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1 | |
A fossil is |
| | A) | actual remains of plants or animals such as shells or wood. |
| | B) | remains that have been removed and replaced by mineral matter. |
| | C) | any sign of former life older than 10,000 years. |
| | D) | any of the above. |
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2 | |
Some of the oldest fossils are about how many years old? |
| | A) | 4.55 billion |
| | B) | 3.5 billion |
| | C) | 250 million |
| | D) | 10 thousand |
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3 | |
According to the evidence, a human footprint found preserved in baked clay is about 5,000 years old. According to the definitions used by paleontologists, this footprint is a(an) |
| | A) | fossil since it is an indication of former life. |
| | B) | mold since it preserves the shape. |
| | C) | actual fossil since it is preserved. |
| | D) | none of the above. |
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4 | |
A fossil of a jellyfish, if found, would most likely be |
| | A) | a preserved fossil. |
| | B) | one formed by mineralization. |
| | C) | a carbon film. |
| | D) | any of the above. |
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5 | |
Which of the basic guiding principles used to read a story of geologic events tells you that layers of undisturbed sedimentary rocks have progressively older layers as you move toward the bottom? |
| | A) | superposition |
| | B) | horizontality |
| | C) | crosscutting relationships |
| | D) | None of the above is correct. |
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6 | |
In any sequence of sedimentary rock layers that has not been subjected to stresses, you would expect to find |
| | A) | essentially horizontal stratified layers. |
| | B) | the oldest layers at the bottom and the youngest at the top. |
| | C) | younger faults, folds, and intrusions in the rock layers. |
| | D) | all of the above. |
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7 | |
An unconformity is (a) |
| | A) | rock bed that is not horizontal. |
| | B) | rock bed that has been folded. |
| | C) | rock sequence with rocks missing from the sequence. |
| | D) | all of the above. |
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8 | |
Correlation and relative dating of rock units is made possible by application of (the) |
| | A) | principle of crosscutting relationships. |
| | B) | principle of faunal succession. |
| | C) | principle of superposition. |
| | D) | all of the above. |
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9 | |
The geologic time scale identified major blocks of time in the earth's past by |
| | A) | major worldwide extinctions of life on the earth. |
| | B) | the beginning of radioactive decay of certain unstable elements. |
| | C) | measuring reversals in the earth's magnetic field. |
| | D) | none of the above. |
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10 | |
You would expect to find the least number of fossils in rocks from which era? |
| | A) | Cenozoic |
| | B) | Mesozoic |
| | C) | Paleozoic |
| | D) | Precambrian |
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11 | |
You would expect to find relatively more fossils, but fossils of life very different from anything living today, in rocks from which era? |
| | A) | Cenozoic |
| | B) | Mesozoic |
| | C) | Paleozoic |
| | D) | Precambrian |
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12 | |
The numerical dates associated with events on the geologic time scale were determined by |
| | A) | relative dating of the rate of sediment deposition. |
| | B) | radiometric dating using radioactive decay. |
| | C) | the temperature of the earth. |
| | D) | the rate that salt is being added to the ocean. |
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