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KEY
Geology 12 Test #4 - Extra Practice
ANSWER KEY
A KEY
INDEX
G FOSSIL
H
C
D
I
E
J
F
K
1. Which pair of sedimentary rock layers in the cliff sections correlate with each other?
A. B and I
B. F and K
C. E and H
D. A and K
90
80
Percent parent isotope remaining
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
3. What is the half-life of the radioactive isotope shown in the graph above?
A. 50 m.y.
B. 55 m.y.
C. 60 m.y.
D. 125 m.y.
4. A sample is found to have only 40% of the original parent isotope remaining. What is the best
estimate of the age of the sample?
A. 40 m.y.
B. 45 m.y.
C. 65 m.y.
D. 80 m.y.
For questions 5 and 6, refer to the following in the Data Booklet.
REFERENCE Geological Time Scale
DATA BOOKLET
Fossil Samples
Development of Life Through Time
5. Which of the following lists has the events in the correct order?
A. B. C. D.
youngest youngest youngest youngest
start of the formation of
mammals dominated fishes dominated
Mesozoic era coal forests
appearance of fishes dominated first land plants reptiles dominated
flowering plants
Pleistocene start of appearance mammals dominated
glaciation Paleozoic era of humans
Precambrian rocks earliest recorded life Precambrian rocks earliest recorded life
6. Which of the following is the best estimate of the age of the fossil shown below?
A. sea floor
B. forest floor
C. coastal beach
D. toe of an active glacier
A. petrified wood
B. silicified ammonite shell
C. preserved worm burrows
D. permineralized dinosaur tooth
9. Which graph best represents the rate of evolution as described by the concept of punctuated
equilibrium?
A. B.
Rate of evolution
Rate of evolution
Time Time
C. D.
Rate of evolution
Rate of evolution
Time Time
10. Which of the following can best determine the absolute age of an igneous rock layer?
II
Mississippian
III
IV
A. I
B. II
C. III
D. IV
12. Which of the following graphs shows the radioactive decay of an element with a half-life of
1 million years?
A. 100 B. 100
% %
parent parent
material material
0 1 0 1
Time (million years) Time (million years)
C. 100 D. 100
% %
parent parent
material material
0 1 2 0 1 2 3 4
Time (million years) Time (million years)
Use the following diagram of a geologic cross section to answer question 13.
Paleocene bone
60 m.y.
Sandstone
Vesicles
Lava flow
180 m.y.
5m
Mafic dike
100 m.y.
13. What is the most accurate age range for the sandstone layer?
Reference For question 14, refer to the following reference in the Appendix.
Data Pages in
the Appendix Development of Life Through Time
Youngest
A. first humans
Rocky Mountains form
B. reptiles dominate
amphibians dominate
C. invertebrates dominate
fish dominate
D. Precambrian era
Oldest
Use the following list of characteristics of organisms to answer question 15.
Characteristic
I large numbers
II lived on land
IV hard parts
VI remained stationary
15. Which combination of characteristics would give a species the best chance of leaving a fossil?
A. I, II and III
B. II, IV and VI
C. I, IV and V
D. II, III and IV
Use the photograph below of mammal footprints from the
Tertiary to answer questions 16 and 17.
16. What name is given to the type of fossils shown in the photograph?
A. xenolith
B. trace fossil
C. brachiopod
D. original material
17. What was the most likely method of preservation of the fossils shown above?
A. replacement
B. carbonization
C. permineralization
D. mold and cast formation
For questions 18 and 19, refer to the cross-sectional diagram below
Reference and to the following references in the Appendix.
Data Pages in
the Appendix Geological Time Scale
Fossil Samples
Layer I
Layer II
Layer III
Layer IV
5m
18. Which of the following would be the most likely fossil found in layer II?
A. B.
C. D.
19. The organisms that left the fossils in layers I and III lived in a similar environment.
In which of the following environments did they live?
A. forest
B. ocean
C. desert
D. mountain
20. Which of the following graphs best illustrates the concept of punctuated equilibrium of
organisms U, V and W evolving from an original species T?
A. B.
U V W U V W
Present Present
T T
Past Past
Change in form Change in form
C. D.
W
Present Present
W
V
V
U U
Past T Past
T
Change in form Change in form
21. Which of the following is not evidence for lithospheric plate motion?
22. At which type of plate boundary will deep focus earthquakes definitely occur?
A. rifting
B. divergent
C. transform
D. subduction
For questions 23 and 24, refer to the cross section below of a portion of the
Reference Earths crust, and to the following references in the Data Pages.
Data Pages Fossil Samples
Geological Time Scale
5
4 6
1
Diagram not drawn to scale.
