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Hypothesis

answer

a proposed explanation for an observable phenomenon (testable idea)

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Theory

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an agreed upon scientific fact that (so far) cannot be disproven

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Evidence

answer

is based on current assumptions & physical evidence (changes through time)

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Assumptions

answer

may distort the outcome when you assume

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Dinosaur

answer

One of Earth's most successful ; diverse branches of life. Mesozoic Era

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Mesozoic Era

answer

lasted for ~180 Ma

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Tetrapod

answer

four limbs

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Paleontology

answer

The study of ancient life, including the evolution of organisms ; their interactions with each other ; their environments. (a minor)

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Preserved

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skeletons are still made of bone

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Fossil

answer

remains of once-living organisms (anything dug out of the ground, to dig in the ground- word origin)

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Anatomy

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how skeletons are constructed ; information about the animals

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Extinction

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is the discontinuation of the evolution of a branch of life, caused by climate change.

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Historical Science

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tries to describe the past ; explain the causes of past phenomena, rather than create experiments to observe effects.

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Geology

answer

study of earth (rocks, what they are comprised of and how they change)

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Biology

answer

The study of life

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Archeology

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study of the artifacts left behind by humans

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Comparative anatomy

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comparison of bones between very different organisms

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Paleoecology

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the ecology of fossil animals and plants

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Vertebrate

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an animal with a spine

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Invertebrate

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an animal without a spine

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Eon

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major division of geological time, subdivided into eras

question

Era

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subdivision of an eon--> periods

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Period

answer

subdivision of an era

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Epoch

answer

subdivision of a period

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Phanerozoic

answer

Eon

question

Paleozoic

answer

Era

question

Mesozoic

answer

Era

question

Cenozoic

answer

Era

question

Triassic

answer

Period (began 248Ma)

question

Jurassic

answer

Period

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Cretaceous

answer

Period (ended 65 Ma)

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Cambrian

answer

Period

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Tertiary

answer

Period

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Permian

answer

Period

question

****Lecture two colorful chart on periods and eras

answer

got to moodle

question

Apatosaurus

answer

Sauropodomorpha-Sauropoda 157-146 Ma (J)

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Brachiosaurus

answer

Sauropodomorpha-Sauropoda 156-145 Ma (J)

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Oviraptor

answer

Theropoda-Coelurosauria 88-70 Ma (K)

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Velociraptor

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Theropoda-Coelurosauria 88-85 Ma (K)

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Tyrannosaurus

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Theropoda-Coelurosauria 85-65 Ma (K)

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Allosaurus

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Theropoda- Carnocauria 154-144 Ma (J)

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Iguanodon

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Ornithopoda 135-125 Ma (K)

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Parasaurolophus

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Ornithopoda 76-74 Ma (K)

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Maiasauria

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Ornithopoda 80-65 Ma (K)

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Stegosaurus

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Thyrephorans 156-140 Ma (J)

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Ankylosaurus

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Thyrephorans 70-65 Ma (K)

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Triceratops

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Marginocephalians 72-65 Ma (K)

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Pachycephalosaurus

answer

Marginocephalians 76-65 Ma (K)

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body fossils

answer

fossils made of hard parts such as shells, teeth, bones, woody trunks, branches, and stems

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Lagerstatten environment

answer

sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation

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Lagerstatten fossils

answer

preserved soft tissues

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Trace fossils

answer

impressions or other preserved signs of life (footprints, tracks, burrows, feces, etc.) rather than the actual body of the animals

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geochemical evidence

answer

organic molecules are evidence of biological activity, environmental changes, relationships between fossils and body color

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Metamorphism

answer

altering of the composition or structure of a rock by heat, pressure, or other natural agency

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Fossil record

answer

history of life as documented by fossils

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Bias in the fossil record

answer

hard parts, environment-burial, low oxygen, minerals, timing, human preference

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types of fossilization

answer

Permineralization, replacement (cast and mould), Compression, Trace, Resin

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Permineralization

answer

when mineral deposits form internal casts of organisms

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Replacement (cast and mould)

answer

cast-flesh decays and bones deteriorate due to chemical reactions; minerals gradually enter into the cavity, resulting in a cast Mould-the general form of the original organism

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Compression

answer

a fossil preserved in sedimentary rock that has undergone physical compression. While it is uncommon to find animals preserved as good compression fossils, it is very common to find plants preserved this way.

