Exam IV

Question 1

Why did it take so long for oceans to recover after the Permian extinction?

Answer 1

severe anoxia (low oxygen levels) in water, made it hard for life to recover, especially benthic organisms

Question 2

What rock do coccolith plankton form?

Answer 2

chalk

Question 3

Mollusks common in the Western Interior Sea? (Cretaceous)

Answer 3

bivalves (oysters, clams, rudists) ammonites (distinct suture patterns), belemnites (cigar bitches)

Question 4

Which type of coral dominated Mesozoic and Cenozoic oceans?

Answer 4

scleractinian

Question 5

What are the reptile groups of Mesozoic life?

Answer 5

archosaurs (basal and flying): includes dinos, pterosaurs, crococdilians, and birds

pterosaurs (aerial reptiles),

early birds: evolved from basal archosaurs (theropod dinos)

Question 6

What is a dinosaur vs. not a dinosaur?

Answer 6

dinos have upright stance

marine reptile, crocodiles, and and flying archosaurs (pterosaurs) don’t have this stance

Question 7

Know the difference between the predatory marine reptiles: plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs

Answer 7

plesiosaurs: paddle swimmer boi
mosasaurs: evil whale

Ichthyosaurs: evil dolphin

Question 8

Mammals: tooth structure tells them apart. How do Mesozoic mammals differ from Cenozoic ones?

Answer 8

Cenozoic mammals fill in niches of dinos and greatly evolved (enter placentals)

triconodons: a mesozoic early form of mammals

Question 9

gymnosperms vs. angiosperms

Answer 9

gymno: non flowering seed plants
angio: flowering seed plants

Question 10

How do angiosperms coevolve with insects/animals?

Answer 10

spread pollen by attracting insects and herbivores with flowers and fruit

Question 11

What caused the end Triassic extinction, and who suffered/benefitted?

Answer 11

cause: large volcanic eruptions related to rifting of pangea
suffered: marine life, therapsids (reptiles with mammalian traits), large amphibians, most archosaurs
benefitted: basal archosaurs/aka dinos

Question 12

In which period did dinosaurs evolve?

Answer 12

Triassic

Question 13

Given a picture and name of dinosaur, identify them as lizard-hipped (Saurischians) or bird-hipped (Ornithischians).

Answer 13

Saurischians: brachiosaurus, T Rex, velociraptor

ornithischians: hadrosaurs (duck billed), triceratops, stegosaurs, ankylosaurs

Question 14

Gimme the deets on the dinos

Answer 14

Saurischians

  1) Sauropods (apatosaurus, brachiosaurus)
  2) theropods (t rex, velociraptor, hollow bones gang)

Ornithischians

  1) thyreophora (stegosaurs, ankylosaurs)
  2) ornithopods, bird feet gange (hadrosaurs)
  3) triceratops

Question 15

What is the evidence for cold or warm-bloodedness and links dinosaurs to birds?

Answer 15

evidence for warm blood: bone microstructure, fast growth rate, complex chewing/slicing teeth (warm blood predators would need teeth like this to eat a lot of food to fuel themselves), feathers found on small theropods that insulated them (warm blooded trait, bird link)

Question 16

Which group did birds evolve from?

What’s their key ancestor?

Answer 16

Saurischians-theropods

theropod ancestor: achaeopteryx

Question 17

What played a role in global dinosaur dispersal and diversity?

Answer 17

the continued rifting of pangea into geographically isolated continents

Question 18

What are the three hypotheses for the Cretaceous extinction event, and the evidence?

Answer 18

1) sea level regression, changed climate and ecosystem
2) increased volcanism, deccan traps
3) meteorite impact

Question 19

When did the Mesozoic end and the Cenozoic begin?

Answer 19

66/65 ma

Question 20

What caused the Himalayan Orogeny, Alpine Orogeny, and Andean Orogeny?

Answer 20

Himalayan: continental collision of India and Asia

Alpine: microplates slam into south europe

andean: subducting plates ocean-continent

Question 21

What is the tectonic setting of the Circum-Pacific Orogenic Belt?

Answer 21

subduction zones, volcanoes, earthquakes

Question 22

What is the evidence that the Mediterranean Sea dried up?

Answer 22

different marine organisms found before and after dry spell

sediment fill gorges originally made by rivers that cut down to base of sea bed

Question 23

Laramide Orogeny’s intermontane basins record what ancient climate?

Answer 23

shows history of lakes, swamps, and coal formation…warm, wet climate

Question 24

What caused the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum?

Answer 24

large release of undersea methane bc of rifting

Question 25

What caused the Earth to cool in the Eocene?

Answer 25

breakup of Antarctica from Australia, forming antarctic circumpolar current

Question 26

How did the South Dakota Badlands form? What climate transition is recorded there, and what caused it?

Answer 26

uplifted with laramide orogeny, accumulated from mountain erosion warm subtropic forest, savanna, semi-arid bc of uplift of black hills and formation of rain shadow

Question 27

Know how these Western North America features formed: Colorado Plateau, Yellowstone hotspot, Cascade volcanoes, Basin and Range extension, San Andreas fault

Answer 27

C. Plateau: uploaded as single block with volcanic margins, stimulated erosion of C river and Grand C Y Hotspot: mantle plume ig cascade volcanoes: subduction of juan de fuca plate basin and range: relaxing of crust following laramide uplift San Andreas: complete subduction of Farallon plate, transforming west coast from convergent to transform

Question 28

What organisms rebound in the oceans following the Cretaceous extinction?

