QUIZ 3-2a-7

The theory that the universe is expanding is supported by data from the

• nuclear decay of radioactive materials
• nuclear fusion of radioactive materials
• blue shift of light from distant galaxies
• red shift of light from distant galaxies

The photograph below shows a feature of the universe as seen through a telescope.
This feature is best identified as

• a galaxy
• a comet
• an asteroid
• a star

Fourteen billion years represents the approximate age of

• Earth
• Earth’s Moon
• our solar system
•  the universe

Which terms describe the motion of most objects in our solar system?

• noncyclic and unpredictable
• noncyclic and predictable
• cyclic and unpredictable
• cyclic and predictable

Which planet has completed less than one orbit of the Sun in the last 100 years?

•  Mars
• Mercury
• Neptune
• Uranus

Compared to the size and density of Earth, the Moon has a

• smaller diameter and lower density
• smaller diameter and higher density
• larger diameter and lower density
• larger diameter and higher density

In the Northern Hemisphere, planetary winds are deflected to the right due to the

• Doppler effect
• Coriolis effect
• tilt of Earth’s axis
• uneven heating of Earth’s surface

Which event is inferred to have contributed to the significant global climate change that may have caused the mass extinctions of organisms at the end of the Late Cretaceous Epoch?

• the Big Bang
• an asteroid impact
• formation of Pangaea
• shifting of Earth’s magnetic poles

The diagram below represents the placoderm fish Bothriolepis, an index fossil found in New York State.
The surface bedrock at which location is most likely to contain this fossil?

• Ithaca
• Old Forge
• Albany
• New York City

The geologic cross section below includes an unconformity and an igneous intrusion.
Which two events produced the geologic unconformity in the rock record?

• intrusion of magma, followed by contact metamorphism
• intrusion of magma, followed by erosion of rock layers
• erosion of rock layers, followed by deposition of more sediments
• erosion of rock layers, followed by intrusion of magma