Exam 4 Flashcards

1
Q

What strata was left of the Devonian and the beginning of the Mississippian?

A

The remnants of the Acadian and Antler Mountains

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2
Q

Mississippian Strata of North America

A
  • Transition from shale to limestones
  • The Great Mississippian Line Bank
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3
Q

Great Mississippian Line Bank

A
  • Shallow area on the sea floor deposited abundant limestones
  • Analogous to the Great Bahama Bank
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4
Q

Great Bahama Bank

A
  • Dunes with wave ripples composed of individual calcite pebbles called Ooids
  • An Ooid nucleus forms when part of a marine skeleton is encased by calcium carbonate in warm, agitated waters
  • Abundance of echinoderm fragments like crinoids
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5
Q

Mississippian Northeast US Strata

A
  • Acadian mountains eroding to the west in the Catskill delta
    –> New England and Newfoundland have exposed detrital, clastic sediments (Sandstones, Shales, Volcanics)
    –> West Virginia and Pennsylvania (Pocono Group) have mountains with exposures of Mississippian sandstones and shales
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6
Q

Mississippian Continental Interior Strata

A
  • Montana and Wyoming (Madison Limestone) have Devonian limestone exposure
  • Colorado and Arizona (Red Wall Limestone) have exposures in the Grand Canyon
  • Missouri (Burlington Limestone) has lots of cave systems
  • Kentucky (St. Genevieve Limestone) has the Mammoth Cave national park
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7
Q

Demise of the Kaskaskia Cratonic Sequence

A
  • A Karst is a type of landscape topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone
  • Karstification - processes that result in karst
    –> Cave systems form from the dissolution of limestone
  • At the end of the Mississippian, limestone is dissolved to form vast cave systems
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8
Q

Mississippian Paleoclimate

A

Presence of abundant limestones indicates a tropical climate with warm, fresh, shallow water with normal marine chemistry

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9
Q

New Mississippian Life (Age of the Crinoids)

A

1) Reptiles
–> Weslothiana - Reptiolmorph amphibian
2) Blastoids (Pentremites) that were similar to Crinoids but have a distinctive head with feeding arms
3) Fenestrate Bryozoans (Archimedes) - Index fossil
–> Fan shaped colonial networks with a screw like shape in the center and adjacent fan frawns
4) Productid Brachiopods
–> Two shells and spines on the lower shell
5) Foraminiferas (Single-celled Protista) were sand sized

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10
Q

Mississippian Plant life

A

Similar to the Devonian

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11
Q

Mississippian Amphibians

A

Diversified

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12
Q

Pennsylvanian Orogenies

A
  • Alercynian-Alleghenian Oregeny (Northeastern US)
  • Ouachita Orogeny (Southern US)
    a. Ouachita Mountains
    b. Marathon Mountains
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13
Q

Pennsylvanian Cratonic Interior

A

Formed as a result of compression from orogenies

  1. Oklahoma Uplift
  2. Kanibab-Defiance-Zuni Uplifts
  3. Uncompahgre and Front Range Uplifts
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14
Q

Laurasia

A

Late Paleozoic northern hemisphere continent comprised of NA, Greenland, Europe, and Asia

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15
Q

Gondwanaland

A

Late Paleozoic southern hemisphere continent comprised of SA, Africa, India, Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand, and SE Asia

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16
Q

Pennsylvanian Cratonic Sequence

A

Absaroska

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17
Q

Cyclothems

A

Unique Sedimentary deposit usually following the formula:

Marine Shales
Coals ^
Non marine shales |
Fluvial Sandstones
Unconformity

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18
Q

Gondwana’s Connection to sea levels

A

Ice sheet causes fluctuating sea levels as climate changes

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19
Q

Eastern Cyclothems

A

Follow the pattern with well-developed coals

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20
Q

Central Cyclothems

A

Have no coals

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21
Q

Western Cyclothems

A

Form alternations of aeolian sandstone and limestones because of the drier climate

