GEOL 1404 Chapters 4-5

The fossil record is very incomplete because many processes destroy organic remains due to what four things?

- bacterial decay - physical processes - scavenging - metamorphism

Name five sedimentary clastic rocks:

- shale - siltstone - sandstone - arkose - conglomerate

1) What are the four eons? 2) What eon are we in?

1) - Hadean - Archean - Proterozoic - Phanerozoic 2) Phanerozoic

1) Name the four eras. 2) What era are we in? 3) What eons are the eras in?

1) - Precambrian - Paleozoic - Mesozoic - Cenozoic 2) Cenozoic 3) - Precambrian is in the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic eons. - Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic are all in the Phanerozoic eon.

1) What are the three types of unconformities? 2) A/An _______ separates younger from older sedimentary strata that are parallel to each other. 3) A/An _________ _______ is an erosional surface on tilted or folded rocks, over which younger sedimentary rocks were deposited. 4) A _________ is an erosional surface cut into igneous or metamorphic rocks and overlain by much younger sedimentary rocks.

1) - disconformity - angular unconformity - nonconformity 2) disconformity 3) angular unconformity 4) nonconformity

1) Name four ways the presence of organisms can be recorded through marks they leave in sediment. 2) Geologists call these features ____ _____ or ichnofossils. 3) The study of trace fossils is called _______.

1) - tracks - trails - footprints - burrows 2) trace fossils 3) ichnology

What is the rock type, texture, and minerals of the following sedimentary rocks? 1) Shale 2) Siltstone 3) Sandstone 4) Arkose 5) Conglomerate

1) Clastic / Fine, Sorted / Clay,Quartz 2) Clastic / Fine, Sorted / Quartz, Clay 3) Clastic / Med., Sorted / Quartz 4) Clastic / Med., Sorted / Quartz, Feldspar 5) Clastic / Unsorted / Quartz

1) Who is known as the father of modern geology? 2) James Hutton was a ____ priest. 3) He first suggested that _____ _____ processes operating over long periods of time could explain all geologic features. 4) His observations were instrumental in establishing the ______ ___ __________ and the fact that the Earth was much older than earlier scientists thought.

1) James Hutton 2) Catholic 3) present day 4) principle of uniformitarianism

1) ______ ____ noticed that the same facies he found laterally were also present in a vertical sequence. 2) This is now called _______ Law. 3) It holds that the facies seen in a conformable _______ sequence will also replace one another ______. 4) The law applies to marine _____ and _____.

1) Johannes Walther 2) Walther's 3) vertical / laterally 4) transgressions / regressions

1) Ancient history involves _____ and _____ of years. 2) Geologic time involves _____ and _____ of years.

1) hundreds / thousands 2) millions / billions

1) Time is defined by the ______ used to measure it. 2) _______ dating is accomplished by placing events in a logical, sequential order. 3) ______ dating dates for geologic rock units or events using radiometric dating.

1) methods 2) Relative 3) Absolute

Applying the Principles of Relative Dating: 1) The principles of relative dating can be used to _______ the geologic history of an area. 2) Although no specific dates can be applied, the relative sequence of events can be determined by using the principles of _____ _____.

1) reconstruct 2) relative dating

What is the order of taxa?

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species

The first dating method used was ______ dating.

Relative

Before the development of radiometric dating, there was no reliable method for ______ dating, therefore relative dating methods were used.

absolute

Water-dwellers are called _____ organisms

aquatic

Phylum Brachiopoda involves what?

brachiopods or lamp shells

We can see a _______ _______ in the span of rocks in the Grand Canyon

geologic time

Which one of the following is a time unit?

period

For __________ to occur, the organism must become covered by sediment soon after death or soon after the initial decaying process.

permineralization

Fossils are the ______ or traces of past life forms

remains

Metamorphism can ______ the radiometric clock.

reset

What are the four types of geologic time?

