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geology 106

Terms in this set (50)

where did mountain building occur in the paleozioce/Mesozoic of north america
...
when did dinosaurs evolve?
during the Triassic period, over 230 million years ago. Dinosaurs evolved soon after the Permian extinction, which was the biggest mass extinction that ever occured on Earth.
What is a lobe-finned fish and why is it important for the evolution of vertebrats?
The fins are very flexible and potentially useful for supporting the body on land, as in lungfish and tetrapods (vertebrates with four limbs). Tetrapods are thoughto to have evolved from primitive lobe-finned fish.
What are typical passive margin
sediments?
A passive margin is the transition between oceanic and continental lithosphere that is not an active plate margin. A passive margin forms by sedimentation above an ancient rift, now marked by transitional lithosphere. Continental rifting creates new ocean basins.
What are banded iron formations?
Banded iron formations (also known as banded ironstone formations or BIFs) are distinctive units of sedimentary rock that are almost always of Precambrian age.
What are epeiric seas?
An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea) is a shallow sea that covers central areas of continents during periods of high sea level that result in marine transgressions.
What is the origin and history of
vertebrate animals?
...
Where was North America during the Paleozoic?
at the beginning of the Paleozoic, today's western coast of North America ran east-west along the equator
Where does atmospheric oxygen
come from?
tiny organisms known as cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae. These microbes conduct photosynthesis: using sunshine, water and carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates and, yes, oxygen.
What does a sandstone-shale-limestone
sequence indicate about
water depth?
sandstone is depsoted in the shallowest water, tehn shale and finally limestone is normally deposited in the deepest (and calmest) conditions
What is a half-life? How is it used to determine absolute ages?
A half-life is half of the time it takes for a radioactive atom to decay, and it helps in determining the absolute age of a rock because if you know its half-life, you can multiply it by two to get its actual or absolute age.
What is relative age dating?
the science of determining the relative order of past events (i.e., the age of an object in comparison to another), without necessarily determining their absolute age, (i.e. estimated age).
What happens at continent-continent plate boundaries?
A subduction zone is formed at a convergent plate boundary when one or both of the tectonic plates is composed of oceanic crust. The denser plate, made of oceanic crust, is subducted underneath the less dense plate, which can be either continental or oceanic crust.
Where is orogenic activity during the Cenozoic?
Alpine-Himalayan orogenic belt and the circum-Pacific orogenic belt
What is the Cambrian Explosion?
the sudden appearance in the fossil record of complex animals with meneralized skeletal remains. It may represent the most important evolutionary event in the history of life on Earth.
When was land occupied by plants and animals?
Devonian Period
What are the two principal orders of dinosaurs?
Saurischia

