GEO 102 Evolution and Geology

Which plant is not a crop developed from wild mustard?

A) Cauliflower

B) Kale

C) Broccoli

D) Asparagus

D. Asparagus

Speciation from a single ancestral species in a new environment is called:

Adaptive radiation

In a vertebrate cladogram, which two groups are the most closely related?

Crocodiles and dinosaurs

What does convergent evolution produce?

Analogous structures

An animal structure that serves no function, has reduced function, or serves a different function than in ancestors is a(n):

Vestigial structure

What are the incorrect statements regarding the theory of evolution by natural selection in the provided list?

Organisms pass acquired characteristics to offspring, and trait favorability depends on the environment.

Which river system leaves behind the most clay and silt deposits?

Meandering

Any sediment deposited directly by glacial ice is called:

Till

Many limestones are made up of calcium carbonate mud called:

Micrite

The degree to which all particles in a detrital sedimentary rock are about the same size is called:

Sorting

What is the depositional environment for horizontally bedded conglomerate?

Glacial outwash stream

What is the depositional environment for turbidite sequences?

Submarine fan

What is the depositional environment for laminated clay?

Deep ocean

What is the depositional environment for sandstone with shell fragments?

Beach

What is the depositional environment for large cross-bedded sandstones?

Desert dunes

What do geologists use to determine ancient current direction?

Cross bedding

Evolution

The idea that organisms have changed over time.

Fixity of species

The 1700s and earlier belief that species do not change and extinction is not accepted.

Permineralization

Filling empty spaces in bone or wood with minerals.

Molds and Casts

Sediment surrounds a fossil creating a mold.

Recrystallization

Recrystallizes, but generally does not change chemistry.

Infilling

Crystal growth or sediment in void spaces.

Replacement (fossil preservation)

Replacement of fossil material with a different mineral changing chemistry.

Carbonization

Removal of water and other components, leaving behind just carbon and impression.

Coprolite

Fossilized feces or poop.

Amber

Pine forest sap that traps things, commonly preserving insects.

Thomas Malthus (1798)

Argued that resources are scarce and human population grows faster than food.

William Smith

Used fossil-based stratigraphy (faunal succession) to help map England.

Geological eras order (oldest to youngest)

Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

First proposed a mechanism of evolution (inheritance of acquired characteristics), which was mostly incorrect.

Richard Owen

Recognized homology in vertebrates based on similar structures that do different things.

Artificial selection

Intentional breeding for certain traits, used for millennia.

Charles Darwin's voyage

Sailed on the HMS Beagle in 1831, carrying a copy of Lyell's Principles of Geology.

St. Jago

Darwin's first stop, featuring a carbonate layer in a cliff face sandwiched between volcanic layers.

Galapagos Islands formation

Caused by hotspot volcanism in the middle of a deep ocean.

Galapagos finches

Filled many bird niches via adaptive radiation from a single ancestral species.

Galapagos finches DNA evidence

Shows that 13 species came from a single ancestral species that arrived at the Galapagos.

Galapagos finch beak changes

Beaks got larger after the 1977 drought and smaller after the second drought.

Lyell's contribution to Darwin

Proposed that the Earth is very old and advanced uniformitarianism.

Malthus's contribution to Darwin

Showed that resources restrict population growth.

Natural selection step 1

A population has variation between individuals.

Natural selection step 2

Variation is due to inheritable characteristics.

Natural selection step 3

Some variations provide advantages to the individuals.

Natural selection step 4

Individuals with advantages are more likely to survive.

Natural selection step 5

Individuals that survive are more likely to pass variations to the next generation.

Alfred Wallace's expedition

Explored South East Asia, collected birds and insects, and survived a burning ship and malaria.

Wallace and Darwin

Wallace independently discovered natural selection, and their ideas were presented together.

Gregor Mendel's role

Worked out basic genetics in the 1860s, providing the inheritable mechanism required by Darwin's theory.

