GEOL 102 Final Exam Review

Cambrian Explosion

Large diversification of life that began during the Phanerozoic Eon.

Lagerstatten

A site with exceptionally preserved fossils, sometimes including soft tissues.

Burgess Shale

A significant site for preserving soft-bodied organisms from the Cambrian period.

Anomalocaris

Top predator of the Cambrian period.

Nautiloids, Sea Stars

Top predators of the Ordovician period.

Eurypterid

Top predator of the Silurian period.

Dunkleosteus

Top predator of the Devonian period.

Lobe-finned fish

The group of fish that gave rise to humans.

Tiktaalik

The 'Missing Link' between fish and land vertebrates.

Amniote

An animal whose eggs are laid on land or retained within the mother, not dependent on water for reproduction.

Late Devonian Mass Extinction

A major extinction event around 375 million years ago, possibly linked to climate change and loss of reef habitats.

Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous

Periods of the Mesozoic Era.

Erg

A large desert region of wind-blown sand dunes.

CAMP

Central Atlantic Magmatic Province – a large volcanic event linked to the Triassic–Jurassic extinction.

Western Interior Cretaceous Seaway

A shallow sea that split North America during the Cretaceous.

Age of Dinosaurs

The general nickname for the Mesozoic Era.

Plesiosaurs, Ichthyosaurs, Mosasaurs

Some marine reptiles of the Mesozoic Era.

Archaeopteryx

An early bird with both reptilian and avian features.

Cretaceous–Paleogene (KPg) extinction

Caused by a likely asteroid impact (Chicxulub) and volcanic activity.

Age of Mammals

Nickname for the Cenozoic Era.

Cenozoic climate

Overall cooling trend, with glaciations in later epochs, during the Cenozoic.

GABI

Great American Biotic Interchange – exchange of species between North and South America via the Isthmus of Panama.

Indricotherium, mammoths, mastodons

Large land mammals of the Cenozoic Era.

Megalodon

A giant extinct shark.

Bering Land Bridge

Land connection between Asia and North America during ice ages.

Permian-Triassic (P-Tr, P-T, or The Great Dying)

The largest extinction event ever.

Cordillera

General name for the Western North America region of mountain building and exotic terranes.

Sevier Orogeny

Western orogeny that caused thin-skinned faulting in areas like the Keystone Thrust fault.

Coccolithophores

Organism that deposited chalk on the bottom of the ocean during the Cretaceous Period.

Aulacogen

The failed rift arm of a triple junction spreading zone.

Absaroka

Mesozoic Era sequence for the Triassic-Jurassic.

Zuni

Mesozoic Era sequence for the Jurassic-Cretaceous.

Septa

The chamber walls of ammonites.

Teleost fish

A more advanced group of ray-finned fish that evolved in the Cretaceous.

Archosaurs

A group of diapsids that include crocodiles, pterosaurs, and dinosaurs.

Ornithischians (Bird Hipped)

A group of dinosaurs characterized by their bird-like pubic bone.

Saurischians (Lizard-Hipped)

A group of dinosaurs characterized by their lizard-like pubic bone.

Laramide Orogeny

West coast orogeny that began in the Cretaceous and continues into the Cenozoic.

Rain Shadow Desert

A type of desert that exists east of the Sierra Mountains or north of the Himalayan Mountains.

Quaternary Period

The period of the last Ice Age.

Neogene Period

The period when the San Andreas Transform plate boundary became fully established.

Tejas

The only sequence that occurred during the Cenozoic Era.

Erratics

Large rocks (some the size of a house) moved by continental glaciers.

Blue whale

The largest animal that ever existed.

Indricotherium

The largest land mammal that ever existed.

Grasses

The plant that drove the evolution of many Cenozoic mammals (e.g., horses, humans).