GES1102 Intro to Historical Geology Final Exam Study Guide
"Snowball Earth" was a time when glaciers covered most of our planet, possibly including the equator. When did this happen?
the late Proterozoic (~800 million years ago)
What kind of information is not used to create a family tree?
the lifestyle and overall body form
Diversity is:
the number of kinds of things (e.g. number of species present)
The subatomic properties that determine if an isotope is stable or unstable are related to:
the number of neutrons in the nucleus
What features of a chemical element defines its primary atomic properties (e.g. C-carbon)?
the number of protons in its nucleus
The Wilson Cycle is:
the opening and closing of ocean basins by plate tectonic activities
The Principle of Uniformitarianism can be summarized as follows:
the present is the key to the past
Which of these is a line of evidence that supports the idea that dinosaurs were warm-blooded:
the ratio of the number of carnivores to herbivores
Which of these was not a trend in early mammal evolution?
the splaying (spreading) of the legs away from the body
Which one of the following statements about the processes and steps toward the origin of life is False?
the steps are preserved in the rock record
When the concentration of greenhouse gases (methane and carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere increases, what happens to the overall temperature of the planet.
the temperature increases (warms)
What is a radiometric half-life?
the time it takes for one-half of the number of unstable isotopes to change to its daughter form
The group of diverse diapsids, present in the early Mesozoic before the dinosaurs are collectively known as:
thecodonts
What is the unifying theory of the science of biology?
theory of evolution
What are these early Mesozoic animals?
therapsids - mammal ancestors
A mass extinction is defined as "a short time interval with a marked increase in the number of extinctions relative to expected background extinction rates". How are these values quantified?
there are no set values, it is open for interpretation
Which statement about the rocks in Boone (downtown) is true?
they are one billion years old and are the roots of a long eroded mountain chain
Geologists of the 1800s calculated that the age of the Earth was 100 my using various "age = accumulation/rate" calculations. Why didn't they get an age of ~4 billion of years"?
they correctly calculated for one cycle, they did not understand that there were many iterations
What features indicate that dinosaurs were warm-blooded?
they had porous bones and could live at high latitudes
An unconformity represents:
times of erosion or non-deposition
Which major groups of organisms went extinct at the end Permian (Paleoizoic) Mass Extinction?
trilobites, major groups of corals, brachiopods, crinoids and bryozoans
Each continent has grown in size over the past 2.5 billion years.
true
True or False? An extinction is defined as the event at which the last individuals of a genetic lineage die out.
true
True or False? There is a group of mammals in Australia that lay eggs.
true
What was the key innovation that allowed for plants to first diversify and dominate the land?
vascular tissue
What is the primary geologic source of greenhouse gasses.
volcanoes and volcanic events
For resources required to support our society (way of life), if the raw materials can not be grown . . .
we must mine it from the Earth
What was the Great North America - South America Exchange?
when mammals, isolated for 10s of millions of years crossed a new land bridge at Panama
Late Proterozoic Ediacaran fauna (large multicellular organisms) can be found:
world wide when rocks of the right age and environment are present
The Principle of Cross Cutting Relationships states that a geologic structure is __________ than anything that it cuts across.
younger
Match the two crust types with their properties.
"basalt" composition: oceanic crust "granite" composition: continental crust relatively thin: oceanic crust relatively thick: continental crust relatively more dense: oceanic crust relatively lighter: continental crust is recycled though subduction: oceanic crust is never subducted (recycled): continental crust
5) Match the percentage of parents with the number of half-lives
100% Parent - 0 half lives 50% Parent - one half life 25% Parent - two half lives 12.5% Parent - 3 half lives 75% Parent - 1/2 of a half-life
Given a rock that contains a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 500 years; that contains 25% parent and 75% daughter isotopes, what is the age of the rock?
1000 years
According to our understanding of observable physical properties of the universe, when did the 'Big Bang', origin of the Universe, occur?
13.7 billion years ago
Place these Eons in the correct sequence from 1=oldest to 4=youngest.
4. Youngest = Phanerozoic 3. Second youngest = Proterozoic 2. Second oldest = Archean 1. Oldest = Hadean
The Solar System began to form about:
5 billion years ago
Given a rock that contains a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 1,000 years; that contains 75% parent and 25% daughter isotopes (has experienced one-half of a half-life), what is the age of the rock?
500 years
Match the name of the dinosaur hip structure with the correct form (letter).
