Geologic Time Test Questions – Flashcards
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Formation of the Earth's crust Atmosphere composed largely of carbon dioxide and water vapor, along with some other volcanic gases
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Precambrian
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First life appears (single-celled Archaea) Plate tectonics are established Evolution of cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria led to an oxygen-rich atmosphere
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Precambrian
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Geologically sudden appearance of organisms evolved with hard body parts (shells & outer skeletons) Earliest vertebrates appear First jawless fishes Vast shallow marine habitats
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Cambrian Explosion
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Vast, swampy forests flourish (modern day coal) Earliest reptiles Amphibians, insects, and land plants went through major diversification Winged insects like huge dragonflies and cockroaches evolved Single supercontinent begins to forms (Pangaea)
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Carboniferous
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Reptiles take over (major diversification) Invertebrates, vertebrates and land plants continued to expand over the continents Ended with biggest mass extinction of all time!
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Permian Period
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"The Age of the Dinosaurs"—dinosaurs became the most diverse land animals One lineage of dinosaurs evolved feathers and ultimately led to modern birds. evolution of the first mammal
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Mesozoic Era
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Ended with a mass extinction (bye bye dinosaurs!)... possibly brought on by a large impact in the gulf of mexico, Evidence it happened: marks the geologic boundary between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic with a layer of ash and iridium, Unique Quartz Crystals by impact
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K-T mass Extinction
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Mammals fill dinosaurs' shoes (underwent major diversification) Tree dwelling primates appeared Flowering plants, grasses, and insects did well Large grazing mammals evolved First whales evolved Climates changed to favor open woods and grasslands over forests Early hominins adapted to two-footed walking Modern humans evolve
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Cenozoic Era
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Longest time unit in the geological time scale, measured in billions of years.
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Eon
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A subdivision of an eon.
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Era
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A subdivision of geological time that is longer than an epoch, but shorter than an era (subdivision of an era).
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Period
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A subdivision of geologic time that is longer than an age but shorter than a period (subdivision of a period).
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Epoch
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Crater in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, recognized as the K-T impact site. Igneous rock contains high levels of iridium (rare earth metal from asteroids) coinciding with the K-T boundary
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chicxulub
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Iridium and ash layer Impact Crater Shocked Quartz
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Evidence for the extinction of the Dinosaurs
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Change over time, the process by which modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms
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Evolution
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Selective breeding of plants and animals to promote the occurrence of desirable traits in offspring
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Artificial Selection
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A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.
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Natural Selection
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A change in the genetics of a population as a result of chance events rather than natural selection.
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Genetic Drift
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4.5 billion years old
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How old is the earth
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Bipedal carnivore with a massive skull balanced by a long, heavy tail. large and powerful hindlimbs. Forelimbs were small, though unusually powerful for their size, and bore two clawed digits. 42 ft in length, up to 4 metres (13 ft) tall at the hips, and up to 6.8 metric tons (7.5 short tons) in weight. Late Cretaceous 67-65.5 My. "The tyrannosaur ate many students at Roxbury High School before it felt satiated."
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tyrannosaurus
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A dinosaur with three horns
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triceratops
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Mesozoic flying reptiles with large, batlike wings
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pterosaurs
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a marine arthropod, now extinct, that lived during the Paleozoic era
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trilobite
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a synapsid; early reptile that gave rise to mammals
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dimetrodon
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long neck
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saruopod
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28 foot long stegosaur with large pentagonal plates along back,
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stegosaurus
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heavily armored, short-legged dinosaur
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ankylosaurus
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A member of a group of shelled cephalopods that were important marine predators for hundreds of millions of years until their extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period (65.5 mya).
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ammonite
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Birds
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What group of animals are related to dinosaurs?
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The greatest mass extinction event, All life nearly died in a massive wave of extinction around 251 mya in the largest of the so-called "Big Five" mass extinctions, 90% of life goes extinct during the Permian Mass Extinction
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The great Dying
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The fact that oxygen is a major constituent of the present-day atmosphere is a direct consequence of the evolution of life on earth, oxygen played a huge part in shaping what lived on the earth as organisms got more complex Diversity: Complex organisms- A second group, eukaryotes, have complex cells that have compartments with special jobs and DNA in a nucleus Beginnings: Diversity explodes The cambrian explosion: Around 542 mya, several fossil sites show that the diversity of animal life on Earth dramatically exploded over a short time
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How have organisms change through times? Simpler or more complex?
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Volcanoes would have created Earth's first atmosphere (mostly water vapor, carbon dioxide, and others.)
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Earth's Early Atmosphere & Water
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Volcanic outgassing (or) Derived from icy comets
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Earth's first oceans came from:
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Deep Sea vents/hot springs: - Dna evidence suggests that early organisms survived in conditions similar to deep-sea vents - Plenty of chemical energy available
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Where did life begin?
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Earth was difficult to interpret and rocks have been metamorphosed back in the Precambrian eon as the Paleozoic is more recent and the change that happened is more easily notable (etc.)
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Why is it hard to find more fossils in the Precambrian period than the Paleozoic?
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1. The atmosphere got to 1,200 degrees at its max, their blood boiled inside their body (the dino) 2. They all disappeared in at least 2 hours
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2 interesting Dino facts
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The Time Line in order:
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3.5 Ga indicate that oxygen producing organism were present
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Banded Iron Formations
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("recent life") begins ~ 65 ma era of mammals
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cenozoic era
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("middle life") begins~ begins 248 ma era of reptiles
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mesozoic era
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("ancient life") begins 545 mya era of ocean dwelling animals and amphibians
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paleozoic