- Eon - Era - Period - Epoch

Name two events that occur so slowly that they are difficult to measure.

- Plate Tectonics (sea -floor spreading and continental drift) - Erosion of mountain ranges

1) _____ _____ is where we find some of the oldest rocks on Earth. 2) The rocks are ______. 3) The rocks go back ______ million years.

1) Canadian Shield 2) Gneiss 3) 640

1) _______ is the process of matching up rocks in different areas. 2) Name the two types of correlation.

1) Correlation 2) Lithostratigraphic correlation / Time-stratigraphic correlation

1) The ____ ___ ______ by Steno states that younger sedimentary rock layers are typically found on top of older rocks. 2) These rock layers are found within the ____ ____.

1) Principles of Superposition 2) Grand Canyon

Name four events that are short lived but very catastrophic.

1) Volcanic eruptions 2) Earthquakes 3) Floods 4) Mudflows, avalanches, etc. (mass wasting)

Which one of the following can you use to determine ancient current directions?

Cross-bedding

Phylum Porifera involves ____.

Sponges

The statement that in a conformable sequence of sedimentary rocks, facies that are superposed will replace one another laterally is ____.

Walther's law

With Lithostratigraphic Correlation, We can correlate rock units based on _____, position in ______, and the presence of distinctive ____ _____.

composition / sequence / key beds

A _______ is a type of trace fossil consisting of fossilized feces that may provide information about the size and diet of the animal that produced it

coprolite

Phylum Cnidaria (formerly Coelenterata) involves ____ and _____.

corals / jellyfish

Where a river or stream flows into the sea or a lake it will likely deposit a(n) ____.

delta

Correlation of ________ units such as formations with traces rocks laterally across gaps.

lithostratigraphic

Phylum Bryozoa involves colonial _____ animals.

moss

Phylum Echinodermata involves what?

starfish, sand dollars, sea urchins, crinoids, and blastoids

We group organisms based on their similarities into ______ groups or taxa.

taxonomic

Who is generally considered the founder of modern geology?

Hutton

Name four chemical sedimentary rocks.

Limestone / evaporite / chert / coal

Which one of the following is a sedimentary structure?

Mud crack

Which one of the following is a body fossil?

Tooth

An erosional surface cut into plutonic or metamorphic rocks overlain by sedimentary rocks is a ___.

nonconformity

Name the seven epochs in the era and periods they are in.

- All are in the Cenozoic era. - In the Paleogene and Tertiary Periods: Eocene, Paleocene, and Oligocene - In the Neogene and Tertiary Periods: Miocene and Miocene - In the Quaternary Period: Pleistocene and Holocene

Name two events which occur in the past and left a record in the rocks that are not occurring today or even in the human lifespan.

- Huge meteorite impacts - Large glacial ice sheets

What are the four types of terrestrial (land) environments?

- Lacustrine - lakes and ponds - Fluvial - rivers and streams - Paludal - swamps - Eolian (or aeolian)- deserts

What are the four types of aquatic (water) environments?

- Marine - saline sea water (salt water) - Non-marine - freshwater - Brackish (Mix of salt water and fresh water) - bays, deltas, lagoons, estuaries, harbors, etc. Hypersaline - Great Slat Lake or Dead sea (super salty)

Name some examples of radioactive parent isotopes and their stable daughter products.

- Potassium 40 / Argon 40 - Rubidium 87 / Strontium 87 - Thorium 232 / Lead 208 - Uranium 235 / Lead 207 - Uranium 238 / Lead 206 - Carbon 14 / Nitrogen 14

Name four hard parts of fossils of organisms.

- bones - teeth - shells - wood

Name three soft parts of organisms that are rarely preserved.

- skin - muscle - internal organs

What are the nine environmental requirements that can be describe in terms of limiting factors for species of organisms?

- temperature - amount of light - amount of water needed, or water depth - water chemistry - water energy or turbulence - type of substrate (sand, mud, rock) - amount of living space - amount of food required - presence of predators

1) Name the fifteen periods. Name them within their eras. 2) What period are we in?

