GEOL 102 FINAL EXAM

What defines organisms as a species?

fertile offspring

Which of the following is a transitional species between fish and amphibian?

Tiktaalik

Dinosaurs died out in the cretaceous, what happened to mammals?

diversified, radiated

Finding the absolute age of the rock requires the understanding of the

radioactivity

The ropy flow of basalt lava

pahoehoe

The crumbly flow of basalt lava

a’a

What is the most dominant mineral class on earth

silicas

Columnar joints form when lava ___

contracts during the final stages of cooling forming tall polygonal features

Whether you get pyroclastic debris or lava flows depends on

viscosity and volatile content

What do contour lines represent?

elevation difference from sea level

Close contour lines mean

steep features

The Cordillera refers to the western system of mountains in north america

True

The phanerozoic is characterized by the expansion of___ organisms

hard shelled

Cenozoic antarctica was semitropical it changed because

of the separation of Australia from antarctica

The base of the cambrian is defined by what trace fossil

Treptichnus pedum

What is the age of the Earth?

4.56 ga

First evidence of land plants appeared during the __

ordovician

What was the first species to control fire?

homoerectus

The albedo effect is

the percentage of solar radiation reflected back to space

When was the last glacial maximum

20,000 years ago

What 3 things are associated with Milankovitch cycles

obliquity, precession, eccentricity

Pleistocene Glaciation was initially caused by

change of circulation

Mammals evolved from __ during the _

Thoorapsids, mesozoic

During a glacial period, glacial ice becomes ___ in light H2O.

enriched

During a glacial period, seawater becomes __ in heavy H2O.

enriched

The extinction of the dinosaurs opened up for what organisms to take over?

mammals

What isotopic evidence derived from shells or sediments indicates warmer temperatures?

smaller delta 18/16

Which of the 5 big extinctions killed the dinosaurs?

end cretaceous -paleogene

during which mass extinction did 95% of plants go extinct?

end triassic

What is the background rate of extinction of mammal species?

1-2million

The number of protons in the atom determines

chemical identity

Which minerals belong to the ferromagnesian group?

Olivine, Hornblende, Augite

T or F sedimentary rocks with well rounded clasts are mature.

True

structures in humans and other organisms such as the tailbone is referred to as

vestigial organ

Paleontologists rely on _ to determine a species.

physical traits

The eon between 4.0billion - 2.5billion is the

archean

Many regionally metamorphosed rocks were once

roots of tall mountains

What are good environments for fossils?

low energy- i.e. lakes

Mass extinctions can

– Reset the evolutionary clock – Advance already established evolutionary trends – Change the course of evolution – Create open niche space

What happens after mass extinctions?

Adaptive radiation

End Ordovician Extinction

Main Kill Mechanisms: • Loss of habitat due to regression • Temperature changes: cooler, then warmer; 2 pulse extinction event - 2 million years; global cooling, then warming

Late Devonian Extinction

4 million years; expansion of plants over the land

Permo-Triassic Extinction

Largest Extinction(Great Dying); Formation of Pangea; Extensive Volcanism; Release of methane hydrates; Sea Level Fluctuations

End Triassic Extinction

Composite of several extinction events that span the last 2 stages of Triassic; cause - Global Warming Caused by Volcanism

K-Pg(K-T) Extinction

85% of all species went extinct in less than 1 million years; Extraterrestrial cause

What went extinct completely at the end of Permian ?

Fusulina foraminifera, Tabulate corals, Rugose corals, Trilobites

What is an erg?

Sand Sea

Who first studied fossil successions?

William Smith

Which environment preserves fossils?

continental shelf

What involves infilling of bones?

permineralizattion

What orogenic event occurred in the middle Proterozoic on the eastern side of Laurentia?

Greenville

Which mineral is in the upper mantle?

Olivine

What is lost to form an isotope?

neutron

Which metamorphic rock has bands?

gniess

What animal linked fish to amphibians?

Tiktaalik

Which extinction had 2 pulses?

The end Ordovician

Teleosts

ray-finned bony fish

Paleocene (~60 Million years ago)

No ice-caps; • Seaway open between India, Africa and Eurasia • Australia and Antarctica still associated

PETM Consequences

Slowing of ocean circulation; Oceans Acidified;Marine extinction of benthic;~200,000 years; all of the above

More 18O

more ice on continents

Less 18O

less ice

An increase in 12C relative to 13C results in

Negative 13C anomaly

Upper mantle is composed of

mafic minerals - olivine

Zircon mineral

hosts uranium which can determine half life, oldest grain - 4.36 billion; found in meta-conglomerate.

Zooplankton

consumes phytoplankton

phytoplankton

photosynthesis

Abraham Gottlob Werner

Neptunism - thought that all layered rocks ( including lava flows) had been deposited from water

James Hutton

Father of Geology; internal heat source; rock cycle ; unconformity; Siccar Point Outcrop.

Charles Lyell

The present is the key to the past” ; published principles of Geology ; championed for uniformity of processes; described how geologist features cut across rock is younger than rock itself.

Nicholas Steno

Father of Stratigraphy; recognized not all layers of rock had formed at the same time; therefore, changes in conditions led to changes in rocks; strata(layers) must then preserve a decipherable chronological order.

William Smith

English Engineer; Developed the first geologic map (1815), based largely in part on fossils., faunal succession, geological map

Where would we not find a pebble (depositional environments)

glacier; stream bed; sand dune - sand dune

What happened to diversity during the GOBE

trippled

Divergent Plate boundary

thinning, normal faulting

Convergent

collision zone, reverse and thrust fault

With a transform fault __

there is no magma

What defines the cambrian?

hard bodies, worm burrows (Treptichnus pedum)

What is a volcano

an erupting vent though which molten rock surfaces; a mountain built from magmatic eruptions

Early Mammals were

insect-eaters

__Passage was created during the Paleogene when South America separated from Antarctica

Drakes

What is the major tectonic event during the Mesozoic?

Rifting/ breakup of Pangea

During much of the Cenozoic, the eastern margin of North America was

passive

The White Cliffs of Dover are made of what single-celled algae that rained down on the shallow cratons during the Mid-to-Late Cretaceous?

Coccolithophores

A’a Lava Flow

a relatively low viscosity basaltic lava characterized by a sharp, jagged, blocky texture

Pahoehoe lava flow

a very low viscosity basaltic lava characterized by a smooth, ropy texture

The ___ dominates Pacific Margins

Ring of Fire

Formation of the Himilayas

continent - continent collision

Formation of the Cordillera

continental subduction

Formation of San Andreas

not, subduction, oceanic plate - transform boundary during the neogene

Great America Interchange

closing of the panama, land bridge, exchange of animals south and north america.

What do we see in the fossil record of the evolution of horses.

Thicker teeth, bigger, less foot bones, more cement(enamel) in deeper complex roots.

What drove the climate shift in antarctica

separation of austrailia, drakes passage.

Plates float on the

Aesthenosphere

How do we shorten a crust

thrust and reverse faults

With extension we see

normal faults - ex: basin and range

Western margin of North America, Late Devonian orogenic event?

Antler Orogeny

The famous specimen known as "Lucy” is from ___ species

Australopithecus Afarensis

___proposed that all rocks were deposited in a primordial ocean and was considered as teh representative of Neptunism.

Abraham Gottlob Werner

What are the features within metamorphic sandstone that demonstrate surface water during early Earth?

ripple marks, showing cross bedding,

___is the classification system used by biologists.

Taxonomy