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ELS > Geological Time Scale > Flashcards

Geological Time Scale Flashcards

1
Q

How old is the earth?

A

Approximately 4.6 billion years old (approx. 1/3 age of the universe)

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2
Q

Clues to earth’s past

A

Rocks of crust

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3
Q

The theory that changes in the earth’s crust during geological history have resulted from the action of continuous and uniform processes.

A

Uniformitarianism

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4
Q

Father of modern geology

A

James Hutton

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5
Q

Determining chronology of events in the history of earth using evidences such as evolution in sedimentary rocks accumulated to layers thru time

A

Geologic dating

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6
Q

Determine the exact age of an artifact or site (quantitative), works better for igneous and metamorphic rocks,

A

Absolute dating

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7
Q

Methods: Biostratigraphy, stratigraphy, and cross dating thermoluminescence

A

Absolute dating

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8
Q

Determines which object is older, Works better for sedimentary rocks, Know order of events but not date

A

Relative Dating

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9
Q

This method of relative dating works better with sedimentary rocks

A

Stratigraphy

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10
Q

Rock layers form in a horizontal position

A

Original horizontality

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11
Q

Made fundamental contributions to 4 branches of science, founder of the study of fossils and one of the main founders of geology

A

Nicholas Steno

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11
Q

Rock layers in the bottom are older than those on top of them

A

Superposition

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12
Q

Rock layers are extended laterally and continuously Similar layers of rock or sediment that are separated by a valley or other erosional feature were once continuous.

A

Lateral continuity

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13
Q

Rock layers
that are cut across are older than the cut
itself

A

Cross-cutting relations

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14
Q

Any inclusion in rock layers are older than the rock that contains it

A

Inclusion

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15
Q

Remains of Ancient Plants and Animals, Evidence of Life. A preserved remnant, remains, or impression of a prehistoric organism. At least 10000 years. Important in studying the history of the
earth

A

Fossil

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16
Q

Commonly preserved fossils (hard parts of organisms)

A

Bones, shells, hard parts of insects, woody material

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17
Q

Rarely preserved (easily decayed parts of organisms)

A

Internal organs, skin, hair, feathers

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18
Q

Kind of fossil that can be seen through a microscope such as bacteria and pollen

A

Micro fossil

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19
Q

Kind of fossils that are large, hard part of tree or dinosaur bone

A

Macro fossil

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20
Q

Formed when materials replace the structure of the organism

A

Petrification

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21
Q

Formed due to burial of plants or plant parts in sediments, formed by imprint

A

Compression

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22
Q

Preservation of original skeletons and soft body parts. (like an amber resin)

A

Preserved remains

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23
Q

Fossils of the actual animal or actual part, formed when the tissues of animals didn’t decay over the years

A

True fossil

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24
Q

Where are true fossils commonly found?

A

Ice, tar, natural asphalt

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25
Q

Hollow impressions of living things in a
rock, mud or clay, negative image of an organism (imprint), Formed when an animal, planet, or other
organism dies and is covered by sediment, its flesh decays and bones deteriorate due to chemical fractions, and a cavity remains below the ground surface

A

Mold fossil

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26
Q

Created when minerals and sediments enter a cavity or mold (sometimes from a mold fossil) and hardens, creating a cast

A

Cast Fossil

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27
Q

Impressions of rocks that showed
various activities, Commonly, fossils of footprints, burrow,
trail, and or other trace of the animals (but not the animal itself)

A

Trace fossil (ichnofossil)

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28
Q

Where do fossils occur

A

Sedimentary rocks

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29
Q

True or false: Heat of Melting or Metamorphism Would Destroy Almost Every Type of Fossil

A

True

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30
Q

To be preserved, organisms have to be:

A

Buried rapidly after death, preserved from decay

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31
Q

Newest epoch

A

Anthropocene - July 2023

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32
Q

What is an epoch?

A

It is a long period of time that is characterized by great change

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33
Q

How are epochs discovered?

A

Through golden spikes. Climatic, magnetic, biologic, isotopic

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34
Q

What is the golden spike of the anthropocene?

A

Radioactive plutonium from nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s

Marie Curie discovered radioactive elements and she died because of it

Japan had tsunamis and released radioactive waste

Radioactive plutonium from nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s has widespread global impacts that are recorded in rock

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35
Q

What do other golden spikes tell us about earth? End of the ice age…

A

shifting values of excess deuterium reflect a time when earth entered a warmer climate.

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36
Q

A scale organized according to when certain programs lives on earth

A

Geological time scale

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37
Q

Longest subdivision which can last up to hundreds of millions of years.

Determined by the prevalence of certain fossils

A

Eon

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38
Q

An ___ marks a major shift in the types
of fossils present.

A

Era

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39
Q

_____ are divisions within an era. They mark stages within an era where different kinds of life existed.

A

Periods

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40
Q

Shortest subdivision. It divides periods into smaller
units

A

Epoch

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41
Q

What are the four major divisions of the geologic time scale?

A

Precambrian era, Paleozoic era, Mesozoic era, Cenozoic era

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42
Q

Represents the first 88% of Earth’s history (mostly devoid of fossils).