A - saurichia B - ornithischia
The Cambrian Explosion was:
A rapid biological radiation that accounts for most known phyla
When a supercontinent breaks up, what do we see besides the thinning of the crust?
A series of long linear basins that parallel the continental margin.
We know that the early (2nd) atmosphere from volcanic degassing was oxygen poor because:
All of the iron (Fe) from this time is black
Which statements about the oceanic crust is(are) true? Oceanic crust is thinner than continental crust. Oceanic crust is more dense than continental crust. Oceanic crust has an average composition of basalt (mafic) All of these statements are correct.
All of these statements are correct.
28) Which of the following statements about radioactivity is/are true? - different types of radioactivity pose different levels of health threat to living organisms - some radioactivity occurs in a single step, others require multiple steps - radioactivity is a combination of energy waves and fast moving subatomic particles - radioactivity is a by production of an unstable parent isotope changing to a stable daughter isotope - All of these statement are true
All of these statements are true
A convergent plate boundary with Ocean & Continental crust will produce a tectonic setting similar to the:
Andean Mountains in South America
Match the image with the correct name
Ankylosaur
The Earth's moon likely formed:
As the result of a catastrophic collision between a planet-sized body and the earth.
Which of the following statements about Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) is true:
BIFs are an indirect indicator of free Oxygen in the atmosphere
Boone, North Carolina is located in which geologic Province?
Blue Ridge
Match the Geologic Province with its rock types, deformation and age.
Blue Ridge: Precambrian metamorphic rocks Valley and Ridge: Folded & faulted Paleozoic sediments Coastal Plain: Undeformed Mesozoic & Cenozoic sediments Piedmont: metamorphosed & folded Paleozoic rocks and igneous intrusions
What features(s) give a mineral its observable physical properties?
Both composition and the internal arrangement of atoms
Why do organisms continue to evolved? Why don't they just become "the fittest" and then stay that way? A. Because the environment is dynamic and continuously changes. B. Because they interact with and respond to other organisms that are also evolving.
Both statements are correct
The basic elements for life as we know it are:
C H O N
In which geologic time period did most animal phyla appear for the first time?
Cambrian
Match the age with the Era boundaries.
Cenozoic - Paleozoic boundary: there is no such boundary Mesozoic-Cenozoic boundary: 66 million years Paleozoic-Mesozoic boundary: 252 million years Precambrian-Paleozoic boundary: 541 million years
Match the image with the correct name
Ceratopsian
Terrestrial (rocky) planets in the solar system all share the following property or properties: A. They are all closer to the sun than Jovian (gaseous) planets. B. They are small relative to Jovian (gaseous) planets. C. They all revolve around the sun counter clockwise D. All of these statements are correct
D. All of these statements are correct
Which of the following statements about the Universe is/are true? A. The universe is continuing to expand B. By volume, most of the universe is composed of empty space C. Matter in the universe is clumped, i.e. not randomly distributed D. All of these statements are correct
D. All of these statements are correct
Which of the following are potential causes of mass extinctions: A. global climate change or meteor impact B. global sea level change or increased volcanic activity C. change in the worlds ocean circulation and chemistry D. all of these events are possible causes
D. all of these events are possible causes
Grass and grasslands first appeared when?
Early Cenozoic (40 my)
Which one of these is not an observable physical property of minerals?
Electrical conductivity
The Mesozoic is which unit of geologic time?
Era
(2) In science, which plays the most important role:
Evidence that can be witnessed by anyone who wishes to observe.
An example of the Principle of Uniformitarianism would be if you stood on one side of the Grand Canyon and could recognize a prominent rock unit (say a red, cliff forming sandstone) across to both sides.
False
In Darwin's four-point explanation of biological evolution through natural selection, was this phrase included? Yes=True, No=False (no tricky tricks here, i.e, no single word substitutions) "... only the strongest individuals will survive."
False
In Darwins four-point explanation of biological evolution through natural selection, was this phrase included? Yes=True, No=False (no tricky tricks here, i.e, no single word substitutions)
False
In a given ocean basin, the age of the ocean crust is fairly random (patches of different aged rock scattered across the basin in no real pattern).
False
In the punctuated equilibrium model of speciation, species transform gradually from ancestral species to descendent species.
False
True or False - All life went extinct on Earth during the Snowball Earth, when we were nearly cover by glaciers for millions of years?
