Mars Talk

Question 1

Where do Humans appear on the tree of life?

Answer 1

Eukaryota, under Animals

Question 2

What are the 3 Major Branches in the tree of life?

Answer 2

Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryota

Question 3

What are Stromatolites?

Answer 3

Bacterial Mats that trap sediments as the bacteria grows, one of the first known cellular lifeforms

Question 4

What does the Strelly Pool Chert show in microscopic examinations?

Answer 4

Cell division and organizing into chains

Question 5

What is the Cryptozoic Eon?

Answer 5

The Eon when life first began, used to be called Azoic Eon

Question 6

When did Life Originate?

Answer 6

Around 4.3 Ga ago

Question 7

What did the Miller Urey experiments yield?

Answer 7

The creation of the first 10 amino acids necessary for life. Demonstrated that abiotic processes could make the precursors of life.

Question 8

Where did Eukaryotes come from?

Answer 8

Evolved from Archaea and likely began as a symbiotic relationship between prokaryotes

Question 9

When did Metazoans appear?

Answer 9

570 Ma

Question 10

How many major extinction events are there?

Answer 10

5

Question 11

K-PG Extinction

Answer 11

The Extinction Event that killed the dinos

Question 12

Goal of the SETI project?

Answer 12

The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

Question 13

Mars Tectonics

Answer 13

Mars is not Tectonically Active

Question 14

Task of the Phoenix Mission?

Answer 14

To sample soil and ice in the polar regions, found ice and perchlorate rich soil (deadly to life)

Question 15

Opportunity Rover Mission Purpose?

Answer 15

To evaluate layered sediments and evidence of water on Mars

Question 16

What do the wave ripples in cross lamination imply?

Answer 16

Standing water or flowing water, no wind

Question 17

Water on mars

Answer 17

Possibly resulted from rain rather than impacts, lack of craters at tributary headwaters support this

Question 18

Eberswalde

Answer 18

Crater above Holden that was probably a lake

Question 19

Martian Delta Lobes

Answer 19

Complex, we can use sedimentology to estimate how long the lobes were deposited over (several 1000 years)