chapter 9

Question 1

what is taphonomy?

Answer 1

The study of what happens to the remains of an animal from the time of death to the time of discovery.

Question 2

what does strata mean?

Answer 2

Layers of rock.

Question 3

what is stratigraphy?

Answer 3

The study of the order of rock layers and the sequence of events they reflect.

Question 4

what is the geologic time scale (GTS)?

Answer 4

The categories of time into which Earth’s history is usually divided by geologists and paleontologists: eons, eras, periods, epochs.

Question 5

what is provenience?

Answer 5

The origin or original source (as of a fossil).

Question 6

what are relative dating techniques?

Answer 6

Dating techniques that establish the age of a fossil only in compari- son to other materials found above and below it.

Question 7

what is lithostratigraphy?

Answer 7

The study of geologic deposits and their formation, stratigraphic rela- tionships, and relative time rela- tionships based on their lithologic (rock) properties.

Question 8

what is tephrostratigraphy?

Answer 8

A form of lithostratigraphy in which the chemical fingerprint of a volcanic ash is used to correlate across regions.

Question 9

what is biostratigraphy?

Answer 9

Relative dating technique using comparison of fossils from dif- ferent stratigraphic sequences to estimate which layers are older and which are younger.

Question 10

what is radiometric dating?

Answer 10

Chronometric techniques that use radioactive decay of isotopes to estimate age.

Question 10

what are chronometric dating techniques?

Answer 10

Techniques that estimate the age of an object in absolute terms through the use of a natural clock, such as radioactive decay or tree ring growth.

Question 11

what is the geomagnetic polarity time
scale (GPTS)

Answer 11

Time scale composed of the se- quence of paleomagnetic orienta- tions of sediments through time.

Question 12

what are isotopes?

Answer 12

Variant forms of an element
that differ based on their atomic weights and numbers of neutrons in the nucleus. Both stable and un- stable (radioactive) isotopes exist in nature.

Question 13

what is a half-life?

Answer 13

The time it takes for half of the original amount of an unstable isotope of an element to decay into more stable forms.

Question 14

what is a parent isotope?

Answer 14

The original radioactive isotope in a sample.

Question 15

what is a daughter isotope (product)?

Answer 15

The isotope that is produced as the result of radioactive decay of the parent isotope.

Question 16

what is potassium–argon (K–Ar) dating?

Answer 16

Radiometric technique using the decay of 40K to 40Ar in potassi- um-bearing rocks; estimates the age of sediments in which fossils are found.

Question 17

what is argon–argon (40Ar/39Ar) dating?

Answer 17

Radiometric technique modified from K–Ar dating that measures 40K by proxy using 39Ar. Allows measurement of smaller samples with less error.

Question 18

what is fission track dating?

Answer 18

Radiometric technique for dating noncrystalline materials using the decay of 238Ur and counting the tracks that are produced by this fission. Estimates the age of sedi- ments in which fossils are found

Question 19

what is cosmogenic radionuclide dating?

Answer 19

Radiometric dating technique that uses ratios of rare isotopes such as 26Al, 10Be, and 3He to estimate the time that sediments and the fos- sils in them have been buried

Question 20

what are uranium series (U-series) techniques?

Answer 20

Radiometric techniques using the decay of uranium to estimate an age for calcium carbonates, includ- ing flowstones, shells, and teeth.

Question 21

what is radiocarbon dating?

Answer 21

Radiometric technique that uses the decay of 14C in organic remains such as wood and bone to estimate the time since the death of the organism.

Question 22

what are electron trap techniques?

Answer 22

Radiometric techniques that mea- sure the accumulation of electrons in traps in the crystal lattice of a specimen.

Question 23

what is thermoluminescence (TL)?

Answer 23

Electron trap technique that uses heat to measure the amount of radioactivity accumulated by a specimen, such as a stone tool, since its last heating.

Question 24

what is optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)?

Answer 24

Electron trap technique that uses light to measure the amount of ra- dioactivity accumulated by crystals in sediments (such as sand grains) since burial.

Question 25

what is electron spin resonance (ESR)?

Answer 25

Electron trap technique that mea- sures the total amount of radioac- tivity accumulated by a specimen (such as tooth or bone) since burial.

Question 26

what is plesiadapiform?

Answer 26

Mammalian order or suborder of mammals that may be ancestral to later Primates, characterized by some but not all of the primate trends.

Question 27

what a prognathic face?

Answer 27

Projection of the face well in front of the braincase.

Question 28

what is the postorbital bar?

Answer 28

A bony ring encircling the lateral side of the eye but not forming
a complete cup around the eye globe.

Question 29

what is diastema?

Answer 29

Gap between anterior teeth.

Question 30

what are adapoids?

Answer 30

Superfamily of mostly Eocene primates, probably ancestral to all strepsirhines.

Question 31

what does r-selected mean?

Answer 31

Reproductive strategy in which females have many offspring, interbirth intervals are short, and maternal investment per offspring is low.

Question 31

what are omomyoids?

Answer 31

Superfamily of mostly Eocene primates, probably ancestral to all haplorhines.

Question 32

what are dental apes?

Answer 32

Early apes exhibiting Y-5 molar patterns but monkey-like postcra- nial skeletons.

Question 33

what does k-selected mean?

Answer 33

Reproductive strategy in which fewer offspring are produced per female, interbirth intervals are long, and maternal investment is high.

Question 34

what is a molecular clock

Answer 34

A systematic accumulation of genetic change that can be used to estimate the time of divergence between two groups if relative rates are constant and a calibra- tion point from the fossil record is available.

Question 35

what is the relative rate test?

Answer 35

A means of determining whether molecular evolution has been occurring at a constant rate in two lineages by comparing whether these lineages are equidistant from an outgroup.