Unit Two- History of the Earth

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 having shell pieces

Question 3

Cambrain Explosion

Answer 3

542 million years ago, classified by a dramatic biodiversity of multicelular life in the rock record.

Question 4

Clastic

Answer 4

A sedimentary rock cemented together with distinct grain sizes

Question 5

Cross Cutting Relationships

Answer 5

Law of Rock strata that states any change to a layer has to be newer than the layer it changed.

Question 6

Cyanobacteria

Answer 6

the first fossilized life on earth, credited with introducing oxygen to the water and eventually the atmosphere/air.

Question 7

Erosion

Answer 7

The movement of earth materials from natural forces such as water or wind

Question 8

Eukaryote

Answer 8

A cell with a clearly defined nucleus

Question 9

Evaporite

Answer 9

A sedimentary rock formed by evaporating seawater

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

Index Fossil

Answer 12

A fossil with a wide geographic distribution that lived for a relatively short period of time. Works well as a geo time marker

Question 13

Isotope

Answer 13

variation of an element with extra nuclei, creating a differnet atomic mass

Question 14

Mass extinction

Answer 14

a geohistorical event where more than 50% of all life on earth is wiped out.

Question 15

Orogeny

Answer 15

A mountain building event, such as a collision of two plated, causing uplift in the region

Question 16

Ozone

Answer 16

Three oxygen atoms that congregate in the stratosphere

Question 17

Pangea

Answer 17

The supercontinent from 220 million years ago

Question 18

Prokaryote

Answer 18

A cell with no nucleus/ that lack a nucleus

Question 19

Sedimentary Rock

Answer 19

rock formed from preexisting sediment, or pieces of once living organisms

Question 20

Strata

Answer 20

rock layer that forms horizontally

Question 21

Stratosphere

Answer 21

A layer of the atmosphere above the troposphere that contains ozone

Question 22

Superposition

Answer 22

a law of rock strata that states oldest rock layers/strata are at the bottom of new layers if undisturbed

Question 23

Unconformity

Answer 23

A missing rock layer from uplift, weathering, and erosion

Question 24

Uplift

Answer 24

The rising of land masses/ rock from geophysical forces such as colliding plates