Geology 106 CH 23

Paleogene (66-23 Ma)
Neogene (23-2.6 Ma)
Quaternary (2.6 Ma - present)
Epochs - recent/holocene, pleistocene, pliocene, miocene, oligocene, eocene, paleocene

What are the different periods of the Cenozoic? List their timeline. Also, name different epochs of those periods.

Alpine-Himalayan and circum-Pacific belts

Locate the region where Cenozoic tectonism was concentrated.

True

Statement: The old Tethys Sea closed during the Cenozoic when the African plate collided with the Eurasian plate to the north. (True/False)

Evaporite

What type of deposition occurred when the sea dried up?

the Alps in Switzerland, the Apennines in Italy, the Pyrenees between Spain and France

Identify location of different mountain ranges that created in the Alpine-Himalayan belt
due to convergence?

Early Cretaceous

When did the collision of Indian and Asian plate happen?

- Andes Aleutians Cascades
- Islands of Japan
- Island of the Philippines

Which areas are included in Circum-Pacific orogenic belt?

Alaska to central Mexico

North American Cordillera extends from ____ to _______.

Widespread mountain building, volcanism, uplift, and deep erosion

What types of geologic events experienced by the Cordillera during Cenozoic?

Near horizontal subduction of the Farallon plate beneath North America

How did the uplifts form in the Laramide orogeny?

Eruptive volcanism

How did Caldera form?

Northern California to British Columbia

The Cascade Range consists of some of the most majestic and highest mountains in the Cordillera. Identify the extension of the Cascade Range.

False (Juan de Fuca plate)

Statement: Cascade range mountains are the result of volcanism activity related to the
subduction of the remnant of Farallon plate under North American plate. (True/False)

Composed of crust that has been stretched and thinned

Basin and Range province, centered on Nevada, has many North-South trending small mountain ranges. What are they composed of?

Changed from tropical to arid as the mountains blocked the moist Pacific air

What type of climate exists in the interior of the continent bounded by the mountains of Basin-Range province? What is the reason for that?

2 mm/year

Rio Grande rift extends north to south about 1000 km from Central Colorado through New Mexico. The rift is active still today. What’s the rate of this rifting now?

Juan de Fuca plate and Explorer and Gorda Plates

What are the two remnants of Farallon plate?

Continuing movements of the Pacific and North American plates

What is the cause of seismic activity in the San Andreas?

In transitional and marine environments

Where did the eroded sediments from the Laramide highlands deposit?

The area experienced deformation during the Proterozoic and Paleozoic. Extensive erosion and block-faulting with the break up of Pangaea occurred in the Mesozoic.

What happened in the Appalachian mountain regions during the Cenozoic era? Where did the eroded sediments from the Appalachian mountains deposit?

Salt domes

What type of sediments are deposited in the different Gulf coast regions?

Yes

Is near-shore sands and off-shore clays deposition favorable for trapping oil and gas?

almost 25% of state revenue, 6% of state's workforce employed in petroleum, 12% of total wages in LA

Describe the importance of petroleum extraction and mining activity in Louisiana.

Himalayans, the Andes, the Aleutians, Japan and the Philippines

Which locations have relatively more active tectonism and orogenic activity in Pleistocene and Holocene epochs?

Major glaciation events: Nebraskan, Kansan, Illinoian, and Wisconsinan
Evidences: terminal moraines, erratics and drumlin fields

What were the major glaciation events in North America during the Pleistocene? And, what
are the evidences of Pleistocene glaciation events?

True

Statement: Most natural lakes are the result of glacial activity. (True/False)

Proglacial: formed by meltwater that accumulates along the margin of the glaciers
Pluvial: formed by precipitation and runoff

What are the differences between proglacial and pluvial lakes?

- Oil in thick sedimentary rocks, trapped by Cenozoic folding and faulting.
- Placer deposits of gold, as well as sand and gravel.
- Evaporite minerals such as borax and halite.
- Abundant lignite coals occur in North Dakota and
along the Gulf Coast.
- Diatomite, composed of the siliceous shells of microscopic diatoms, is used to filter contaminants out of water, fruit juices, and other products.

Make a list of Cenozoic mineral resources.

Angiosperms, seedless vascular plants, gymnosperms

Which types of plant were common in Cenozoic? List all of the types.

They have jagged edges; Paleocene and Eocene

How can plant leaves indicate about the climate? Which type of leaves can adapt to a warm climate?

Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Which was the warmest epoch of Cenozoic?

A decrease in precipitation reduced the vast forests to dry savannahs and finally to grasslands that cover the plains today.

Describe the climate changes that happened at the end of Eocene.

Owls, hawks, ducks, penguins and vultures

Which birds were the first member in different bird orders that evolved in Paleogene?

Neogene

When did the number of songbirds increase?

Walk, run, heavy body, climb, eat insects, burrow, swim, glide and fly

List the adaptations made by Mammals.

Cynodonts

Which reptile is believed to be the ancestor of Mammals?

