Paleozoic Era

Question 1

At the beginning of the Paleozoic, six major continents were present. Besides these large landmasses, geologists have also identified numerous microcontinents such as?

Answer 1

Avalonia

Question 2

Six Paleozoic Continents

Answer 2

Gondwana
Laurentia
Baltica
Siberia
Kazakhstania
China

Question 3

What mobile belt was born with the subduction of the lapetus plate beneath Laurentia

Answer 3

Appalachian mobile belt

Question 4

What orogeny was the first of several orogenies to affect the Appalachian region

Answer 4

Taconic orogeny

Question 5

Baltica, along with the newly attached Avalonia moved northwestward relative to Laurentia and collided with it to form what supercontinent?

Answer 5

Laurasia

Question 6

A time marked by continental collisions, mountain building, fluctuating sea levels, and varied climates.

Answer 6

Late Paleozoic

Question 7

Period in which the southern Iapetus Ocean narrowed between Laurasia and Gondwana, mountain building continued along the eastern margin of Laurasia as a result of the Acadian orogeny.

Answer 7

The Devonian Period

Question 8

2 Orogeny Devonian Tectonic Eventa

Answer 8

Cordilleran Antler orogeny
Ellesmere orogeny

Question 9

Period in which the southern Gondwana moved over the South Pole, resulting in extensive continental glaciation.

Answer 9

The Carboniferous Period

Question 10

Period in which the assembly of PANGAEA was essentially completed as a result of the many continental collisions that began during the Carboniferous

Answer 10

Permian Period

Question 11

surrounded Pangaea and spanned Earth from pole to pole.

Answer 11

the Panthalassa

Question 12

At the beginning of the Paleozoic Era, animals with skeletons appeared rather abruptly in the fossil record. In fact, their appearance is described as an explosive development of new types of animals and is referred to as the?

Answer 12

Cambrian Explosion

Question 13

How many times Earth was glaciated by during the Proterozoic?

Answer 13

one or more

Question 14

Two major events in life history during the Early Cambrian

Answer 14

Skeletonized Fauna
Rapid Diversification

Question 15

4 advantages on an organism of a formation of an exoskeleton

Answer 15

Provides protection against ultraviolet radiation
Helps prevent drying out in an intertidal environment
Allows animals to increase their size
Provides protection against predators

Question 16

Scientists has a clear answer as to why marine organisms evolved mineralized skeletons during the Cambrian explosion and shortly thereafter.

True or False?

Answer 16

False (no clear answer)

Question 17

Organisms that live in the water column above the seafloor

Answer 17

pelagic

Question 18

2 Main Groups of Pelagic

Answer 18

plankton
nekton

Question 19

mostly passive and go where currents carry them.

Answer 19

Plankton

Question 20

Examples of Plant plankton

Answer 20

diatoms
dinoflagellates

Question 21

Animal plankton are also called?

Answer 21

zooplankton

Question 22

Examples of zooplankton

Answer 22

foraminifera
radiolarans
jellyfish

Question 23

Nekton are swimmers and mainly vertebrates such as?

Answer 23

Fish

Question 24

invertebrate nekton include?

Answer 24

cephalopods

Question 25

Organisms that live on or in the seafloor make up the ?

Answer 25

benthos

Question 27

epifauna; animals epiflora; ________

Answer 27

plants

Question 28

animals that live in and move through the sediments.

Answer 28

infauna

Question 29

The benthos are further divided into those organisms that stay in one place are called?

Answer 29

sessile

Question 30

those that move around on or in the seafloor are called?

Answer 30

mobile or vagrant

Question 31

4 Feeding Groups

Answer 31

Suspension-feeding herbivores carnivore-scavengers sediment-deposit feeders

Question 32

“The Age of the Invertebrates” “Golden Age of Trilobites”

Answer 32

Cambrian

Question 33

By far the most conspicuous element of the Cambrian marine invertebrate community and made up approximately half of the total fauna.

Answer 33

Trilobites

Question 34

Trilobites lived from the Early Cambrian until?

Answer 34

the end of permian

Question 35

mostly types called inarticulates. They secrete a chitinophosphate shell, composed of the organic compound chitin combined with calcium phosphate.

Answer 35

Brachiopods

Question 36

3rd major group of Cambrian organisms

Answer 36

Archaeocyathids

Question 37

Important fossil of the Paleozoic

Answer 37

Burgess Shale Biota

Question 38

Period in which the ff had their first appearances: - Nautiloids - Fungi appeared on land - First Non-vascular plants - Eureptyrids

Answer 38

Ordovician

Question 39

Characterized by the adaptive radiation of many other animal phyla

Answer 39

Ordovician

Question 40

The Ordovician was also a time of increased diversity and abundance of the?

Answer 40

acritarchs

Question 42

Excellent guide fossils during the Ordovician Period

Answer 42

Graptolites

Question 43

are a group of well-known, small, tooth-like fossils composed of the mineral apatite (calcium phosphate), the same mineral that composes bone.

Answer 43

Conodonts

Question 44

Is a common feature of the fossil record, and the rate of extinction through time has fluctuated only slightly.

Answer 44

Mass Extinction

Question 45

- First known major Mass Extinction - 2nd largest Mass Extinction - 85 % casualty on all Marine and Land Species - 60% of Marine invertebrates died including 2/3 of all brachiopods and bryozoans

Answer 45

Ordovician-Silurian (Hirtnanian-Rhuddanian) Mass Extinction

Question 46

a subclass of cephalopods, evolved from nautiloids during the Early Devonian and rapidly diversified.

Answer 46

Ammonoids

Question 47

The Late Devonian trackway that Swiss geologist __________discovered that year on Valentia Island, off the southwest coast of Ireland, has helped shed light on the early evolution of tetrapods.

Answer 47

Iwan Stössel

Question 48

tetra meaning in English

Answer 48

four

Question 49

podos meaning in English

Answer 49

foot

Question 50

is an animal that has, atleast during part of its life cycle, a notochord, a dorsal hollow nerve cord, and gill slits Vertebrates, which are animals with backbones.

Answer 50

Chordate (phylum Chordata)

Question 51

- Most primitive vertebrates - First appeared during the Silurian - Diversified during the Devonian

Answer 51

Fishes

Question 52

Age of Fishes

Answer 52

Devonian

Question 53

The oldest and most primitive of the class Agnatha

Answer 53

Ostracoderms