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Earth & Space Science > Earths History > Flashcards

Earths History Flashcards

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Biology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What is an eon?

A

The largest group that then divides into later subunits. Measured in billions of years.

Ex. Phanerozoic

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2
Q

What is an era?

A

Divides into three subgroups of the eon. Measured in hundreds of millions of years.

  1. Paleozoic
  2. Mesozic
  3. Cenozoic
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3
Q

What is a period?

A

The sub categories of the eras.

Ex.cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, jurassic, Cretaceous, tertiary, quaternary.

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4
Q

What is an epoch?

A

Subgroups of a period.

Ex. Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Holocene.

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5
Q

How does carbon-14 dating work to establish the age or organic remains?

A

Carbon-14 is a naturally occurring radioactive isotope that forms with cosmic rays striking it to oxidize and become carbon dioxide. Plants and organic things can absorb this carbon dioxide and the animals eat this carbon dioxide through plants. Since carbon-14 has a half life of 5730 years, looking at the percent of carbon-14 remaining in the organic remains helps scientists date the age.

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6
Q

How does K-Ar dating work to identify ages of rocks?

A

By measuring the ratio of radioactive argon to radioactive potassium to determine the age of rocks.

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7
Q

Define uniformitarianism.

A

The processes occurring today have occurred since earth formed.

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8
Q

Define superposition.

A

The oldest rocks are at the bottom of an undisturbed rock sequence.

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9
Q

Define cross-cutting.

A

A fault is younger than the rock it cuts across

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10
Q

Explain what an Unconformity is.

A

Shale layer down, tilted, raised, and eroded with a sandstone deposit on top.

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11
Q

Explain what a disconformity is.

A

Shale which has eroded but not tilted with sedimentary rock on top.

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12
Q

Explain what a non-conformity is.

A

The separation of igneous or metamorphic rock from sedimentary rock on top.

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13
Q

What is the age of the earth?

A

4.6 billion years old

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14
Q

In an undisturbed rock sequence, the youngest layer is located…

A

At the bottom of the sequence.

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15
Q

Define differentiation

A

The separation of different density layers in a molten earth.

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16
Q

3 reasons why early earth heated up.

A
  1. Radioactive decay of elements
  2. Asteroids, meteors, comets colliding with the earth
  3. Gravitational contraction
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17
Q

What is a craton & where are they found?

A

Pieces of old crust are found in the centre of continental plates. Ex. Canadian Shield

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18
Q

Describe Miller and Ureys experiments.

A

1953- primordial soup. sparks through a mix of early earth atmospheric components produced organic molecules (amino-acids).

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19
Q

2 ways in which the rise of atmospheric oxygen helped the development of complex life.

A
  1. Respiration

2. Ozone layer –> blocks uv rays

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20
Q

Explain the interconnected roles of oxygen and carbon dioxide in life processes.

A

Plants are carbon sinks and absorb the carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Animals breath in oxygen and release carbon dioxide.

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21
Q

Potential environments for the development of the first living things.

A
  1. Shallow seas
  2. Underwater vents
  3. Mineral templates
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22
Q

Examples in earths history of glaciation periods leading to to changes in the biosphere.

A

After the edicarian period. It killed a whole class of cells.

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23
Q

Describe edicarian life.

A
  • mud bags
  • 635 to 542 million years ago
  • marine organisms ate by absorbing water nutrients
  • soft bodied organisms like jellyfish
24
Q

What is transgression?

A

When water rises and the sediments shift so the limestone is on top of sandstone and shale

25
Q

What is regression?

A

When the sea level lowers and the sediments shift so the sandstone is on top of shale and limestone

26
Q

What was laurentia and how was it formed?

A

Rodina broke apart in the early Palaeozoic era to form the continent laurentia.

27
Q

What was Gondwana and how was it formed?

A

Made up of South America India Africa and Antarctica which formed a continent in the ordovician time period.

28
Q

What was Pangea and how was it created?

A

Was formed into a “c” shape from the collision of gondawana and euramerica in the Permian period.

29
Q

How did the development of coral lead to changes in the types of ecosystems and the production of evaporite deposits?

