Quiz 8: Time and Geology
Geology/Geography/Oceanography/Atmospheric Sciences
Q 1Q 1
Relative time refers to the time sequence in which events take place rather than the number of years involved.
Free
True False
True
Q 2Q 2
Uniformitarianism reflects the belief among geologists that the Earth remains uniform and unchanging through time.
Free
True False
False
Q 3Q 3
The principle of superposition states that within a sequence of undisturbed sedimentary rocks, the layers get younger going from bottom to top.
Free
True False
True
Q 4Q 4
The principle of crosscutting relationships states that a disrupted pattern is older than the cause of disruption.
Free
True False
Q 5Q 5
The principle of original horizontality states that beds of sediment are nearly always deposited as nearly horizontal layers.
Free
True False
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True False
Q 7Q 7
Under some circumstances, correlation between two regions can be made by assuming that similar rock types in the two regions formed at the same time.
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True False
Q 8Q 8
An index fossil is a fossil from a very short-lived, geographically widespread species known to exist during a specific interval of geologic time.
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True False
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True False
Q 10Q 10
Geologists use fossils in sedimentary rocks to assign their correct place in geologic history.
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True False
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True False
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True False
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True False
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True False
Q 15Q 15
The proportional amount of atoms that decay with time is only influenced by pressure and temperature.
Free
True False
Q 16Q 16
Half life is the time it takes for a given amount of a radioactive isotope to decay to half its original amount.
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True False
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True False
Q 18Q 18
Isotopic dates from volcanic ash or lava flows layered between fossiliferous sedimentary rocks have been used to assign numerical ages to the geologic time scale.
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True False
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True False
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True False
Q 21Q 21
The Earth is approximately _____ years old.
A) 4,500 to 4600
B) 450,000 to 460,000
C) 4,500,000 to 4,600,00
D) 4,500,000,000 to 4,600,000,000
E) 4,500,000,000,000 to 4,600,000,000,000
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 22Q 22
Our ability to assign an age to geological and archaeological materials is based on our ability to measure the relative abundance of radioactive ___ and their stable decay products.
A) ions
B) protons
C) isotopes
D) neutrons
E) fallout
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 23Q 23
In geology, _____ usually means determining time equivalency of rock units.
A) physical continuity
B) unconformity
C) lateral continuity
D) correlation
E) superposition
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 24Q 24
The ___ of a radioactive material is the time it takes for a given amount of radioactive isotope to be reduced by half.
A) atomic life
B) atomic mass life
C) atomic spin life
D) nuclear magnetic life
E) half life
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 25Q 25
The _____ is the principle says that the same processes and natural laws that operated in the past are those we can actually observe or infer from observation as operating at present.
A) Uniformitarianism
B) Numericalism
C) Relativism age
D) Actualism
E) Absolutism
Free
Multiple Choice
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 27Q 27
When the ____ came to a close, dinosaurs became extinct.
A) Holocene Epoch
B) Cenozoic Era
C) Mesozoic Era
D) Precambrian
E) Paleozoic Era
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 28Q 28
Alvarez and others proposed a hypothesis that dinosaur extinction occurred because __.
A) they sickened and died because of a cross-species epidemic
B) the continents were flooded with seawater and they drowned
C) all their eggs were eaten by birds and mammals
D) the climate changed as the Ice Age began
E) one or more asteroids impacted Earth, resulting in environmental change
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 29Q 29
The principle of ___ states that an original sedimentary layer extends laterally until it tapers or thins at is edges.
A) superposition
B) lateral continuity
C) cross-cutting relationships
D) original horizontality
E) actualism
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 30Q 30
______ denotes the vast amount of time that precedes the Paleozoic Era.
A) Mesozoic
B) Paleozoic
C) Quaternary
D) Precambrian
E) Cenozoic
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 31Q 31
Isotopic dating has shown that the Precambrian took up ______% of all geologic time.
A) 15
B) 46
C) 87
D) 95
E) 62
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Multiple Choice
Q 32Q 32
The ___ Era began with the appearance of complex life, as indicated by fossils like trilobites.
A) Quaternary
B) Cenozoic
C) Mesozoic
D) Paleozoic
E) Precambrian
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 33Q 33
The _______ Era is the Age of Mammals.
A) Archean
B) Cenozoic
C) Mesozoic
D) Paleozoic
E) Precambrian
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 34Q 34
The _____ ended with the greatest mass extinction ever to occur on Earth.
A) Tertiary Period
B) Jurassic Period
C) Paleozoic Era
D) Precambrian interval
E) Cenozoic Era
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 35Q 35
The ____ is based upon the observation that fossil species succeed one another through layers in a predictable order.
A) principle of lateral continuity
B) principle of faunal succession
C) principle of original horizontality
D) principle of unconformities
E) principle of radioactivity
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 36Q 36
The relative-dating principle of __ states that fragments included in a host rock are older than the host rock.
