Historical Geology Exam III 1. What land animals joined fishes as marine predators during the Early Mesozoic? a) Dinosaurs b) Reptiles c) Amphibians d) Mammals 2. What are some of the organisms that became extinct at the end of the Permian? a) Ammonites, dinosaurs, rudists, marine reptiles, most calcareous phytoplankton b) Fusulinids, lacy bryozoans, rugose corals and trilobites c) All Therapsids, Archaeocyathids, and rugose corals d) Trilobites, dinosaurs and stromatolites 3. What happened to stromatolites for a short time after the Permian extinction and why did it happen? a) They flourished for a short time because they evolved defenses against grazers b) They flourished for a short time because most grazers perished in the extinction c) They became extinct d) For a short time they coevolved with the rudists 4. What dominant reef builders, that still exist today, arose in the Triassic? a) The Rudists b) Archaeocyathids c) The Hexacorals d) The Inoceramids 5. What is a belemnoid? a) A swimming reptile b) A squid-like relative of the ammonoids c) A reef building mollusk d) A primitive chordate 6. What is a placodont? a) One of the first aquatic dinosaurs b) An armored fish c) One of the first aquatic reptiles d) One of the first aquatic mammals
7. What is a plesiosaurs? a) A swimming reptile from the Jurassic that looks like a large fish or shark b) A swimming reptile from the Jurassic with paddle fins and a long neck, i.e. Nessie-like c) A flying reptile that first appeared in the Late Triassic d) An intermediate between Amphibians and the first reptiles 8. What are the three main groups of gymnosperms? a) Broadleaf, Needle leaf and Conifer b) C3, C4 and Cycads c) Redwoods, Conifers and Cycads d) Conifers, Ginkgos and Cycads 9. During what Period did dinosaurs become truly gigantic? a) Late Permian b) Late Triassic c) Late Jurassic d) Late Cretaceous 10. What is a pterosaur? a) A swimming reptile from the Jurassic that looks like a large fish or shark b) A swimming reptile from the Jurassic with paddle fins and a long neck, i.e. Nessie-like c) A flying reptile that first appeared in the Late Triassic d) An intermediate between Amphibians and the first reptiles 11. What of the following are advantages of being endothermic? a) You have to eat all of the time b) You can get by without eating very often c) You can hunt or escape at night and live in cold climates d) You can maintain a high level of activity for a sustained period of time e) Both C and D are advantages of being endothermic 12. What happened to terrestrial and marine life at the end of the Triassic? a) Not much b) There was the biggest extinction in the history of the Earth c) There was a marine mass extinction and Therapsids died off, creating an opportunity for dinosaurs d) Mammals slowly returned to the sea and began to dominate terrestrial ecosystems
13. What flora (plants) dominated land ecosystems during the Mesozoic? a) Ferns b) Gymnosperms c) Angiosperms d) Mosses 14. What important group of animals evolved from Therapsids? a) Dinosaurs b) Reptiles c) Amphibians d) Mammals 15. What important group of animals evolved from Dinosaurs? a) Birds b) Reptiles c) Amphibians d) Mammals 16. What do Ornothischian and Saurischian mean? a) Autotroph and Heterotroph b) Bird-Hipped and Lizard-Hipped c) Reptile and Amphibian d) Flora and Fauna 17. What is archaeopteryx? a) The first dinosaurmorph b) The first flower c) The first bird like creature d) The first flying insect 18. What does the Latin word creta from which Cretaceous derives its name mean? a) carbon b) chalk c) limestone d) Cretaceous 19. What are marine phytoplankton? a) single-cell, photosynthetic organisms in the ocean
b) single-cell, heterotrophic organisms in the ocean c) single-cell, chemosynthetic organisms in the ocean d) sea weeds 20. What are a few of the evolutionary advantages possessed by angiosperms? a) Double fertilization and a faster reproductive cycle b) They co-evolved with insects which is thought to hasten evolution c) Their hard seeds are carried in fruits that are eaten and spread by animals (along with fertilizer) d) All of the above are advantages 21. What were plants like in the Wyoming at the end of the Cretaceous? a) Angiosperms dominate for the first time b) Ginkgos, Sequoias (Redwoods) and Lycopods c) There were dominated by ferns, gymnosperms and a small flowering palm d) None of the above 22. Where does the fossil record indicate that angiosperms first evolved? a) In the Tropics b) In the Temperate zone c) In cool, high plains, like Wyoming d) At the poles, but when it was warm 23. What is the wingspan of the largest flying reptile of the Cretaceous? a) 10 feet b) 20 feet c) 35 feet d) 50 feet 24. How big were mammals (not marsupials, monotremes or multituberculates) by the end of the Cretaceous? a) Size of a thimble b) Size of a breadbox c) Size of a horse d) Size of a elephant 25. What is the evidence that the climate was warm in the Cretaceous, even near the poles? a) Dinosaurs and warm-weather plants at high latitudes b) The evolution of C4 grasses, which are adapted for warm, dry climates
c) The evolution of warm-blooded animals d) Co-evolution of pinnipeds and penguins in cold marine climates e) All of the above 26. What were the dominant carnivores in the ocean during the Late Mesozoic? a) Swimming Dinosaurs b) Swimming Reptiles c) Swimming Amphibians d) Swimming Mammals 27. What contrast do we see between Paleozoic and Mesozoic fossilized shells that indicates that marine predation increased significantly in the Mesozoic? a) Fossilized Mesozoic shells have holes in them made by predators b) Fossilized Mesozoic shells are generally open when you find them c) Fossilized Mesozoic shells are broken into tiny pieces d) Fossilized Mesozoic shells are hard to find 28. What was the most significant evolutionary change in land plants during the Cretaceous? a) The rise of Gymnosperms b) The rise of Cycads c) The rise of Conifers d) The rise of Angiosperms 29. With what modern animal community does Stanley compare Late Cretaceous dinosaurs of the American West? a) The zoo b) The circus c) The Great Barrier Reef d) The African plains 30. What organisms were wiped out during the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous? a) Ammonites, dinosaurs, boney fishes (Teleost), all phytoplankton b) Ammonites, dinosaurs, marsupials, most phytoplankton c) Ammonites, dinosaurs, monotremes, marsupials and most calcareous phytoplankton d) Ammonites, dinosaurs, rudists, marine reptiles, most calcareous phytoplankton 31. What was the first evidence that a meteorite strike may have caused the extinction? a) All of the dinosaurs died of burns and turned into coal and peat deposits