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Resin

answer

any of various hard natural resins (as amber or some copals) usually found in the earth as exudates of trees long dead.

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stratigraphy

answer

the branch of geology concerned with the order and relative position of strata and their relationship to the geological time scale.

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stratification

answer

Stratigraphy is a branch of geology which studies rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks.

question

principals of stratigraphy

answer

1) sediment deposited horizontally (original horizontality) ex. grand canyon 2) wide spread layers can be correlated 3)older layers are deposited first and are below younger layers 4) the timeline of the evolution of life is recorded in the fossil record

question

wide spread layer correlation (lateral continuity)

answer

all types of one rock were formed at the same time (navajo rock) and we can assume it's continuous presence in the same place of different national parks examples: grand canyon, zion national park, mesa verde national park

question

layer from bottom to top

answer

bottom oldest, top youngest

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Disturbances

answer

tiliting, folding, faulting

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faunal succession

answer

faunal organisms succeed one another in definite and determinable order and therefore any time can be recognized by its fossil content

question

index fossil

answer

geographically widespread fossil that is limited to a short span of geologic time, lived everywhere but only existed for a couple million years, bookmark for time

question

relative age of rocks (fossil succession)

answer

An English scientist, William Smith is accredited with the discovery of this idea. Smith noticed that specific forms of life were fossilized in particular layers of rock, giving a time line story indicating when, in time, events occurred. This progression of or evolution of life occurred in a vertical fashion up through the layers. The same vertical changes in fossils occur in different places all over the earth.

question

radiometric dating

answer

gives us ABSOLUTE (approximate numerical) ages (plus or minus some years)

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igneous (volcanic)

answer

most easily dated (first type of rock on earth), can be dated to the age of magma solidification

question

metamorphic

answer

sometimes can be dated, but to time of metamorphism, not formation of original parent rock

question

sedimentary

answer

usually can't be dated, any date is from the age of the parent, not the deposition of the sediment

question

weathering

answer

breaking up of surfaces by air and water

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erosion

answer

the transportation of broken clasts, mostly by wind and water, also gravity

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deposition

answer

broken clasts settle at lower elevations as depositional landforms

question

biochemical

answer

death and accumulation of organisms (mostly in the ocean)

question

sedimentary classes

answer

clastic, chemical, biogenic

question

clastic

answer

sediment is loose fragments of rock debris produced by physical weathering (sand and clay), most fossils formed here

question

chemical

answer

sediment precipitates from solution in water (calcium carbonate and salt)

question

biogenic (life generated)

answer

composed of the remains of plants or animals = organics, very rarely well preserved (coal, oil, natural gas)

question

sedimentary accumulation

answer

=deposition

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lithification

answer

cementing together of sediments after burial

question

sandstone

answer

sand accumulates on beaches, in/near water, in deserts

question

siltstone

answer

silt accumulates mostly on beaches, in/near water, more detailed fossils

question

shale (mudstone)

answer

mud accumulates mostly in/near water, more detailed than siltstone

question

limestone

answer

made out of organisms from the ocean , accumulates in shallow seas-mostly microscopic dead sea creatures

question

volcanic ash (clastic igneous) -broken pieces of magma

answer

ash accumulates on land/in water as it falls from the sky, during/after a volcanic eruption

question

Mesozoic rocks in North America

answer

more cretaceous than Jurassic and Triassic -Montana, Utah, Texas, Nebraska, Wyoming

question

fossilization

answer

during lithification bone becomes rock (sometimes)

question

5 fabulous fossilizers

answer

1) shale (mud) 2) siltstone 3) sandstone 4) limestone 5) volcanic ash

question

crust

answer

continental(less dense), oceanic (more dense), when you have an oceanic crust hitting a continental crust the oceanic crust will always go under

question

3 types of plate boundaries

answer

1. Divergent (constructive) 2. Convergent (destructive) 3. Transform (conservative)

question

plates

answer

-16 plates on earth, 90% earthquakes on plate boundaries

question

convergence-destructive

answer

plates moving against each other causing subduction

question

divergence-constructive

answer

plates are moving away from each other, new land is constructed by magma in the ocean, how pangaea separated

