GEOL 102 EXAM 3 REVIEW

What is the evolutionary step that freed tetrapods from the water?

Amniotic Stage

The large predator Anomalocaris likely would have caused selective pressure for prey to develop ____.

hard parts c) more legs

The exterior skeletons of arthropods are composed of ____.

chitin

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

Tiktaalik

Life during Ordovician ______in diversity.

tripled

Which of the following was an arthropod?

trilobite

It has been hypothesized that fish jaws developed by a modification of a ____.

forward pair of gill arches

What is the name of a large animal group of synapsids that sported sails on their backs?

pelycosaurs

The first evidence of the land plants appeared during ____.

Ordovician

What is the likely mechanism for the end-Permian mass extinction?

global warming

Which of the following is evidence for a cooling event at the end of Cretaceous?

oxygen isotopes from plankton

As the proportion of ocean to land increases, climates will likely ____.

cool down

What is the name of the structure found in feathered dinosaurs, fossilized birds, and modern birds that can be used to determine the color of feathers?

melanosomes

Cephalopod sutures evolved in complexity over time. Which of the following would be the youngest (most recent) suture form?

ammonite

Which of the following has been proposed as an explanation for why ammonite sutures became so complex?

both greater strength and provides better attachment points

The two major groups of dinosaurs are classified separately based on what skeletal part?

hip

The creation of the Isthmus of Panama led to the formation of what ocean current?

Gulf Stream

What is the wobble of the Earth’s axis called?

precession

Currently parts of Canada’s crust are uplifting in response to the ____.

removal of continental glaciers

The unsorted till deposits are formed by ____.

sediments being deposited by ice

Formation of the Himalayas

A major mountain range formed by the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Asia, starting in the Cenozoic

Beginning of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM)

Occurred around 55 million years ago, causing a rapid warming period linked to massive carbon release and significant climate shifts.

Development of the Gulf Stream

A climate feature that has been crucial in regulating temperatures in Western Europe, becoming well-established in the early Cenozoic.

Ice Age cycles

Occurred in periodic cycles, shaping the glaciation and interglaciation phases during the Quaternary period.

Opening of the Bering Strait

The Arctic Ocean became connected to the Pacific Ocean around 3 million years ago, impacting global climate patterns.

Formation of the Great Rift Valley

A major geological feature began too split in East Africa, eventually forming the East African Rift Zone.

The opening of the Atlantic Ocean

_______ opened due to rifting between North America and Eurasia, a key event during the early Cenozoic.

Evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet

A process involving the cooling of the Earth and the expansion of ice sheets that began about 34 million years ago.

The establishment of the modern climate system

The last major ice sheets began to grow and recede, marking the start of regular glacial and interglacial periods.

Chordates have a

notochord or dorsal stiffening rod associated with a nerve chord, at some stage in their development.

The world's oldest known fish

Myllokunmingia

Earliest vertebrates were

jawless fish

First fossils of spores and tissues of

simple land plants in late Ordovician.

Gill arches

become modified to form upper and lower hinged jaws

Late Devonian saw

1st forests (thigh-high) arise from swamps with diverse arthropods and amphibians

Late Mississippian

evolution of amniote egg freed tetrapods from constraint of nearby water bodies

Mesozoic tectonics

Marks the breakup of Pangea (during the Triassic) and the opening of major oceans

Western North America Orogenesis

• Sonoma • Nevadan • Sevier • Laramide
• Sediments • Never • Stay • Long

Stresses generated by compression along the western margin of N. America not confined to the Sevier region, Some of these stresses are translated and expressed further inboard forming the

Rocky Mountains (Laramide)

Western Interior Cretaceous Seaway

• Western North America = Laramidia (Laramie, Wyoming) • Eastern North America = Appalachia

Deccan Traps

Massive flood basalts (2nd largest)

Cambrian Boundary, Boundary defined by onset of

Treptichnus pedum (worm burrow trace fossil)

Ammonoidea

Provided extra strength to protect against predation

Nautiloidea

Provides better attachment for the animal

Archosaurs (Archosauria)

Major group of diapsids (2 openings on each side of skull)

Archaeopteryx (Saurischian)

• Intermediate between theropods and birds

Albedo

he fraction of light that a surface reflects

Isostatic rebound

the rise of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last ice age.

Age of Mammals

Cenozoic

Atolls

Ring-like coral reefs that grow in shallow tropical waters around a volcano which subsides beneath the water.

