Deck 22: Mesozoic Earth and Life History

Question 1

The giant batholiths of the Sierra, Idaho, and Coast Range were emplaced during which orogeny?

A)Sevier orogeny
B)Nevadan orogeny
C)Sonoma orogeny
D)Laramide orogeny
E)Allegheny orogeny

Answer 1

Nevadan orogeny

Question 2

More species went extinct at the end of the Permian than at the end of the Mesozoic.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The first Mesozoic mammals were very distinctive from their ancestral reptiles.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Mammals attained a high degree of diversity and abundance during the Mesozoic.

Question 5

The earliest mammals had a single line of descent into the monotremes, which are the ancestors for all modern mammals.

Question 6

Mesozoic age coal deposits in the United States are the primary source of coal in this country.

Question 7

The Permian\Triassic orogenic event that occurred with the collision of an island arc with the western margin of North America is called the ____ orogeny.

A)Antler
B)Cordilleran
C)Sonoma
D)Franciscan
E)Western

Question 8

There is evidence that some of the organisms that went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous were already beginning to decline in population strength.

Question 9

The Cretaceous extinction event was uniformly disastrous to all marine and nonmarine organisms.

Question 10

Mesozoic birds are similar to Cenozoic birds in that both have teeth.

Question 11

The marine fauna that repopulated the oceans after the Permian extinction was more diverse than the Paleozoic marine fauna.

Question 12

During the Jurassic and Cretaceous, the Appalachian range was eroded into a low-lying erosional surface.

Question 13

The Franciscan Group rocks are a chaotic assemblage because they ____.

A)represent ocean rift zone sediments
B)represent deposition in an active deep ocean trench
C)represent complex intrusion along a fault zone
D)are high grade metamorphic rocks
E)were deposited in a fault zone

Question 14

Major copper deposits are associated with oolitic limonite and hematite in Jurassic rocks of Western Europe.

Question 15

Oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns _____ during the Mesozoic.

A)did not change
B)greatly accelerated
C)greatly decelerated
D)accelerated in the Northern Hemisphere only
E)accelerated in the Southern Hemisphere only

Question 16

Geologists have a very good record of the breakup of Pangaea because of ____.

A)extensive guide fossils
B)preservation of the continental crust from the Mesozoic
C)the high rate of seafloor spreading during the Mesozoic
D)extensive evaporite deposits
E)magnetic anomalies preserved in oceanic crust

Question 17

Triassic land-plant communities were significantly different than Permian due to the evolution of angiosperms.

Question 18

Cycads evolved during the Triassic.

Question 19

Mountain building in western North America did not begin until the Late Cretaceous Period.

Question 20

The Gulf of Mexico began to form during the ____ as North America separated from ____.

A)Early Triassic; Africa
B)Late Triassic; Africa
C)Early Triassic; South America
D)Late Triassic; South America
E)Middle Triassic; Africa

Question 21

Fault-block basins began to form in eastern North America during the ____.

A)late Triassic
B)early Jurassic
C)late Jurassic
D)early Cretaceous
E)late Cretaceous

Question 22

Graywacke, volcanic breccia, siltstone, black shale, chert, pillow basalt, and blue schists make up the ____.

A)Great Valley Group
B)Farrallon Plate
C)Chinle Formation
D)Franciscan Complex
E)Sundance Formation

Question 23

The pterosaur adapted to flight with ____.

A)a membrane-covered hand-like structure with an elongated fourth finger
B)bird-like wings covered with hollow feathers
C)bird-like wings with no covering
D)bat-like wings covered with thick fur
E)bat-like wings with no covering

Question 24

_____ are extinct squidlike cephalopods from the Cretaceous that are excellent guide fossils.

A)Belemnoids
B)Nautiloids
C)Coleoids
D)Oysters
E)Ammonites

Question 25

Which characteristic sets dinosaurs apart from reptiles?

A)teeth permanently attached to the jaw
B)amniotic eggs
C)flight
D)ball-like head on the upper leg bone
E)permanent bend in the lower leg bone

Question 26

All modern reptiles are ____.

A)ectotherms
B)endotherms
C)echinotherms
D)unitherms
E)antitherms

Question 27

During the Mesozoic, climatic variation on Earth could be described as ____.

A)extreme in terms of precipitation
B)extreme in terms of temperature
C)lacking great north-south variation
D)having great north-south variation
E)similar to the present day

Question 28

Geologic evidence indicates that more than 25% of the entire Pacific Coast of North America consists of ____.

A)volcanic rocks
B)oceanic crust
C)metamorphic rocks
D)accreted terranes
E)Precambrian continental crust

Question 29

Ammonites of the Mesozoic were characterized by a very ____.

A)restricted duration in time
B)complex indenture pattern
C)complex feeding mechanism
D)complex growth suture pattern
E)complex locomotor mechanism

Question 30

How did ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs differ?

A)Ichthyosaurs were able to travel onto the land.
B)Ichthyosaur females probably gave birth to live young.
C)Plesiosaur females probably gave birth to live young.
D)Plesiosaurs were adapted only to the aquatic environment.
E)Ichthyosaurs ate fish and plesiosaurs did not.