Answer 28

mollusks and fish

Question 29

What is the dominant marine predator in the Cenozoic?

Answer 29

sharks (chondrichthyes)

Question 30

What are the significance of Angiosperms and grasslands in the cenozoic?

Answer 30

both expand and replace forests bc of cool, dry climate co-evolve with insects and plant eaters (teeth evolution)

Question 31

Why did birds become so diverse in the cenozoic?

Answer 31

adaptive radiation in response to varied habitats

Question 32

Mammals: What are the key features of marsupials and placentals?

Answer 32

marsupials: young develop in pouch placentals: young stay in womb until birth, fed by placenta

Question 33

What are the differences and significance of the placental groups (edentates, rodents, carnivores, ungulates)?

Answer 33

edentates: toothless, armadillos, tree sloths, anteaters rodents: gnawers and nibblers carnivores: meat eaters ungulates: hoofed mammals + whales and elephants

Question 34

What are the trends in horse evolution?

Answer 34

horses went from 3-5 toes and low-crowned teeth to one toe with high crowned teeth, went from big to small

Question 35

How did whales evolve?

Answer 35

used to have legs and come on land transition from fish to plankton eating vestigal hind legs and pelvis

Question 36

What types of fossils are preserved in the Badlands, and why are there so many?

Answer 36

vertebrate fossils | flash flooding burial

Question 37

What is an example of convergent evolution in mammals?

Answer 37

marsupial saber tooth vs placental saber tooth (think shark and dolphin looking similar even tho they're not related) convergent: different ancestry, similar purpose divergent: similar ancestry, different purpose

Question 38

What happened to mammals in the western hemisphere when the Isthmus of Panama formed?

Answer 38

marsupials spread north | placentals spread south

Question 39

What is the importance of the formation of the Isthmus of Panama in the ice ages?

Answer 39

blocked atlantic-pacific water interchange formed gulf stream, directed northward which brought more warm water and humid air north, resulting in increased snow precipitation

Question 40

Compare the terrestrial vs. marine (deep sea) record of the ice ages – which one is better?;

Answer 40

terrestrial: lack fossils, glacial erosion, porrly sorted till marine: continuous sedimentation, fossils, oxygen isotopes

Question 41

what is difference between O-16 and O-18 and what do they mean regarding Earth’s temperature?

Answer 41

O-16 trapped in glacier ice during cold times | more O-18 in ocean during glacial times

Question 42

Milankovich cycles – What is the difference between Earth’s wobble (precession), eccentricity of orbit, and axial tilt?

Answer 42

precession: wobble of axis, changes timing of seasons eccentricity of orbit: elliptical vs circular, affects amount of solar radiation axial tilt: obvious, affects length of seasons

Question 43

What features are the result of the ice age

Answer 43

glacial moraines, sea level change, crust depression and rebound, river redirection, kettle lakes, glacial retreat lakes, pluvial lakes,

Question 44

Why did catastrophic floods happen in Washington state at the end of the ice age?

Answer 44

ice dams blocked rivers and formed lakes, but when ice melted, dam destabilized and floods happened

Question 45

What part of South Dakota was influenced by glaciers?

Answer 45

east river

Question 46

What are some examples of Pleistocene megafauna, including the mammoths?

Answer 46

beavers, mammoths, mastodons, sloths

Question 47

What caused the Pleistocene extinctions, and who suffered?

Answer 47

hunting, climate and vegetation change | megafauna suffered most (overhunted and couldn't reproduce fast enough)

Question 48

What was the climate of the Holocene like until recently?

Answer 48

warm, stable

Question 49

How have changes in climate impacted people?

Answer 49

fertile crescent, medieval warm period, little ice age

Question 50

What has caused climate change to occur on Earth naturally over time?

Answer 50

plate tectonics, milankovitch cycles, changes in greenhouse effect, solar variability (sun spots), volcanic eruptions

Question 51

What are the roles of plate tectonics, Milankovitch cycles, the Greenhouse Effect, the Sun, and volcanic eruptions? Over what time scales do these act to alter the climate?

Answer 51

``` plate tectonics: millions of years milankovitch cycles: tens of thousands greenhouse: thousands of years solar variability: 11 year cycles eruptions: who tf knows ```

Question 52

what are greenhouse gases, and how does the carbon cycle work?

Answer 52

gases that absorb and emit infrared energy, causing warming (CO2, methane, water vapor) carbon cycle: carbon transfer between atmosphere, ocean, rock, biosphere

Question 53

What is causing climate change to occur now? Why isn’t the sun or volcanic eruptions responsible?

Answer 53

humans: fossil fuel burning, bogs, farm animals, rice, burning grasslands, combustion

Question 54

What is the evidence that Humans are causing climate change now?

Answer 54

human added CO2 has no C-14 (it's how we track what we contribute)

Question 55

What will happen if warming continues?

Answer 55

melting glaciers and permafrost rising seas altering weather patterns habitat impacts

Question 56

What is the difference between weather and climate?

Answer 56

weather: current changes climate: long term averages

Question 57

What is the Anthropocene Epoch?

Answer 57

A new proposed epoch characterized by overwhelming human influence eon earth’s systems (most support it for starting with the Atomic Age)