Teleost

Bony fish characterized by mobile premaxilla and homocercal tail. There is an explosive radiation of Teleost fish immediately following the K-Pg boundary

Snakes

began to diversify during Miocene.Poisonous snakes evolved with specialized teeth for injecting venom into their prey.The diversification of snakes may be linked to the diversification of mammals, which serve as their prey.

Early Mammals

The first mammals were small. • Insulation by hair aided survival by preventing heat loss. • Mammary glands are modified sweat glands. The young may have been nourished by secretions from glands that preceded the development of true mammary glands. • Tooth patterns show early mammals ate insects. • Skulls show that smell and hearing were well developed, suggesting they were nocturnal.

Monotremes

• Primitive egg-laying mammals, such as the platypus (living in Australia and Tasmania), and two species of spiny anteater or echidna (living in Australia and New Guinea). • Milk is secreted from special glands onto hairs on the abdomen, where the young can lick it up

Placentals

Placental mammals appeared during Cretaceous as small insectivores

Bats

Flying mammals, the bats evolved during Cenozoic. • Only mammal to have the sustained flight • Bat teeth have been discovered in Paleocene strata. • The wings are developed on elongated fingerbones.

The Cooling

Beginning in Oligocene global temperatures begin to plummet even more (Circum-Antarctic current) • A specialized group of plants evolves to take advantage of the cooler, drier global climates during the Miocene • Grass

The Grasslands

From low statured jungle browsers, horses evolve progressively higher crowned teeth to handle abrasive grass and soil • Also from low statured animals of Eocene, horses progressively adapt to open environment by growing taller, becoming leaner and longer and faster • The modern horse is an odd-toed ungulate that evolved from small Eocene browsing horses with 4 toes on the front feet and 3 toes on the rear feet.

Homo sapiens

• Larger, more complex brain • Stand and walk erect due to structural modifications to vertebral column, legs & pelvis • Flatter face • Teeth less robust • Greater manual dexterity, leading to ability to manufacture and use sophisticated tools • Greater intelligence, leading to language and culture

Anthropoid Apes

Tail-less primates • Gibbons, orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and humans • Modern species evolved from same ancestral stock that produced humans • DNA evidence indicates divergence from human line 5-7 million years ago. • DNA of chimpanzees and humans is 98.4% similar. • Similarities in the proteins hemoglobin and myoglobin indicate that the chimpanzee is our closest relative.

Fossil preservation

• Takes one or more of the following circumstances: • Death in an anoxic environment • Rapid burial • Presence of hard parts

Treptichnus pedum

preserved worm burrow

Species

A group of organisms that have general structural, functional, developmental, and genetic similarities and are able to interbreed to produce fertile offspring

New world monkeys differ from old world monkeys

prehensile tail.

venomous snakes appeared when

Miocene(cooling).

What evolutionary step freed tetrapods from water

amniotic stage, egg

Bedrock of the southeast US is composed of rocks from where

Africa

Part of Canada’s crust uplifting due to

isostatic rebound

The second stage of pangea breakup involved

Ocean tracks between africa and antartica

The earliest known dinosaur dates to how many years ago

230 million years ago.

What separates apes from old world monkeys

molars

Grasses and parries appeared during

miocene

Which ape has the closest match to humans

chimpanzees

What is the youngest, complex cephalopod

ammonite

Early primate fossils are from which period

paleogene

Creation of the isthmus of panama led to the creation of the

Gulf Stream

Cascade volcanism is driven by

water

The final stage of the breakup of pangea involved

separation of south america and africa

First humans to move out of Africa were

homoerectus

The jurassic to Cretaceous boundary marks the appearance of what fossil record

angiosperms

what caused Newark supergroup

rifting

What skeletal part was used to classify dinosaur groups

hip

birds trace back to what dinosaur group

therapods

What structure helps determine feather color

melanosomes

Life during the ordovician ___ in diversity.

tripled

Tetrapods developed a ___ chambered heart.

four

Folding and faulting of the thetha sea resulted in

Africa moving into europe

The first stage of pangea breakup

north america separating from godwana

What is the major tectonic event during the mesozoic

rifting/ breakup of pangea

What ocean was formed as a result of pangea?

atlantic

what lava composition was dominant during pangea breakup

basalt

How much current ocean crust formed during the cenozoic

50%

What formed when the north american and pacific plate met

san andreas fault

what about grass allowed for the growth of animals

silica, loose sediment

how did humans get to america

bering land bridge

what features on the face helped with depth perception

eyes closer, flatter face, nose.

unconsolidated sediment from a glacier

till

Mesozoic

age of dinosaurs

term from when a glacier drops a rock - drop stone

drop stone

How do we know it was a global cooling

isotopes