A

Precambrian era

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43
Q

Represents ~ 8.5% of
Earth’s history (invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, vertebrates and land plants first appear).

A

Paleozoic era

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44
Q

Rep. ~ 3.5% of Earth’s
history (dinosaurs,
5 earliest birds, and
mammals).

A

Mesozoic era

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45
Q

Rep. ~ 1.4% of Earth’s history (humanoids show up late ~0.04% of history

A

Cenozoic era

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46
Q

This era lacks fossils because there were no large organisms that inhabited the earth

A

Precambrian era

47
Q

Precambrian era had a single-celled microorganisms called

A

Cyanobacteria

48
Q

True or false: Scientists have a hard time getting information from the Precambrian rocks

A

True

48
Q

What was the atmosphere like during the Precambrian era?

A

Originally made up of gasses similar to those released in volcanic eruptions; water vapor, CO2, N, no oxygen

49
Q

Used photosynthesis and released oxygen

A

Cyanobacteria

50
Q

What is the most common precambrian fossil?

A

Stromatolites

Distinctively layered mounds or
columns of calcium carbonate

Not actual remains of organisms nut materials deposited by algae

Formed by the growth of blue-green algae and cyanobacteria

51
Q

Heat flow was nearly 3 times as it is today from planetary accretion

Sculpting of earth 4.6 billion years ago

Unseen era

Earth’s surface bombarded by
meteorites (late heavy bombardment - stage)

Hot mantle caused severe volcanism - Ocean and atmosphere were formed;
core and crust were stabilized

Heavy material – core; lighter materials
– mantle and crust

Formation of moon

Dark age

A

Hadean eon - 4.6 to 4.0 billion years ago

52
Q

What happened during the Hadean eon?

A

Earth coalesced, primordial water, earth meets moon, core accretion, magnetic field forms, asteroids and comets pelted earth

52
Q

Were there fossils in the hadean eon

A

No fossil records cause temp is too high

53
Q

Hadean eon: from a cloud of dust, gravity molded our solar system. The terrestrial planets were positioned closer to the sun.

A

Earth coalesced

54
Q

Comes from comets and asteroids that collided during its early formation.

A

Primordial water

55
Q

Scientists have proposed many ideas for how the Moon formed. A leading contender, the ____, speculates that when Earth was a young planet and just beginning to form, it was hit by another emerging planet named Theia, located nearby.

A

Giant Impact Hypothesis

56
Q

Helps stabilize the earth’s movement

A

Moon - Earth and moon pull each other that’s why they are stable

57
Q

Solar winds swept in hydrogen and helium closer to the sun because they were smaller in size. But the sun couldn’t pull in the heavier elements. They spoiled and gelled on their own

A

Core accretion

Heavy metals of the earth sink

Ex: iron sinks because its too
heavy

58
Q

Earth formed a
solid iron core. Inside weather it was multi-family layered. Surrounding the inner core earth established an outer liquid core

A

Magnetic field forms

59
Q

Earth was still in the late heavy bombardment stage. This is why scientist suggests that comets may have transporter water frying later bombarded stage

A

Asteroids and comets pelted earth

59
Q

This stage explains that the pull of the earth was stronger and so asteroids and comets pelted earth

A

Stabilizing stage

60
Q

Formation of iron

Earth’s temperature began to stabilize

Ancient earth cooling and primitive life

4 – 2.5 billion years ago

Earth was warm and the atmosphere contained mostly methane (very little to no oxygen)

Most of earth was covered with ocean

Continents formation began

Vaalbara first supercontinent - Stabilized climate, seasons, & earth
motion due to moon’s orbit

Great oxygenation event

Iron abundant element

A

Archean Eon

61
Q

What happened during the Archean eon?

A

Earth has its first ocean, Formation of dna-based genes, Tectonic activity builds continents, The first continent, Prokaryotic bacteria, Iron collects on the seafloor, Great oxygenation event

62
Q

Earth began cooling, water finally could condense to form its first oceans. It’s cooler so condensation can happen.

A

Earth has its first ocean

63
Q

Protocells from rna-based genes around 4000 ma, after which true cells evolve along with proteins and dna. From RNA. Protein starts life

A

Formation of DNA-based genes

64
Q

Only life forms that existed in the Archean Eon were

A

Prokaryotic bacteria - single celled, no nucleus, has genetic particles

64
Q

Built continents, which means tectonic activity was formed
- Pangea

A

Tectonic activity builds continents

64
Q

Iron collects on the seafloor

A

oxygen filled the oceans, it mixed with iron. Iron rusts when it reacts with oxygen, so overtime the seafloor collected rusted iron.

65
Q

Oxygen entered the atmosphere because there was no more iron to rust in the ocean

A

Great oxygenation event

66
Q

Snowball earth

Ozone layer

Multicellular and eukaryotes evolved

Earliest eukaryotic life

Oxygenated atmosphere

2500 – 542 million years ago

Lasted 1.9 billion years (longest period;
almost half of earth’s age)

Atmosphere became oxygenated

Methane and oxygen combined in the atmosphere to form carbon dioxide

Snowball earth – ice age 300 million years

Eukaryotic, aerobic life began and diversified (multicellularity) slowly

Motion of continental drift

Ozone layer began to form

A

Protezoic Eon

66
Q

What happened during the protezoic era?

