TopHat Questions Flashcards
Name the layers of the Earth from centre to surface
- inner core, outer core, mantle, lithosphere
What is the best definition of a tectonic plate?
- the solid, brittle rocks that make up the continents and the seafloor
What type of plate boundary exists between the Arabian and the Eurasian plate?
- convergent
What type of plate boundary exists in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (between the Nazca and the Pacific plates)?
- divergent
What is causing lithospheric plates to move over time?
- convection in the mantle
When oceanic crust and continental crust collide, ___ tends to be subducted under ____.
- higher density oceanic crust
- less dense continental crust
What types of rocks are dinosaurs generally preserved in?
- classic sedimentary
During which eon did dinosaurs live?
- phanerozoic
During which era did dinosaurs live?
- mesozoic
During which periods did the dinosaurs live?
- triassic
- cretaceous
- jurassic
Which region of Canada preserves the richest deposits of dinosaur fossils?
- The Western Interior Canadian Basin
Why don’t the rocks along the east coast of Canada contain dinosaurs?
- they are too old
What can paleontologists infer when they see mutually aligned bones?
- the flowing water likely reorientated the bones into the path of least resistance
If you discover a bonebed where the bones occur in multiple sedimentary layers and are stacked vertically, what does this imply?
- that the bonebed does not represent a single event, but accumulation over a long period of time.
If all of the dinosaurs in a bonebed were particularly articulated or associated, what could you infer?
- that the bones were transported short distances and were buried shortly after death
In a bonebed, you discover 17 toe bones, 29 ribs, 5 nasal horns, and 51 vertebrae. What is the minimum number of dinosaurs present in the bonebed?
- 5
Which dinosaur made the trackway in class?
- Ornithopod
What is stride length
- the distance between two consecutive left footprints
- the distance between two consecutive right footprints
Of the dinosaurs we estimated speeds for in class, which one moved the fastest?
- Ornithomimid
Which layers move during plate tectonics?
- continental and oceanic crust + rigid upper mantle
What type of plate boundary exists between Indian-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate?
- convergent
What type of plate boundary exists between the Antartic plate and the Indian-Australian plate?
- divergent
Why were sea levels high during the cretaceous?
- it was very warm so no water was stored in ice sheets
- it was very warm so sea water took up more space
How many years ago did dinosaurs roam the Earth?
- 163 million years ago
