Name:

Earth History Tame Home Exam

Class:

1. When did dinosaurs become extinct?

A)
B)
C)
D)

at the end of the Cambrian Period

at the end of the Cretaceous Period
before the earliest birds
before the earliest mammals

6. Base your answer to the following question on the

geologic cross section below of a region of Earth's crust.
Rock layers A through E have been labeled. Two index
fossils are shown and their locations within the rock
layers are indicated.

2. Which geologic event occurred in New York State at

approximately the same time as the extinction of
dinosaurs and ammonoids?
A) advance and retreat of the last continental ice sheet
B) initial opening of the Atlantic Ocean
C) deposition of the sands and clays underlying
Long Island
D) formation of the Queenston Delta
3. The presence of coal in Antarctica indicates that
A)
B)
C)
D)

Antarcticas climate was once warmer

forests can grow on continental glaciers
coal can form in cold climates
Antarctica currently has areas of tropical climate

4. According to the fossil record, which sequence correctly

represents the evolution of life on Earth?
A) soft-bodied organisms
amphibians
fish
mammals
B) soft-bodied organisms
fish
amphibians
mammals
C) fish
soft-bodied organisms
mammals
amphibians
D) fish
amphibians
mammals
soft-bodied
organisms
5. A very large, circular, impact crater under the coast of
Mexico is believed to be approximately 65 million years
old. This impact event is inferred to be related to the
A)
B)
C)
D)

Evidence of tectonic activity in this cross section is

provided by the
A) collision of crustal plate boundaries in the rock
layers
B) folding and tilting of the rock layers
C) igneous intrusion into the rock layers
D) faulting and movement of the rock layers
7. In order for an organism to be used as an index fossil, the
organism must have been geographically widespread and
must have
A)
B)
C)
D)

been preserved by volcanic ash

lived on land
lived in shallow water
existed for a geologically short time

formation of Pangea
extinction of the dinosaurs
advance and retreat of the last continental ice sheet
appearance of the earliest trilobites

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Earth History Tame Home Exam

8. The diagram below shows an index fossil found in
surface bedrock in some parts of New York State.

10. The diagram below represents a geologic cross section.

In which New York State landscape region is this

gastropod fossil most likely found in the surface
bedrock?
A)
B)
C)
D)

Newark Lowlands
Tug Hill Plateau
Allegheny Plateau
Adirondack Mountains

9. The diagram below represents a geologic cross section of

a portion of Earth's crust.

In the cross section, the basalt is known to be younger

than the sandstone because
A) the sandstone is made of weathered basalt
B) in places, the sandstone is above the basalt
C) igneous rocks are usually younger than
sedimentary rocks
D) rocks are older than the igneous intrusions that
cut through them
11. Which geologic event occurred most recently in New
York State?

Folding and erosion occurred after the formation of the

A)
B)
C)
D)

A continental glacier covered most of the State.

The Palisades Sill intruded.
The entire State was uplifted from below sea level.
The Taconic Mountains formed.

A) Dunbar limestone, but before formation of Erie coal

B) Erie coal, but before formation of Freeport
sandstone
C) Gayle shale
D) Freeport sandstone

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Earth History Tame Home Exam

12. Base your answer to the following question on the cross sections below, which represent two bedrock
outcrops 15 kilometers apart. The rock layers have been numbered for identification and some contain the
index fossil remains shown.

Evidence best indicates that rock layers 4 and 8 were deposited during the same geologic period because
both layers
A) are composed of glacial sediments
C) contain the same index fossil

B) contain index fossils of the same age

D) are found in the same area

13. Base your answer to the following question on

the cross sections below and on your knowledge of Earth science. The cross sections represent three
bedrock outcrops, 1, 2, and 3, found several kilometers apart. The geologic time period when each
sedimentary rock layer formed is shown. The symbols (star, circle, cross, square, and triangle) represent
fossils of different types of organisms present in the rock layers.

Explain why the geologic age of these rock layers could not be accurately dated using carbon-14.

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Earth History Tame Home Exam

14. Base your answer to the following question on the block diagram below, which shows rock units that have
not been overturned. Point A is located in the zone of contact metamorphism. A New York State index
fossil is shown in one of the rock units.

State the evidence shown by the block diagram that supports the inference that the fault is older than the
rhyolite.
15. Which two types of organisms both survived the mass
extinction that occurred at the end of the Permian
Period?
A)
B)
C)
D)

corals and vascular plants

trilobites and nautiloids
placoderm fish and graptolites
gastropods and eurypterids

16. What percentage of Earth's history represents human

existence?
A) less than 1.0%
C) 23.5%

B) 1.8%
D) more than 98.6%

17. Which geologic event most likely caused the

Appalachian Mountains to form?
A) the collision of North America and Africa
B) the melting of a subducted oceanic plate
C) the massive erosion and deposition of Mesozoic
rocks
D) the eruption of an ancient volcanic mountain chain

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Earth History Tame Home Exam

18. The index fossil shown below has been found in New
York State sedimentary bedrock.

Which other index fossil could also be found in New

York State bedrock of the same age?
A)

B)

C)

D)

19. Which gas became part of Earth's atmosphere mainly as

a result of the evolution of life-forms?
A) nitrogen
C) hydrogen

B) helium
D) oxygen

20. Much of the evidence for the evolution of lifeforms on

Earth has been obtained by
A)
B)
C)
D)

studying the life spans of present-day animals

examining fossils preserved in the rock record
radioactive dating of metamorphic rock
correlating widespread igneous ash deposits

21. Approximately 2.2 billion years ago, which gas was

first added in large amounts to Earths atmosphere from
life-forms that evolved in the oceans?
A) water vapor
C) oxygen

B) carbon dioxide
D) nitrogen

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Earth History Tame Home Exam

Base your answers to questions 22 and 23 on the block diagrams below, which represent three widely
separated outcrops. All rock layers are sedimentary. No overturning has occurred. Layers labeled with the
same letter are the same age.

