Week 2 (Slide 13-15) Flashcards
True or False
If planetary history were compressed into one calendar year, modern human history would span several months.
False – Modern humans appear very late on New Year’s Eve at 11:35 PM, emphasizing how brief human history is compared to Earth’s geological timescale.
Explain why compressing planetary history into a “calendar year” helps us understand the difference between human history and “Deep Time.”
Compressing planetary history into a calendar year highlights the vastness of geological time and shows that human history occupies only a tiny fraction of Earth’s history.
This perspective underscores how recent humans are in comparison to major events like the appearance of life, the rise and extinction of dinosaurs, and the formation of continents, helping us appreciate our brief impact on the planet.
Why is it significant that the pyramids were built only “25 seconds to midnight” on this planetary calendar?
This illustrates that human civilization and major achievements like the pyramids are extremely recent in the context of Earth’s history, emphasizing the brevity of human impact relative to the planet’s long geological timescale.
Match Each Event with Its Corresponding “Calendar Year” Date
- Formation of Earth
- First four-legged animals appear
- Dinosaurs go extinct
- Modern humans appear
- Pyramids are built
- Multicellular life appears
- First mammals appear
Options:
A) January 1
B) December 1
C) Boxing Day (December 26)
D) 11:35 PM on New Year’s Eve
E) 25 seconds to midnight on New Year’s Eve
F) Mid-November
G) December 15
- Formation of Earth = A) January 1
- First four-legged animals appear = B) December 1
- Dinosaurs go extinct = C) Boxing Day (December 26)
- Modern humans appear = D) 11:35PM New Year’s Eve
- Pyramids are built = E) 25 seconds to midnight on New Year’s Eve
- Multicellular life appears = F) Mid-November
- First mammals appear = G) December 15
What layer do Earth’s tectonic plates “float” on?
A) The outer core
B) The crust
C) The mantle
D) The lithosphere
C
True or False: Plate tectonics was fully understood and accepted before the 20th century.
False – Plate tectonics became widely accepted in the 20th century after fossil evidence and geological mapping supported the theory.
Explain how fossil evidence supports the existence and movement of tectonic plates.
Fossil evidence shows that identical species existed on continents now separated by oceans, suggesting these continents were once connected and moved apart due to tectonic plate movement.
Match each term with its description:
- Mantle
- Tectonic Plates
- Geological Mapping
- Fossil Evidence
A) Supports the theory of continental drift and the movement of plates.
B) Semi-fluid layer beneath Earth’s crust that allows plates to move.
C) Used in the 20th century to identify the boundaries and interactions of plates.
D) Large pieces of Earth’s crust that “float” on the mantle.
1 - B
2 - D
3 - C
4 - A
Who provided some of the earliest evidence for continental drift by observing similar fossils on different continents?
A) Charles Darwin
B) Alfred Wegener
C) Isaac Newton
D) Marie Curie
B
How many mass extinction events have occurred throughout Earth’s history, and what is believed to have caused four of them?
A) Four mass extinctions, all caused by asteroid impacts
B) Five mass extinctions, four likely caused by geological phenomena
C) Six mass extinctions, with no known causes
D) Five mass extinctions, all caused by volcanic activity
B
What is the probable cause of the fifth mass extinction that is not attributed to geological phenomena?
The fifth mass extinction, the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction (which wiped out the dinosaurs), is widely believed to have been caused by an asteroid impact rather than geological processes.
