Deck 8: Fossils and Their Place in Time and Nature

Question 1

The study of fossils is called:

A)phylogeny.
B)biology.
C)chronometry.
D)paleontology.

Answer 1

paleontology.

Question 2

During the Holocene artifacts like _______ began to appear.

A)bones and teeth
B)ceramics
C)shells
D)wooden objects

Answer 2

ceramics

Question 3

The earth's age is _______ years.

A)4.6 billion
B)3.4 billion
C)6,000
D)12 billion

Answer 3

4.6 billion

Question 4

The study of what happens to an organism's remains after death is:

A)archaeology.
B)cryptozoology.
C)forensic biology.
D)taphonomy.

Question 5

The English surveyor who developed the technique of stratigraphic correlation between regions was:

A)William Smith.
B)Charles Lyell.
C)Alfred Wallace.
D)Richard Owen.

Question 6

If fossil species A is consistently recovered from geological deposits beneath layers containing fossil species B, then A is considered older than B.This relative dating technique is based on the principle of:

A)superposition.
B)paleomagnetism.
C)fluorine analysis.
D)geolayering.

Question 7

Taphonomy is the study of:

A)human cultural remains.
B)human genetics.
C)the processes that affect an organism's remains after death.
D)the processes that affect a living organism through life.

Question 8

Cultural dating can be used to date:

A)ceramics.
B)bones and teeth.
C)shells.
D)trilobite evolution.

Question 9

The continent that existed about 200 mya, from which the modern continents ultimately emerged, is called:

A)Eurasia.
B)Afrinesia.
C)Australasia.
D)Pangaea.

Question 10

A stratigraphic layer in one location overwhelmingly represents one species, while the same species is discovered in a similar stratigraphic layer hundreds of kilometers away.What method is used to provide an estimate of age for this layer and this species?

A)biostratigraphy
B)dendrochronology
C)Steno's law of superposition
D)carbon 14 dating

Question 11

Most of the fossils discovered in Africa come from the eastern and southern parts of the continent.Why is this?

A)More populations of species lived in these areas and nowhere else.
B)Only these areas were conducive to sustaining life.
C)These areas provided better preservation.
D)Many villagers in these areas gather fossils to sell.

Question 12

To reconstruct and interpret evolutionary changes, it is crucial to place each fossil in time.This is called a(n):

A)chronological sequence.
B)era.
C)period.
D)phylogeny.

Question 13

The three eras that make up Earth history are:

A)strata, stratigraphy, and striations.
B)Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene.
C)Early, Middle, and Upper Miocene.
D)Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic.

Question 14

Igneous rock can be dated with which of the following methods?

A)radiopotassium dating
B)dendrochronology
C)radiocarbon dating
D)fluorine dating

Question 15

Crucial to creating a fossil record of a species is:

A)a living form of the fossil species.
B)a good representation in the fossil record.
C)the preservation of soft tissue such as muscle.
D)the lack of dating; knowing the age of the fossil introduces biases.

Question 16

Eras are:

A)divisions in geologic time divided into periods and epochs.
B)any time periods in the past.
C)divisions of time based on cultural standards, as in "Stone Age."
D)the time frames during which a certain fossil species existed.

Question 17

Which era saw the proliferation of mammals?

A)Holocene
B)Cenozoic
C)Jurassic
D)Mesozoic

Question 18

What is the basic difference between relative and absolute dating?

A)the use of species
B)the use of bones and teeth
C)the use of years to express the age
D)the use of wood

Question 19

Which of the following is NOT an ideal environment for fossilization?

A)mud
B)acidic soil (as in a jungle)
C)sand
D)rock

Question 20

In the 1600s Nicolaus Steno proposed:

A)the principle of uniformitarianism.
B)taphonomy.
C)the law of stratigraphy.
D)the law of superposition.

Question 21

Some of the best information on climate history over the last several million years is based on the study of:

A)amino acids.
B)foraminifera.
C)radioisotopes.
D)dendrochronology.

Question 22

An index fossil is:

A)a fossil found in a particular site.
B)the ideal specimen of that species to which all later descriptions must refer.
C)a fossil used to categorize a stratigraphic layer.
D)the type specimen of a species.

Question 23

What is the most important variable in reconstructing ancient climate?

A)weather
B)sea levels
C)temperature estimated using any of several methods
D)isotope ratios

Question 24

A mummy is discovered whose tomb includes cloth, food, and other organic remains.What dating method would most likely be used to date the tomb?

