Geol 1003 Test 1

studied byStudied by 29 people
5.0(1)
Get a hint
Hint

Three reasons Earth has life

1 / 130

flashcard set

Earn XP

Description and Tags

Geology

131 Terms

1

Three reasons Earth has life

Distance from sun, atmosphere, surface water

New cards
2

Biosphere

Plants and Animals

New cards
3

Hydrosphere/Cryosphere

Water/Ice

New cards
4

How much of Earth is covered by water? How much by land?

70%, 30%

New cards
5

Lithosphere (Geosphere)

Solid Earth

New cards
6

Atmosphere

Envelope of gas that surrounds Earths

New cards
7

Give an example of how these sphere’s are connected

Watercycle & Volcanic Eruption

New cards
8

Uniformitarianism

The present is the key to the past (allows us to study past and predict future)

New cards
9

Are processes on Earth likely to significantly change through time?

No

New cards
10

What was the past accepted idea about Earth science?

Catastrophism

New cards
11

Catastrophism

All of the geologic record is recordings from catastrophic events (Meteroites)

New cards
12

Was was John Hutton’s hypothesis about geologic processes?

They are really slow, but there is plenty of time for creating the rock record without soley relying on catastrophic events

New cards
13

How old is Earth?

4.6 Billion years old

New cards
14

Rocks are created by what?

Amalgamation of 2 or more minerals

New cards
15

What are the building blocks of rocks?

Minerals

New cards
16

Mineral

Naturally occuring, solid, particular chemical composition, characteristic internal structure

New cards
17

Three types of rocks

Sedimentary, Metamorphic, Igneous

New cards
18

What are Nicolaus Steno’s 3 principles of stratigraphy (layers of rock)

Superposition, Original Horizontality, Lateral Contninuity

New cards
19

Superpostion

Younger rocks exist on top of older rocks

New cards
20

Original Horizontality

Rocks are deposited flat, if they are tilted then they were deformed

New cards
21

Lateral Continuity

Rocks are deposited laterally until the edge of a basin

New cards
22

Intrusive Relationships

Intrusions are younger than the rocks they intrude

New cards
23

Cross cutting relationships

Faults (or any cross cutting outcrops) are younger than the rocks they cut

New cards
24

Principle of Inclusions

All particles contained within a rock are older than the rock

New cards
25

Principle of Fossil succesion

Fossils are preserved in the order in which they lived

New cards
26

Which rock type is best used for radiometric dating?

Igenous rocks because of radioactive decay

New cards
27

“Marker” Layers

Special layers that we know the age of (e.x. layer of iridium from meteorite)

New cards
28

Continental shelf

Part of the continental margin which is between the shoreline and the shelf break OR where there is no noticeable slope between the shoreline and the point where the water depth is ~100-200 m

New cards
29

At what margin are continetal shelfs most likely to form at?

Passive because there is no plate boundary. Additionally this is better for oil and gas drilling)

New cards
30

How did petroleum and nautral gas form?

1. Tiny marine and plant animals died, were buried, and covered by sediments

2. Over millions of years sedimentation occured buring the remains deeper. Enormous heat and pressure turn the remains into oil and gas.

3. Oil and gas contined in reservoirs (usually sandstone)

New cards
31

Oil and Gas formation depend on what two things?

Sedimentation and Abundance of marine life

New cards
32

What do we use to determine relative ages?

Geologic principles (superposition, intrusive relationships, fossil succesion)

New cards
33

What do we use to determine absolute ages?

Radiometric ages

New cards
34

How do we create the first geologic time scale?

By correltating fossils and evolution across the earth, eventually dates were added after procces like radiometric dating came about.

New cards
35

What are some examples of the geosphere (lithosphere)?

The crust, mantle & core; the Lithosphere & Athenosphere; Tectonic activity; Plate boundaries

New cards
36

Hydrosphere/Cryosphere

Water cycle

New cards
37

How is water on earth stored?

97% in oceans, 1.8% glaciers/rivers/lakes/atmosphere

New cards
38

Directional change

Progessive, systematic/ can never return to a past condition

New cards
39

Examples of directional change

Evoltuion and Earth’s temperature

New cards
40

Eposidic changes

Occur in “pulses”

New cards
41

Examples of episodic changes

Sedimentation, volcanism, mass extinctions

New cards
42

Transipiration

Water enters the atmosphere through plants

New cards
43

Evaporation

Water enters the atmosphere not through biologic material

New cards
44

What are some common features of a subduction zone?

Trench, accretionary wedge, volcano, mtn building/folding, thrust belt, compression & earthquakes

New cards
45

What are used to create divisions in the timescale?

Major changes in the biosphere

New cards
46

Unconformities

Represent a time of erosion or nondeposition

New cards
47

What are the 3 types of unconformities?

Nonconformity, Angular unconformity, disconformity

New cards
48

Nonconformity

Sedimentary rocks deposited on crystalline rocks

New cards
49

Angular unconformity

Rocks deposited on tilted rocks (rocks below deformed before rocks above were deposited + requires period of erosion)

New cards
50

Disconformity

Parallel sedimentary rocks with a gap in time betwen layers

New cards
51

What is the oldest undisputed fossil and how old is it?

Stromatilite, 3.5 billion years old

New cards
52

What is the oldest well understood fossil and how old is it?

Ediacaran fauna (marine based), 600 million years old

New cards
53

Properties of Index fossils

Lived for a short time period, geographically widespread, easy to ID, numerous

New cards
54

Biozone

Stratigraphic interval that can be defined on the basis of a specific fossil

New cards
55

What are some biozone fossils?

Ammonites and Formas (calcium carbonate shells)

New cards
56

Half-Life

Time it takes for ½ of parent molecules to decay into daughter molecules

New cards
57

What is a key mineral for decay rating?