1) - Paleozoic era: Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Deconian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, Carboniferou, and Permian Periods. - Mesozoic era: Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods. - Cenozoic era: Paleogene, Neogene, and Tertiary, and Quaternary 2) Quaternary

1) What are six principles that were developed relative dating other than uniformitarianism? 2) These principles are used to determine the relative geologic ages and for interpreting _____ _____.

1) 1. Superposition 2. Original horizontality 3. Cross-cutting relationships 4. Lateral continuity 5. Inclusions 6. Fossil succession. 2) Earth history

Stratigraphic Record and Unconformity: 1) Example: deposition began ____ million years ago (MY), continuing until ___ MY. 2) For 1 million years erosion occurred removing ___ MY of rocks and giving rise to a ___ million year hiatus.

1) 12 / 4 2) 2 / 3

1) The invention of the MASS SPECTROMETER (post-1918) led to the discovery of more than ____ isotopes. 2) Many radioactive elements can be used as geologic ______. 3) Each radioactive element decays at its own nearly ______ rate. 4) Once this rate is known, geologists can estimate the length of time over which decay has been occurring by measuring the amount of what?

1) 200 2) clocks 3) constant 4) radioactive parent element and the amount of stable daughter elements.

1) Oldest meteorites and oldest moon rocks are ____ billion years old 2) Oldest rocks found so far on Earth are zircon grains from a sandstone in western ________, dated at 4.1 to 4.2 billion years old. 3) Previously., the oldest Earth rocks were ____ billion years old from Canada.

1) 4.6 2) Australia 3) 3.96

Absolute Dating Methods / Radiocarbon Dating 1) Carbon 14 has a half-life of _______ years, limiting its use to relatively young and carbon-bearing samples. 2) Carbon-14 is produced by cosmic rays striking ________ atoms in the atmosphere. The carbon-14 enters organisms and decays back to ______ over time. 3) This method can be used only for organic matter such as ______, _____, and _____ and is effective back to approximately 70,000 years ago.

1) 5,730 2) nitrogen14 / nitrogen-14 3) wood / bones / shells

1) _____ _____ argued convincingly for Hutton's conclusions. 2) ________ became a guiding principle of geology. 3) The modern view of uniformitarianism (also called actualism) holds that the laws of nature have been_______ through time, but that the rates and intensities of natural processes have varied over time. 4) Natural _______ also affect the geologic record.

1) Charles Lyell 2) Uniformitarianism 3) constant 4) catastrophes

Name the rock type, texture, and minerals of the following sedimentary rocks: 1) Limestone 2) Evaporite 3) Chert 4) Coal

1) Chemical and Biochemical / Crystalline / Calcite, Dolomite 2) Chemical / Crystalline / Gypsum, Halite, Other salts 2) Biochemical / Crystalline / Quartz, Opal, Chalcedony 3) Biochemical / Variable / No Minerals

1) _______ is tying rock units from one area to those of another. When this is done globally a complete fossil record can be established.

1) Correlation

1) Major _____ _____ _____ in 1869, led a group of explorers down the Colorado River. 2) The Major was impressed with the geologic strata and thus began an investigation that continues today into the immense amount of ____ ____ presented in the canyon. 3) It is this vastness of geologic time that sets geology apart from the other _______.

1) John Wesley Powell 2) geologic time 3) sciences

1) _________ units are based on rock type (lithos) with no consideration of time of origin. 2) The basic lithostratigraphic element is the formation which is a _______ rock unit with distinctive upper and lower boundaries. 3) It may consist of a single rock type such as the _______ limestone or a variety of rock types such as the Morrison Formation. 4) Formations may be subdivided into _____ and _____ or collected into groups and supergroups

1) Lithostratigraphic 2) mappable 3) Redwall 4) members / beds

1) An example location of several layers of pyroclastic (ash) materials is _____. 2) Another example location of stratification is in Siamo Slate, ______. 3) Another example location of stratified sandstone and shale is in ______.