False
True or False. Planets were formed outside of the Solar system and were added to the Solar system one at a time as the were captured by the Sun's gravity.
False
True or False? Atomic Mass is calculated by adding up the number of protons, neutrons and electrons in a single atom.
False
True or False? During the first half of the Earth's history (3.8 to 1.5 billion years ago), life was dominated by worm-like animals, each about the length of your fingernail.
False
True or False? Mammals were able to dominate and over take dinosaurs by out competing them.
False
True or False? Prior to the Paleozoic, the land surface of the Earth looked surprising like it does today.
False
True or False? Science allow for us to have a very stable world view (for example, our ideas about the origin and age of the Earth have not changed much over last 2,000 years).
False
True or False? The idea that an asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous contributed to a mass extinction is an interesting hypothesis, but there is little empirical evidence for such an event.
False
True or False? The most common method for dating a dinosaur (Mesozoic 65-240 million yrs ago) fossils is Carbon 14.
False
True or False? The most important idea in Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection is: "the ability of individual organisms to adapt to their environment".
False
True or False? The properties of ocean currents do not affect the climate on land.
False
True or False? Whales and their close relatives evolved independently from all other mammals and have their origin in the Mesozoic.
False
True or false. During the late Mesozoic (Cretaceous), sea level was so high that the beach was located at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains (e.g. Lenoir or Wilksboro) and it deposited marine sediments like limestone.
False
Yes (true) or No (false)? Using a definition of life that includes (use of energy, self regulation, response to stimuli, development and growth, reproduction), have we created artificial life, e.g. robot or android with artificial intelligence?
False
Minerals rich in Aluminum (Al), Silicon (Si) and Potassium (K) are known as what kind of mineral.
Felsic
In pop culture, which show practices the methods most similar to those of Historical Geology?
Forensics crime shows where detectives use clues to solve a murder.
How was Snowball Earth broken? What caused it to begin to melt and continue to return to normal conditions?
Greenhouse gasses continued to be released by volcanos under the ice.
What are two features that are unique to mammals?
Hair/fur and lactation/milk
On what criteria did Bowen select his elements for his experiment in mineral crystalization?
He tried to replicate the average composition of the Earth's crust.
When comparing the two end members of hypothetical methods for speciation, which of these is not a factor in the two proposals?
How similar similar in appearance the descendant form is to its ancestral form (similar vs. different)
Where did/do elements heavier than Hydrogen and Helium originate in the universe?
In the center a stars and as some become super nova.
What elements do mafic minerals have?
Iron (Fe) and Magnesium (Mg)
Which statement about the volume of water (solid, liquid and vapor) in the hydrosphere is true?
It has remained relatively constant since it originally formed in the Hadean.
What is/are the primary criteria for the adoption of a new scientific theory?
It is the one with the most predictive value (most useful/profitable in application)
Which TWO of the following items could be dated using Carbon 14 methods? (assuming that all were equally well preserved)
Kernel of corn in a 1,200 year old storage jar. Piece of 600 year old cotton cloth in a from a mummy in the Andes.
When did the first dinosaurs appear?
Late Triassic
About when did animals and plants first start to live on land?
Middle Paleozoic (Silurian-Devonian)
Match the correct condition to the indicated key interval of geologic time.
Modern Day - high diversity, high disparity end of the Cambrian Explosion: low diversity, high disparity end of the proterozoic: low diversity, low disparity
Which best characterizes our Solar System?
Most planets rotate and revolve counterclockwise around the Sun & in the same plane.
In the 1800s, geologist knew that the Earth must be much older than 6,000 years because:
Observed rates of sedimentation and erosion called for much more time to have passed.
Match the image with the correct name
Ornithopod
Why might the Snowball Earth have formed?
Oxygen from cyanobacteria began to accumulate rapidly (geologic time) in the atmosphere, disrupting the existing ratio of greenhouse gasses.
The largest mass extinction in the history of the Earth occurred at the end of the:
Permian (Paleozoic)
For the process and pattern of speciation, what are the two end-member models that have been proposed?
Phyletic gradualism & punctuated equilibrium
What is the unifying theory for the discipline of Geology?
Plate tectonics
Match the property with its cooling rate.
Plutonic rock: slow cooling Volcanic rock: fast cooling Small crystals: fast cooling Large crystals: slow cooling Rhyolite, Andesite, and Basalt: fast cooling Granite, Diorite, and Gabbro: slow cooling
Match Examples with their Stratigraphic Principle.