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22
Q

Coal Swamps

A

Accumulation of plant material with wetlands produces coals

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23
Q

Pennsylvanian Coal Swamp Analogs

A
  1. Dismal Swamp in NC
  2. Okefenokee swamp of SE Georgia
  3. Swamp of Southern Louisiana
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24
Q

Coal Swamp Life

A
  1. Scale Trees (Lycopsids)
  2. Ferns (tree ferns and ground ferns)
  3. Amphibians
  4. Reptiles
  5. Insects
  6. Air-breathing mollusks (snails)
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25
Q

Pennsylvanian Climate

A
  • Warm and humid
  • Reptiles and amphibians present
  • Trees with large cells indicate rapid growth
  • Trees with no growth rings indicate aseasonality
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26
Q

Pennsylvanian Areas of Commercial Coals

A
  1. Central portion of Appalachian region
  2. Novasocia, Newbrunswick, PEI
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27
Q

Pennsylvanian Evaporite Deposits and Reefs

A
  • Associated with cyclothems and SE US
  • Paradox Basin - Thick successions of Gypsum, Halite, and Potash
    Phyloid Algae - dominant reef building creature of the Pennsylvanian
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28
Q

Pennsylvanian New Life

A

1) Reptiles (Amniotic Eggs)
a. Hylonomus (Captorhinomorphs)
b. Synapsids (Mammal-like reptiles)
2) Land snails (air-breathing)
3) Fusilinids - Index fossils (Single-celled protozoan)

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29
Q

Pennsylvanian Environmental Considerations

A
  • Orogenies caused sediment to pollute water, decreasing filter feeders
  • Mollusks and prodkuctid brachiopods become more common
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30
Q

Pennsylvanian New Life (Age of the Cockroaches)

A
  • Insects
  • Amphibians (Labyrinthodonts)
  • Vegetation – abundance of ferns
    –> Lycopsids
    a. Lepidodendran - stigmaria root shape
    b. Sigillaria
    –> Synopsids
    a. Calamites
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31
Q

When did Pangea fully assemble?

A

The Permian era

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32
Q

Permian Paleoclimate

A
  • Sea way closed between Laurasia and Gondwanaland
  • Winds blowing from east to west
  • Dry climate
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33
Q

Guadalupe Mountains

A
  • During the Permian in west Texas and eastern New Mexico
  • Permian Basin
  • Basins, Reefs, Platforms
  • Terminal Evaporites
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34
Q

Permian Basin

A
  • Eastern shelf
  • Midland basin
  • Northwest shelf
  • Central basin platform
  • Delaware basin
  • Diablo platform
  • Marfa basin
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35
Q

Permian Basin Depositional Environment

A
  • Basins
  • Reefs (Mostly Catalina Sponges and Algae)
  • Platform interior (Pisoids)
    1) Shelf Crest
    2) Lagoon
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36
Q

Pisoids

A

Super Ooids

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37
Q

Permian Terminal Evaporites

A

Alternation between Calcite and Gypsum

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38
Q

Permian Western U.S.

A
  • Ancestral Rocky Mountains
  • Western Edge of the craton
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39
Q

Permian Ancestral Rocky Mountains

A
  • White-rimmed sandstone
  • Aeolian dunes
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40
Q

Permain Western Edge

A
  • Phosphorites deposited where the craton meets the seaway
  • Trade winds cause upwelling of nutrient-rich seawater causing lots of life
  • Phosphoria formation
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41
Q

Phosphorites

A

Original organic sediment from the tissue of organic matter

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42
Q

Phosphoria Formation

A

Black, muddy sediment

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43
Q

Gondwana Rock Succession

A

Used to prove Pangea and continental drift

1) Basaltic Tillites
a) Striated surfaces
b) Ice-rafted debris
2) Overlying coals
3) Non-marine sediments
4) Basalt flow cap

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44
Q

Unique attributes of Gondwanaland in the Permian

A
  • Gondwana Rock Succession
  • Glossopteris Flora
  • Glossopteris Fauna
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45
Q

