Exam 2 - Biogeography

True OR False: The benthic area is the area of water along the bottom of a lake

True

True OR False: North America was the continent with the MOST isolation in all of geologic history

False; North America had multiple land connections

True OR False: Eccentricity refers to the degree of tilt of the Earth on its axis

False; Eccentricity is the shape of Earth’s orbit, not its tilt

True OR False: Pelagic organisms are any organisms that swim or float that live in open water

True

True OR False: Charles Lyell was the primary proponent of plate tectonics decades before we had the current evidence, writing a book that went through four editions in less than 10 years

False; it was Alfred Wegner

True OR False: We are currently in the Cenozoic Era

True

True OR False: The San Andreas fault , the main fault line that runs through California , is a divergent fault, which means that the plate moves in opposite, but parallel direction from each other

False; The San Andreas is a sliding fault

True OR False: A transform plate boundary is when two plates are moving towards each other, with the denser plate subducting below the less dense plate

False; a transform plate boundary is when two plates are sliding past each other

True OR False: Radiometric dating is the best method for determining the absolute age of ancient rocks

True

True OR False: Open oceans are the most productive per unit area aquatic ecosystems

False; coral reefs and algal beds are most productive

A plate in plate tectonics is composed of the lithosphere which is

Crust plus outermost mantle

During which era did pangea break apart and was nearly all separated by the end?

Mesozoic

Which major plant group evolved during the Era when Pangea was breaking up?

Flowering Plants

What major vertebrate group evolved during the Era when Pangea was apart?

Birds and Mammals

During which era was Pangea formed?

Paleozoic

Precession describes

the wobble of the Earth's axis of rotation

Which of the following is not a source of evidence for plate tectonics?

Fossil plants

Glacial scrapings

Magnetic strips on the ocean floor

Disjunct distribution of some extant taxa

The mechanism of plate movement that is found where one plate is being subducted under another plate is called

Slab Pull

Which of the following pairs of continents had the most history of connection since Pangea split apart?

North America and Eurasia

The _____ explosion refers to the time of great diversification during which most of our animal phyla evolved

Cambrian

____ are Precambrian shields that are older than 1 billion years in age

cratons

_____ is the name of the land connection between eastern Siberia and Alaska

Beringia

The name of the ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangea during the Paleozoic is

Panthalassa

The _____ extinction is the greatest extinction event ever known , killing off over 80% of life on the planet

Permian-Triassic

The technique used to determine the orientation of ancient continents is

Paleomagnetism

The melted layer of the mantle is called the

asthenosphere

An ____ is the coastal area where fresh water and salt water mix

estuary

A _____ is considered to be any evidence of past life that is at least 10,000 years old

fossil

There are several lines of evidence to support the theory of plate tectonics including the paleo distribution of _____ , an extinct animal

mesosaurus