A)biostratigraphy
B)carbon 14
C)dendrochronology
D)electron spin resonance

Question 25

Coinciding with the appearance of early hominins about 5-10 mya, the climate was:

A)increasingly wet and rainy.
B)increasingly hot and humid.
C)increasingly dry and seasonal.
D)less temperate.

Question 26

A hearth is discovered with bone fragments in it.What method might be used to date the bone?

A)dendrochronology
B)electron spin resonance
C)fission track
D)amino acid method

Question 27

Paleontologists find a fossil ape with long arms.What type of environment can they infer it inhabited?

A)savanna
B)woodland
C)grassland
D)swamp

Question 28

Based on the molecular clock, geneticists believe the split between chimps and hominins occurred _______ mya.

A)10-12
B)8-10
C)6-8
D)4-6

Question 29

Fission track dating can provide dates when used on which type of material?

A)sedimentary rock
B)shell
C)bone
D)igneous rock

Question 30

Stratigraphic correlation is:

A)matching strata by chemical composition and color from several sites across distances.
B)correlating stratigraphic markers in one location.
C)matching stratigraphy from known sites only.
D)dating through the use of a chronometric method.

Question 31

A wooden tomb is discovered with a well-preserved mummy inside.Which of the following methods could be used to date the tomb most accurately?

A)superposition
B)electron spin resonance
C)thermoluminescence
D)dendrochronology

Question 32

Paleosols and fauna in the Middle Awash Valley of Ethiopia show that the earliest hominins lived in _______ settings.

A)wooded
B)unwooded grassland
C)marshy
D)desert

Question 33

For dating hominin fossils that go back 4 million years, what dating methods might be used?

A)electron spin resonance
B)thermoluminescence
C)amino acid method
D)both a.and b.

Question 34

Thermoluminescence dating can provide dates when used on which types of materials?

A)sediment, stone, and ceramics
B)bone, wood, and stone
C)bone, shell, and fabric
D)shell, ceramics, and wood

Question 35

Electron spin resonance dating can provide dates when used on which type of material?

A)wood
B)shell
C)teeth
D)soft tissue such as muscle

Question 36

Analysis of stable carbon isotopes in _______ can provide information on ancient diet.

A)shell
B)cloth
C)bones and teeth
D)wood

Question 37

Fluorine dating is an example of what type of dating method?

A)chronometric
B)nonrelative
C)chemical
D)genetic

Question 38

Scientists can determine the type of plant consumed based on:

A)carbon 14.
B)radioisotopes.
C)index fossils.
D)carbon 13 and carbon 12.

Question 39

The molecular clock has been useful to determine the phylogenetic relationships of species based on the assumption that:

A)a species lineage accumulates genetic differences over time at a constant rate.
B)only some species are genetically related.
C)DNA is preserved unchanged over long periods of time.
D)species adapt at specific rates.

Question 40

Which dating method would be most appropriate for establishing the age of a volcanic ash layer from an early hominid site in eastern Africa?

A)carbon 14 dating
B)amino acid dating
C)potassium-argon dating
D)electron spin resonance dating

Question 41

At a site in the American Southwest, you find only a single ceramic pot in association with an individual within a burial.You can use the pot to date the burial based on:

A)biostratigraphic dating, because there may be animal remains inside the pot.
B)cultural dating, since the pot must be specific to a known culture and time period.
C)radiopotassium dating of the material used to make the pot.
D)fission track dating of the pot itself.

Question 42

How do dating methods help to support the theory of natural selection and biological evolution?

Question 43

The time it takes for 50% of an unstable isotope to decay to a stable form is called the:

A)semichron.
B)middlemorph.
C)demidose.
D)half-life.

Question 44

During crucial periods of human evolution, the Pleistocene was characterized by:

A)massive glaciation, then warm interglacials.
B)high humidity.
C)aridity, then humidity.
D)glaciation, then aridity.

Question 45

How does Steno's law of superposition support relative and absolute dating methods?

Question 46

Why is punctuated equilibrium an important addition to natural selection?

Question 47

Studies of temperatures during the Cenozoic era suggest that temperatures have _______ over time.

A)steadily increased
B)steadily decreased
C)fluctuated, sometimes greatly,
D)stayed basically the same

Question 48

Differentiate between absolute and relative dating techniques, giving one example of each.