Permian Plants

A
  • Paleophytic, Mesophytic, Cenophytic
  • Conifers (Seed bearing)
46
Q

Paleophytic

A

Cambrian to early Permian
- Spore plants

47
Q

Mesophytic

A

Mid Permian to late Cretaceous
- Seed plants

48
Q

Cenophytic

A

Late Cretaceous to present
- Flowering plants

49
Q

Permian Animals

A
  • Ammonites are abundant
  • Amphibians and reptiles expand and specialize
  • Productid Brachiopods become abundant
  • Insects diversify
  • Fusilinids (Index) enlarge in the Permian
50
Q

Dominant Permian predator in bodies of water

A

Eryops

51
Q

Dominant Permian predator on land

A

Dimetradon

52
Q

Late Permian Catastrophe - The Great Dying

A
  • Trilobites and eurypterids go extinct
  • Fusilinids go extinct
  • Productid Brachiopods go extinct
  • Bryozoans have a 79% loss
  • Crinoids have a 98% loss
  • Nautiloids have a 58% Loss
  • Amminoids have a 98% loss
  • Bivalves have a 58% loss
  • Gastropods have a 98% loss
  • Amphibians and reptiles have a 70% reduction
  • Insects have a 33% reduction
53
Q

Cause of the Great Dying

A

Most likely volcanics by the Siberian Traps
- Greenhouse gasses cause global warming and collapse of the food pyramid

54
Q

Rifting of Pangea

A

Stage 1 - Gondwanaland and Laurasia, NA separates from SA and Africa
Stage 2 - Rifting of Gondwanaland, Antarctica and Australia
Stage 3 - Breakup of S. America and Africa
Stage 4 - Australia drifts, Greenland separates, India collides with South Asia

55
Q

Triassic History Introduction

A
  • Absaroka regression
  • Deposits of sediments above sea level
  • Red beds
56
Q

Triassic Tectonics

A

Sonoma Orogeny - Western U.S.

57
Q

Triassic Eastern U.S.

A

The Newark Group - fluvial and lacustrine
Intrusive Basalts within rift grabens

58
Q

Triassic Western U.S.

A

Early Triassic - Moenkopi Formation
Late Triassic - Chinle Formation

59
Q

Moenkopi Formation

A

Triassic, evaporites and fluvial deposits

60
Q

Chinle Formation

A
  • Triassic
  • No marine interference
  • Petrified forest national park
  • Lots of Uranium
61
Q

New Triassic Life

A
  • Dinosaurs and mammals (Late)
  • Scleractinian corals (modern)
  • Lobsters and shrimp
  • Protoavis (earliest bird?)
62
Q

Triassic Peaks

A
  • Plants
    1) Chinle - cycads and conifers (dry climates)
    2) Newark Group - ferns and rushes (wet climates)
  • Reptiles
    1) Thecodontians (Phytosaurs) - Individual teeth in sockets, dominant freshwater creature
    2) Marine (Ichtyosaurs)
  • Ammonoids and belemnites
63
Q

NA Jurassic History

A
  • Ancient Navajo Desert
  • Zuni Cratonic Sequence (return of the epeiric sea)
  • Nevadan Orogeny
64
Q

Nevadan Orogeny

A

Jurassic, subducting crust to the east on the west coast

65
Q

Jurassic Eastern U.S.

A
  • Outcrops only found beneath the surface of the earth
  • Lou Ann salt - dominated by Halite
  • Smackover formation (Limestone composed of ooids)
66
Q

Lou Ann Salt

A
  • Jurassic
  • Sea water flowed in to the rift valley of the ancestral gulf of Mexico
  • Salt domes form from Lou Ann salt migrating upwards
  • Oil and gas migrate upward
67
Q

Jurassic Western U.S.