A

Oxygen crisis, first eukaryotes, snowball earth, the emergence of eukaryotes, presence of ozone layer

66
Q

Oxygen level was too high during the ____ era

A

Protezoic era

67
Q

What was the (hypothetical) first eukaryote?

A

Francevillian biota

68
Q

Snowball earth

A

Earth froze for 300 million years

Ice age

68
Q

How did the emergence of eukaryotes happen?

A

The multicellular began when an organism ate another. Multiple cells benefited due to this. Multicellular life began.

69
Q

How was ozone layer formed

A

Oxygen atoms could bond and form ozone. Important in stabilizing the temp of the earth.

70
Q

Collective term for the remaining 3 eras after: Paleozoic, mesozoic, Cenozoic

A

Phanerozoic eon

71
Q

What happened during the Paleozoic era?

A

Cambrian explosion, the age of invertebrates, the age of fishes, age of amphibians, carboniferous rainforest collapses, permian triassic extinction

72
Q

What was the first fossil observed?

A

Trilobites

72
Q

Marked the first time on earth’s timeline that we can observe fossils.

A

Cambrian explosion

73
Q

Animals with endoskeleton

No back bones

After some time, they developed
themselves

A

The age of invertebrates

74
Q

True or false: Fishes are jawless first before they evolved to have jaws

A

True

75
Q

The first vertebrate land animal made its leap shore.

Since water is crowded

Some organisms explored to live in land

A

Age of amphibians

76
Q

Amphibians took a breath of fresh air and colonized the empty continent of

A

Gondwana

76
Q

Insects here became big because oxygen content was high

A

Carboniferous rainforest collapses

77
Q

The great drying

A

Permian triassic extinction

78
Q

Middle life

A

Mesozoic era

79
Q

What era? Presence and growth of large
coniferous trees and other
related plant species

A

Mesozoic era

79
Q

Why were reptiles and dinosaurs bigger during the mesozoic era?

A

O2 content was high, that’s why reptiles were larger then

80
Q

Triassic, Jurassic, and cretaceous period

A

Mesozoic era

81
Q

are seed-bearing plants
that do not depend on free-
standing water for fertilization; enabled them to be dominant plants

A

Gymnosperms

82
Q

True or false: Reptiles in mesozoic era didn’t gain an ecological advantage because they had more competition for food in dryland conditions

A

False: reptiles gained an ecological advantage because they had less competition for food in dryland conditions

83
Q

Supercontinent that was separated due to plate tectonics

A

Pangea

83
Q

Pangea divided into two:

A

Laurasia and Gondwanaland

84
Q

______ dominated the land until the Cretaceous era.

A

Dinosaurs

84
Q

What were the dominant species of plants during the Mesozoic era?

A

Flowering plants

84
Q

Mammals and birds in the Mesozoic era evolved from

A

Reptile- like ancestors

85
Q

Age of mammals and homo sapiens. Era that marks the existence of man.

A

Cenozoic era

86
Q

_______ (flowering plants with covered seeds) replaced
gymnosperms as the dominant terrestrial plants

A

Angiosperms

86
Q

What wiped out the dinosaurs

A

K-pg event

87
Q

Theories on why dinosaurs died

A
  1. History is that there was a Giant asteroid - reason for Chicxulub crater in Mexico
  2. Possibly there was an
    earthquake - Dinosaurs sedimented
  3. From the impact, there was
    force
88
Q

What happened in the Cenozoic era

A

Dinosaurs went extinct, Age of mammals, Grass spreading, Apes, Stone age, Homosapiens, Cities

89
Q

What happened in the mesozoic era?

A

Age of reptiles, Pangea, Age of conifers, Age of dinosaurs, Transition coming

90
Q

______ were the only porot-humans who really began to master the use of their hands and fingers.

A

Hominids

91
Q

Ancestors of humans

A

Hominids

92
Q

Modern-day man, what we are known as today.

A

Homosapiens

93
Q

What were the 6 major mass extinctions?

A

Ordovician-silurian extinction, Late devonian extinction, Permian-triassic extinction, Triassic and jurassic extinction, Cretaceous and paleogene extinction, Holocene extinction

93
Q

Amphibian extinction

A

Late devonian extinction

94
Q

Fish extinction

A

Ordovician-silurian extinction

95
Q

The great dying.

96 % species wiped out

4% evolved through time

Survival of the fittest

A

Permian-triassic extinction

96
Q

Extinction of lower forms of reptiles

A

Triassic and jurassic extinction

97
Q

Extinction that killed dinosaurs

A

Cretaceous and paleogene extinction

98
Q

_____ (Permian period) was the greatest of at least five mass extinctions to occur over the past 500 million years

A

The late Paleozoic extinction

99
Q

What extinction is this?

Time of humans

Reason: habitat loss, land conversions,
poaching, climatic

Poaching: get animals from nature and
sell in the market

Climate change- lots of animals die
especially in colder regions

A

Holocene extinction

100
Q
A

ELS (4 decks)

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