Geology

Question 1

What is geomorphology

Answer 1

The study of the shape of the earth/ rocks

Question 2

When was the Cambrian explosion

Answer 2

550 mya

Question 3

what is special about the Cambrian explosion?

Answer 3

Sudden appearance of multicellular organisms in fossil records

Question 4

when were the first land animals and plants?

Answer 4

~450-350 mya

Question 5

when did O2 levels start to rise?

Answer 5

~2 billion years ago

Question 6

What was the main cause of rise in O2 levels 2 bya?

Answer 6

cyanobacteria photosynthesising CO2

Question 7

What ended the Paleozoic era?

Answer 7

The Permian Mass extinction

Question 8

Which era was the age of the dinosaurs?

Answer 8

Mesozoic era (250-65 mya)

Question 9

When did Pangea fragmentation occur?

Answer 9

mesozoic era

Question 10

When was the Permian Mass Extinction?

Answer 10

225 mya

Question 11

What is the Permian-Triassic extinction event also known as?

Answer 11

The great dying

Question 12

Which was the age of bacteria?

Answer 12

Archean era

Question 13

When did the dinosaurs go extinct?

Answer 13

Cretaceous mass extinction ~65 mya

Question 14

What are the 6 layers of the Earth

Answer 14

inner core (innermost centre of earth)
outer core
lower mantle
upper mantle
lithosphere
crust (outermost layer)

Question 15

What mineral is the inner core made most of?

Answer 15

90% iron

Question 16

What is the innermost layer of the earth

Answer 16

Inner core

Question 17

Is the Earth’s inner core solid or liquid

Answer 17

solid

Question 18

Where is the Asthenosphere found?

Answer 18

Upper mantle

Question 19

Where are tectonic plates found?

Answer 19

lithosphere

Question 20

Where are volcanoes located

Answer 20

Where tectonic plates meet/ move apart - the boundaries

Question 21

What kind of current moves plates apart?

Answer 21

Convection current

Question 22

When does a magma chamber form?

Answer 22

When convection currents move tectonic plates apart

Question 23

Why do some ecosystems rely on hydrothermal vents (in oceans)

Answer 23

because they release hot sulphur laden gases - contains energy for bacteria to use
When vent closes, bacteria cannot access energy and ecosystem collapses

Question 24

What are the 3 types of tectonic plate boundaries

Answer 24

Divergent
Convergent
Transform

Question 25

What happens at divergent plate boundaries

Answer 25

Plates move AWAY - creating a rift where molten rock erupts, cools and forms new plate material

Question 26

What happens at Convergent tectonic boundaries?

Answer 26

Plates collide
the denser oceanic plate sinks below the less dense continental plate
causes shortening/ folding of lithosphere
produces mountains and volcanoes

Question 27

Which types of plate boundary causes volcanoes and mountains?

Answer 27

convergent

Question 28

What are subduction zones?

Answer 28

one plate is forced downwards beneath another plate

Associated with strong Earthquakes, volcanic activity, and mountain range formation

Question 29

What happens at transform plate boundaries

Answer 29

Two or more plates slide past each other causing earthquakes

Question 30

What kind of plates are usually divergent?

Answer 30

Oceanic

Question 31

What kind of plates cause transform boundaries?

Answer 31

Ocean-on-ocean

OR

Continent-on-continent

Question 32

What are Ratites?

Answer 32

a taxon of flightless bird

Question 33

Why are Ratites evidence for plate tectonics?

Answer 33

Because they come from the ancestor Gondwana found in south america, africa, australia and new zealand
- suggests all these continents were connected at some point (Pangea) but plates caused them to split