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Introductory Palaeontology (Fossils) Flashcards

1
Q

What are three environments with a good chance of preservation?

A

Swamp on delta, Shallow marine, Deep marine

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2
Q

Define Actual Remains

A

The actual organism can be preserved

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3
Q

What are the three processes in which actual remains can be preserved?

A

Refrigeration, Dehydration (mummification), Peat bog

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4
Q

What are three examples of hard parts?

A

Hair, Teeth, Scales

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5
Q

For the hard part to be preserved, what neds to happen?

A

The minerals that make it up have to be changed into a more stable mineral

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6
Q

What are the two replacement methods for hard parts?

A

Petrification and Carbonisation

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7
Q

What are the three types of petrification?

A

Silicification, Calcification, Pyritisation

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8
Q

What is the first method of petrification?

A

The remains of the organism are dissolved away by percolating waters, then the space is filled in by minerals precipitated from solution by subsequent percolating waters

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9
Q

What is the second method of petrification?

A

Spaces within the organic structure are impregnated with minerals precipitated from solution by percolating waters, molecule by molecule

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10
Q

What happens during carbonisation

A

Common method of preserving plants as compaction squeezes out hydrogen etc. to leave carbon

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11
Q

Define Mould

A

The cavity left after the remains of an organism are dissolved

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12
Q

Define Cast

A

The result of the mould being filled with mineral matter or sediment. Can be internal or external

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13
Q

How does a mould and cast form?

A

Shell is dissolved by acidic water percolating through sediments to leave a mould. Infilling a mould by percolating waters with minerals in solution

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14
Q

Define Trace Fossil

A

Evidence of life

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15
Q

What are three types of trace fossils?

A

Tracks and trails, Burrows, Coprolites

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16
Q

Define Transported Fossil

A

Organisms may have been transported from the environment where they were living into a different environment for deposition

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17
Q

Define Derived Fossil

A

A fossil may have become weathered and eroded out of the rock that it was fossilised in and transported to a younger depositional area

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18
Q

Define Life Assemblage

A

Some organisms are preserved in their life positions

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19
Q

Define Death Assemblage

A

The remains have been moved after death but before deposition

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20
Q

What are three differences between life and death assemblage?

A

Death has fragmented shells but life has whole, Death has been moved but life hasn’t, Death has been sorted by size but life has a range of sizes

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21
Q

What are three purposes of fossils?

A

To determine the relative age of the rock, To determine the paleoenvironment conditions at the time of deposition, To study the process of evolution

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22
Q

What are six factors making the fossil record incomplete?

A

Rarity of organism, Predation of organism, Bacterial decay of organism, Scavenging of organism, Weathering and erosion of fossil, Metamorphism

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23
Q

What are four factors making the fossil record biased?

A

Organisms with hard parts, Rarity of organism, Energy level of depositional environment, Marine environment

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24
Q

Define Terrestrial

A

On land

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25
Define Marine
In sea water
26
Define Non-Marine
In freshwater
27
Define Pelagic
Organism lives in water column in the surface layers
28
Define Benthonic
Organism lives freely on or in the sediment of the sea floor
29
Define Planktonic
Floats in water column to wherever the current takes it
30
Define Nektonic
Actively swims in the water column
31
Define Infaunal
Organism lives in the sediment, in a burrow
32
Define Epifaunal
Organism lives on the sediment substrate
33
Define Sessile
Organism does not move around on the sediment substrate
34
Define Vagrant
Organism moves around on the sea floor
35
Define Bivalve
A marine or freshwater mollusc with a shell consisting of two hinged valves connected by a ligament e.g. clam
36
Define Adductor Muscle
The muscle allowing bivalves and brachiopods to open and close
37
Define Gape
Where the two valves of a bivalve don't meet
38
Define Hinge Line
Where the two valves of a bivalve shell meet
39
Define Muscle Scars
Marking on the interior of a bivalve shell showing where the adductor muscles were
40
Define Pallial Line
Mark on the interior of a bivalve showing where the soft parts were
41
Define Pallial Sinus
Indention on the pallial line showing the position of the siphons
42
Define Teeth and Sockets
Hold the valves of a bivalve together
43
Define Umbo
The most prominent part of a shell where the valves grow from
44
Where is symmetry found in a bivalve?
Between the two valves
45
What do the adductor muscles do to close a bivalve shell?
Contract
46
What do the adductor muscles do to open a bivalve shell?
Relax
47
Define Brachiopod
A marine animal with one valve larger than the other
48
Where is symmetry found in a brachiopod?
Within one valve
49
Define Brachial Valve
The smaller valve of a brachiopod
50
Define Pedicle Valve
The larger valve of a brachiopod
51
Define Diductor Muscles
Muscles in a brachiopod which contract to open the shell and relax to close it
52
Define Foramen
A rounded, slit-like opening in the pedicle valve of a brachiopod
53
What happens to the muscles in a brachiopod to make it open?
Adductor muscles relax, Diductor muscles contract
54
What happens to the muscles in a brachiopod to make it close?
Adductor muscles contract, Diductor muscles relax
55
Define Cephalopod
Generally have a planispiral or flat coiled shell, though some have evolved and lost their shells
56
Define Evolute
Can see inner whorls of a cephalopod
57
Define Involute
Can't see inner whorls of a cephalopod
58
Define Keel
The outside edge of a shell of a cephalopod
59
Define Suture Line
Rigid joint between two chambers shown by frilly line on the outside of a cephalopod
60
What are the three types of cephalopod?
Ammonite, Ceriatite, Goniatite
61
Which of the three types of cephalopod is the youngest?
Ammonite
62
What happens to the shape of the suture line as the cephalopods get younger?
Becomes more frilly
63
Define Trilobite
A pelagic and benthonic marine creature which was alive in the Palaeozoic
64
Define Cephalon
The head of a trilobite containing the glabella and eyes
65
What are trilobite eyes made of?
Calcite
66
Define Genal Angle/Spine
An angle/spine from the cephalon of a trilobite
67
Define Glabella
The middle portion of the cephalon of a trilobite
68
Define Pygidium
The tail section of a trilobite where the thoracic segments are fused together
69
Define Thoracic Segments
Segments of a trilobites thorax showing how many paris of legs it had
70
Define Thorax
The middle section of a trilobite
71
What are the three ways trilobites found their food?
Benthonic crawlers, Burrowers, Swimmers/floaters
72
Define Graptolite
Extinct marine organisms that were pelagic and planktonic
73
Define Stipe
The whole stalk or stem of a graptolite
74
Define Theca(e)
Tubular or cup-like structure housing a zooid
75
What are three ways graptolites have changed over time?
Thecae shape has become more complex, Earlier organisms had more stipes, Attitude of stipe gone from pendant to scandent
76
What part of a coral is fossilised?
The hard parts
77
Define Colonial Coral
Coral with more than one septum close together
78
Define Septa
Radiating plates inside the corallite wall
79
Define Solitary Organism
Coral with a single polyp
80
Define Zone Fossil
Unique organisms that are used to characterise a particular horizon and therefore are able to date a sequence of rocks
81
What are six criteria a good zone fossil fulfils?
Wide distribution, Abundant, Rapid evolution, Facies independent, Good preservation, Easy identification

Geology (16 decks)

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