Deck 8: Fossils and Their Place in Time and Nature

Question 1

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

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

Answer 1

radiopotassium dating

Question 2

Cultural dating can be used to date:

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

Answer 2

ceramics.

Question 3

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 an actual number of years
D) the use of wood

Answer 3

the use of an actual number of years

Question 4

Which period saw the proliferation of mammals?

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

Question 5

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

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

Question 6

Eras are:

A) divisions in geologic time divided into periods and epochs.
B) a fictitious time frame.
C) divisions of time based on cultural standards, as in "Stone Age."
D) representations of time frames for certain fossil species.

Question 7

Taphonomy is the study of:

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

Question 8

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 9

The earth's age is:

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

Question 10

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 11

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

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

Question 12

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 13

The study of fossils is called:

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

Question 14

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 15

In the 1600s Nicolaus Steno proposed :

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

Question 16

During the Holocene artifacts like __________ began to appear.

A) bones and teeth
B) ceramics
C) shell
D) wood objects

Question 17

Most of the fossils discovered in Africa come from the eastern and western 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 gather to sell fossils in these areas only.

Question 18

A layer of stratigraphy in one location overwhelmingly represents one species, while the same species is discovered in a similar stratigraphic layer fifty miles 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

Question 19

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

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

Question 20

Crucial to creating a fossil record of a species is a:

A) paleontologist.
B) representation.
C) cladistics.
D) binomial nomenclature.

Question 21

Based on the molecular clock, geneticists believe the split between chimps and hominins occurred:

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

Question 22

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 23

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

A) wood
B) shells
C) teeth
D) stone

Question 24

Chemical analysis of the _________ can provide information on diets and habitats.

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

Question 25

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

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

Question 26

Paleosols and fauna in the Middle Awash Valley of Ethiopia show that:

A) the earliest hominins lived in wooded settings.
B) the earliest hominins lived in unwooded grassland settings.
C) the earliest hominins lived in marshy settings.
D) the earliest hominins lived in desert settings.

Question 27

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 28

An index fossil is:

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

Question 29

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

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

Question 30

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 31

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

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

Question 32

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

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

Question 33

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

A) a species accumulates genetic differences over time at a constant rate.
B) all species are related.
C) species will eventually change in time.
D) species adapt at specific rates.

Question 34

A wooden tomb is discovered with a well-preserved mummy inside. What method could be used to date the tomb?

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

Question 35

Some of the best information on climate history is based on the study of:

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

Question 36

What is the most important feature of climate?

A) weather
B) sea levels
C) temperature
D) isotopes

Question 37

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

A) carbon 4
B) carbon 14
C) dendrochronology
D) electron spin resonance

Question 38

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 39

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 40

Scientists can determine the type of plant consumed based on:

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

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

Studies of temperatures during the Cenozoic era suggest that:

A) temperatures have steadily increased over time.
B) temperatures have steadily decreased over time.
C) temperatures have fluctuated, sometimes greatly, over time.
D) temperatures have stayed basically the same over time.

Question 43

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

Question 44

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

Question 45

Why is punctuated equilibrium an important addition to natural selection?

Question 46

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

Question 47

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.