Historical Geology

What are the hierarchy of Formal Chronostratigraphic and their equivalent Formal Geochronologic?

Ecosystem

The sum of all physical and biological characteristics in a given area.

Chronostratigraphy

The element of stratigraphy that deals with the relative time relations and ages of rock bodies.

Relative Dating

The Geologic Time Scale was based on this dating technique

Body fossil
Trace fossil
Chemical fossil

The 3 types of fossils

Paleontology

Study of fossils that are more than 10,000 years old

Hard parts
Rapid burial
Finer sediments
Highly mineralized water
Calm environment

What are the favorable conditions for fossilization?

Trace Fossils

Tracks, Trails, Burrows, and Nests, Feces which indicates organic activities.

Body Fossils

Skeletal parts, shells, bones and teeth

Coprolite

Fossilized feces that may provide information about the diet and size of the animal that produced it.

Lagerstatten

These are fossils sites from which exception fossils come, with many fossils exhibiting extraordinary quality and completeness of preservation and/or a wide diversity of fauna and/or flora.

Konzentrat-Lagerstatten

Concentrated fossil deposits that do not tend to exceptionally preserve the soft tissues of organisms, containing an accumulation of organic hard parts such as bone beds which represent a community of organisms.

Konservat-Lagerstatten

Are fossil sites that exhibit exceptional preservation of fossilized organisms or ichnofossils especially soft tissues

Mold

A fossil formed when an organism buried in sediment dissolves, leaving a hollow area.

Internal Mold

Impression of the inside of a shell

External Mold

Impression of the outside of a shell

Cast

When hollow spaces of mold are filled in with minerals.

Paleozoology

Study of fossil animals

Paleobotany

Study of fossil plants

Micropaleontology

Study of small fossils

Ichnology

Study of trace fossils

Index fossils

The forms of life which existed during limited periods of geologic time and thus are used as guides to the age of the rocks in which they are preserved

Taphonomy

Defined as the study of the history of an organism from its death to its discovery within a rock or sediment

Taphonomy

Simply defined as the study of how living organisms become fossilized

Biocenosis

The original complete assemblage of living organisms

Decomposition

Destruction of soft tissues mostly by bacteria

Winnowing

Fragments sorted by size due to moving water

Necrolysis

the process of breakup and decay of organisms immediately after death

Dissolution

Hard parts chemically altered into
soluble substances

Diagenesis

The physical and/or chemical effects after burial

Biotic stage

One of the stages in the formation and modification of animal assemblages which implies "Birth to death".

Interment Stage

One of the stages in the formation and modification of animal assemblages which implies "Death to final burial".

Diagenetic Stage

Burial to discovery

Investigative stage

Discovery to ultimate destruction

Biosphere

A layer of the earth where life exist and is divided into ecosystems

Paleoecology

It is the investigation of individuals, populations, and communities of ancient organisms and their interactions with one another

Ecological Hierarchy

Describes the arrangement of biological organisms in relation to one another.

Communities

Local associations of organisms

Habitat

The actual physical environment in which the organisms live

Niche

The sum of all physical , chemical, and biological limits of the organism, its way of life, and the role it plays on the ecosystem.

Pelagic

Organisms that live in the water column above the seafloor.

Plankton

"Floaters"

Nekton

"Swimmers"

Benthos

Organisms that live on or in the seafloor.

Epifauna

Those that live on the seafloor

Infauna

Animals that live in and move through the sediments

Sessile

Organisms that stay in one place

Ichnofossils

These are not actual remains but an indication of organic activity such as tracks, trails, burrows, and nests.

Borings

A hole or holes an animal dug into a hard substrate like wood or rock

Burrows

A hole or holes an animal dug into soft sediments

Cubichnia

Resting traces and trails

Domichnia

Dwelling structures

Fodichnia

Feeding traces

Passichnia

Grazing traces

Repichnia

Crawling tracks or trails

Tracks

Set of discrete footprints, usually formed by arthropods or vertebrates

Trails

Continuous traces, usually formed by the whole body of a worm, mollusk or arthropod, either traveling or resting

Taxonomy

The science of classification, but more strictly the classification of living and extinct organisms.

Carolus Linaeus

Father or taxonomy

Archaebacteria

Old bacteria

Eubacteria

True bacteria

Stromatolites

Layered deposit, mainly of limestone, formed by the growth of cyanobacteria formerly the blue-green algae

Dinoflagellates

Comprise a group of microscopic algae with organic-walled cysts. Its bloom can result in a visible coloration of the water colloquially known as "Red tide"

Archeocyathids

Very first reef-building animals and are an index fossil for the Lower Cambrian worldwide.

Gymnosperms

A plant that produces seeds that are exposed rather than seeds enclosed in fruits

Angiosperms

A flowering plant which forms seeds inside a protective chamber called an ovary.

Cooksonia

Oldest Vascular Plant (Silurian)

Binomial Nomenclature

Refers to the system of formally naming organisms according to their genus and species names.

Binomial Nomenclature

Also known as the Linean System

Prokaryotes

Organisms whose cells do NOT have a nucleus and other internal structure

Eukaryotes

Organisms made up of one or more cells that have a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles

Mobile/Vagrant

Those that move around on or in the seafloor