paleontology Flashcards
Lithosphere
the solid, outer part of Earth
Asthenosphere
the upper layer of the earth’s mantle,
Mesosphere
a layer of Earth’s atmosphere.
Inner Core
a hot, dense ball of (mostly) iron
Outer Core
mostly composed of liquid iron and nickel
Seismic Waves
an elastic wave in the earth produced by an earthquake or other means.
Oceanic Crust
the outermost layer of Earth’s lithosphere that is found under the oceans and formed at spreading centres on oceanic ridges, which occur at divergent plate boundaries.
Continental Crust
Continental crust is the layer of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks that forms the geological continents and the areas of shallow seabed close to their shores, known as continental shelves.
Density
the. amount of matter
Alfred Wegener
Alfred Lothar Wegener was a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher
Continental Drift
one of the earliest ways geologists thought continents moved over time.
Convergent Boundary
A convergent boundary is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other
Divergent Boundary
In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary or divergent plate boundary is a linear feature that exists between two tectonic plates that are moving away from each other. Divergent boundaries within continents initially produce rifts, which eventually become rift valleys.
Transform Boundary
The transform plate boundary is a broad zone forming as the Pacific Plate slides northwestward past the North American Plate.
Sea-floor Spreading
a geologic process in which tectonic plates—large slabs of Earth’s lithosphere—split apart from each other
Pangaea
the continent we now know as North America was contiguous with Africa, South America, and Europe.
Laurasia
one of the two ancient supercontinents produced by the first split of the even larger supercontinent Pangaea about 200 million years ago,
Gondwana
Gondwana was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago)
Mesosaurus
Mesosaurus is an extinct genus of reptile from the Early Permian of southern Africa and South America. Along with it, the genera Brazilosaurus and Stereosternum, it is a member of the family Mesosauridae and the order Mesosauria.
Glossopteris
Glossopteris [etymology: from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα + πτερίς ] is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales. The genus Glossopteris refers only to leaves, within a framework of form genera used in paleobotany.
