1
Final Exam
1.
What is indicated by the yellow lines in the image above?
A) A great fault, where push-together action shoved the upper rocks over the lower ones.
B) A great fault, where pull-apart action slid the upper rocks across the lower ones.
C) A great unconformity, with sedimentary rocks above resting on metamorphic rocks below.
D) A great unconformity, with sedimentary rocks above resting on older sedimentary rocks
below.
E) An intrusion, with melted rocks squirted along the yellow line and then hardened.
2.
Araucarioxylon arizonicum was a beautiful tree of the Mesozoic, and is the most common tree
found fossilized in Petrified Forest National Park. A spectacular specimen is shown above.
Based on the discussions of evolution in the textbook and lectures, it is likely that:
A) Some trees alive today are essentially identical to Araucarioxylon arizonicum.
B) Trees alive today are related to Araucarioxylon arizonicum, but even those modern trees
most similar to Araucarioxylon arizonicum are recognizably different from it.
C) All trees alive today are completely unrelated to Araucarioxylon arizonicum.
3.
Examine the two pictures above, labeled I and II. They are from the same sediment core
collected in sea-floor muds from beneath the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina.
(The pictures are scanning electron micrographs by Brian Huber of the Smithsonian Institution,
and the scale is the same on both, as shown at the bottom of each.) One picture shows a
sample from just below the unique layer marking the extinction that killed the dinosaurs, and
the other picture shows a sample from just above that unique layer.
Which is which?
A) I is from below the unique layer, and II is from above the unique layer.
B) I is from above the unique layer, and II is from below the unique layer.
4.
The yellow line in the photo above lies along the contact between sandstone (on the left) and
reddish mudstone (on the right). The red arrows point along a place where the sandstone
continues into the mudstone. The four sides of the picture are labeled A, B, C and D. What is
most likely correct about these rocks?
, 2
A) When the rocks were deposited, side A was the highest (it was on top).
B) When the rocks were deposited, side B was the highest (it was on top).
C) When the rocks were deposited, side C was the highest (it was on top).
D) When the rocks were deposited, side D was the highest (it was on top).
, 3
E) The rocks were formed from lava flows far down in the Earth, and were not deposited.
5.
Look at the picture above, which shows a small section of a “fossil” sand dune (a sand dune in
which the grains have been “glued” together by hard-water deposits). When the dune was first
deposited, which was up (which letter is closest to the arrow that is pointing in the direction
you would have looked to see the sky when the dune was deposited)?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D
6.
Look at the picture above, of a small dam across a stream bed (between the pink arrows) just
above one of the trails into Bryce Canyon.
When floods happen in the stream bed:
A) They flow away from the camera; turbulent floodwaters have been undermining the small
dam, and will cause it to collapse soon.
B) They flow toward the camera; floodwaters have filled the space upstream of the dam and
debris has started to cascade over the dam, so the dam is not serving to trap sediment any
more.
C) They sometimes flow toward the camera, and sometimes flow away from the camera, as
shown by the occurrence of some debris on both sides of the dam.
D) Actually, floods never occur; the dryness of the region, as shown by the sparse vegetation,
prevents floods.
E) They are caused by giant marmots digging through the retaining walls of the sewage-
treatment facility at Bryce, which proved unpleasant for the marmots and the tourists.
7.
In the picture above, the big W is in ocean water, while the little w is in water in a bay cut off
from the ocean by the bar indicated by the pink dashed arrow. A stream flows toward the bay
along the blue arrow, and coastal bluffs are indicated by the dashed yellow arrow.
What probably happened here?
A) Sediment has been eroded from the land by waves crashing against the bluffs, and the
sediment has been transported along the shore by longshore drift to build the bar.
B) Sediment has been delivered from deep water to the land, building the bar and piling up to
form the low bluffs.
Final Exam
1.
What is indicated by the yellow lines in the image above?
A) A great fault, where push-together action shoved the upper rocks over the lower ones.
B) A great fault, where pull-apart action slid the upper rocks across the lower ones.
C) A great unconformity, with sedimentary rocks above resting on metamorphic rocks below.
D) A great unconformity, with sedimentary rocks above resting on older sedimentary rocks
below.
E) An intrusion, with melted rocks squirted along the yellow line and then hardened.
2.
Araucarioxylon arizonicum was a beautiful tree of the Mesozoic, and is the most common tree
found fossilized in Petrified Forest National Park. A spectacular specimen is shown above.
Based on the discussions of evolution in the textbook and lectures, it is likely that:
A) Some trees alive today are essentially identical to Araucarioxylon arizonicum.
B) Trees alive today are related to Araucarioxylon arizonicum, but even those modern trees
most similar to Araucarioxylon arizonicum are recognizably different from it.
C) All trees alive today are completely unrelated to Araucarioxylon arizonicum.
3.
Examine the two pictures above, labeled I and II. They are from the same sediment core
collected in sea-floor muds from beneath the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina.
(The pictures are scanning electron micrographs by Brian Huber of the Smithsonian Institution,
and the scale is the same on both, as shown at the bottom of each.) One picture shows a
sample from just below the unique layer marking the extinction that killed the dinosaurs, and
the other picture shows a sample from just above that unique layer.
Which is which?
A) I is from below the unique layer, and II is from above the unique layer.
B) I is from above the unique layer, and II is from below the unique layer.
4.
The yellow line in the photo above lies along the contact between sandstone (on the left) and
reddish mudstone (on the right). The red arrows point along a place where the sandstone
continues into the mudstone. The four sides of the picture are labeled A, B, C and D. What is
most likely correct about these rocks?
, 2
A) When the rocks were deposited, side A was the highest (it was on top).
B) When the rocks were deposited, side B was the highest (it was on top).
C) When the rocks were deposited, side C was the highest (it was on top).
D) When the rocks were deposited, side D was the highest (it was on top).
, 3
E) The rocks were formed from lava flows far down in the Earth, and were not deposited.
5.
Look at the picture above, which shows a small section of a “fossil” sand dune (a sand dune in
which the grains have been “glued” together by hard-water deposits). When the dune was first
deposited, which was up (which letter is closest to the arrow that is pointing in the direction
you would have looked to see the sky when the dune was deposited)?
A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D
6.
Look at the picture above, of a small dam across a stream bed (between the pink arrows) just
above one of the trails into Bryce Canyon.
When floods happen in the stream bed:
A) They flow away from the camera; turbulent floodwaters have been undermining the small
dam, and will cause it to collapse soon.
B) They flow toward the camera; floodwaters have filled the space upstream of the dam and
debris has started to cascade over the dam, so the dam is not serving to trap sediment any
more.
C) They sometimes flow toward the camera, and sometimes flow away from the camera, as
shown by the occurrence of some debris on both sides of the dam.
D) Actually, floods never occur; the dryness of the region, as shown by the sparse vegetation,
prevents floods.
E) They are caused by giant marmots digging through the retaining walls of the sewage-
treatment facility at Bryce, which proved unpleasant for the marmots and the tourists.
7.
In the picture above, the big W is in ocean water, while the little w is in water in a bay cut off
from the ocean by the bar indicated by the pink dashed arrow. A stream flows toward the bay
along the blue arrow, and coastal bluffs are indicated by the dashed yellow arrow.
What probably happened here?
A) Sediment has been eroded from the land by waves crashing against the bluffs, and the
sediment has been transported along the shore by longshore drift to build the bar.
B) Sediment has been delivered from deep water to the land, building the bar and piling up to
form the low bluffs.