Artiodactyls - even-toed (antelope, camel, giraffe, goat, pig)
Perissodactyls - odd-toed (horses, rhinos, tapirs)

What are Artiodactyls and Perissodactyls? Give some examples.

herbivores

All ungulates were _______ (herbivores/carnivores)

Grazers eat grass and browsers eat woody vegetation.
High-crowned molars are better adapted for a diet of chewing grass and resisting wear from the grit.

What the difference of grazers and browsers? What was the role of high-crowned chewing teeth?

Grazers

Before Miocene, all horses were ______ (grazers/browsers)

Eocene (Hyracotherium) --> Oligocene (Mesohippus)--> Miocene (Merychippus) --> Pliocene (Pliohippus) --> Pleistocene (Equus)

Today’s horse (Equus) evolved from a tiny Eocene horse (Hyracotherium). Identify the
evolutionary changes of Equus.

Camels evolved in North America in the Pleistocene.
Cattle and goats evolved in the Neogene in Europe and Asia

Identify time and location of Camel, Cattle and Goat evolution.

Well-developed canine teeth for slashing and tearing, most with an extra pair of shearing teeth (carnassials) as in the saber-toothed tiger.

What were the evolutionary changes in carnivorous mammals?

Vestigial rear limbs and teeth more similar to their land dwelling ancestors

Which body parts of the Whales were retained from its land dwelling ancestors?

- Increased brain size
- Opposable thumbs
- Freely rotating shoulder joint
- Nails and free fingertips instead of claws
- Stereoscopic vision
- Color vision
- Longer infancy, increased care of young
- Upright posture (various degrees of this)

What are the evolutionary changes in Primates?

Lemur: Prosimii, Lemuroidea
Monkey: Anthropoidea, Ceboidea and Cercopithecoidea
Apes and Humans: Anthropoidea, Hominoidea

What are the Superfamily and Suborder of Lemur, Monkeys, Apes and Humans.

Oldest primate lineage
Include lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, and tree shrews (long snouts, lateral ears, large eyes, forward to provide stereo vision)

Identify characteristics of Prosimians. Give some examples.

Late Miocene
Characteristics: erect posture, large complex brain, tool-using capabilities, strong community organization
Oldest: Sahelanthropus tchadensis

When did Hominids first evolve? What are their characteristics? What is the oldest known Hominids?

Longer

The Ischium bone is much _____ in human compared to gorilla. (smaller/longer)

Species:
A. anamensis (4.2-3.9 Ma),
A. afarensis (3.6-2.9 Ma),
A. africanus (3.2-2.3 Ma),
A. robustus (1.9-1.5 Ma),
A. boisei (2.3-1.4 Ma)

Characteristics:
- Skulls more ape-like than
human
- No chin
- Brain-size of chimpanzee
- Walked erect (pelvic and leg bones)
- ape-like brow ridges
- forward-jutting jaws
- teeth were intermediate between apes and humans

List the species of Australopithecines. What were their individual timeline. What are the characteristics of Australopithecus afarensis?

larger brain size and use of stone tools

What are the characteristics of genus Homo?

Homo erectus

Which Homo species migrated out of Africa for the first time?

Multiregional: states that humans came from separate populations in Eurasia
Out of Africa: states that all humans descended from a single woman in Africa

What are “multiregional” and “out of Africa” hypothesis?

Neanderthals: inhabited Europe and the Near East between 200,000 and 30,000 years ago and were not much different from us, only more robust and with differently shaped skulls. They made specialized tools and weapons, took care of their injured, and buried their dead.
Cro-Magnons: succeeded the Neanderthals and lived from about 35,000 to 10,000 years ago. They were highly skilled nomadic hunters, formed living groups of various sizes, and were also skilled cave painters.

What were the characteristics of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons?

Rapid climate change:
- Why didn't the big mammals simply migrate?
- Lack of correlation between extinctions and glacial advances and retreats.
Prehistoric overkill:
- Extinctions coincided with human arrival
- How could small human populations affect so many large mammals?
- Only a few human artifacts have been found among the remains of the large mammals.

There are two explanations for Pleistocene extinction- 1) Rapid climate change, 2)
Prehistoric overkill. But none of them are undoubtful. What are the confusions about both explanations?

Indian/Asian

The Himalayas formed when the _____ plate collided with the ____ plate.

Laramide orogeny

Which orogeny took place much farther inland from a convergent plate boundary in North American plate?

True

The Cascade Range was formed due to volcanism initiated through a process of subduction when the Juan de Fuca Plate (oceanic crust) dove under the North American Plate (continental crust).

Pacific and North American plate slide past each other

What is the geological reason behind high probability of earthquake in California?

Carbonate shelf sediment

Which type of sediment dominates in the Florida section of the Gulf Coast region?

False

Proglacial lakes formed far from the glaciers because of the overall greater precipitation and cooler temperatures, which lowers the evaporation rate.

i and iii

What were the characteristics of plants that adapted to cool climates?
options:
i) small leaves
ii) incised-margin leaves
iii) smooth-margin leaves

True

High-crowned chewing teeth is important for grazers as those teeth are resistant to abrasion (caused by the uptake of tiny pieces of sand with grasses).

carnassials teeth

One of the defining features of the carnivorous mammals is-

False

The Brain size was getting smaller with primate evolution.

Homo erectus

Which Homo genus was the first to migrate out of Africa?