A) inclusion
B) exclusion
C) intuition
D) supposition
E) superposition
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 37Q 37
The half-life of the carbon 14 isotope is 5730 years. If there were 4 billion atoms of C-14 in a particular organism at the time it died, how many atoms of C-14 would there be in the remains of that organism 11,460 years after it died?
A) 1 billion
B) 2 billion
C) 3 billion
D) 4 billion
E) 8 billion
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 38Q 38
The Earth's largest mass extinction coincides with _____ in Siberia.
A) a massive meteorite impact
B) massive volcanism
C) a significant climate change
D) flooding of continental areas
E) expansion of glaciers
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 39Q 39
When marine geologists collects a core of undeformed ocean-floor sediment, they know that the youngest layer is on the top of the core and the oldest is at the bottom because of the principle of __.
A) supposition
B) suspension
C) superposition
D) inclusion
E) cross-cutting relationships
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 40Q 40
By the principle of __, the surface feature known as the Grand Canyon is ___ than the sedimentary formations that are exposed in the side walls of the Grand Canyon.
A) superposition; younger
B) inclusion; older
C) superposition; older
D) cross-cutting relationships; younger
E) cross-cutting relationships; older
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 41Q 41
The truncation of bedding where sedimentary rock layers abut a granite pluton suggests a(n) ______.
A) angular unconformity
B) intrusive contact
C) erosional surface
D) fault
E) metamorphic aureole
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 42Q 42
The principle of ______ states that fragments included in a host rock must be _______ than the host rock.
A) intrusion; older than
B) inclusion; older than
C) intrusion; younger than
D) inclusion; younger than
E) inclusion; the same age as
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 43Q 43
_______ is the spontaneous nuclear change of isotopes with unstable nuclei.
A) Structural geology
B) Petrology
C) Radioactive decay
D) Fission
E) Isotopic dating
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 44Q 44
In radioactive decay a(n) _______ emission is the emission of two neutrons and two protons from a nucleus.
A) beta
B) gamma
C) omega
D) alpha
E) psi
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 45Q 45
In the radioactive decay process of __ decay, an electron is emitted from the nucleus of the parent isotope.
A) omega
B) gamma
C) beta
D) alpha
E) delta
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Multiple Choice
Q 46Q 46
In the radioactive decay process of electron capture a(n) ___ in the nucleus captures an orbiting electron.
A) neutrino
B) neutron
C) alpha particle
D) proton
E) positron
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 47Q 47
The proportional amount of atoms that decay with time _____ by the high pressures and temperature of Earth's interior.
A) can be slightly accelerated
B) can be slightly decelerated
C) can be greatly accelerated
D) can be greatly decelerated
E) is not changed at all
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 48Q 48
Radiocarbon dating is useful in dating an event that occurred in the past ________ years.
A) 4 thousand
B) 40 thousand
C) 400 thousand
D) 4 million
E) 40 million
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 49Q 49
The carbon-14 isotope disintegrates radioactively with a half-life of ______ years.
A) 4.5 billion
B) 710 million
C) 15 billion
D) 24,000
E) 5730
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 50Q 50
Carbon-14 is created in the atmosphere by the nuclear reaction of neutron from the cosmic rays and _______ in the atmosphere.
A) hydrogen
B) water vapor
C) nitrogen
D) oxygen
E) dust
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 51Q 51
Uranium-238 ultimately decays to _____ -206.
A) lead
B) argon
C) potassium
D) uranium
E) carbon
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 52Q 52
____ dating uses the effect of neutron radiation coming from deep space to date material at Earth's surface.
A) Cosmogenic
B) Electron spin resonance
C) Amino acid racemization
D) Fission track
E) Potassium-argon
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 53Q 53
The _____ includes most of geologic time (87%).
A) Quaternary Period
B) Cenozoic Era
C) Mesozoic Era
D) Paleozoic Era
E) Precambrian
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 54Q 54
A(n) _______ is an erosional surface that represents a gap in the geologic record.
A) basal conglomerate
B) unconformity
C) boundary layer
D) lamination
E) marker horizon
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 55Q 55
A(n) _________ is a contact in which an erosional surface on a pluton or metamorphic rock has been covered by sedimentary (or volcanic) rock.
A) disconformity
B) basal conglomerate
C) nonconformity
D) boundary layer
E) angular unconformity
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 56Q 56
In a(n) __________ the erosional contact represents missing rock strata and separates sedimentary beds that are parallel.
A) disconformity
B) basal conglomerate
C) nonconformity
D) boundary layer
E) angular unconformity
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 57Q 57
Fossils are common in __.
A) all rock types
B) plutonic rocks
C) sedimentary rocks
D) metamorphic rocks
E) volcanic rocks
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 58Q 58
The principle of _____ allows rock layers in different places to be correlated on the basis of their fossils.
A) lateral continuity
B) faunal succession
C) radioactive decay
D) original horizontality
E) magnetostratigraphy
Free
Multiple Choice
Q 59Q 59
A(n) _______ fossil is a fossil from a very short-lived, geographically widespread species that existed during a specific interval of geologic time.
A) assemblage
B) range
C) age
D) interval
E) index
Free
Multiple Choice