Lectures 2-5

Question 1

Absolute date

Answer 1

A quantification for how old something is (albeit with error)

Question 2

Boulder clay

Answer 2

Glacial deposit

Question 3

Cirque

Answer 3

Bowl-shaped cavity on hillside with steep, cliff-like tops and shallow bottoms formed by ice

Question 4

Daughter element

Answer 4

Element produced by radioactive decay

Question 5

Devensian

Answer 5

The last glacial period (70Ma)

Question 6

Diatom

Answer 6

Single-celled alga (aquatic plant) with a wall of silica

Question 7

Dropstone

Answer 7

Large rock in fine-grained sediment thought to have been deposited by falling from a melting iceberg

Question 8

Foraminifera

Answer 8

Single-celled aquatic animal with a CaCO3 shell

Question 9

Freeze-thaw

Answer 9

Weathering that results from the expansion and contraction of material as it experiences temperature fluctuations around 0C

Question 10

Gondwanaland

Answer 10

An ancient supercontinent

Question 11

Green house

Answer 11

When Earth is relatively ice-free

Question 12

Half-life

Answer 12

Time taken for one half of the original number of radioactive atoms to decay

Question 13

Holocene

Answer 13

Last 11.7ka interglacial period (in which we live)

Question 14

Horn

Answer 14

Three or more cirques back-to-back

Question 15

Ice house

Answer 15

When Earth had ice at least covering high latitudes

Question 16

Ipswichian

Answer 16

Penultimate interglacial period

Question 17

Isotopic Age

Answer 17

Time since the isoptopic clock was ‘reset’ when isotopes were locked into the minerals (ie crystallisation after melting)

Question 18

Late-Cenozoic Ice Age

Answer 18

Most recent ice age (that we live in)

Question 19

Ordovician Ice Age

Answer 19

3rd-most recent ice age

Question 20

Palaeontology

Answer 20

Study of fossils

Question 21

Palynology

Answer 21

Study of pollen (organic microfossils)

Question 22

Palynomorphs

Answer 22

Pollen grains

Question 23

Periglacial

Answer 23

Areas surrounding glaciated regions

Question 24

Permafrost

Answer 24

Permanently frozen ground

Question 25

Permo-Carboniferous Ice Age

Answer 25

2nd most recent ice age

Question 26

Phanerozoic

Answer 26

Last ~20% of Earth’s history, during which life boomed

Question 27

Pingos

Answer 27

Uplifted frozen hill of permafrost

Question 28

Polygons

Answer 28

Patterned ground formed through ice wedge action in permafrost regions

Question 29

Precambrian

Answer 29

First ~80% of Earth’s history (little life present)

Question 30

Radioactive decay

Answer 30

Spontaneous disintegration of a radioactive element (parent) to a different element/isotope (daughter), giving off energy in the process

Question 31

Radiogenic

Answer 31

Formed by radioactive processes

Question 32

Radiometric dating

Answer 32

Use of isotopes to provide absolute dates

Question 33

Relative date

Answer 33

How old something is in comparison to something else

Question 34

Snowball Earth

Answer 34

Theory that Earth was completely covered by ice

Question 35

Stone circles

Answer 35

Concentric circles of rock, created in permafrost regions

Question 36

Stratigraphy

Answer 36

Study of rock layers

Question 37

Talik

Answer 37

Area of unfrozen ground surrounded by permafrost

Question 38

Till

Answer 38

Glacial deposit

Question 39

Tuya

Answer 39

Volcano that erupted underneath a glacier but melted through ice

Question 40

Varves

Answer 40

Regular alternations in lake sediment layers

Question 41

Vesicularity

Answer 41

Amount of gas bubbles in magma/lava

Question 42

Volatiles

Answer 42

Volcanic gases

Question 43

Geologic calendar/timescale

Answer 43

Chronology of events on Earth based on obtaining ages of past events