The Earth Through Time, 10th Edition
by Harold L. Levin
Chapter 13—Mesozoic Events
Multiple Choice Questions
Select the best answer.
1. What is the major tectonic event at the Mesozoic?
a. Forming of Pangea
b. Breakup of Pangea
c. Breakup of Rodinia
d. Gondwana collided into Antarctica
e. Avolonia collided with North America
2. Which of the following were new vertebrate classes that appeared in the Mesozoic?
a. Birds
b. Mammals
c. Dinosaur
d. Amphibians
e. Both a. and b.
3. The first stage of the breakup of Pangea involved __________________.
a. the Atlantic rift begin to extend northward
b. opening of oceanic tracts between Africa and Antarctica
c. separation of North America from Gondwana
d. separation of Laurentia and Baltica
e. None of the above
4. What ocean formed as a result of the breakup of Pangea?
a. Pacific
b. Atlantic
c. Indian
d. Arctic
e. Antarctic
5. The southeast United States is composed of rocks originally from _________.
a. Europe
b. Asia
c. Australia/New Zealand
d. Africa
e. Antarctic
6. The second stage of the breakup of Pangea involved the separation of ______________.
a. the Atlantic rift northward
b. oceanic tracts between Africa and Antarctica
c. North America from Gondwana
d. Laurentia and Baltica
e. None of the above
7. The third stage of the breakup of Pangea involved the extension of ______________ to the north to open the Atlantic ocean.
a. rifting
b. suturing
c. subsiding
d. uplifting
e. None of the above
8. The fourth stage of the breakup of Pangea involved the separation of ______________.
a. the Atlantic rift northward
b. oceanic tracts between Africa and Antarctica
c. North America from Gondwana
d. Laurentia and Baltica
e. None of the above
9. The dominant type of faulting during the late Triassic along the North American east coast was __________________.
a. normal
b. subnormal
c. reverse
d. upward
e. thrusting
10. What is the name of the Late Triassic sediments that filled fault control basins along the North American east coast?
a. Newark Super Group
b. Ripley Formation
c. Franciscan Formation
d. Shinarump Conglomerate
e. Carmel Formation
11. What is the dominant lava composition associated with the breakup of Pangea?
a. chalk
b. rhyolite
c. andesite
d. basalt
e. conglomerate
12. Starting in the Late Triassic, the Gulf of Mexico was a site of ____________?
a. orogenic event
b. glaciation
c. stream deposits
d. lake deposits
e. thick evaporate accumulations
13. The Louann Salt produce salt domes because _______________.
a. salt flow plastically in the direction of high pressure
b. salt flow plastically in the direction of low pressure
c. salt flow non plastically in the direction of low pressure
d. salt flow non plastically in the direction of high pressure
e. None of the above
.
14. The eastern United States began subsiding during the Cretaceous Period. The resulting sediment wedge ___________________.
a. thickened towards the mountains
b. thins towards the seaward
c. thickened seaward
d. that is uniform in thickness
e. None of the above
15. Cretaceous reefs were dominated by which of the following?
a. Basalt
b. Rhyolite
c. Batholiths
d. Rudistids
e. Coccoliths
16. The late Cretaceous seas produce large volumes of chalk which is made out of _______________.
a. basalt
b. rhyolite
c. batholiths
d. rudistids
e. coccoliths
17. The intensity of tectonic activity along the Cordillera was linked to _________________.
a. the sea floor spreading rate in the Atlantic ocean
b. the sea floor spreading rate in the Panthalassa ocean
c. the rate of the mountain building
d. isostatic rebound
e. None of the above
18. During the Mesozoic Era as much as ______ percent of the cordillera region was added to North America.
a. 50
b. 25
c. 10
d. 95
e. 70
19. What is the term for when a plate fragment rides up and over another plate?
a. obduction
b. subduction
c. adduction
d. conduction
e. acceleration
20. Accretionary tectonics involves the formation of continents by the addition of ______________.
a. batholiths
b. chalk
c. unconformity
d. strata
e. exotic terranes
21. Which of the following is not a Mesozoic Cordillera orogenic event?
a. Sevier.
b. Sonoma.
c. Nevadan.