question

transform-conservative

answer

ex. San Andreas fault, earthquakes happen but the plate is not being destroyed

question

continental plate

answer

less dense than oceanic plate

question

oceanic plate

answer

more dense than continental plate

question

earthquakes

answer

movement of plates cause earthquakes (move next to each other)

question

volcanism

answer

movements of plates cause volcanism between the plates (divergence)

question

mountain-building

answer

movement of plates cause mountain building (convergence)

question

mid-ocean ridge

answer

a divergent plate boundary, magma rising from mantle forms new crust, called this because most divergent boundaries meet in the middle of the atlantic, where continents break apart and move away from each other

question

age of ocean floor

answer

-ocean is youngest at Mid-Ocean Ridge and older as the magma spreads outward, symmetric spreading out from the plate

question

atlantic ocean formation

answer

pangaea separates due to divergent plates first with north american and Europe separating then south america and africa

question

plate tectonic evidence

answer

1.glaciers: appear to move from sea to land 2.mountain belts dissected 3.hot spot volcanoes: crust moves over hotspot magma source which is stationary relative to the mantle 4.fossils 5.earthquake epicenter locations 6. active volcano locations 7.GPS

question

triassic plate tectonics

answer

when pangaea starting to break up,

question

jurassic plate tectonics

answer

-more division, atlantic ocean is getting wider,

question

cretaceous plate tectonics

answer

-pangaea is almost all split up

question

ocean-continent convergence

answer

dense oceanic crust formed at the MOR descends into the mantle at subduction zone trenches, forming a volcanic arc (ex. northwest US cascade volcanic range and andes volcanic range)

question

ocean-ocean convergence

answer

when 2 oceanic plates meet 1 of them is always denser and subjects beneath the other forming a volcanic island arc

question

continent-continent convergence

answer

continental crust can't subduct but is forced upwards during the collision ex. how the himalayas formed

question

What technique is used to determine the age of rocks by looking for radioactive elements that decay predictably?

answer

radioactive dating

question

Water accumulates on Earth. Where did it come from?

answer

Comet/asteroids/meteoroids

question

90% of the Earth was a vast iron-rich ocean with small volcanic islands. Is this ancient atmosphere favorable to complex life forms, like humans? What does it look like?

answer

No. It was heavy, dense, carbon dioxide rich, very hot, and reddish in color

question

Where did the first life evolve on Earth?

answer

primitive single-celled organisms lived off of the heat of ocean flood volcanic vents (and still exist today)

question

With the formation of the photo-continents, the shallow seas along the coastal margins were inhabited by __________, which are made of layers of __________. Through the process of photosynthesis they _______________ Earth's atmosphere.

answer

Stromatolites; algae; oxygenated (technically cyanobacteria is the organism and Stromatolites are the rocky waste products of the cyanobacteria)

question

Oxygen first filled the __________ and then filled the __________ and cleared the air.

answer

oceans; atmosphere

question

What is one of the primary lines of evidence that the continents are not stationary?

answer

fossil locations of species (like trilobites) that lived in fresh water on the opposite sides of today's oceans

question

What fossils provide the greatest argument for continental drift?

answer

trilobites

question

The first global maps of the ocean floor were created by the Navy in WW2 and revealed _________________, __________________ and __________________.

answer

rifts, trenches and plate boundary network

question

How fast do plates move on average?

answer

2.5 cm or 1 inch per year

question

Which hemisphere was the supercontinent Rodinia formed? What were some characteristics of this continent?

answer

S. hemisphere barren and lifeless

question

What triggered Snowball earth?

answer

The supercontinent Rodinia blocked warm ocean currents, which caused temperatures to freeze in the Polar regions and ice covered the earth.

question

During Snowball Earth, surface temperatures were ____________ and the ice was ______________ deep. This killed most life.

answer

-a mile deep

question

What splits Rodinia?

answer

excessive volcanism, which causes the Earth to warm and the ice to melt

question

Excessive volcanism triggers a temporary _____________ effect. New smaller continents diverge.