Principle of Original Horizontality: rock beds that are now at an angle experience some deformation Principle of Inclusion of Components: fragments in a sedimentary rock were derived from an even older rock
Match Examples with their Stratigraphic Principle.
Principle of Superposition: oldest rocks are on the bottom Principle of Cross Cutting Relationships: an igneous intrusion is younger than the rocks it intrudes
Which of these is not an Era of the Phanerozoic?
Proterozoic
Which one of these is not one of the three domains of life?
Protozoa
Which of these patterns of evolution does this diagram represent?
Punctuated equilibrium
Which statement is true?
Rocks are compounds made out of minerals.
Match the image with the correct name
Saurian hip structure
Match the image with the correct name
Sauropod
After the Ediacaran fauna, but before the Cambrian Explosion, animal life on Earth was represented by small unusual ancestors to animals that had skeletons. What are these called?
Small Shelly Fauna
The original (first) atmosphere present when the Earth was formed was much different than today's atmosphere. What happened?
The Solar wind "blew away" the original atmosphere into space.
The dinosaur clade is defined as:
The common ancestor of a house sparrow & a triceratops and all of its descendants.
Why do we say that our Eukaryotic cells look like a "colony" of bacteria?
The merger of bacteria cells to form a eukaryotic one means that our cell nucleus and organelles have different DNA
Which of the following statements about oxygen in the atmosphere is not true?
The primary source oxygen in our atmosphere was from volcanic outgassing.
Convergent plate boundaries are additionally classified based on:
The types of crust involved on both sides of the boundary.
How did Continents grow larger in size through time?
They never go down subduction zones, so they eventually collide and stick together.
16) True or False? There is a block of the ancient African continent underneath part of the Carolina Coastal Plain.
True
At the end of the Paleozoic all of the continents were together in a single super-continent called Pangea.
True
In Darwins four-point explanation of biological evolution through natural selection, was this phrase included? Yes=True, No=False (no tricky tricks here, i.e, no single word substitutions) "More individuals are produced than can survive"
True
In this example not all of the species within the three classes of organism represented go extinct. Could the red bar still be considered a "mass extinction?" (Yes = True; No = False)
True
Many, if not most, mammal lineages have at one time evolved exceptionally large representatives.
True
Some minerals have economic value not because they are especially rare, or because they are used in manufacturing, but simply because we find them attractive and esthetically pleasing.
True
True or False - From a clastic wedge you can determine both the location of an ancient mountain range and estimate the height of the mountains, even if the mountains have been eroded away.
True
True or False. We are currently about 1/2 way through a Wilson Cycle and can expect the next supercontinent to form in a couple of hundred million years.
True
True or False? A scientific theory is an explanation for a set of observations that has the greatest predictive value.
True
True or False? Amino acids and complex organic molecules (petroleum-like) have been found in extraterrestrial bodies such as comets and meteors.
True
True or False? Animal embryos (multicellular eukaryotes) are preserved in Proterozoic rocks ~600 my old.
True
True or False? Birds belong to the dinosaur clade.
True
True or False? Continents have continued to increase in size since the Archean.
True
True or False? Having members of a society that understand the importance of the application of the theory of evolution through natural selection is essential to maintaining our standard of living (food, health, energy).
True
True or False? Many Ediacaran organisms are so unusual that we do not even know what phylum they belong to.
True
True or False? Mass extinctions shows us that evolution must work at two levels, background natural selection (fitness and specialization) and random events millions of years apart that favor generalist lifestyles.
True
True or False? The dinosaur clade is not extinct. Living birds are avian dinosaurs.
True
True or False? The mammal clade and dinosaur clade originated at about the same time and have coexisted through to today.
True
True or False? Whales and their relatives like dolphins evolved from land dwelling mammals.
True
True or false. The taste of a mineral can be a distinctive physical property to allow for its identification.
True
We know that our Solar system originated from a second generation nebulae (gas & dust cloud) because:
We have an abundance of elements heavier than Hydrogen and Helium in the system
The North American tectonic plate consists of which type of crust?
a combination of oceanic and continental crust
Which TWO of the following examples should you avoid, if you wish to determine the time at which a granite formed?
a granite located in a soil that is weathered & a granite that has experienced metamorphism
Which one of these is not part of our example of a simplified niche?
a kind fo skeleton (locomotion)
The Theory of Continental Drift was originally rejected because:
a mechanism could not be provided to explain how the continents moved
A pegmatite, igneous rock with very large crystals, forms when:
a melt is deeply buried and cools very slowly
In evolution, a key innovation is
a new characteristic that allows an organism to a lifestyle significantly different from its ancestors.