A
  • Early Jurassic Navajo Sandstone - deposited via eolian processes
  • Late Jurassic Zuni transgression, Sundance epeiric sea
68
Q

New Life of the Jurassic (Mesozoic age of Dinosaurs)

A
  • Archeacopteryx (first bird)
  • Moths and flies
69
Q

Peaks of the Jurassic

A
  • Ammonites and belemnites
  • Plants (cycads, tree ferns, gingkos)
  • Reptiles
  • Dinosaurs
70
Q

Jurassic Reptiles

A
  • Flying reptiles (Pterosaurs)
  • Marine reptiles (Ichthyosaurs, Pleisosaurs, turtles)
  • Freshwater reptiles (Crocodiles)
71
Q

Jurassic Dinosaurs

A
  • Saurischian (Lizard-hipped)
  • Ornithischian (Bird-hipped)
72
Q

Initial Recognition of the Cretaceous

A

White cliffs of Normandy

73
Q

Cretaceous Dominant Characteristics

A
  • Zuni Transgression (3rd of NA under water)
74
Q

Mechanisms of the Zuni Transgression

A
  • Pangea breakage
  • Rapid seafloor spreading
75
Q

Cretaceous Orogenies

A
  • Sevier Orogeny in the West (late)
  • Laramide Orogeny (early)
76
Q

Sevier Orogeny

A

Started the transition to a lower subduction zone angle, causing mountain building inward

77
Q

Laramide Orogeny

A

Nearly flat subduction zone which caused the crust to not melt, creating the present Rocky Mountains

78
Q

Cretaceous Paleoclimate

A
  • Warm and humid
  • Fossil plants like magnolias, conifers, and ginkgos
  • Dinosaur footprints
  • Lack of glacial deposits
  • Lack of evaporites
79
Q

Cause of Cretaceous Climate

A
  • Oceanic-Cratonic circulation via the Western interior seaway
  • Cretaceous greenhouse caused by the volcanic gas release from seafloor spreading
80
Q

Western Interior Seaway (Cretaceous)

A
  • Chalks (Limestone made of cocaliths)
  • Black Shales
  • Coal-bearing clastic wedge
  • Cyclothems
81
Q

Cretaceous Black Shales

A

Lack of oxygen due to heat and the lack of polar ice caps to induce circulation

82
Q

Cretaceous Atlantic Coast

A
  • Erosion of the Appalachian Mountains
  • About half of the mountains below sea level
  • About 1000-2000m thick
83
Q

Cretaceous Gulf Coast

A
  • Bottom is limestone and conglomerates deposited by rivers and streams
  • Transitions to marine shales and limestones
  • Around 4000m thick, basin was subsiding at about twice the speed of the Atlantic coast
84
Q

New Life in the Cretaceous

A
  • Flowering Plants (Angiosperms)
  • Bees
  • New mammals (marsupials, insectivores)
85
Q

Peaks and Advancements in the Cretaceous

A
  • Dinosaurs
  • Pterosaurs
  • Plesiosaurs
  • Ammonites
  • Foraminifera
  • Cocaliths (Algae)
  • Bivalves (rudists - index fossil)
  • Echinoderms - common in Cretaceous limestones
  • Insects
86
Q

Cretaceous Extinctions

A
  • Dinosaurs
  • Pterosaurs
  • All marine reptiles (except turtles and crocs)
  • Ammonites
  • Rudists
87
Q

Cretaceous Extinction Explanation

A
  • Particles of the earths crust covered the globe causing a significant temperature increase followed by a global glaciation
  • Chicxutub crator with Tektiles
  • Indian Decan Traps
  • Rifting of Pangea could’ve caused diseases to spread
88
Q

Tertiary Tectonics

A
  • Alpine-Himalayan Orogeny
  • Circum-Pacific Orogeny (Ring of fire)
  • Western NA
89
Q

Circum-Pacific Orogeny

A
  • Western pacific volcanic arc complexes
  • Eastern pacific Andes Mountains
90
Q

