The Earth Through Time, 10Th Edition

The Earth Through Time, 10th Edition

by Harold L. Levin

Chapter 10—Early Paleozoic Events

Multiple Choice Questions

Select the best answer.

1. Which one of the following is not an era in the Phanerozoic Eon?

a. Paleozoic

b. Mesozoic

c. Cenozoic

d. Neoproterozoic

e. None of the above

2. Which continental land mass during the Paleozoic Era contained northern Europe?

a. Kazakhstania

b. Siberia.

c. Laurentia

d. Gondwanaland

e. Baltica

3. Laurentia was located near what region of the Earth in the late Neoproterozoic?

a. The North Pole

b. The equator

c. The South Pole

d. 45 degrees north

e. 45 degrees south

4. Which of the following was an ocean during the early Paleozoic?

a. Iapetus

b. Rheic

c. Panthalassic

d. Paleo-Tethys

e. All of above

5. The collision of North America and Europe resulted in the ______orogeny.

a. Taconic

b. Acadian

c. Caledonian

d. Hercynian

e. Alleghenian

6. The craton of North America was periodically flood by shallow seas. These seas favored which of the following?

a. diversification of marine life

b. diversification of dinosaurs

c. diversification of mammals

d. diversification of birds

e. None of the above

7. The platform sediments were warped into gentle dome and basins by a ______force.

a. diagonal

b. horizontal

c. vertical

d. sideways

e. None of the above

8. Basins tend to have fewer ______compared to domes.

a. fossils

b. unconformities

c. geologic units

d. meteorite impacts

e. Both a. and c.

9. Which of the following is not an orogenic belt along the margins of the North American Craton?

a. Uralian

b. Taconic

c. Acadian

d. Alleghenian

e. Ouachita

10. Which of the following is used to mark the beginning of the Cambrian period?

a. Trilobites

b. Trichophycus

c. Jelly fish

d. Metazoans

e. None of the above

11. Why is little known about the Paleozoic Oceans?

a. The evidence has been washed away by waves

b. Paleozoic were very small

c. The ocean crust is constantly being recycled back into the mantle

d. Paleozoic crust was only made out of soft sediments

e. Both b. and d.

12. Which one of the following is the name of a platform basin on the North American craton?

a. Ouachita-Marathon trough

b. Tuscarora

c. Williston

d. Shawanguk

e. Queenston

13. The boundary between a transgressive –regressive cycle is a(n) ______.

a. cratonic sequence

b. conformity

c. unconformity

d. ridge

e. None of the above

14. Which of the following is a cause for global sea level change?

a. Significant changes in the amount of glaciers

b. Changes in seafloor spreading rates

c. Changes in the diversity of organisms

d. Changes in ocean circulation patterns

e. Both a. and b.

15. What was the name given the epicontinental sea on the North America carton during the Cambrian period?

a. Kaskaskia

b. Tippecanoe

c. Sauk

d. Absaroka

e. Zuni

16. During the Cambrian period, highlands composed of crystalline bedrock formed ______.

a. the Transcontinental Arch

b. the Tapeats Sandstone

c. deep marine basins

d. restricted marine basins

e. None of the above

17. What rock formation is the base of the Sauk transgression?

a. Transcontinental Arch

b. Tapeats Sandstone

c. St. Peter Sandstone

d. Muav Limestone

e. Bright Angle Shale

18. You observe the following rock sequence from oldest to youngest: limestone, shale, and then sandstone. What term below describes the sequence?

a. Procession

b. Recession

c. Aggression

d. Transgression

e. Regression

19. Temporal transgression refers to the idea that a geologic unit ______.

a. varies in age with location

b. varies in thickness with location

c. maintains constant thickness with location

d. is the same age everywhere

e. All the above

20. Why are carbonates such as the Muav Limestone deposited further from shore than sandstone?

a. It is lighter

b. It is heavier

c. Requires deep water

d. Impurities inhibit the formation of carbonates

e. Requires streams to form

21. The St. Peter Sandstone is nearly pure quartz. What process is responsible for the purity of quartz in this sandstone?