1) Oregon 2) Michigan 3) California

1) The _____ __ _____ states that a rock containing igneous or other types of inclusions is younger than the age of the rock from which the inclusions came. 2) Inclusions in a rock are ____ than the rock layer itself.

1) Principle of Inclusions 2) older

1) The ____ ___ ______ _____ by Steno states that sedimentary rocks are extended laterally in all directions until they thin and pinch out, terminate against the edge of the basin, or grade into a different type of sediment. 2) Sediment extends laterally in all directions until it thins and pinches out or terminates against the edge of a ______ ______. 3) _____ _____ make excellent correlation markers

1) Principle of Lateral Continuity 2) depositional basin 3) Ash beds

1) The _____ __ _____ _______ by Steno is when sedimentary rocks are generally laid down in relatively horizontal deposits. 2) If they are deformed, the deformation must have happened _____ the were deposited.

1) Principle of Original Horizontality 2) after

1) ________ deals with the study of any layered (stratified) rock. 2) It deals primarily with sedimentary rocks and what four things about sedimentary rocks? 3) Almost all sedimentary rocks are _____. 4) Many igneous rocks such as a succession of lava flows or ash beds are stratified and obey the ______ of _______. 5) Many metamorphic rocks are ______. 6) Many sedimentary rocks have ______.

1) Stratigraphy 2) -composition - origin - age relationships - geographic extent 3) stratified 4) principles / stratigraphy 5) stratified 6) stratification

1) _____ _____ simply designate certain parts of geologic time 2) _______ is the most commonly used time designation. 3) Two or more periods may be designated as an _____. 4) Two or more eras constitute an ____.

1) Time units 2) Period 3) era 4) eon

1) ________ are surfaces of discontinuity in the rock deposition sequence which encompass significant periods of time. 2) They may result from ____-_______ and/or ________. 3) These surfaces encompass long periods of ______ _____ for which there is no geologic record at that location.

1) Unconformities 2) non-deposition / erosion 3) geologic time

1) Who discovered Steno's principle of superposition? 2) He also realized that fossils are _____ from area to area. 3) Thereby he discovered a method whereby relative ages of _______ rocks at different locations could be determined.

1) William Smith 2) consistent 3) sedimentary

Principle of Fossil Succession: 1) _____ _____, an engineer working in the coal canals of England, independently recognized superposition. 2) He observed that the fossils on the bottom of a sequence must be _____ than those at the top of the sequence because they looked different and less evolved.

1) William Smith 2) older

1) Unconformities are buried erosional surfaces where the rocks above the contact are much _______ than the rocks below. 2) _________ are often identified as such by their fossil content.

1) Younger 2) Disconformities

Sources of uncertainty: 1) In radiometric dating, it is important that no parent or daughter atoms have been ____ or ______ from the sample being tested. 2) Furthermore, the sample must be fresh and unweathered and it must not have been subjected to high temperatures or intense pressures after ________. 3) Not useful for sedimentary rocks, must have ______ system, no leakage from high heat/pressure, unweathered, concordant/discordant results of crosscheck.

1) added / removed 2) crystallization 3) closed

Vertical Stratigraphic Relationships: 1) Surfaces known as ______ ______ separate individual strata (rocks) from one another, or the strata grade vertically from one rock type to another. 2) Rocks above and below a bedding plane differ in what three features? 3) The bedding plane signifies a rapid change in sedimentation or perhaps a period of ______.

1) bedding planes 2) composition, texture, or color, or a combination of all three. 3) nondeposition

1) A body of strata recognized only on the basis of its fossil content is a __________ unit. 2) The boundaries of which do not necessarily correspond to those of _________ units. 3) The fundamental biostratigraphic unit is the _______.