Western NA Tertiary Tectonics

A
  • Laramide Orogeny
  • Cordilleran Volcanism - Columbian river basalts
91
Q

Cordilleran Volcanism

A
  • Pacific Northwest had the Cascade Mountains
  • Rocky Mountains had Yellowstone, the San Juan Mountains, and the San Francisco Mountains
  • Basin and Range Province - Horsts and Grabens
  • Colorado Plateau - Rivers erode as rock is uplifted
  • Pacific Coast - Pacific plate sliding against NA plate
92
Q

Tertiary Craton Interior

A
  • Interior lowlands
  • Zuni regression dries up the interior seaway
  • Accretion wedge deposited off the Rocky Mountains into Central US
  • Formed Ogallala aquifer
93
Q

Teriary Gulf Coast

A
  • Tejas Cratonic Sequence
  • Tejas Transgression
  • Sediment carried to the sea via the Mississippi river complex
  • Lou Ann Salt domes push through the Paleogene and Neogene strata
  • Black Shales got buried, creating oil and gas
94
Q

Tertiary Paleoclimate

A
  • Warm greenhouse climate persisted
  • Middle Eocene introduces antarctic polar glaciation
  • Early Miocene global warming followed by permanent glaciation of Antarctica
95
Q

Paleogene New Life

A
  • First primates
  • Squirrel-like rodents
  • Edentates
  • Carnivores
96
Q

Factors for Mammalian Success

A
  • Endothermic
  • Differentiated Teeth
  • Insulated hair
  • Live birth
97
Q

Eocene New Life

A
  • Whales and Porpoises
  • Bats
  • Mastodons
  • Deer
  • Giraffes, hyenas, camels
  • Eohippus - first horse
98
Q

Oligocene New Life

A
  • Dog-like and cat-like animals
  • Many modern taxa
99
Q

Miocene New Life

A

Apes and Monkeys

100
Q

Pliocene New Life

A

Hominids and Wooly Mammoths

101
Q

Evidence for Continental Glaciers in the Quaternary

A

1) Erratic boulders carried by ice in the northern great plains
2) Striated/Polished rock surfaces
3) Till
4) U-Shaped Valleys
5) Planktic Foraminifera

102
Q

Planktic Foraminifera in the Quaternary

A

A) Oxygen Isotopes - O16 is more present in warmer climate, O18 is more present in cooler climate
B) Coiling Direction - Right coil when water temp is above 8-10 degrees C, left coil when it’s below 8-10 degrees C

103
Q

Effects of Quaternary Continental Glaciation

A

1) Isostasy
2) Glacial Lakes
3) Sea level fluctuation

104
Q

Isostasy

A

Ice sheets cause a depression in the asthenosphere which rebounds when the ice melts

105
Q

Glacial Lakes

A

A) Depressions caused by ice
B) Lakes caused by ice dams
- Water melts off as the glacier accumulates and is stopped by the terminal moraine
C) Wind effects - Glacier cools air that flows down, depositing Loess (fine silt and clay)

106
Q

Quaternary Ice Dam Lakes

A

1) Lake Agassiz - Canada
2) Lake Missoula - Montana (Channel Scabland)

107
Q

Astronomical/Orbital Hypothesis

A

Milutin Milankovitch hypothesized the their are predictable changes in the earths tilt and orbit that cause climate to fluctuate in 100,000 year cycles. These factors are eccentricity, precession, and obliquity

108
Q

Albedo

A

Proportion of sunlight reflected off of the surface, when sea levels fall more sunlight is reflected which cools the climate

109
Q

The Climate Optimum

A

67,000 years ago the climate was perfectly equitable for life, which allowed major populations to become present

110
Q

Medieval Climate Fluctuations

A
  • Dark Ages -> Medieval Warm -> Little Ice Age
  • During the warm medieval period, vikings explored overseas as the north sea opened
111
Q

Pleistocene Extinctions

A

Extinction of large mammals largely contributed to by the rapidly changing climate and the expansion of the human species

112
Q

Little Ice Age

A

1300 to 1850 AD