Lesson 12: Dinosaur Extinction Flashcards
Species that are still present today are called
__ species. Species whose members have
all died off are called __species
extant, extinct
When such a sudden and global loss of
species occurs, it is called a
mass extinction event
The End Ordovician mass
extinction affected
only marine organisms, but
at that time terrestrial organisms had only just
begun to evolve.
The Late Devonian mass
extinction was largely limited to
marine
organisms, including some early vertebrate
clades
Permian mass extinction saw the largest loss of
diversity in all of Earth’s history. Marine
invertebrates were decimated, and this was the largest mass extinction of __. On land, the
__were hard hit, as were the __
insects, synapsids, anapsids
The End Triassic mass extinction saw the extinction of
most lineages of pseudosuchian archosaurs, as
well as many of the synapsids that had survived
the End Permian extinction, and also affected
marine life.
The last of the “Big 5” extinctions was the End
Cretaceous. The End-Cretaceous Extinction
event occurred roughly __ and
killed all __
66 million years ago, non-avian dinosaurs
Iridium is a
rare element on earth, but it is a common
component of meteorites.
Tektites are
tiny pieces of rock that have
been melted and then cooled.
Shocked quartz
is a
form of the mineral quartz with a unique
internal structure that can only be created by
exposure to a powerful shockwave, like those
created by a nuclear explosion or a meteorite
impact.
cenotes
limestone sinkholes.
The current prevailing theory for the cause of
the End-Cretaceous extinction
Without a doubt, a very large meteorite struck
the Earth in the Yucatan peninsula at about the
same time we see a mass extinction in the fossil
record.
