Week 1-2, Introduction

Question 1

Are the dinosaurs extinct?

Answer 1

No! We have birds

Question 2

Where did the dinosaurs live?

Answer 2

Everywhere! Fossils can be found on every continent in the world.

Question 3

Are all prehistoric creatures dinosaurs?

Answer 3

No.

Question 4

Non Avian dinosaur

Answer 4

Dinosaur

Question 5

Avian dinosaur

Answer 5

Bird

Question 6

Is Archaeopteryx a bird or a dinosaur?

Answer 6

Both!

• Transitional form between bird and dinosaur, a “missing link”
• Feathers and wings like a bird, may not have been able to fly
• Boney tail and teeth like a dinosaur

Question 7

Dinosaurs are continental terrestrial… what dinosaur is a good example of this?

Answer 7

they lived on land but they can swim, the spinosaurus is a good example of this as it has adaptations for swimming that are similar to a crocodile.

Question 8

Palaeontology is ____ and always _____

Answer 8

Palaeontology is complex and always changing.

Question 9

Tectonic Theory

Answer 9

Alfred Wegener–> Pangea

The earth’s lithosphere is broken into plates. These plates are constantly being rearranged so the configuration of continents has changed over time.

There are 12major lithospheric plates.

Plates move relative to one another because the Earth is slowly cooling.

Question 10

The earth’s inner core is ____ and the outer core is ____.

Answer 10

The earth’s inner core is solid and the outer core is liquid.

Question 11

The earth’s mantle is made up of ____ rock.

Answer 11

The earth’s mantle is made up of flowing rock.

Question 12

How does the mantle flow?

Answer 12

It convects due to the heat from earth’s hot core.

Question 13

Lithosphere

Answer 13

Brittle crust and brittle upper mantle. Because these components are cooler they are solid and brittle, as a result they are pulled along by the flowing, convecting mantle.

Question 14

Plate Boundary

Answer 14

Place where two plates meet, can result in volcanism, trenches, mid ocean ridges, and earthquakes.

Question 15

Divergent Boundaries

Answer 15

A plate boundary where two plates are moving AWAY from each other.

This produces a spreading centre, magma rises from below to create new sea floor, we call this a mid-ocean ridge.

Question 16

Transform Boundaries

Answer 16

A plate boundary where to plates are sliding past each other, or side to side relative to each other.

Sometimes these connect sections of mid ocean ridges.
Transform boundaries give us mid to large earthquakes as they relieve the tension that builds up between the plates.

Question 17

Convergent Boundaries

Answer 17

A plate boundary where two plates are moving TOWARD each other.
—->

Question 18

Geologic ____ are concentrated around plate boundaries.

Answer 18

Geologic hazards are concentrated around plate boundaries.

Question 19

Fossil Evidence in support of the tectonic theory:

Answer 19

Organisms such as the mesosaurus or the glossopteris could not have crossed an ocean and yet we find them on multiple continents that are separated by oceans. One way for our finding their fossils across multiple continents is if these continents were once connected.

Question 20

Geologic Evidence in support of the tectonic theory:

Answer 20

Rocks of the same types and ages match between continents.

Question 21

Through which eras did we not only see the age of dinosaurs, but we also saw ice sheets melting in the south pole, flooding, and the breaking up of pangea?

Answer 21

Jurassic through cretaceous

Question 22

Laurasia and Gondwana

Answer 22

2 smaller super continents that existed during the late jurassic period as pangea was breaking up.

Question 23

Did the existence of pangea affect climate?

Answer 23

Yes, as continents reorganized environmental conditions changed over time. Because the interior of the continent was dry is heated up easily and experienced more intense temperature swings, like how Calgary is cold in the winters and hot in the summer. The coasts of the continent would have been wet and therefore experienced milder weather as it takes more energy to heat up water, like Vancouver. Such conditions were amplified due to how large pangea was!

Question 24

How can we know about climate during the jurassic and cretaceous periods?

Answer 24

• salt deposits formed in lakes and restricted seaways that experienced more evaporation than freshwater influx, as water evaporated we would get crystals.
• coals were discovered in the warm and wet coastal swamps near the equator, this happens when vegetation falls into stagnant pools of water and does not break down. It is buried, compressed, and turned to coal.
• glacial till tells us an area was once glaciated.

Question 25

As pangea breaks up temperature swings become

Answer 25

less extreme, climates warm up. The temperature gradient between the equator and the poles is also less extreme.