Ornithischia
Ornithischia
All Ornithischian ("bird-hipped") dinosaurs had pelvises similar to those of modern birds, and hoofed toes. All were herbivores. These dinosaurs lived throughout the world from the Middle Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous period. Members of the order included Iguanodon ("iguana tooth"), Stegosaurus ("plated lizard"), and Triceratops ("three-horned face"). The order is divided into four suborders: Ornithopoda ("bird footed"), Stegosauria ("plated lizards"), Ankylosauria ("armored lizards"), and Certopsia ("horned faces").
Saurischia
All Saurischian ("lizard-hipped") dinosaurs had modern lizardlike pelvises and clawed feet. Saurischians roamed Earth from the Middle Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous period. They included carnivores and herbivores. Members of the order included Allosaurus ("different lizard"), Apatosaurus ("deceptive lizard"), which was formerly called Brontosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus ("tyrant lizard"). The group is divided into two suborders: Theropoda ("beast footed") and Sauropodomorpha ("lizard-footed forms"). Velociraptor ("swift robber") was a theropod.
What is a platform/shield/craton?
The term craton is used to distinguish the stable portion of the continental crust from regions that are more geologically active and unstable. Cratons can be described as shields, in which the basement rock crops out at the surface, and platforms, in which the basement is overlaid by sediments and sedimentary rock.
What is a platform/shield/craton?
The term craton is used to distinguish the stable portion of the continental crust from regions that are more geologically active and unstable. Cratons can be described as shields, in which the basement rock crops out at the surface, and platforms, in which the basement is overlaid by sediments and sedimentary rock.
What are stromatolites and they role in adding oxygen to the atmosphere?
Early bacterial life introduced oxygen to the atmosphere. As the first free oxygen was released through photosynthesis by cyanobacteria, it was initially soaked up by iron dissolved in the oceans and formed red coloured iron oxide, which settled to the ocean floor.
What are convergent and divergent
plate boundaries?
In the theory of plate tectonics, the earth's crust is broken into plates that move around relative to each other. As a result of this movement, three types of plate boundaries are formed: divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries.
What is the origin of the universe
and solar system?
The Origin of the Solar System. ... A cloud of interstellar gas and/or dust (the "solar nebula") is disturbed and collapses under its own gravity.
What are marsupials/placental
mammals?
Marsupials are the group of mammals commonly thought of as pouched mammals (like the wallaby and kangaroo at left). ... The short gestation time is due to having a yolk-type placenta in the mother marsupial. Placental mammals nourish the developing embryo using the mother's blood supply, allowing longer gestation times.
Which type of mammal is most
successful?
...
In which era did humans evolve?
Cenozoic (age of mammals)
Gas not found in the early Earth?
oxygen
What are the periods of the
Mesozoic?
The Mesozoic Era lasted about 180 million years, and is divided into three periods, the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous.
What are Sauropods?
meaning "Lizard-Footed") were an infraorder of large, four-legged, herbivorous dinosaurs. They had very long necks, small heads with blunt teeth, a small brain, and long tails for counterbalancing their necks.
How did Avery Island form?
created by the upwelling of ancient evaporite (salt) deposits that exist beneath the Mississippi River Delta region. These upwellings are known as "salt domes." Avery Island is one of five salt dome islands that rise above the flat Louisiana Gulf coast.[6]
How were the climatic conditions on Pangea?
dry climates
From what group did birds evolve?
maniraptoran theropods-generally small meat-eating dinosaurs that include Velociraptor of Jurassic Park fame.
Major plate tectonic scheme of the Paleozoic?
The tectonic activity during the Paleozoic era is similar to the way it has always behaved but were we to see what the earth looked like at the time, the continents would look almost completely alien to the way they are now. Contrary to popular belief, the continents on earth did not begin as the supercontinent Pangaea. Before Pangaea there were older continents. At the beginning of the Paleozoic the continents were massed in another supercontinent called Pannotia. This was at the end of a global ice age. As the era progressed the supercontinent split into several smaller continents, still unrecognizable from the continents we know today. Near the end of the Paleozoic era the continents began to regroup as the supercontinent Pangaea.
What is a mature sandstone?
The energy of mature sandstone is constant and is a reflection of stable depositional regions and shallow waters. The composition of mature sandstone is dominated with quartz. There is little to no feldspar, clastic matrix, or mica grains found within the sediment.
Which are the most important
Paleozoic resources?
Many Paleozoic rocks are economically important. For example, much of the limestone quarried for building and industrial purposes, as well as the coal deposits of western Europe and the eastern United States, were formed during the Paleozoic.
What is a mass extinction?
A mass extinction is a relatively sudden, global decrease in the diversity of life forms. Mass extinctions have occurred periodically throughout the existence of life on Earth
When did amphibians evolve?
The first major groups of amphibians developed in the Devonian period, around 370 million years ago
When did reptiles evolve?
Reptiles arose about 310-320 million years ago during the Carboniferous period.
When did mammals evolve?
Mammals evolved during the Triassic period, about the same time that the first dinosaurs appeared.
When did land evolve?
Evidence for the appearance of the first land plants occurs in the Ordovician, around 450 million years ago
What is a transgression/regression?
A marine transgression is a geologic event during which sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground, resulting in flooding. Transgressions can be caused either by the land sinking or the ocean basins filling with water (or decreasing in capacity).
What is Rodinia?
a Neoproterozoic supercontinent that was assembled 1.13-1.071 billion years ago and broke up 750-633 million years ago.
What is the amniotic egg and why is it important for the colonization of dry land?
The amniotic egg was an evolutionary invention that allowed the first reptiles to colonize dry land more than 300 million years ago. Fishes and amphibians must lay their eggs in water and therefore cannot live far from water. But thanks to the amniotic egg, reptiles can lay their eggs nearly anywhere on dry land.
What is the Burgess Shale?
The Burgess Shale is found in an area of the Canadian Rocky Mountains known as the Burgess Pass, and is located in British Columbia's Yoho National Park.

The Burgess Shale contains the best record we have of Cambrian animal fossils. The locality reveals the presence of creatures originating from the Cambrian explosion, an evolutionary burst of animal origins dating 545 to 525 million years ago.
What is the main plate tectonic
theme of the Mesozoic/Paleozoic?
...
How are the North American cratonic rock sequences subdivided?
A cratonic sequence is a very large-scale lithostratographic sequence that covers a complete marine transgressive-regressive cycle across a craton.
Age of the Earth/Solar
System/Universe?
The age of 4.54 billion years found for the Solar System and Earth is consistent with current calculations of 11 to 13 billion years for the age of the Milky Way Galaxy (based on the stage of evolution of globular cluster stars) and the age of 10 to 15 billion years for the age of the Universe
What are prokaryotic/eukaryotic
cells?
Eukaryotic cells contain membrane-bound organelles, including a nucleus. Eukaryotes can be single-celled or multi-celled, such as you, me, plants, fungi, and insects. Bacteria are an example of prokaryotes. Prokaryotic cells do not contain a nucleus or any other membrane-bound organelle.
When did life first appear?
The continents have since repeatedly collided and been torn apart, so maps of Earth in the distant past are quite different to today's. The history of life on Earth began about 3.8 billion years ago, initially with single-celled prokaryotic cells, such as bacteria.
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