22. The fault in the Evansburg Outcrop is younger than

A) G and J, only
C) F, G, H, I, and J

B) J, only
D) G, only

23. Which method would provide the most reliable evidence for the idea that layer J was deposited at the same
time in each location?
A)
B)
C)
D)

comparing the mineral composition of each J layer

measuring the percentage of the mineral cement in each J layer
measuring the thickness of each J layer
comparing the fossils in each J layer

24. Which radioactive isotope is most often used when

determining the age of fossil bones found in sediments
deposited during the Holocene Epoch?
A) potassium-40
C) uranium-238

B) carbon-14
D) rubidium-87

25. Thin layers of volcanic ash act as excellent time

markers in the correlation of bedrock because volcanic
ash
A) is easily eroded and lasts only a short time on
Earth's surface
B) stays in the atmosphere for millions of years
C) is deposited over millions of years
D) falls to Earth over a large area in a short period
of time

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Earth History Tame Home Exam

26. Base your answer to the following question on the partial geologic map below and on your knowledge of
Earth Science. The map shows the geographical distribution of most of the Devonian-age surface bedrock
in New York State.

On the map, place an X at a location where the gastropod fossil Platyceras might be found in the surface
bedrock.

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Earth History Tame Home Exam

27. Which fossil sequence is in order from oldest to
youngest?
A)

B)

C)

D)

28. When did the Jurassic Period end?

A)
B)
C)
D)

190 million years ago

66 million years ago
163 million years ago
144 million years ago

29. The gases in Earth's early atmosphere are inferred to

have come primarily from
A)
B)
C)
D)

melting of glacial ice

meteor showers
volcanic eruptions
evaporation of seawater

30. Which index fossil has been found in Ordovician-age bedrock?

A)

B)

C)

D)

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Earth History Tame Home Exam

31. The diagrams below show geologic cross sections of
the same part of the Earth's crust at different times in
the geologic past.

36. A fossil formed 11,400 years ago. Which percentage of

the original amount of carbon-14 remains in the fossil?
A) 100%
C) 25%

B) 50%
D) 12.5%

Which sequence shows the order in which this part of

the crust probably formed?
A) A
C) C

B
A

C
D

D B) C
B D) A

D
C

A
B

B
D

32. Radioactive carbon (Cl4) would be especially useful in

determining the age of
A)
B)
C)
D)

extremely small amounts of material

geologically young inorganic remains
geologically young organic remains
Precambrian igneous rocks

33. Which radioactive element is used to determine the

absolute age of late Pleistocene animal remains?
A) uranium-238
C) potassium-40

B) carbon-14
D) rubidium-87

34. The division of Earth's geologic history into units of

time called eons, eras, periods, and epochs is based on
A)
B)
C)
D)

absolute dating techniques

fossil evidence
climatic changes
seismic data

35. Trilobite fossils were recently discovered in Himalayan

Mountain bedrock. During which geologic period could
these organisms have lived?
A) Cretaceous
C) Neogene

B) Triassic
D) Cambrian

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Earth History Tame Home Exam

37. Base your answer to the following question on the geologic cross section below, which shows rock units 1
through 7 that have not been overturned. Some of the rock units contain New York State index fossils. An
unconformity exists between rock units 5 and 6.

Describe one characteristic of volcanic ash layers and index fossils that makes both of them good geologic
time markers.
38. The accumulation of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and
nitrogen in Earths early atmosphere approximately 4
billion years ago resulted mainly from
A)
B)
C)
D)

39. The diagram below shows a cross section of the Earth's

crust. Line XY is a fault.

convection currents in Earths outer core

radioactive decay
outgassing from Earths interior
photosynthesis by the earliest land plants

Which sequence of events, from oldest to youngest, has

occurred in this outcrop?
A)

B)
C)
D)

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Earth History Tame Home Exam

40. The diagram below represents a cross section of a
portion of the Earth's crust.

Which geologic event is the most recent?

A)
B)
C)
D)

erosion of the surface of rock layer A

folding of rock layer B
deposition of rock layer C
faulting along line XY

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Answer Key
Earth History
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

Carbon-14 has a
short half-life. These
rock layers are too old
to contain measurable
carbon-14.
Carbon-14 is used to
date recent remains.
No organic material
remains in the rock.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

The intrusion has

38.
not been broken and
offset. The igneous 39.
rhyolite cuts across
40.
the fault.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

X is within the
Middle Devonian
zone or the Early and
Middle Devonian
zone located
northwest of New
York City.

They are formed

over a short period of
time. They are
geographically
widespread.
C
A
A

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