1) biostratigraphic 2) lithostratigraphic 3) biozone

Favorable conditions for fossilization are: 1) durable ____ parts. 2) Lived where _____ in sediment was likely. 3) avoided _____, scavenging and metamorphism. 4) corals and shells vs. _____ and worms

1) body 2) burial 3) decay 4) jellyfish

1) All organisms are composed of _____. 2) What are the two fundamental differences between organisms based on the type of cells?

1) cells 2) -Cells with a nucleus (or nuclei) / Eukaryotic cells - Cells without a nucleus / Prokaryotic cells - Kingdom / Monera only.

Geologic Rock Record: 1) The fact that Earth has ______ through time is apparent from evidence in the geologic record. 2) The geologic record is the record of events ______ in rocks. 3) Although all rocks are useful, ______ rocks are especially useful in deciphering the geologic record. 4) The geologic record is complex and requires ______.

1) changed 2) preserved 3) sedimentary 4) Interpretation

1) Time-stratigraphic units also called _________ units. 2) It consists of rocks deposited during a particular interval of _______ ______. 3) The basic time-stratigraphic unit is the _____.

1) chronostratigraphic 2) geologic time 3) system

Causes of regression: 1) Uplift of _______. 2) ______ global temperatures. 3) Widespread _______ 4) ______ seafloor-spreading rates.

1) continents 2) Cooler 3) Glaciation 4) Diminishing

1) Hutton viewed the Earth's history as _____. 2) He viewed it this way due to: - continents ______ - ______ was deposited in the sea - Seafloor ______ to form new continents - Cycle _____ with erosion 3) Hutton recognized unconformities as part of the _______ cycle.

1) cyclic 2) - eroding - Sediment - uplifted - restarts 3) erosion

Fission Track Dating: 1) The emission of atomic particles from the spontaneous decay of uranium _______ the crystal structure of a mineral. 2) The age of the mineral is determined by the number of _______ tracks present and the amount of uranium the sample contains. 3) Used to date samples that are 40,000 to _____ million years old. 4) _____ temperatures may anneal the tracks and interfere with the dating method.

1) damages 2) fission 3) 1.5 4) High

1) Marine rocks are of particular importance because they tell us about the length of time to make the rock, the ______, as well as any ____ ____ in the area. 2) ______ and _____ also tell us about global issues.

1) environment / life forms 2)Transgressions / Regressions

1) Relative dating - Steno's Laws, etc. "A is older than B" doesn't give us an ______ age. 2) Absolute dating quantifies the date in years and is also known as ______ ______.

1) exact 2) Radiometric Dating

1) A sedimentary ______ is a body of sediment with distinctive physical, chemical, and biological attributes deposited side-by-side with other sediments and common rocks in similar environments. 2) These are important because they tell us about ______ _______.

1) facies 2) depositional environment.

1) Principle of _____ ____ holds that fossil assemblages (groups of fossils) succeed one another through time in a regular and determinable order 2) Because different organisms existed at different times, fossil assemblages are _____.

1) fossil succession 2) unique

1) Many early Christians analyzed the ______ found in the Bible to try and determine the age of the Earth. 2) Who, in the early 1600s, asserted that God created the Earth on Sunday, October 23, 4004 B.C.

1) genealogies 2) James Ussher

The Earth is 'younger' than the moon and meteorites because: 1) The Earth is _______ active. 2) the Earth has a hot, molten _______. 3) Rocks are remelted and the internal ______ are reset. 4) Also, rocks on Earth's surface are acted on by _____ and ______. 5) Rocks on Earth's surface are not as old as the Earth because the are "_______" rock materials. 6) Name four sediments that wee broken down from rocks. 7) Sediment will turn into sedimentary _____ over time. 8) Older rocks are buried deeply under _______ rocks.