answer

greenhouse

question

The Cambrian Explosion marks a huge increase in a variety of life forms in the oceans. Many fossil organisms are found today in the Burgess ___________, providing evidence of life developing teeth, eyes, and skeletons.

answer

shale

question

Oxygen levels reach today's levels and the ___________ forms in the upper atmosphere, providing a UV radiation shield.

answer

ozone layer

question

Life emerges on land. The warm climate triggers rapid plant growth, creating a green swampy tropical world. The evidence of excessive plant life in fresh water swampy regions is found in ______________ deposits, which are accumulated partially decomposed plant matter.

answer

coal

question

Shallow waters teamed with life and preserved these organisms in the form of _______________.

answer

oil and gas

question

What were the first animals to evolve on land? Followed by ________________ then __________________.

answer

enormous insects; amphibians; reptilians

question

What happened to cause a mass extinction of 95% of life on Earth?

answer

Eruption of a mantle plume of lava in modern Siberia that released a million cubic miles of lava for over 1 million years, poisoning the atmosphere with noxious gases

question

The supercontinent Pangaea forms and oxygen returns to high levels in the atmosphere. Dinosaurs appear on Earth. What fraction of the history of life on Earth was dominated by dinosaurs?

answer

1/3

question

What was the average size of a dinosaur?

answer

larger than a grizzly bear

question

What does the word dinosaur mean?

answer

terrible lizard

question

What may be the reason(s) that the dinosaurs grew to such enormous sizes?

answer

dinosaurs were lukewarm blooded, and/or the sweltering oxygen-rich environment triggered by volcanism

question

Why was there such an increase in volcanism?

answer

the supercontinent Pangaea was beginning to break apart

question

Which continents did the dinosaurs end up on when paleocontinents Gondwanaland and Laurasia form and split into the 7 continents we know today?

answer

all of them

question

Volcanism increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere (global warming gone wild), which allows plants to grow fast and big. This allows dinosaurs to ______________.

answer

get extremely large, a biological response to a volcanically overreactive planet

question

What triggered the creation of diamond found in South Africa. Formed through volcanic eruptions 3x deeper than usual.

answer

triggered by the break-up of the Pangaea supercontinent

question

Dinosaur bones are found continuously throughout the sedimentary record from about _____________ up to ______________.

answer

230Ma; 65Ma

question

What percentage of species went extinct at the end of the Mesozoic?

answer

Over 70% of the species on Earth

question

What rock is the 65Ms tombstone layer made of?

answer

Clay (shale) - sedimentary rock

question

What exceptionally rare element is found in the tombstone layer?

answer

Iridium

question

Where does most of this element come from?

answer

Space rock (meteorites and asteroids)

question

What is proposed to have caused the extinction?

answer

asteroid/comet impact

question

How big was the crater? Where was it found?

answer

;100 miles across and is located in the Gulf of Mexico

question

How much iridium was deposited on Earth by the space object impact?

answer

~200,000 tons of iridium

question

How big was the meteor (actually meteoroid or asteroid or comet) that hit Earth 65Ma?

answer

over six miles in diameter

question

How fast was the space object moving when it hit Earth?

answer

20 km/second= 12.4 miles/second= 744 miles/minute

question

What other events occurred at the same time and contributed to the extinction? (65Ma)

answer

Indian lava flows produced poisonous gases that choked the atmosphere

question

Emerging land

answer

tectonic uplift or falling sea level= erosion and no fossilization 1) erosion: surface being decomposed and transported to lower elevations 2) uplift: tectonic process land rising it elevation (plate collisions or inflation due to magma rising from below) 3) falling sea level: lowering due to colder atmospheric temperatures (ice forms) and/or decrease in rate of divergence

question

Submergent land

answer

tectonic subsidence or rising sea level= deposition and fossilization 1) deposition: clasts from higher elevations are transported to these lower elevations where clasts accumulate and are buried 2) subsidence: tectonic process of land decreasing in elevation (plate divergence or tectonically quiet) 3) rising sea level: increasing due to warmer atmospheric temperatures (ice melts) and/or increase in rate of divergence

question

The role of water

answer

water weathers(decomposes), erodes(transports), and ultimately flows to lower elevations where class are deposited on to flatter landforms

question

Sedimentary (depositional) environments

answer

where sedimentary clasts accumulate. Type of environment determines the types of sedimentary that accumulate

question

Sedimentary structures and ancient environments

answer

type of sedimentary structures: strata or beds (=layers), cross-bedding (=desert), graded beds (=deep water), ripple marks (=water body), mud cracks (=drying mud), fossils (=life) IMPORTANT: provide information about the environment

question

Where to look for dinosaurs...

