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History of Life on Earth > 1.5 - Building the Geological Timescale > Flashcards

1.5 - Building the Geological Timescale Flashcards

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1
Q

List the subsections of the geological timescale from largest to smallest.

A

Eon
Era
Period
Epoch

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2
Q

What Eon are we interested in?

A

The Phanerozoic

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3
Q

What are the 3 eras in the Phanerozoic? List from oldest to youngest.

A

Paleozoic (541mya)
Mesozoic (252mya)
Cenozoic (60mya)

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4
Q

List the periods in the Paleozoic from oldest to youngest. 6

A 
Cambrian (541mya)
Ordovician
Silurian
Devonian
Carboniferous (Mississipian below Pennsylvanian) 
Permian (ends 252mya)
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5
Q

List the periods in the the Mesozoic from oldest to the youngest. 3

A

Triassic (252mya)
Jurassic
Cretaceous (ends 60mya)

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6
Q

List the periods in the Cenozoic from oldest to youngest. 3

A

Paleogene (60mya)
Neogene
Quaternary (now)

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7
Q

List the epochs in the Paleogene from oldest to youngest. 3

A

Paleocene (60mya)
Eocene
Oligocence

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8
Q

List the epochs in the Neogene from oldest to youngest. 2

A

Miocene

Pliocene

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9
Q

List the epochs in the Quaternary from oldest to youngest. 2

A

Pleistocene (ends 11.8ka)

Holocene (starts 11.8ka and is current epoch)

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10
Q

What is the rhyme to remember the geological timescale?

A

Can Our Students Do Crossword Puzzles To Justify Credit
PNQ
Please Excuse Our Mess, Preparing Popcorn Here

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11
Q

What is stratigraphy?

A

Sequence of rocks on the surface of the planet

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12
Q

What is lithostratigraphy?

A

Technique used where you group together different packages of sediments that you see in the field.
Boundaries do NOT have to be isochronous (of same age)

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13
Q

What are the subdivisions/units of lithostratigraphy from largest to smallest? 5

A

Supergroup, group, formation, member, bed

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14
Q

What is the basic mapping unit of lithostratigraphy?

A

Formation

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15
Q

What is a group?

A

The grouping of adjacent formations, sharing some lithological characteristics or genesis (eg. appearance - rock type - environment)

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16
Q

What is a supergroup?

A

A grouping of different groups of formations

17
Q

What is a member?

A

A subdivision of a formation; can be laterally discontinuous

18
Q

What is a bed?

A

A lithologically distinct horizon/layer

19
Q

What is an isochron?

A

A line of equal time

20
Q

Give an example of how sedimentary environments are dynamic over time.

A

Sea level fluctuations

21
Q

What is a regression?

A

Sea level fall (eg. due to ice sheets growing)

22
Q

What is transgression?

A

Sea level rise (eg. due to ice sheets melting)

23
Q

Describe what occurs in the Llandovery (early Silurian) transgression in the Welsh Basin (4 steps based on the diagram)

A

1) At peak of the Ice Age, Southern Ireland and Southern Britain were a single land mass with extensive land surface exposure
2) As the Ice Age ends, the ice sheets melt, sea level rises due to the influx of water back into oceans - now land has contracted as sea floods onto shallower parts of the land mass
3) Sea level continues rising - extensive coverage of land under water
4) Back to major landmass over Southern Ireland and Britain caused by tectonic events and uplift of the area
General: over time the land steps east showing transgression of water, will not be isochronous as it gets younger to east, fossil data allows us to say what is younger or older, transgrssion occurs

24
Q

What are the subdivisions of geochronology from largest to smallest?

A

Period, Epoch, Age

25
Q

What are the subdivisions of chronostratigraphy from largest to smallest?

A

System, Series, Stage

26
Q

What is geochronology?

A

The absolute age of rocks, mya, calculated by radiometric dating (decay of parent isotope to daughter isotope)

27
Q

What is chronostratigraphy?

A

It details the pattern of changes in Earth’s history regardless of their compositions or properties (only include rocks of certain age eg. Silurian rocks and their boundaries are synchronous everywhere)(boundary of a system is in the same place even if the age changes)
Time-rock units

28
Q

What are the boundaries for chronostratigraphy?

A

Isochrons

29
Q

Describe lithostratigraphic Correlation.

A

It goes across from outcrop to outcrop/core to core - try to correlate boundaries.
It is traced out in the field
They are correlated in cores on the basis of geophysical signals.
Over shorter distances: unit defined likely to be same age throughout
Over longer distances: could be older in one place and younger in another

30
Q

What is a diachronous unit?

A

Non-synchronous lower and/or upper boundary - lithostratigraphic unit

History of Life on Earth (7 decks)

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