The Atlantic Coast of North America is currently a(n):
a passive continental margin
The Atlantic Coast of North America is currently:
a passive continental margin
If an igneous rock forms from lava that cooled extremely quickly, the results will be:
a rock with no crystals (glass)
Gondwana was/were:
a supercontinent in the southern hemisphere at the end of the Paleozoic
The first crust to form after the Earth cooled was:
all basalt (oceanic crust)
Which one of these is not a requirement for an event to be considered a mass extinction.
all members of major groups must be removed
Which of these is an example of biological evolution (changes in populations) over historical times? - development of new dog breeds through artificial selection - development of antibiotic resistant microbes - strains of insects that are no longer affected by older chemical pesticides - all of these are examples of biological evolution
all of these are examples of biological evolution
Which of these was/were supporting evidence for Wegner's idea of continental drift (based on Gondwana)? distribution of fossil plant species distribution of modern animal species distribution of freshwater fossil animal species similar succession of rock types of the same age on different continents alignment of ancient mountain ranges and mineral deposits across continents distribution of ancient glacial deposits of the same age across continents
all of these observations were supporting evidence for continental drift
Which one of these organism does not have eukaryotic cells? carrot (plant) mushroom (fungus) cat (animal) amoeba (single celled protist
all of these organisms are Eukaryotes
How do microbes (e.g. staphlococcos, salmonella, cholera, E. coli, gonorhea, and tuberculosis) become resistant to antibiotics? - too frequently taken - not taken properly - over a long interval of time
all of these statements are true
The Earth's second atmosphere that degassed from volcanoes contained:
almost no oxygen
In a cross section through an animals, match the stance (leg position) with the animal group. A - short, upside down L B - medium sized, slightly bent C - tall, long
amphibian - A reptile - B dinosaur & mammal - C
After a mass extinction, we would expect to see:
an adaptive radiation
At the end of the Mesozoic mammals were small, generalists that looked like a shrew. After the end Mesozoic mass extinction mammals had rapidly evolved into most known major groups within 15 million years. This is an excellent example of:
an adaptive radiation
The lappets was:
an ocean during the Paleozoic in the present position of the Atlantic
The dominant mammal group today is the placentals. What is a placenta?
an organ in the uterus of some pregnant mammals, that nourishes the fetus.
What fundamental kind (source) of data was added to the idea of continental drift after World War II to allow for the development and acceptance of the Theory of Plate Tectonics?
an understanding of the nature and properties of the deep ocean basins
Which of these is an example of a non-avian dinosaur?
ankylosaurs (armored)
(1) The four primary "spheres" of Earth (Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Lithosphere and Biosphere):
are greatly interconnected and influence each other
Amino acids
are simple molecules that are the building blocks of proteins (life)
Adaptive radiations:
are times of rapid diversification that usually follow mass extinctions or key innovations
The end Permian mass extinction was a perfect storm of multiple extinction events. Which one of these do we not have evidence for as contributing to this even?
asteroid impact
Match the cell type to its property.
bacteria (cell size): small eukaryote (cell size): large bacteria (nucleus): absent eukaryote (nucleus): present Bacteria (organelles): absent Eukaryote (organelles): present
What happens when an ocean goes stagnant from lack of mixing by currents?
bottom waters become anoxic, and the layer with no oxygen can expand
Which best describes the shape of the floors of the ocean basins in their middle (between spreading centers & subduction zones or continents)?
broad flat plains, but with many chains of sea mountains and linear deep trenches
Before about 1800 (Hutton), geologic formations such as rocks were generally interpreted to have formed:
by the events associated with a single catastrophic flood
When a mountain range erodes, the resulting sediment deposited on either side is a:
clastic wedge
This is a marsupial (has a pouch). Why does it have the form of a proper mole, even though it last shared a common ancestor with moles 70+ million years ago.
convergent evolution
What kind of evolutionary pattern is shown in this graph?
convergent evolution
For each pattern of evolution, select the most likely cause.