A
  • giant lagoons were formed
  • shallow warm quiet water that led to distinctive ecosystems
  • It led to massive evaporite deposits, evident because of the inland sea evaporites and minerals left behind
30
Q

Relate the geology of the Michigan basin to the geology of Ontario.

A

The Michigan basin curves up in such a way that Ontario rock is coming from a much earlier time period. Michigans point has newer rock at the surface like Mississippian rock that gets older the deeper down. The deeper rock curves up so Ontario contains Precambrian Ordovician Silurian and Devonian rock.

31
Q

Fossil life in Ordovician time.

A 
Trilobites-Arthropods
Snails-Branchiopods
Land plants with xylem & phloem (vascular systems)
Ferns started seeding
Sponges and algae
32
Q

Why is so much of the earths coal deposits found in the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian time periods?

A

Coal deposits accumulated lowland swamps. The bacteria and decomposers were not advanced enough to break down the matter so more and more would build up. Having so much carbon dioxide in the ground with a large % of oxygen in this time period, if one spark were to ignite there would be a huge fire.

33
Q

Why did giant insects evolve in the late Palaeozoic period?

A

There was a lot of oxygen in this time because of all the carbon dioxide was stored in dead trees. This allows for greater respiration and therefore larger bugs.

34
Q

How did the development of coal swamps lead to the Permian extinction?

A

Organisms were used to the high oxygen levels and developed to this so when the oxygen levels fell, thanks to the coal swamps, the organisms died out.

35
Q

How does overturns in bodies of water occur?

A

Overturns occur in the spring when the ice melts and the water is generally the same temperature from top to bottom, the wind circulates the water to the bottom and top distributing oxygen all over.
Autumn overturn occurs when the heated surface of the lake from the sun in the summer begins to cool from the cooler air approaching and it begins to sink as more oxygen nutrients are replenished.

36
Q

What happened to the environment after Pangea continent broke up?

A

-creation of more shallow seas between continents which accounts for prime biotic environments and more biodiversity.

37
Q

Plants in the Mesozoic era.

A
  • cycads(ginkgo trees)
  • angiosperms appeared(flowering plants)
  • ferns
38
Q

Describe an ornithischia.

A
  • bird hipped
  • mainly herbivores
  • stegosaurus or triceratops
39
Q

Describe a sauropod.

A
  • giant herbivores
  • brontosaurus or brachiosaurus
  • biggest land animals with tales that balance out their long necks.
40
Q

Describe a theropod.

A
  • carnivores
  • could stand on two feet
  • t-rex
41
Q

Evidence that a meteorite wiped out dinosaurs.

A
  • shattered rock formations in Yucatan
  • a layer of iridium enriched material was found from 66 million years ago(the time of the end of the dinosaur period)
  • iridium is a material common in meteors
42
Q

The great mountain ranges like the alps, and Rockies are products of…

A

Cenezoic tectonic events.

43
Q

Species common in the Cenozoic era.

A
  • eohippus(early horse ancestor)
  • baluchilerum(rhino ancestor)
  • wooly mammoth
  • sabretooth tiger/smiledon
  • glyptadon(armadillo ancestor)
44
Q

A series of north to northeast trending mountains from Nevada and Utah to Mexico is called…

A

Basin and range province

45
Q

Mountains formed by collision of India and the south margin of Asian are the…

A

Himalayan

46
Q

Mountains formed by continent to continent collisions of Africa and Eurasia are called …

A

The alps.

47
Q

A major mass extinction ended the …

A

Cretaceous.

48
Q

Triassic black shale deposits suggest that extinction was triggered by…

A

Climatic cooling.

49
Q

A vey large meteorite striking earth at the end of the Mesozoic would have caused…

A

Global cooling.

50
Q

What 3 groups or organisms first appeared in the Mesozoic?

A
  1. Mammals
  2. Birds
  3. Flowering plants
51
Q

What important role do phytoplankton perform?

A

To help build a food chain

52
Q

What is the economic importance of some Cretaceous reefs?

A

Oil storage

53
Q

What were the top predators in the Mesozoic oceans?

A

Swimming reptiles

54
Q

What organisms built the great Permian reef?

A

Sponges and algae

55
Q

Animals attached to sea floor by stems of small disks are called…

A

Crinoids

Earth & Space Science (3 decks)

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