1) geologically 2) interior 3) clocks 4) erosional / weathering 5) recycled 6) - gravel - sand - silt - clay 7) rock 8) younger

Absolute Dating Methods / Tree-Ring Dating: 1) The age of a tree can be determined by counting its ____ _____. 2) Furthermore, the widths of the rings correlate to long term ______ cycles. 3) Cross-dating of living and dead trees has extended the record back to approximately _______ years.

1) growth rings 2) climate 3) 14,000

Time-stratigraphic Correlation: Useful fossils or guide fossils have the following characteristics: 1) Easily ______. 2) Geographically _______. 3) Lived for _____ periods of geologic time. 4) Name two good guide fossils and one that is not good.

1) identified 2) widespread 3) brief 4) Atrypa and Paradoxides / Lingula

1) The most accurate radiometric dates are obtained from long-lived radioactive isotope pairs in ______ rocks. 2) During the cooling of magma, radioactive parent atoms are separated from previously formed ______ atoms and incorporated into the crystal structure of a mineral.

1) igneous 2) daughter

1) Most minerals which contain radioactive isotopes are in ______ rocks. 2) The dates they give indicate the time elapsed since the magma ______. 3) Name the four things Potassium 40 is found in. 4) Name five things that uranium can be found in.

1) igneous 2) cooled 3) -potassium feldspar (orthoclase) - muscovite - amphibole - glauconite (greensand; found in some sedimentary rocks; rare) 4) - zircon - uraninite - monazite - apatite - sphene

1) Animals can be grouped into the _____ and _____. 2) There are more than ____ invertebrate Phyla. 3) What are the six chief invertebrates? 4) The vertebrates belong to _______ _____.

1) invertebrates / vertebrates 2) 20 3) -Phylum Porifera - Phylum Cnidaria - Phylum Bryozoa - Phylum Brachiopoda - Phylum Arthropoda - Phylum Mollusca - Phylum Echinodermata 4) Phylum Chordata

Name nine natural events that happened on the Earth during geologic time.

1) meteorite impacts 2) volcanic eruptions and lava flows 3) mountain building 4) earthquakes 5) erosion 6) slow movement of continents (plate tectonics) 7) formation and destruction of ocean basins (plate tectonics) 8) glaciations 9) climatic changes

1) Although heat and pressure do not affect the rate of radioactive decay, they can cause the ________ of parent and daughter atoms after crystallization, thus affecting the calculated age. 2) The most reliable dates are those obtained by using at least _____ different radioactive decay series in the same rock.

1) migration 2) two

1) Are all rocks continuous through the rock record? 2) When sediment material gets eroded, and then deposited somewhere else, we have to try and figure out where the _____ rocks in the normal stratigraphic sequence went.

1) no 2) missing

1) The half -life of a radioactive isotope is the time it takes for ½ of the radioactive atoms (parent isotope) to decay into a ________ material (daughter isotope). 2) The ______ rate varies with each type of radioactive isotope. 3) The only thing that affects the decay rate of an isotope is the____ of ____ it has been decaying. 4) The decay rate slows down through time so that in any unit of time, only _____ as much decays as in the same unit of time before.

1) nonradioactive 2) decay 3) length / time 4) half

To be preserved: 1) an organism must be in an environment where it is protected from ______ and bacterial decay. 2) Must be rapidly buried by _____. 3) - Must be shielded from _____.

1) oxidation 2) Sediment 3) Oxygen

Principles of Radiometric Dating: 1) Naturally-occurring radioactive materials break down into other materials at known rates. This is known as _______ _______. 2) Radioactivity was discovered in the late 19th century by _____ and ____ ____. 3) In _____ ______, some isotopes spontaneously break down into one or more different elements and release energy. 4) Soon after the discovery of radioactivity, geologists used radioactive______ decay to develop absolute dating methods for rocks and minerals. 5) Radioactivity was discovered in 1896 by _____ _______. Amazingly, this was all done before isotopes were known, and before the decay rates were known _______.