convergent evolution: unrelated taxa occupying the same niche divergent evolution: closely related taxa (same niche) evolving to avoid competition parallel evolution: taxa occupying different niches and maintaining them through time adaptive radiation: rapid diversification following mass extinction or key innovation
Some organisms can produce their own energy through photosynthesis (converting sunlight to energy). How do some microbes make energy without light?
converting chemicals like sulfur or nitrogen to energy
The minerals at the top of the Bowen's Series:
crystalize first as the melt cools
Which vertebrate skull structure is represented in this figure?
diapsid
The current topography (highs & lows) of the Appalachian Mountains is due to:
differential erosion of ancient uplifted rocks
what does this image portray?
dinosaur phylogeny
Which of these organisms is defined by being diapsid?
dinosaurs
Which of these is not a main causes of mass extinctions?
disease
The three major types of plate boundaries are:
divergent, convergent, transform
When do the first true dinosaurs appear?
early Mesozoic but not right at the start
When did non-avian dinosaurs go extinct?
end of mesozoic
Select the times of the Five Biggest Mass Extinctions.
end of the Ordovician end of the Permian (Paleozoic) end of the Triassic end of the Cretaceous (Mesozoic) end of the Devonian
30) Where did much of the sediment of the Carolina Coastal Plain come from?
erosion from the high lands of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge
What is a therapsid?
evolutionary intermediates between reptiles and mammals
What is the definition of a unifying theory (in general)?
explains relationships among apparently unrelated patterns of processes
Which of these features were difficult to explain without an understanding of Plate Tectonics, but easily explained with it?
explanations for all of these events were problematic prior to plate tectonics
Stromatolites
form from the photosynthetic activity of mats of cyanobacteria
When did the transition from primitive reptiles to true mammals take place?
from the Late Paleozoic (Permian) to the Early Mesozoic (Triassic) about 250 million years ago
Eukaryotic cells originated:
from the union of bacteria cells
Another way to describe the idea of uniformitarianism is:
geologic rock formations can be explained by present day processes applied over a very long time
A convergent plate boundary with Ocean - Ocean crust will:
have an arc of volcanos on the over-riding (non-subducting) plate
In order for two organisms to be classified as the same biological species, they must:
have the potential to interbreed and produce fertile offspring
The physicist Kelvin in the late 1800s calculated that the age of the Earth was 40-60 my old. Why was he wrong?
he did not know about radioactivity as a heat source
The difference between Uniformitarianism and Actualism is that:
in actualism, rates and intensities of events may vary relative to scales of human observation
In Darwin's four-point explanation of biological evolution through natural selection, what did he mean by "survival of the fittest"?
individuals with features best suited their surroundings in a given place and time
36) In this cross section of North America and the Proto-Atlantic in the early Paleozoic, what is the most likely fate as the Proto-Atlantic closes?
island arc will collide with the continent and accrete to it
In the early Paleozoic (500my), the edge of the North American continent was where Boone is now. There was a sea to the east. Where did the rest of North Carolina come from?
it is a series of terrains that were accreted through collisions with island arcs and microcontinents
The Triassic period at the beginning of the Mesozoic is an odd time in geologic history because:
it is bounded by major mass extinctions at its beginning and end.
Iridium is a chemical element that is rare on Earth but common in asteroids and meteors. How does Iridium support the impact hypothesis for the end Cretaceous mass extinction?
it is found in high concentrations in the boundary clay (with fall out debris)
In addition to a common ancestor, what must be in a group for it to be considered a clade?
its complete ongoing family lineage (tree)
Select all of the challenges that both plants and animal had to overcome to live on land. SELECT MULTIPLE ANSWERS as appropriate.
keep their bodies from drying out avoid sunlight in the ultra violet spectrum have structures to support the body out of water have structures for attachment or locomotion
A significant cause of global warming through release of CO2 is from "basalt traps". What are these?
large, subcontinental scale flows of basalt unlike any scale we see today
The significance of the late Proterozoic Ediacaran fauna is that it represents the first:
large, widespread multi-cellular animal fossils
When did our second supercontinent, Pangea, form - associated with the largest mountain building event in North Carolina?
late Paleozoic
Which one of these was not an event in mountain building of the Appalachians?
late Proterozoic - failed rifting of rodinia
Partial melting of the mantle and oceanic crust is important to the formation of new continental crust because:
light material melts first and rises toward the surface.