Evolution and phenotypes

Evolution acts directly on phenotypes.

Genetic variation source

Different genes create different variations in a population.

Sickle cell genes

Most commonly found in Africa.

Central Dogma

Genetics are encoded by DNA.

Which of these is not a premise of evolution through natural selection as demonstrated by the finches?

Larger beak sizes provide advantages at all times

Mutations

Introduce new variations into a population; many are harmful, but some are useful.

Peppered moths

A classic example demonstrating natural selection.

Biological species definition

A population of organisms that naturally interbreed and produce fertile offspring.

Macroevolution

Speciation is sometimes considered this type of evolution.

Allopatric speciation

More common from land changes dividing a waterscape, such as the Isthmus of Panama.

Organismal adaptation

Organisms do not actively try to adapt to their environment.

Giraffe evolution

Shorter giraffes die and taller giraffe genes get passed down, rather than giraffes stretching their necks.

Convergent evolution

Occurs when certain environments favor similar adaptations, such as in fish, ichthyosaurs, and porpoises.

Homology

Related organisms use similar underlying forms to build different structures, serving as evidence of shared ancestors.

Origin of homologies

Homologies form by divergence from a common ancestor.

Analogous structures

Structures that form due to convergent evolution rather than shared ancestry.

Vestigial organs

Remnants of old structures no longer or little used, such as whale hip bones, the human appendix, or ostrich wings.

Biogeography speciation

Most speciation is allopatric and controlled by geography.

Wallace's Line

A line of deep ocean channels separating Asian and Australian animals.

Transitional fossils

Fossils from interesting evolutionary intervals connecting major groups, such as fish to terrestrial vertebrates or dinosaurs to birds.

Cladistics

Grouping organisms based on shared ancestry.

Question: Birds are part of which group?

Coelurosaurs, Saurischia, and Dinosauria.

Convergent evolution produces:

Analogous structures

Evidence for common ancestry of life on Earth

The same DNA codes for the same proteins in all organisms.

Why did the expedition go to northern Canada?

To examine 370 Ma rocks where the vertebrate-to-land transition fossil record was poor.

Which rock type preserves fossils?

Sedimentary rocks (basically all fossils are found in them).

Geological timescale requirements

Know eras and periods only; numerical ages are not required.

Energy resources in sedimentary rocks

Sedimentary rocks host all energy resources: oil, gas, and coal.

Anticline petroleum trap

A geological structure that traps petroleum.

Depositional environments

Specific environments associated with one or more rock types (continental, shallow, and deep marine).

Types of sedimentary rocks

Clastic (detrital) rocks and chemical rocks (mineral precipitation from water).

What study of sedimentary rocks reveals

The depositional environment and how sediment was transported.

Characteristics of clastic sedimentary rocks

Grain size, shape, sorting, and mineral composition.

Clastic sediment sizes (smallest to biggest)

Clay, silt, sand, and gravel.

Basically all fossils are

sedimentary rocks

(smallest to biggest)

CLAY, SILT, SAND, GRAVEL

Quartz grain

Translucent

Feldspars

White and pink and opaque

Lithics

All the dark things in the rock

Sediment

Loose particular matter

Lithification

Converting unconsolidated sediments into a rock

Compaction

Pressure pushing grains together

Cementation

Pore space filled with calcite, quartz, or clay

Mud (silt and clay) rock types

Shale, mudstone, siltstone

Sand rock types

Sandstone

Gravel rock types

Conglomerate, breccia

Shale

Clay sized particles in thin layers

Claystone

Shale with no layering

Siltstone

Rock made of mostly silt sized particles, tends to not be layered, blockier, and lighter in color

Shale vs Siltstone

Gritty is silt, smooth is clay

Sandstone description components

Grain size, grain shape, and minerals (% quartz, % feldspar, % lithics)

Sandstone grain sizes

Fine, medium, or coarse