1. The fish group that went on to become the ancestor of all terrestrial vertebrates was the

A) lobe-finned fish.

B) ray-finned fish.

C) trout and bass.

D) sharks.

lobe finned fish

2. The Late Devonian Dunkleosteus was one of the largest of the

A) placoderms. B) ostracoderms. C) acanthodians. D) sharks.

placoderms

3. Which of the groups below survived the terminal Cretaceous mass extinction?

A) gymnosperms B) dinosaurs C) mosasaurs D) rudists

gymnosperms

4. Reefs did not recover from the end-Paleozoic extinction unti

l A) Early Triassic. B) Middle Triassic. C) Late Triassic. D) Early Jurassic.

middle triassic

5. The new reproductive strategy of reptiles allowed them to

A) kill prey by puncturing them. B) swallow meals whole. C) raise their young in water. D) reproduce away from water.

reproduce away from water

6. Select from those listed below the incorrect reason that Archean rocks are rare on Earth's surface.

A) Erosion has destroyed many Archean rocks. B) Metamorphism has altered many Archean rocks so that they cannot be dated properly. C) Archean rocks have plentiful, yet small, index fossils.

Archean rocks have plentiful, yet small, index fossils

7. By Late Cretaceous, only __________ and __________, which were once parts of Gondwanaland, remained attached to one another.

A) Greenland; North America B) South America; Africa C) Antarctica; Australia D) Africa; India

Antartica; Australia

8. Which statement is NOT true?

A) The animals that appeared at the Cambrian explosion involved relatively limited
number of modes of life
B) The Cambrian explosion involved the development of the first large complex animals C) Organisms that appeared during the Cambrian explosion included trilobite and
archeocyathids
D) The Cambiran explosion involved evolution of the first complex terrestrial plants

9. What of the following is the closest to the age of the "Great Oxidation Event"?

A) 3.5 Ga B) 1.7 Ga C) 2.5 Ga D) 0.8 Ga

3.5 Ga

10. During Middle Jurassic, North America began to break away from __________ following the same suture as the __________ orogeny.

A) Africa; Hercynian B) Europe; Hercynian C) Africa; Alleghenian D) Europe; Alleghenian

Africa; Hercynian

11. Based on the fossil record, the plant adaptation resulting in the seed occurred during

A) Ordovician. B) Early Silurian. C) Late Silurian. D) Devonian.

Devonian

12. Conifers, which dominated Permian terrestrial environments, are part of the group called

A) sphenopsids. B) lycopods.
C) gymnosperms. D) cordaites

gymnosperms

13. The end-Triassic mass extinction is closely associated with

A) emplacement of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. B) subduction and accretion of new terranes. C) deposition of the Newark Supergroup across wide areas of eastern North America. D) deposition in the Sundance Sea over wide areas in western North America.

deposition of the newark supergroup

14. The key feature in the origin of reptiles was the

A) foldable wing. B) protective scales. C) amniote egg. D) caterpillar-like larvae.

amniote egg

15. Evolution and diversification of what type of organisms played an important role in increase of oxygen in the atmosphere of the early Earth?

A) Chemosynthetic B) Eutaxitic C) Dyspeptic D) Photosynthetic

16. A major adaptation of the angiosperms was double fertilization, which allowed:

A) More rapid maturity after germination B) Slower growth in arid conditions C) Germination in arid conditions D) Development of woody tissues

more rapid maturity after germination

17. __________ were the dominant skeletonized animal of Middle and Late Cambrian.

A) Brachiopods B) Trilobites C) Bivalve mollusks D) Conodonts

trilobites

18. The great Proterozoic supercontinent, which was split apart between about 700 and 800 million years ago, is called

A) Rodinia. B) Laurentia. C) Columbia. D) Gondwanaland.

rodinia

19. Flying insects originated during

A) Early Devonian. B) Early Carboniferous. C) Late Carboniferous. D) Permian.

Early Devonian

20. The rocks that were hit by the asteroid that struck the Yucatán Peninsula about 65.5 million years ago included evaporitic sediments. This resulted in __________ being a major impact effect.

A) wildfires B) dust clouds C) acid rain D) microspherules

dust clouds

21. The Neogene volcanic arc associated with subduction of the Pacific plate is called

A) Columbia Plateau. B) Cascade Range. C) Sierra Nevada. D) California Coast Ranges.

Sierra Nevada

22. A group that was poorly represented before Neogene, whose radiation benefited from the seed production of newly diversified herbs and grasses, is the

A) small mammalian herbivores. B) horses and rhinoceroses. C) passerine birds. D) cloven-hoofed ungulates.

23. Ordovician glaciation was associated with ____ 13C and _____ 18O in marine brachiopod fossils due to _____ and ______

A) increased, increased, expanded ice caps, weathering of organic carbon B) increased, decreased, smaller ice caps, weathering of organic carbon C) decreased, increased, expanded ice caps, burial of organic carbon D) increased, increased, expanded ice caps, burial of organic carbon

24. Neogene oxygen isotope records of marine foraminifera show variations corresponding to superimposed ____, ___ and 100 kyr frequencies that correspond to changes in the earth’s orbital precession, _________ and __________.

A) 23 kyr, 41 kyr; obliquity, eccentricity B) 30 kyr, 45 kyr; obliquity; eccentricity
C) 15 kyr, 41 kyr; obliquity; normality D) 23 kyr, 41 kyr; precession; obliquity

23 kyr, 41 kyr, precession; obliquity

25. New members of the Cretaceous pelagic food web that featured symmetrical tails, overlapping scales, specialized fins, and short jaws were called

A) teleosts. B) ammonoids. C) belemnoids. D) mosasaurs.

teleosts

26. The key late Neogene event that brought about widespread changes in salinity and temperature of ocean waters and thus the oceanic conveyor belt was

A) the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. B) a change in the trade wind belt. C) the development of the Greenland ice cap. D) the obliquity cycle of Earth's orbit around the sun.