In response to grass having silica crystals in its body, how did horses evolve?
longer teeth
What was the key innovation that allow for animals to first occupy and then dominate land?
lungs to process oxygen
Minerals at the bottom of the Bowen's Series.
melt at the lowest temperature
Which item is not evidence a large asteroid impact if found in a world-wide clay layer:
metal fragments
Which two primary criteria are used to classify igneous rocks.
mineral composition and crystal size
42) An unconformity represents:
missing time (rock representation) in the geologic record
Which of these features are typical of herbiverorous dinosaurs? Select as many (multiple answers) as are appropriate.
mostly quadripedal (walk on four legs) moderate sized front teeth for snipping flat teeth or gizzard stones horns, plates or spikes
Which one of these is not a living mammal group?
multiturburculates
Divergent evolution:
occurs when related groups have evolved into different life modes to avoid competition.
Where did the astroid impact the Earth at the end of the Cretaceous, causing a mass extinction?
on the Yucatan Peninsula of adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico (only visible to geophysical detectors in the subsurface)
44) In the Principle of Superposition states that in an undisturbed sequence of rocks, the youngest layers will located:
on the top
Historical Geologic is an inductive science. This means:
one begins with observations and then builds toward hypotheses and theories to explain them.
On average about how long do species last between their origin and extinction (marine invertebrates)?
one to five million years
Opossums are North America's only marsupial. Why is this?
opossums have been migrating north from South America for many generations
Which one of these best describes the kinds of organisms most likely to survive a mass extinction?
organisms that do not have specialized life modes (generalists).
Ecology includes the interaction of:
organisms with other organisms and their environment
The Age of Bacteria was:
over two billion years long, including parts of the Archean and Proterozoic eons
Greenhouse gasses can warm the planet for a long time. Which of these is not a source of greenhouse gasses.
over use of aerosol spray products
If you stood on one side of the Grand Canyon and could recognize a prominent lithologic unit (say a red, cliff forming sandstone) across to both sides, which principle would you be applying?
principle of lateral continuity
In radiometric age dating, the calculations are based on:
ratio of radiogenic parent isotope to daughter isotopes present in the rock
The Earth's modern atmosphere and hydrosphere are both:
resulted from out-gassing of volcanoes relatively shortly after the earth formed
7) What constitutes (defines) a tectonic plate?
rigid upper mantle plus crust
In the realm of science (both applied and theoretical), where does the theory of biological evolution through natural selection fall?
rigorously tested and widely agreed upon
Our direct evidence of bacteria cells preserved in the rock record comes for 3.5 billion years ago. How were these cells preserved?
sealed in chert, which formed from gelatinous silica
Felsic igneous rock have a composition rich in:
silicon, aluminum, and potassium
What is a synapsid skull structure, with an example?
single hole in the skull, mammals and their ancestors
In general, what are typical features of a carnivorous dinosaur? Select as many (multiple answers) as appropriate.
stereoscopic vision bipedal (move on two legs) sharp teeth and/or claws preditor:prey ratio of about 1:30
Much of the fossil mammal record is based on their teeth. Why?
teeth are harder than other parts of the skeleton
A convergent plate boundary with Continental & Continental crust will produce a tectonic setting similar to:
the Himalayan Mountains in Asia
Which global crisis might have played a role in the evolution of multi-cellular life.
the Snowball Earth event
In practice we use the terms FAD (first appearance datum) and LAD (last occurrence datum) rather than "origin" and "extinction" because:
the actual origin/extinction events are not expected to be preserved in the fossil record
In the 1800s, geologists used the salinity of the ocean relative to that of fresh water in order to estimate:
the age of the earth
Most of the geologic provinces in our region have been "pushed" west along major thrust faults. This regional deformation event is associated with:
the collision of North America with Africa during the formation of Pangea
Before 1800 (Hutton) the age of the Earth was though to be ~6,000 years old. What data was this conclusion based on?
the contents of the bible
If a radiometric method is used to age date a grain in a sedimentary rock, the age obtained will indicate:
the date at which grain was originally formed in the parent igneous/metamorphic rock
Disparity is:
the degree of difference in body form present in a given setting
Presence of shocked quartz with lamellae in a sediment layer is indicates:
the impact of a large asteroid
The "cleavage & fracture" of a mineral are controlled by:
the internal arrangement of the atoms
How do we know that the rocks that form Grandfather Mountain and the surrounding area were deposited in a failed rifting event of a supercontinent?
the kinds of rocks match the predictive model developed by observing modern rifts.