Siltstone Shale
Contact
Conglomerate metamorphism
Sandstone
23. Which of the following is the correct sequence of events (from oldest to youngest) in the
geologic history of this area?
youngest
Bed 5
Bed 4
Bed 3
Bed 2
Bed 1
oldest
A. trilobite (arthropoda)
B. brachiopod (brachiopoda)
C. sea urchin (echinodermata)
D. coral (cnidaria/coelenterata)
27. Which of the following is the best index (guide) fossil for bed 2?
A. B.
C. D.
28. Which of the following sedimentary environments is suggested by the collection of fossils
shown below?
A. deep ocean
B. shallow sea
C. desert oasis
D. freshwater swamp
29. The geologist discovered another layer, 10 km away, which contained the following
collection of fossils.
A. Bed 2
B. Bed 3
C. Bed 4
D. Bed 5
For questions 30 to 33, refer to the geological columns below
Reference and to the following references in the Data Pages.
Data Pages Fossil Samples
Geological Time Scale
Note: each layer within a column represents a different unit of geologic time (epoch or period).
green volcanic
shale lava glacial till
tan conglomerate
limestone volcanic
lava
Y
red green conglomerate
sandstone shale
green shale
brown red
sandstone sandstone
30. What is the oldest layer shown in any of the Columns I, II or III?
A. glacial till
B. tan limestone
C. grey limestone
D. brown sandstone
31. Which of the following is most likely represented by the wavy line at the base of the
green shale in Column II?
A joint
B. varve
C. thrust fault
D. erosion surface
32. Which of the following statements is definitely true about fault X-Y in Column I?
33. The following radiometric dates were determined for units in Column III.
Which of the following is the most likely age for the conglomerate in Column III?
A. Miocene (must be between Oligicene fossil and Pliocene volcanic lava flow)
B. Holocene
C. Paleocene
D. Pleistocene
Use the following photograph to answer question 34.
Geocomp Media
34. When this fossil was cut in half, no trace of the original structures within the organism
could be seen. Which of the following is the most likely type of preservation of this
organism?
A. carbonization
B. cast and mold
C. permineralization
D. as original material
Arthur Holmes
35. The photograph shows a Miocene worm trace fossil. Which of the following statements
about the fossil is true?
36. Which of the following is the best estimate of the range of time that this type of organism
existed on Earth? 554mya - 251mya
A. 100 m.y.
B. 200 m.y.
C. 300 m.y.
D. 400 m.y.
Use the following chart to answer questions 37 to 39.
The chart shows how the characteristics of the horse have changed
over several epochs of the Cenozoic Era.
Hyracotherium was about 25 cm in height and Equus had an average height of 150 cm.
Pliohippus
Pliocene
Merychippus
Miocene
Parahippus
Mesohippus
Oligocene
Hyracotherium
Eocene
Geocomp Media
37. Each epoch is represented by a different type of horse. Which geological principle does
this demonstrate?
A. superposition
B. faunal succession
C. original horizontality
D. cross-cutting relations
38. Which of the following is the best term for the apparent changes that have occurred in the
characteristics of the horse during the epochs of the Cenozoic Era?
A. evolution
B. convergence
C. uniformitarianism
D. adaptive metamorphism
39. What process would most likely have produced the changes in the horses characteristics
during the Cenozoic Era?
A. sexual reproduction
B. rapid mass extinctions
C. gradual natural selection
D. adaptation over a single generation
40. a) On the grid below, sketch a radioactive decay curve for an element with a half-life of
3 million years. Your sketch must contain a smooth and clearly drawn decay curve
for four half-lives. (2 marks)
100
90
Percent radioactive parent
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
S
I
5m
Faulting F
Igneous intrusion I
Mafic intrusion M
Deposition of sedimentary unit S
41. In the table below, place these geologic events in the order they occurred, with the oldest at
the bottom and the youngest at the top. (2 marks)
1
2 mark for each correct geological event.
Youngest
I Igneous intrusion
M Mafic intrusion
F Faulting
Oldest
Drill hole
Shale
X 125 m.y. Vesicles
Weathered
and altered
lava Y 180 m.y.
Lava flow
100 m.y.
Z
Mafic
intrusion
300 m.y. 1 2 580 m.y.
Conglomerate 460 m.y. 3
4 390 m.y.
10 m
42. The diagram shows a hole drilled through layers of rock to a conglomerate.
The potassium-argon method was used to date a buried lava flow at X, Y and Z.
Each measurement was done accurately, but gave different ages for the same formation.
The true age of the lava flow is 180 million years.
a) Choose the lava at either X or Z and explain why its radiometric age differs from the
age at Y. (1 mark)
Explain why there are differences in age between the conglomerate samples. (1 mark)
Different clasts/stones in the conglomerate would yield different ages, not the 1 mark
age of the conglomerate layer itself.