A)Permian
B)Devonian
C)Pennsylvanian
D)Silurian
E)Cambrian

Question 22

The basal beds of the Kaskaskia Sequence are ____.

A)basalts
B)halite evaporite beds
C)barrier reefs
D)shales
E)well-sorted quartz sandstones

Question 23

When did the Ouachita system change sedimentation styles from those typical of a passive margin to an active margin?

A)Late Paleozoic
B)Early Pennsylvanian
C)Late Permian
D)late Devonian
E)Early Mississippian

Question 24

What separates one cyclothem from another in a sequence?

A)an erosional surface
B)a body of water
C)a craton
D)a mobile belt
E)a clastic wedge

Question 25

The Queenston Delta formed in response to ____.

A)the uplift of the Taconic Highlands
B)the subduction of the Iapetus plate
C)the uplift of the Caledonides
D)carbonate deposition
E)the Mississippi River

Question 26

Extensive oil deposits exist in the Permian _____ deposits in Texas and New Mexico.

A)reef
B)sandstone
C)shale
D)phosphate
E)volcanic

Question 27

Why are organic reefs useful paleoecological indicators?

A)Organisms only form limestone reefs in cold, tropic waters.
B)Organisms only form limestone reefs where there is a great abundance of mineral matter in the water.
C)Organisms only form limestone reefs in warm, clear, shallow water.
D)Organisms in the modern world only form limestone reefs between 30 degrees north and south of the equator.
E)Modern organisms only form limestone reefs in warm, clear, shallow water, between 30 degrees north and south of the equator.

Question 28

Uplift of the Ancestral Rockies occurred during the ____.

A)Late Kaskaskia
B)Early Absaroka
C)Late Absaroka
D)Early Kaskaskia
E)Middle Devonian

Question 29

Which orogeny was part of the general worldwide tectonic activity that occurred when Gondwana united with Laurasia?

A)Antler
B)Ouachita
C)Taconic
D)Cordilleran
E)Alleghenian

Question 30

In southeast Missouri, dolostones provide which mineral resource?

A)salts
B)uranium
C)lead
D)copper
E)oil

Question 31

By the end of the Permian, the Absaroka Sea had retreated from the craton, exposing what type of deposits?

A)evaporite
B)black shale
C)volcanic
D)red bed
E)reef

Question 32

The Silurian Clinton Formation is an important source for ____.

A)rock salt
B)oil and gas
C)iron
D)silica
E)lime

Question 33

The Zechstein deposits of Europe form the caprock for large quantities of ____.

A)lime
B)gas
C)aluminum
D)silica
E)iron

Question 34

What characteristic feature of Pennsylvanian rocks distinguishes rocks of the Absaroka sequence from those of the Kaskaskia sequence, as well as others in North America?

A)cyclothems
B)carbonates
C)coal
D)conodonts
E)chordates

Question 35

An idealized cyclothem is characterized by which of the following sequences from bottom to top?

A)coal beds, fluvial deltaic sediments, detrital shallow water marine, limestone
B)limestone, detrital shallow water marine, fluvial deltaic sediments, coal beds
C)limestone, detrital shallow water marine, coal beds, fluvial deltaic sediments
D)fluvial deltaic sediments, coal beds, detrital shallow water marine, limestone
E)detrital shallow water marine, fluvial deltaic sediments, limestone, coal beds

Question 36

Which orogeny was the first pulse of mountain building in the Appalachian mobile belt?

A)Caledonian
B)Acadian
C)Antler
D)Ouachita
E)Taconic

Question 37

During the entire Paleozoic, the western margin of North America could be described as ____.

A)tectonically active with the development of numerous mobile belts
B)a passive margin with only localized mountain building events
C)a passive margin with no evidence of orogeny
D)an active margin with thick carbonate platforms
E)a zone of active volcanism

Question 38

The majority of Kaskaskian rocks are ____.

A)shales
B)carbonates
C)sandstones
D)volcanics
E)metamorphic

Question 39

What do cyclothems represent?

A)volcanism
B)evaporation
C)transgressive and regressive cycles
D)transgression only
E)regression only

Question 40

Extensive _____ were deposited as the Tippecanoe Sea gradually regressed from the North American craton during the late Silurian.

A)sandstones
B)shales
C)volcanic rocks
D)evaporites
E)limestones

Question 41

The most abundant rock type deposited during the Kaskaskian sequence was ____________________.

Question 42

The Antler orogeny that occurred in the Cordilleran mobile belt was caused by ____________________.

Question 43

Describe a clastic wedge. How can a clastic wedge be used as evidence for an orogeny?

Question 44

The boundary between the Tippecanoe Sequence and the overlying Kaskaskia Sequence is marked by a major _______________.

Question 45

Thick deposits of Silurian evaporites are important sources of various _______________.

Question 46

What is the Tippecanoe sequence?

Question 47

The supercontinent that formed near the end of the Paleozoic from an assembling of all the continents was called ____________________.

Question 48

What role did microplates and terranes play in the formation of Pangaea? Provide an example.

Question 49

Explain how extensive black shales such as those seen in the Middle Devonian across the United States might form.

Question 50

What are believed to be the causes of global transgressive and regressive cycles?

Question 51

What are mobile belts of a continent?

Question 52

What are cyclothems?

Question 53

During the Cambrian, where were the major continents located?

Question 54

Erosion of the Taconic Highlands resulted in the development of a(n)____________________ called the Queenston Delta.

Question 55

At the beginning of the Paleozoic, _______________ major continents were present.

Question 56

Most of the productive coal beds of Paleozoic age are found in rocks formed during the ____________________ period.

Question 57

Prior to the transgression of epeiric seas in the Middle Cambrian, the North American craton had been undergoing weathering and ____________________.

Question 58

During the Paleozoic, cratons were covered with large bodies of water called ____________________.