1. The fossil footprint of a dinosaur is an example of a(n)
A. amber-preserved fossil.
B. natural cast.
C. trace fossil.
D. permineralized fossil.
2. In which of the following situations would it be more likely for a fossil to form?
A. A vertebrate dies near a river delta.
B. An invertebrate dies on a mountain.
C. A soft-bodied worm dies in a desert.
D. A mammal dies on a rock bed.
6. The amount of time it takes for half of a radioactive isotope to decay is known as the
A. isotope.
B. half-life.
C. product.
D. radiocarbon.
9. Radiometric dating of which of the following samples has estimated the age of Earth to be 4.5 billion years?
A. Burgess Shale fossils
B. Tollund Man
C. Lake bed deposits
D. Fallen meteorites
10. A natural cast forms when an organism
A. is trapped in tree resin, which hardens around it.
B. leaves an impression in sediment that fills with minerals.
C. has hard structures that are surrounded by minerals.
D. becomes encased whole in a material that preserves it.
11. Fossils that are useful for dating, because they are common, easy to identify, widespread, and existed for a brief time are called
A. trace fossils.
B. extinct fossils.
C. index fossils.
D. key fossils.
14. Earth's history is organized by
A. the Precambrian time scale.
B. units representing one million years.
C. the geologic time scale.
D. which plants lived on Earth.
17. Which of the following contributed most to the intense heat of the Hadean eon?
A. Clouds of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and other gases
B. Frequent collisions with asteroids and meteorites
C. Lightning strikes and volcanic eruptions
D. Closer proximity to the sun than is now the case
19. In the lipid membrane hypothesis, it is proposed that liposomes
A. formed in chimney-like structures at ocean hydrothermal vents.
B. were the result of lightning striking early Earth.
C. acted as barriers between organic molecules and the environment.
D. served as the genetic material on early Earth.
22. Which of the following hypotheses proposes that early organic molecules formed near ocean hydrothermal vents?
A. Iron-sulfide bubbles hypothesis
B. Lipid membrane hypothesis
C. RNA world hypothesis
D. Meteorite hypothesis
23. What discovery supports the hypothesis that RNA was the genetic material in the earliest organisms?
A. Ribozymes are RNA that can self-replicate.
B. DNA does not require enzymes to replicate.
C. RNA stores genetic information on ribozymes.
D. Chains of RNA will form lipid membranes.
27. What is the approximate age of the oldest known fossils?
A. 4.6 billion years
B. 3.5 billion years
C. 3.8 million years
D. 1.8 million years
29. When one organism lives inside the body of another and both benefit, the relationship is called
A. photosynthesis.
B. permineralization.
C. mutation.
D. endosymbiosis.
32. The fossil evidence indicates that anaerobic prokaryotes were
A. the first living organisms.
B. a source of genetic variation.
C. not capable of photosynthesis.
D. always found in colonies.
35. The theory of endosymbiosis states that large prokaryotes took up smaller simple prokaryotes that became
A. the cellular nucleus.
B. complex amino acids.
C. mitochondria and chloroplasts.
D. mitochondria and nuclei.
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