Unit 2 Vocab

Question 1

Autotroph

Answer 1

an organism that can produce its own food, typically from sunlight

Question 2

Bioclastic

Answer 2

organically derived sedimentary rock, often with shell pieces

Question 3

Cambrian Explosion

Answer 3

542 million years ago classified by an dramatic biodiversity of multicellular life in the rock record

Question 4

Cross Cutting Relationships

Answer 4

law of rock strata that states any change to a layer has to be newer than the layer it changed

Question 5

Clastic

Answer 5

sedimentary rock cemented together with distinctive grain sizes

Question 6

Cyanobacteria

Answer 6

first fossilized life on earth from which is credited for introducing oxygen to the oceans and eventually the atmosphere

Question 7

Erosion

Answer 7

the movement of Earth materials from natural forces such as wind or water

Question 8

Index Fossil

Answer 8

a fossil that has a wide geographic distribution but lived for a short period of time that works as a good geologic time marker

Question 8

Eukaryote

Answer 8

organism with a clearly defined nucleus

Question 9

Evaporite

Answer 9

sedimentary rock formed by evaporating sea water

Question 10

Fossil

Answer 10

any imprint of ancient life solidified in sedimentary rock

Question 11

Glaciation

Answer 11

when land is covered by ice sheets

Question 12

Isotope

Answer 12

a variation of an element with extra nuclei creating a different atomic mass

Question 12

Orogeny

Answer 12

a mountain building event such as collision of two plates causing uplift to a region

Question 13

Mass extinction

Answer 13

a geohistorical event where more than 50% of life on Earth is eliminated

Question 14

Ozone

Answer 14

three oxygen atoms that congregate in the stratosphere

Question 15

Pangea

Answer 15

supercontinent from 220 million years ago

Question 16

Sedimentary Rock

Answer 16

formed from pre-existing rocks or pieces of once living organisms

Question 16

Unconformity

Answer 16

a missing rock layer from uplift, weathering, and erosion

Question 16

Prokaryote

Answer 16

organism that lacks a nucleus

Question 16

Strata

Answer 16

rock layer that originates horizontally

Question 17

Uplift

Answer 17

the rising of land masses from geophysical forces such as colliding plates

Question 17

Stratosphere

Answer 17

layer of Earth’s atmosphere above the troposphere that contains ozone

Question 17

Superposition

Answer 17

law of rock strata which stats that the oldest rock layers or strata are on the bottom of new layers if undisturbed