b) Mammals survived because they can survive cold weather and darkness better than dinosaurs c) Atmospheric CO 2 increased d) There was an iridium anomaly detected in the rocks at the K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) Boundary 32. What three basic changes occurred in the climate and ocean between the Cretaceous and the Cenozoic? a) It became much warmer during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), followed by extensive drought and a drop in sea levels b) It became warmer, wetter and there were lots more storms c) Refrigeration of the poles, formation of the ice caps, and chilling of the deep sea d) Warming in the Tropics, melting of the ice caps, and warming of the deep sea 33. What animal(s) took over from the extinct marine reptiles to become the dominant large ocean predator(s) of the Cenozoic? a) The sharks and whales b) Whales only c) Sharks only d) Mosasaurs 34. What happened to Planktonic foraminifera at the K-T Boundary? a) Only three species survived, they were the smallest forms, but they quickly diversified b) They were largely unaffected c) They replaced the hexacorals, which had dominated in the Late Cretaceous d) They became extinct 35. Of what are chalk deposits made? a) Fine-grained muds and clays b) The crushed shells of mollusks c) Fine-grained, weathered ash deposits, e.g. bentonites d) Calcareous (CaCO 3 ) planktonic tests (shells) 36. With what type of animals do grasses have a coevolutionary relationship? a) Rodents, birds and, indirectly, snakes b) Diatrymas, Titania and thus Hipparion c) Grazing animals d) Warm-blooded animals in general e) Both A and C are correct 37. When did Primates first appear?
a) In the Cretaceous b) In the Paleogene (Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene) c) In the Neogene (Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene) d) In the Holocene 38. Which of the following activities performed by early primates required grasping hind limbs and/or forehands? a) Throwing stones b) Feeding their young c) Climbing trees d) Digging holes 39. What are ungulates? a) Flying mammals such as Bats b) Sea Cows and Elephants c) Hoofed animals (horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, tapirs, etc.) d) A primitive ancestor of the early Primates 40. What are Diatrymas and Titania? a) The first mammals b) The first birds c) Giant flightless birds from the Cenozoic d) Giant flightless birds from the Cretaceous 41. What generally happened to the size of mammals as the Cenozoic progressed? a) They became bigger b) They became smaller c) They stayed the same d) Ungulates got bigger; carnivores got smaller 42. What is Aegyptopithecus? a) The first bird b) The first mammal c) A tree-climbing ape-like primate from the Oligocene d) The first true human 43. What caused the shift in the isotopes at the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum? a) The release of methane from continental sediments b) The increase in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations
c) The decrease in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations d) The decrease in ocean temperatures 44. What are the 'most far-reaching biotic changes" in the Neogene? a) The appearance of Angiosperms b) The move of mammals and birds back to the ocean c) The extinction of the Dinosaurs d) The spread of grasses and weeds, and the modernization of vertebrates 45. What happened to large herbivores with the development of C4 grasses? a) Those with long, hard teeth survived; others became extinct b) Those with four-chambered stomachs survived; others became extinct c) Those with four-chambered hearts survived; others became extinct d) Those that evolved into carnivores survived; others became extinct 46. In what type of environment do C4 grasses do particularly well? a) Cold, wet climates b) Cold, dry climates c) Warm, wet climates d) Warm, dry climates 47. When did the Apes diversify? a) Late Cretaceous b) Late Oligocene c) Late Mesozoic d) Late Holocene 48. With what Class of animal do angiosperms most closely co-evolve? a) Mammals b) Dinosaurs c) Amphibians d) Insects 49. What was the name of the supercontinent that existed at the end of the Paleozoic, beginning of the Mesozoic? a) Rodinia b) Gondwanaland c) Pangaea d) Laurasia
50. What began to occur to this supercontinent during the Early Mesozoic? a) It was subducted b) It rifted c) It sank d) It was completely submerged beneath the Tethys 51. What is the name of the formation that contains the most spectacular assemblage of Jurassic dinosaurs and where is it found? a) The Burgess Shale in British Columbia b) The Ediacaran shale of Western Australia c) The Dinosaur limestone of North Dakota d) The Morrison Formation of Wyoming and Montana 52. What changes occurred in the feeding habits of some of the new gastropods (snails)? a) Some became herbivores b) Some became carnivores c) Some moved to fresh water environments d) Some stopped eating stromatolites 53. What surface dwelling bivalve mollusk formed large reefs during the Cretaceous? a) Inoceramids b) Fusulinids c) Hexacorals d) Rudists 54. Where are the most famous chalk deposits in the world and what are they called? a) Half-Dome in Yosemite b) The Chalk mines in Libby, Montana c) The Monterrey Formation on the west coast of California d) The White Cliffs of Dover on the coast of England 55. What were the Sauropods? a) The first Birds b) The first Dinosaurs c) The first Ornothischians d) An herbivorous suborder of Saurischians that were the largest animals to ever live on the land