Dinosaurs & Prehistoric Life · Unit 16
Prehistoric Worlds and Climates
Moving continents, ancient climates and vanished landscapes
The Mesozoic world was not a hotter version of this one. The continents were in different places, sea levels were far higher, and the plants were largely unfamiliar.
The unit covers Pangaea and continental drift, ancient climates, ancient seas and sea levels, prehistoric plants, and how geography determined where animals lived.
This unit breaks down into 18 short steps and 107 questions, starting at difficulty 3 and building to 4. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.
- Steps
- 18
- Questions
- 107
- Difficulty
- 3-4
What this unit covers
- Ancient Seas and Sea Levels
- Ancient Climates
- Pangaea and Drifting Continents
- Prehistoric Plants
- Where Animals Lived
Where this fits
Best after The Age of Dinosaurs. Connects to Geography's Volcanoes and Earthquakes.
Where people slip
Grass barely existed for most of the age of dinosaurs. Reconstructions showing sauropods on grassy plains are getting the vegetation badly wrong.
How the unit is structured
Prehistoric Worlds and Climates runs as 18 short steps that unlock in order. 13 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 3 and climb to 4 as you progress.
Challenge rounds
Example questions
30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 107 in the unit altogether.
Ancient Climates
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
1. Which rocks are climate clues? Pick all that apply.
- Coal bedscorrect
- Salt and other evaporitescorrect
- Glacial depositscorrect
- Granite intrusions
Coal indicates wet conditions, evaporites dryness, and glacial deposits ice.
- Fact or fibLevel 3
2. Fossil leaves can indicate ancient temperature and rainfall.
Answer: True
True. Leaf size and edge shape correlate with climate.
- Multiple choiceLevel 3
3. What does a greenhouse climate mean in geology?
- A warm world with no large permanent ice sheetscorrect
- A world covered in glass
- A world with constant rain
- A world in permanent night
It describes a warm world with high greenhouse gases and no large permanent ice sheets.
- True or falseLevel 3
4. Forests grew inside the polar circles during parts of the Mesozoic.
Answer: True
True. Polar forests existed with months of darkness each year.
- Type the answerLevel 3
5. What word describes a cold world with large permanent ice sheets, the opposite of greenhouse?
Answer: icehouse
An icehouse climate has extensive polar ice.
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
6. Which features of the Mesozoic world differ from today? Pick all that apply.
- Higher global sea levelcorrect
- Much warmer polar regionscorrect
- Continents in different placescorrect
- A different Sun
Higher sea level, warmer poles and different continent positions all differ.
Ancient Seas and Sea Levels
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
7. Which lived in Mesozoic seas? Pick all that apply.
- Ammonitescorrect
- Belemnitescorrect
- Marine reptilescorrect
- Whales
Ammonites, belemnites and marine reptiles all filled those waters.
- Multiple choiceLevel 3
8. What was the Tethys Ocean?
- An ocean between Laurasia and Gondwanacorrect
- A lake in Europe
- An ice sheet
- A river in Africa
A great ocean between the northern and southern landmasses during the Mesozoic.
- True or falseLevel 3
9. Cretaceous sea levels were far higher than today's.
Answer: True
True. Large parts of the continents were under shallow seas.
- Type the answerLevel 3
10. Which shallow sea split North America during the Cretaceous?
Answer: Western Interior Seaway
The Western Interior Seaway ran from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico.
- Multiple choiceLevel 3
11. Why do we find marine fossils far inland today?
- Shallow seas once covered themcorrect
- Fossils were carried by people
- Sea animals walked inland
- Rivers dropped them there in modern times
Those areas were once flooded by shallow seas, and the rocks were later uplifted.
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
12. Which factors change global sea level? Pick all that apply.
- Volume of ice on landcorrect
- Ocean water temperaturecorrect
- The shape and volume of ocean basinscorrect
- The number of ships
Ice volume, ocean temperature and the shape of ocean basins all matter.
Pangaea and Drifting Continents
- Fact or fibLevel 3
13. The Atlantic Ocean opened as Pangaea broke apart.
Answer: True
True, and it is still widening today.