d. Laramide
e. Teconic
22. Triassic rocks of the Cordillera started out marine and ended as continental with a __________________ separating them.
a. batholiths
b. chalk
c. unconformity
d. strata
e. exotic terranes
23. The Chinle Formation was deposited by _____________.
a. streams and lakes
b. wind
c. ocean currents
d. turbidites
e. None of the above
24. In what direction did the deformation shift in the Cordillera during the Mesozoic?
a. Northward
b. Eastward
c. Southward
d. Westward
e. Southwest
25. Sediment deposited between converging plates creates a sequence of rocks called ______________.
a. an exotic terrane
b. a mélange
c. ophiolites
d. rudistid reefs
e. batholiths
26. During the Mesozoic Era the Cordillera subduction zones produced vast quantities of magma which lead to the formation of ____________________.
a. batholiths
b. rhyolite
c. andesite
d. rudistids
e. coccoliths
27. The Sevier orogeny is characterized by ______________________.
a. multiple overlapping thrust blocks
b. shield volcanoes
c. tensional faulting
d. subduction zones
e. exotic terranes
28. The Laramide orogeny principally impacted the region of today’s ___________.
a. Canadian shield
b. Southern States
c. Rocky Mountain States
d. Northeastern States
e. Midwest
29. The paleo depositional environment for the Navajo Sandstone is _____________.
a. glacial ice
b. eolian
c. coastal dunes
d. desert dunes
e. the Grand Canyon
30. Regression of the Sundance Sea was followed by the dinosaur rich deposits of the ________________________.
a. Chinle Formation
b. Sundance Formation
c. Navajo Sandstone
d. Morrison Formation
e. Shinarump Conglomerate
31. Epicontinental seas of the __________________ period were the most extensive of the Mesozoic.
a. Cenozoic
b. Triassic
c. Cretaceous
d. Jurassic
e. Archean
32. During the Cretaceous period extensive accumulations of sediments were deposition in the Cordillera region in _____________________.
a. rift basins
b. foreland basins
c. back-arc basins
d. foreign basins
e. exotic basins
33. As the Cretaceous period sea transgressed onto the Cordillera, what unit was deposited?
a. Dakota Group
b. Newark Group
c. Morrison Formation
d. Niobrara Formation
e. Deccan Traps
34. Rocks that compose the Alpine-Himalayan mountain belt were derived from sediments deposited in the _________________.
a. Tethys Sea
b. Gulf of Mexico
c. South Atlantic Ocean
d. Pacific Ocean
e. Sundance Sea
35. Folding and faulting of Tethys sea sediments resulted from ________________.
a. Australia moving northward into New Zealand
b. Africa moving northward into Europe
c. Europe moving eastward into North America
d. Asia moving southward into Antarctica
e. None of the above
36. South American and Africa rifting started in the Jurassic period. What did the newly developing South Atlantic look like?
a. A broad seaway
b. A nearly circular seaway
c. The shape of the modern Pacific ocean
d. The shape of the modern South Atlantic
e. The shape of the modern Red Sea
37. Subduction began on the western margin of South America leading to volcanism of ________________composition.
a. basalt
b. rhyolite
c. andesite
d. chalk
e. granitic
38. The Karoo basin is known for _____________fossils
a. mammal-like vertebrate
b. fish-like vertebrate
c. mollusk
d. turtle
e. trilobite
39. Of all the continental fragments produced by the breakup of Pangea which one travel the greatest distance since the Mesozoic?
a. North America
b. Europe
c. Africa
d. Australia/New Zealand
e. India
40. What are the Deccan Traps?
a. Vast reef structures
b. Immense sedimentary wedge
c. Mélanges
d. Large quantities of low-viscosity basaltic lava
e. A long narrow sea way
Answers to Questions
1. b 11. d 21. e 31. c
2. e 12. e 22. c 32. c
3. c 13. b 23. a 33. a
4. b 14. c 24. b 34. a
5. d 15. d 25. b 35. b
6. b 16. e 26. a 36. e
7. a 17. a 27. a 37. c
8. d 18. e 28. c 38. a
9. a 19. a 29. b 39. e
10. a 20. e 30. d 40. d
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