a. Volcanism

b. Reworked older sandstones

c. Subsidence

d. Back arc basins

e. Turbidites

22. During the Tippecanoe Transgression, what geologic unit was not deposited west of the Mississippi River Region?

a. Shale

b. Limestone

c. Quartz

d. Schist

e. None of the above

23. The Michigan Basin was rimmed by reefs leading to limited communication with ocean water. This lead to the deposition of ______.

a. limestone

b. sandstone

c. schist

d. evaporite

e. conglomerate

24. At the beginning of the Paleozoic Era, the Cordillera was a(n) ______.

a. active margin

b. passive margin

c. typical collisional orogeny

d. continental platform

e. western trench

25. Graptolites are associated with ______.

a. terrestrial conditions

b. deep marine

c. volcanically active regions

d. Moon rocks

e. All but d.

26. Which of the following fossils are used to correlate Ordovician rocks?

a. Brachiopods

b. Cloudia

c. Shelly multicellular forms

d. Graptolites

e. Conodonts

27. During Ordovician time the Cordillera had formed a ______.

a. microcontinent

b. rift valley

c. deep marine margin

d. passive margin

e. volcanic chain

28. The northern margin of North America has the thickest section of ______age rocks.

a. Cambrian.

b. Ordovician.

c. Silurian.

d. Devonian.

e. Permian.

29. What evidence indicates the formation of a subduction volcanic arc complex along with the eastern margins of North American during the Ordovician?

a. erosional surface dominate the entire time period

b. extinction of the dinosaurs

c. carbonate deposition stopped

d. deposition of graywacke

e. Both c. and d.

30. When did the eastern margin of North America switch from passive to an active margin?

a. Early Cambrian

b. Late Silurian

c. Middle Ordovician

d. Middle Mississippian

e. Early Mississippian

31. What is the name of the orogenic event that impacted Eastern North America in the Ordovician?

a. Caledonain

b. Taconic

c. Acadian

d. Antler

e. Levinian

32. The Taconic orogeny shortens the crust in the Taconic Mountains by ______.

a. normal faulting

b. transform faulting

c. transgression

d. regression

e. thrusting continental rise sediments on top of continental shelf

sediments

33. The Queenston clastic wedge formed as a result of the ______.

a. formation of a passive margin

b. Subduciton of the pacific plate

c. formation of mountains associated with the Acadian orogeny

d. formation of mountains associated with the Taconic orogeny

e. All the above

34. In what direction does a clastic wedge thicken?

a. Toward the sea

b. Away from the mountains

c. Towards the mountains

d. Towards the low lands

e. Both a. and c.

35. Based on volume, estimates of sediments in the Queenston clastic wedge, about how tall were the source mountains?

a. 13,000 feet

b. 2 miles

c. 1,300 feet

d. 10,000 feet

e. 2000 feet

36. Which of the following arthropod fossils has been found in Caledonian orogenic belt rocks?

a. Eurypterids

b. Graptolites

c. Shelly

d. Bentonites

e. Bioturbates

37. Caledonian orogenic belt linked up with which North American orogenic event?

a. Cordilleran

b. Appalachian

c. Siberian

d. Caledonian

e. Iapetus

38. Which of the following contributed to the early Paleozoic climate?

a. Earth spun faster in the past

b. Tidal effects were stronger

c. No vascular

d. All of the above

e. None of the above

39. During the Cambrian, North America was oriented with the paleoequator running ______.

a. from Florida to Washington state

b. from California to Maine

c. from Oregon to Florida

d. from Mexico to the Arctic

e. from Maine to California

40. During the late Ordovician, the Sahara Desert region was experiencing ______.

a. None of the below

b. glaciations

c. arid conditions

d. droughts

e. rising sea level

Answers to Questions

1. d 11. c 21. b 31. b

2. e 12. c 22. a 32. e

3. c 13. c 23. d 33. d

4. e 14. e 24. b 34. c

5. d 15. c 25. c 35. a

6. a 16. a 26. d 36. a

7. c 17. b 27. e 37. b

8. b 18. e 28. c 38. d

9. a 19. a 29. e 39. d

10. b 20. d 30. c 40. b