- Fill the blankLevel 3
14. The southern landmass that included South America, Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica was ____.
- Gondwanacorrect
- Laurasia
- Eurasia
- Beringia
Gondwana held the southern continents together.
- Multiple choiceLevel 3
15. What are the two great landmasses Pangaea split into?
- Laurasia and Gondwanacorrect
- Europe and Asia
- Atlantis and Lemuria
- Arctica and Antarctica
Laurasia lay in the north and Gondwana in the south.
- Put in orderLevel 3
16. Put these tectonic events in order.
Answer: Pangaea assembles -> Rifting begins -> Laurasia and Gondwana separate -> Modern continents form
Pangaea forms, rifting begins, Laurasia and Gondwana separate, then modern continents take shape.
- True or falseLevel 3
17. The continents are still moving today, a few centimetres each year.
Answer: True
True. Plate motion continues at about the speed fingernails grow.
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
18. Which lines of evidence support past continental positions? Pick all that apply.
- Palaeomagnetic data in rockscorrect
- Matching mountain belts across oceanscorrect
- Identical fossils on separate continentscorrect
- Modern satellite images alone
Palaeomagnetism, matching rock belts and shared fossils all contribute.
Prehistoric Plants
- Choose all that applyLevel 3
19. Which plants were available to Jurassic herbivores? Pick all that apply.
- Fernscorrect
- Horsetailscorrect
- Coniferscorrect
- Sunflowers
Ferns, horsetails, cycads and conifers were all on the menu.
- Fill the blankLevel 3
20. Plants that reproduce with spores rather than seeds include ferns and ____.
- horsetailscorrect
- conifers
- roses
- palms
Horsetails and mosses also use spores.
- Multiple choiceLevel 3
21. When did flowering plants appear and spread?
- During the Cretaceouscorrect
- In the Triassic
- After the dinosaurs died out
- In the Cambrian
They appeared and radiated during the Cretaceous.
- True or falseLevel 3
22. Grass was a very minor part of dinosaur ecosystems.
Answer: True
True. Grasses existed late in the Cretaceous but did not form great grasslands.
- Type the answerLevel 3
23. What is the scientific term for flowering plants?
Answer: angiosperms
Angiosperms produce flowers and enclosed seeds.
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
24. Which plant fossils inform reconstructions? Pick all that apply.
- Leaf impressionscorrect
- Fossil woodcorrect
- Pollen and sporescorrect
- Fossil garden tools
Leaves, wood, pollen and cones all contribute.
Where Animals Lived
- Build the sentenceLevel 3
25. Build a sentence about moving continents.
Answer: Drifting continents separated dinosaur populations
Drifting continents separated dinosaur populations.
- Multiple choiceLevel 3
26. What is biogeography?
- The study of where organisms live and whycorrect
- The study of rock chemistry
- The naming of fossils
- The study of climate only
It is the study of where organisms live and why they are distributed that way.
- Put in orderLevel 3
27. Put these steps of a biogeographic study in order.
Answer: Map where fossils occur -> Establish their ages -> Reconstruct the geography of the time -> Test vicariance against dispersal
Map occurrences, date them, reconstruct geography, then test explanations.
- Sort into groupsLevel 3
28. Sort each group by where it mainly lived.
Answer: Tyrannosaurs = Northern continents; Ceratopsians = Northern continents; Abelisaurids = Southern continents; Titanosaurs = Southern continents
Continental separation shaped which dinosaurs lived where.
- Choose all that applyLevel 4
29. Which data are needed for a biogeographic analysis? Pick all that apply.
- A well supported family treecorrect
- Reliable fossil agescorrect
- Palaeogeographic mapscorrect
- Modern political borders
A phylogeny, reliable ages and palaeogeographic reconstructions are all required.
- Fact or fibLevel 4
30. Palaeogeographic maps are reconstructions with real uncertainty, not photographs of the past.
Answer: True
True. They improve as data accumulate.
Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.
How you practise
This unit mixes 9 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.
- Build the sentence
- Choose all that apply
- Fact or fib
- Fill the blank
- Multiple choice
- Put in order
- Sort into groups
- True or false
- Type the answer
Practise Prehistoric Worlds and Climates
107 questions across 18 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.
Play this unitRead about Prehistoric Worlds and Climates
Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.
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