Zircon because it is a common mineral in all rocks

New cards
58

Why is carbon dating not useful for rocks, and what is it useful for?

Because carbon is not a common component of most rocks. It is use for archaeological ages

New cards
59

What is the radioactive proces in rocks?

1. Parent atoms live in a melt. 2. As magma cools minerals grow. 3. Rock (minerals form) and radioactive decay begins.

New cards
60

The radioactive prcoess gives what?

The age a mineral cooled from a melt

New cards
61

In an igneous rock are the minerals and rock the same age? Explain

Yes, because the rock and mineral form at the same time so they have the same age

New cards
62

In a sedimentary rock are the minerals and the rock the same age? Explain

No, because the grains are older than the rock, there are a variety of grains and ages so the rock must be younger than the age of the grains

New cards
63

List our current, Eon, Era, Period, and Epoch

Phanerozic, Cenozoic, Quanternary, Holocene

New cards
64

How many years ago did the cenozoic era begin?

66 million years ago

New cards
65

What is the age range for the mesozoic era?

Started 252 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago

New cards
66

What is the age range for the paleozoic era?

Started 541 million years ago and ended 252 million years ago

New cards
67

Who came up the 1st geological map and started naming time periods?

William “Strata” Smith

New cards
68

The precambrain eons makes up how much of Earth history? How about the phanerozoic eon

88%, 12%

New cards
69

What eons are included in the precambrian grouping?

Hadean. Archean, Proterozic

New cards
70

What dominates the paleozoic Era

Marine life dominated, first appearance of land plants (conifers/spore plants)

New cards
71

What dominated the mesozoic Era

Reptiles and flowering plants dominated

New cards
72

What dominates the cenozoic Era

Mammals and grasses dominated

New cards
73

List some of the beginning conditions of Earth

Extreme heat from Earth’s formation, continued bombardment of Earth by meteroites, and constant remelting of Earth’s surface

New cards
74

How long and in what age did the oceans form?

By 4.3 million years ago, in the Hadean eon

New cards
75

Where are the potential areas for life on early Earth?

Deep in the crust and in hydrothermal vents

New cards
76

Why is early Earth challenging to study?

Because of there are minimal rocks from the Hadean and Archean eons

New cards
77

What were Earth’s earliest organisms?

Extremophiles

New cards
78

Extremophiles

Lived in harsh conditions like hydrothermal vents and salt marshes, were chemosynthesizers, and belonged to the Archean domain

New cards
79

Chemosynthesizers

Create nutrients by chemical reactions

New cards
80

3 Domains of organisms

Bacteria (Prokaryotes), Archea (Prokaryotes), and Eukaryotes

New cards
81

Prokaryotes

Structurally simples, single celled, small in size, no nucleus or organelles in their cells, earliest lifw

New cards
82

How did stromatolites get their energy?

Photosythesis

New cards
83

How did stromatolites form?

1. Algal mat of cyanobacteria + carbonate sediment 2. Cyanobacteria grows upwards through sediment for sunlight 3. Cyanobacteria sitting on layers of limestone = stromatolites

New cards
84

Give the time period of Banded Iron formations

3.8-2.0 Billion years ago

New cards
85

What makes up banded iron formations?

Chert + Iron oxide

New cards
86

What did Banded Iron Formations indicate about oxygen?

Much of it was in the ocean rather than the atmosphere

New cards
87

What did banded iron formations give way to and why?

Red beds, because the amount of oxygen increased in the atmosphere (oxidation occurs on the surface rather than in the ocean)

New cards
88

Eukaryotes

Appeared 2.7 Billion years ago, cells w/ nuclei and DNA in nucleus, organelles, cells are larger, formed because of O2 in the atmosphere

New cards
89

What do the oldest known multicellular eukaryotes resemble?

Algae resembling seaweed

New cards
90

Grypania

Oldest known multicellular eukaryote, reproduced asexually

New cards
91

What process helped eukaryotes evolve?

Symbiosis: 1. Protist evolved chromosomes 2. Absorbed aerobic bacteria became mitochondria 3. Absorbed cyanobacteria became chloroplasts

New cards
92

List the kingdoms in eukaryotes

Protista (Doesnt fit well in the other kingdoms), Plantae, Fungi, Animalia

New cards
93

When did the animalia kingdom first appaear? (When did the first animals appear)

Ediacaran time

New cards
94

What is the earliest known animal?

Dickinsonia

New cards
95

When do the first trace fossils appear?

570 million years ago

New cards
96

What were the 1st organisms?

Archaea

New cards
97

Cambrian Explosion

Huge uptick in diversity of marine organisms and 1st organisms with hard parts

New cards
98

Why did marine invertebrates develop shells?

To protect from perdators and to protect from the physical/chemical changes in the ocean

New cards
99

Did plants or animals get on land first?

Plants, they were Bryophytes

New cards
100

What were the first multicellular plants?

Algae

New cards

Explore top notes

note Note
studied byStudied by 18 people
... ago
4.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 12 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 34 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 13 people
... ago
5.0(2)
note Note
studied byStudied by 1 person
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 57 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 22 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 1975 people
... ago
4.7(11)

Explore top flashcards

flashcards Flashcard (93)
studied byStudied by 1 person
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (115)
studied byStudied by 13 people
... ago
5.0(2)
flashcards Flashcard (22)
studied byStudied by 17 people
... ago
5.0(3)
flashcards Flashcard (75)
studied byStudied by 2 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (29)
studied byStudied by 27 people
... ago
5.0(2)
flashcards Flashcard (40)
studied byStudied by 1 person
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (20)
studied byStudied by 1 person
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (134)
studied byStudied by 2615 people
... ago
4.0(26)
robot