Earth Science Review #5

Base your answer to this question on the passage, data table, and diagrams below and on your knowledge of Earth science. The age ranges shaded on the data table show the geologic periods and epochs when six different graptolite fossils existed on Earth. Diagrams of the six graptolites are shown.

Graptolite Fossils

Although graptolite fossils are found in bedrock from the Cambrian Period into the Pennsylvanian Period, their remains are most abundant in Ordovician and Silurian rock layers. During their existence on Earth, graptolites evolved quickly and spread widely due to ocean circulation. These tiny and fragile fossils are usually found in dark shales that formed in marine environments. They are rare in sandstones or other rocks that formed near shore.

Which graptolite lived at the same time that large amounts of salt and gypsum were deposited in evaporate basins in New York State?

• Clonograptus

• Cyclograptus

• Didymograptus

• Goniograptus

Base your answer to the question on the diagram below and on your knowledge of Earth science. The diagram represents Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Positions A, B, C, and D represent Earth’s location on the first day of each season. Letter N indicates the North Pole.

Which graph best shows the hours of daylight that occur at the equator on all four Earth positions shown?

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Columns A, B, C, and D below represent outcrops, of the same sequence of bedrock layers, found within 20 miles of each other. The rock layers have not been overturned.

Which surface bedrock is youngest in age?

• siltstone

• dolostone

• limestone

• sandstone

Base your answer to the question on the passage below and on your knowledge of Earth Science.

Supermoon Eclipse

On September 27, 2015, a rare total lunar eclipse of a supermoon occurred. A supermoon occurs when the entire lighted half of the Moon faces Earth (full Moon phase) and the Moon is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit. At this time, the Moon will appear 14% larger and 30% brighter than normal. Supermoon events are rare, but a total lunar eclipse during a supermoon is even more rare. There have been only six total supermoon lunar eclipses since 1900. The next one will not happen until 2033.

Supermoon total lunar eclipses are celestial events that

• are random occurrences

• will never happen again after 2033

• are predictable

• will happen every full Moon

As a quartz pebble is transported by a stream, the pebble will become more rounded as a result of

• dissolving as water is running over the rock

• abrasion by colliding with other rocks

• deposition in well-sorted layers

• resistance to weathering and erosion

The photograph below shows a New York State index fossil.

What is the best classification of this fossil, and during which geologic time period did the organism that produced this fossil exist?

• Classification: Coral

  Geologic time period: Permian

• Classification: Coral

  Geologic time period: Ordovician

• Classification: Trilobite

  Geologic time period: Permian

• Classification: Trilobite

  Geologic time period: Ordovician

The graph below shows the average monthly amount of insolation received throughout a year at four locations (A, B, C, and D) on Earth.

Which line on the graph best represents the average monthly insolation received at the equator?

• A.

• B.

• C.

• D.

Base your answer to the question on the graph below and on your knowledge of Earth science. The graph shows the number of radioactive Isotope X atoms present as a sample of the isotope undergoes radioactive decay.

Based on the graph, what is the approximate number of radioactive atoms of Isotope X that are present when 8 hours of decay has occurred?

• 90

• 115

• 155

• 200

The north polar view maps below show the average area covered by Arctic Sea ice in September of 1980, 2000, and 2011.

The maps best support the inference that Earth’s climate is

• warming, because the average area covered by Arctic Sea ice is decreasing

• cooling, because the average area covered by Arctic Sea ice is decreasing

• warming, because the average area covered by Arctic Sea ice is increasing

• cooling, because the average area covered by Arctic Sea ice is increasing

Which pie graph is shaded to best represent the approximate percentage of time that humans have existed during Earth’s entire history?

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