Question 31

The Cretaceous Interior Seaway regressed during the ____.

A)Paleogene
B)early Cretaceous
C)late Cretaceous
D)early Jurassic
E)late Jurassic

Question 32

Some dinosaur bones have numerous passageways for blood vessels, suggesting that they ____.

A)were endothermic
B)were exothermic
C)were juvenile bones
D)were adult bones
E)died catastrophically

Question 33

The ____ orogeny consisted of a series of individual mountain-building events that occurred in different regions at different times.

A)Nevadan
B)Franciscan
C)Cordilleran
D)Antler
E)Laramide

Question 34

Dome-headed dinosaurs (pachycephalosaurs)are only known to us from ____ rocks.

A)early Triassic
B)early Jurassic
C)late Jurassic
D)early Cretaceous
E)late Cretaceous

Question 35

Continental growth ____.

A)occurs faster at passive margins
B)occurs faster along active margins
C)occurs mostly by reworked older continental material
D)occurs mostly by orogenesis
E)is currently nonexistent

Question 36

What are the major classes of Mesozoic mollusks?

A)ammonites, brachiopods, and cephalopods
B)gastropods, ammonites, and brachiopods
C)bivalves, cephalopods, and ammonites
D)trilobites, brachiopods, and ammonites
E)gastropods, bivalves, and cephalopods

Question 37

What is the difference between a reptile's lower jaw and a mammal's lower jaw?

A)Mammals have 16 teeth in the lower jaw.
B)The lower jaw of a reptile is a single bone.
C)The lower jaw of a reptile contains no teeth.
D)The lower jaw of a mammal is a single bone.
E)The lower jaw of a reptile contains 12 teeth.

Question 38

____ plants came to dominance in the Cretaceous.

A)Land
B)Leafy
C)Green
D)Flowering
E)Tall

Question 39

What were the two groups of marine reptiles?

A)plesiosaurs and pterosaurs
B)pterosaurs and ichthyosaurs
C)captorhinomorphs and plesiosaurs
D)plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs
E)plesiosaurs and crocodiles

Question 40

The Mesozoic Era is known as the age of ____.

A)reptiles
B)dinosaurs
C)Pangaea
D)angiosperms
E)flowering plants

Question 41

In what ways did the breakup of Pangaea affect geologic and biologic events on Earth?

Question 42

At the end of the Mesozoic, large _____ were taking place in what is now India.

A)mass extinctions
B)outpourings of lava
C)meteor impacts
D)transgressions
E)regressions

Question 43

At some Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary sites, the impact hypothesis is supported by the existence of ____.

A)high concentrations of platinum
B)shock-metamorphosed quartz grains
C)dinosaur fossils
D)the absence of dinosaur fossils
E)high concentrations of volcanic rocks

Question 44

Many of the large dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus are known as the ____________________ dinosaurs.

Question 45

Based on the occurrence of dinosaur fossils in the Morrison Formation, what can you conclude about the depositional environment of the unit?

Question 46

Describe why there are such massive petroleum deposits in the Persian Gulf region.

Question 47

Low-grade copper deposits associated with large subduction related intrusions are called ____________________ deposits.

Question 48

What geologic evidence chronicles the separation of North America and Africa?

Question 49

The major reef builder of the Mesozoic was the ____________________.

Question 50

What was the effect of the global rise in sea level during the Cretaceous?

Question 51

Cretaceous reefs of the Gulf Coastal region make excellent _______________.

Question 52

The distinctive sedimentary rocks that were deposited in the early-formed Gulf of Mexico were ____________________.

Question 53

The main commodity associated with large batholithic intrusions in the western United States is ____________________.

Question 54

Scientists know that birds began to evolve prior to the Cretaceous due to the fossil ____________________.

Question 55

Because of the nature of the world-wide climatic conditions in the Mesozoic, organisms ____.

A)had few habitats to occupy
B)could occupy extensive geographic regions
C)could only occupy restricted geographic regions
D)were not affected
E)stayed where they were

Question 56

The common ancestor of modern marsupials and placental mammals were the ____________________.

Question 57

At the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, a(n)_____ has been found.

A)guide fossil
B)missing link
C)gold anomaly
D)platinum anomaly
E)iridium anomaly

Question 58

Where are most of the world's diamond resources found?

Question 59

The Atlantic Ocean began to form in the ____________________ Period.

Question 60

Pangaea persisted as a single unit throughout most of the _______________.

Question 61

What are terranes? How are they recognized? What role did accretion of terranes play in the growth of western North America?

Question 62

Contrast saurischian and ornithischian dinosaurs. Describe the ancestor of both of these dinosaur groups.

Question 63

How distinct were Mesozoic mammals from their reptile neighbors?

Question 64

Explain why increased seafloor spreading, resulting in higher heat flow and an increase and rapid expansion in oceanic ridges during the Cretaceous, result in worldwide transgression onto the continents.