Biology · Geography

Fossils and Geological Eras

1,140 Questions

Fossils and geological eras provide a window into the history of the Earth. This topic covers prehistoric life, mass extinctions, and the geological time scale. It is an important part of the general science syllabus for many aptitude tests.

Geological time scaleTypes of fossilsPrehistoric lifeAncient climates

Fossils and Geological Eras Questions

Multiple choice

Directions: Which of the following options best restates the given sentence.

Some scientists think that a meteor impact, that occurred around 65 million years ago, may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

  1. In the opinion of some scientists, the extinction of the dinosaurs could have been the result of the impact of a meteor which occurred roughly 65 million years ago.

  2. According to some scientists, the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by a meteor that struck Earth 657 million or so years ago.

  3. Some scientists reckon that the impact of a meteor that struck Earth some 65 million years ago need not have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

  4. These scientists agree that the impact of a meteor over 65 million years ago must have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

  5. The extinction of the dinosaurs could only have been caused by a meteor impact that occurred some 65 million years ago.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

 The second option cites a wrong figure. The third option disagrees with the statement. Option 4 is defnite wheras the original statement states a possibility.

Multiple choice

Coal is formed when pieces of carbon are subjected to extreme geological pressures over a lengthy period of time. Coal from one Coalmine in India contains certain plant pollen, which scientists claim provides evidence of human contact between Africa and India much earlier in human history than was previously believed. These pollen, which come from a plant only found in Africa, are encapsulated in Coal that is more than ten thousand years old. The pollen, according to scientists, must have originated from plants, which were brought by travellers from Africa to India over ten thousand years ago.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the scientists' claim that this pollen is evidence of earlier human contact?

  1. Any pollen trapped in a Coal would lower the quality of the Coal.

  2. Coal can take ten thousand years to be completely formed.

  3. Carbon is used to date early events regardless of what may be trapped in it.

  4. Fourteen thousand years ago, there were extremely active atmospheric conditions, which caused many types of pollen to be carried in the air far from their native locations.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

This most directly attacks the assumption that there is no other way that the pollen could have gotten to India other than through people of Africa.

Multiple choice

Dinosaur fossils have been discovered in locations all over the earth, but the highest density of fossils has been found in areas, which have experienced few volcanic eruptions. The higher number of fossils discovered in stable regions can only be accounted for by the lack of destructive volcanic eruptions in those areas.

Which one of the following is a necessary presupposition of the argument above?

  1. A fossil that forms in the exact location of a previously formed fossil will eliminate the structure of the earlier fossil.

  2. The rate of volcanic eruptions within a given area varies greatly over time.

  3. The rate of fossil formation has dramatically increased recently.

  4. Fossil formations have been distributed fairly evenly over Earth during course of its history.

  5. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

The argument concludes that the reason for higher density of fossils in certain areas is that there has been less volcanic activity in those areas. This assumes that there is no alternate cause for the highest density of fossils being found in stable areas. Answer choice (D) confirms this assumption: fossil formations have been distributed evenly, so the difference in the number of fossils found is not due to an initial uneven distribution.

Multiple choice

How many years ago did the earth originate?

  1. 3.6 billion

  2. 4.6 billion

  3. 5.6 billion

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Scientific consensus estimates the age of the Earth to be approximately 4.54 billion years, which is commonly rounded to 4.6 billion years in textbooks.

Multiple choice

Ammonites are the fossil shell remains of a group of

  1. gastropods

  2. scaphopods

  3. pelecypods

  4. cephalopods
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Ammonites are an extinct group of marine invertebrate animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. They are closely related to modern octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish.

Multiple choice

Which one of the following is a living fossil?

  1. Sphenodon

  2. Archaeopteryx

  3. Peripatus

  4. All of these.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Living fossils are organisms that have remained largely unchanged over long geological periods. Sphenodon (tuatara), Archaeopteryx (often considered a transitional fossil, but sometimes grouped in general discussions), and Peripatus are all commonly cited examples of living fossils or evolutionary relics.

Multiple choice

Living organism with oldest fossil history is

  1. Dinosaur

  2. Archaeopteryx

  3. Horse

  4. Man
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Among the options provided, the evolutionary history of the horse is the most complete and well-documented in the fossil record, spanning over 50 million years.

Multiple choice

Arrange the periods of palaeozoic era in ascending order in a geological time scale:

  1. Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian

  2. Cambrian, Devonian, Ordovician, Silurian, Carboniferous, Permian

  3. Cambrian, Ordovician, Devonian, Silurian, Carboniferous, Permian

  4. Silurian, Devonian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Permian, Carboniferous
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The correct chronological order of the Paleozoic periods from oldest to youngest is Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian.

Multiple choice

'Golden Age of Dinosaurs' was

  1. Mesozoic

  2. Coenozoic

  3. Palaeozoic

  4. Proterozoic
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The Mesozoic Era is widely known as the 'Age of Reptiles' or the 'Golden Age of Dinosaurs' because they were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates during this time.