answer

areas that were depositional over most of the last 245Ma (Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras) and have recently eroded, exposing Mesozoic Era sedimentary layers to the earth's surface.

question

Global climate change

answer

-constant through time, changed by life for almost 4 billion years, change in atmosphere temperature= ocean temperature= amount of ice= sea level= weather patterns and intensity, some life adapts, some die (extinction), some thrives

question

Causes of natural climate variability

answer

-atmospheric temperature, atmospheric composition, amount of greenhouse gas, ocean temperature, albedo(surface area of ice), sea level, ocean circulation change, variations in solar activity, landmass distribution (tectonic), mountain building (tectonic), volcanic activity (tectonic), meteorite/comet impacts, release of clathrates (methane)

question

greenhouse effect

answer

earth absorbs short-wave radiation (UV) and emits long-wave radiation (infrared heat) Heat which is absorbed by atmospheric gages, warming earth by 33 degrees Celsius.

question

greenhouse gases

answer

Natural greenhouse gases: CO2, O3, H2O vapor, NO2, methane CH4 Human created greenhouse gases: chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

question

How did life begin?:

answer

CHON (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen), organic compounds, cells, metabolize (extract energy), membrane boundary (lipids), make copies, emergence, seeding, procreate (amino acids/proteins=RNA/DNA)

question

Where did life begin?

answer

-1.primoridial soup: water + lightning + ancient atmosphere, 2.hydrothermal vents: deep-sea volcanic vents at high temperatures and pressures 3.Clays: surface charges concentrate organic molecules

question

Evidence of evolution

answer

1) Inheritance- genetic traits are inherited from parent and are passed on to offspring 2) Selection- organisms with traits that are favorable to their survival live and pass on their genes to the next generation 3) Variation- all life forms vary genetically within a population. Selection uses this genetic variation. 4) Time- evolution takes time. Evolution can happen in a few generations, but major changes, such as speciation, usually take long periods of time.

question

Keys to survival

answer

procreation, mutations, specialized traits, predatory skills or herbivore strategies, and natural selection

question

Megafauna

answer

extremely large animals

question

Mesozoic Era Evolution: P-T mass extinction, K-T mass extinction

answer

-middle life, gymnosperms (cycads, confers, and ginkgo) were dominant trees, later angiosperms evolve, first dinosaurs, pterosaurs, mammals, birds, "Age of Reptiles" most dominant and diverse: carnivorous, and herbivorous dinosaurs, marine reptiles, pterosaurs, other non-dino reptiles, birds (in the jurassic), ended with mass extinction 75% of all species

question

Animals that evolved alongside dinosaurs

answer

Marine reptiles pterosaurs mammals turtles lizards birds

question

reptiles

answer

Anapsid(no fenestra): amphibians and turtles(exist), synapsid (1 low fenestra): mammal-like reptiles (lived Permian to triassic-extinct), euryapsid (1 high fenestra):marine reptiles (mostly Mesozoic-extinct), diapsid (2 fenestra):lepidosaurs (exist) and archosaurs (some exist)

question

Dinos: hips, breathing, endothermy

answer

-diverged from archosaurs, hips adapted to bring their legs directly under torso, efficient breathing while walking/running, adaptation favors endothermy (body temperature control)

question

Earliest dino-eoraptor

answer

-first dinosaurs were small, about 1m, bipedal predator/insectivore, terrestrial (walker/runner)

question

Cenozoic Era Evolution: Angiosperms, mammals

answer

-"Age of the Mammals": 2 groups; marsupials and placentals, some groups become very large, "Age of Flowering Plants": angiosperms strongly influenced evolution of birds and herbivorous mammals, reptiles that survived the K-T extinction included: turtles, snakes, lizards, birds

Geology 105- Age of the Dinosaurs – Flashcards

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