Lecture 5 - Interpreting past environments

Question 1

what frameworks are important?

Answer 1

temporal and spatial

Question 2

what do spatial frameworks show?

Answer 2

how continents were configured/ paeleogeology

Question 3

when did dinosaurs evolve?

Answer 3

in the triassic period - 50 million years in duration

Question 4

what are wilson cycles?

Answer 4

repetitive cycles of continents drifting apart and then coming back together

Question 5

what are the 5 basic ways of interpreting / reconstructing past environments?

Answer 5

1 - the nature of sediments
2 - the nature of fossil content
3 - the distribution of climatically sensitive sediments and fossils
4 - environmentally discriminating isotopes
5 - environmentally influenced characteristics of organisms
6 - modelling environments

Question 6

how does the nature of sediments help to reconstruct past environments?

Answer 6

looks at the way physiochemical properties interact with water/ice

Question 7

how does the nature of fossil content help to reconstruct past environments?

Answer 7

by looking at fossils you can get a clear idea of where sediment was deposited

Question 8

examples of environmentally influenced characteristics of organisms

Answer 8

ostrochods - shell characteristics change depending on salinity levels
work out seasonality of the types of seasonality e.g. palms grow all year round and don’t have growth rings, others grow periodically = growth rings

Question 9

early Jurassic geology

Answer 9

everything shifting northwards

Question 10

late Jurassic geology

Answer 10

fracturing has occured e.g. N.America and S.America

Question 11

early cretaceous geology

Answer 11

major ruptures, India split from Africa

Question 12

biota evolve independently when?

Answer 12

continents become isolated e.g. Australia and marsupials

therefore more endemism expected in late cretaceous