1) radioactive decay 2) Marie / Pierre Curie. 3) radioactive decay 4) isotope 5) Henri Becquerel / accurately

1) Absolute Age Dating is also called _______ age dating. 2) It is based on the idea that the nucleus of certain isotopes (atoms) is unstable and ______ through time in a process known as radioactive decay. 3) Name the three types of radioactive decay.

1) radiometric 2) changes 3) - Alpha decay - Beta decay - Electron Capture

Marine Transgression: 1) sea level _____ and the climate is _____. 2) The rocks of each facies become younger in a landward direction during a _____ ______. 3) One body of rock with the same attributes was deposited gradually at different times in different places so it is ______ _______, meaning the ages vary from place to place.

1) rises / warmer 2) marine transgression 3) time transgressive

1) The fossil record is the record of ancient life preserved as fossils in _____. 2) The fossil record is a repository of prehistoric organisms that provides our only knowledge of such extinct animals as trilobites and _____.

1) rocks 2) dinosaurs

1) Geologic time provides an immense contribution to other ______. 2) The logic used in applying the principles of ______ _____ "involves basic reasoning skills" that are useful in almost any profession or discipline. 3) The geologic time scale is fundamental to understanding the physical and biological ______ of our planet. 4) An accurate and precise geologic calendar is critical in determining the ______, _______, and possible _______ of such past events as global climate change and their potential effects on humans.

1) sciences 2) relative dating 3) history 4) onset / duration / causes

1) During the 18th and 19th centuries, attempts were made to determine Earth's age based on _____ _____ rather than revelation. 2) ______ ______ __ _____ (1707-1788) estimated that the Earth was at least 75,000 years old based on it cooling from a molten state. 3) In the 19th century, ______ ______ estimated that the oceans took at least 90 million years to achieve their current salinity, assuming that they were originally fresh water. 4) Although some dating attempts were ingenious, they yielded a variety of ages that now are known to be much too ______.

1) scientific evidence 2) Georges Louis de Buffon 3) John Joly 4) young

1) Fossils are most common in ______ rocks and in some accumulations of pyroclastic materials, especially ____. 2) They are extremely useful for determining relative ages of _____ but geologists also use them to ascertain environments of deposition. 3) Fossils provide some of the evidence for ______ evolution.

1) sedimentary / ash 2) strata 3) organic

1) Radioactive isotopes don't tell much about the age of _______ rocks or ______. 2) The radioactive minerals in sedimentary rocks are derived from the weathering of _______ rocks. 3) If the sedimentary rock were dated, the age date would be the time of _______ of the magma that formed the igneous rock. The date would not tell anything about when the sedimentary rock _____. 4) To date a sedimentary rock, it is necessary to isolate a few unusual minerals (if present) which formed on the seafloor as the rock was _______. 5) _______ is a good example. It contains potassium, so it can be dated using the ______-_____ technique.

1) sedimentary / fossils 2) igneous 3) cooling / formed 4) cemented 5) Glauconite / potassium-argon

1) Relative dating places events in _______ order but does not tell us how long ago an event took place. 2) The principles of relative dating provided geologists with a means to interpret geologic history and develop a _____ _____ ____ _____.

1) sequential 2) relative geologic time scale

1) At some localities a rock unit _______ the boundary between systems 2) We need terminology that deals with _____ and _____. 3) Rocks are defined by their _______. This is either lithostratigraphic unit which is _____ content or biostratigraphic unit which is _____ content. 4) Time is expressed or related to _____ ______.

1) straddles 2) rocks / time 3) content / rock / fossil 4) geologic time

Gradual Terminations: 1) Remembering the Principle or lateral continuity, layers may ______ gradually where a rock unit becomes progressively ______ until it pinches out. 2) or where it splits into thinner units each of which pinches out, called ________. 3) or where a rock unit changes by _______ gradation as its composition and/or texture becomes increasingly different.

1) terminate / thinner 2) intertonguing 3) lateral

Causes of Transgressions 1) Subsidence causes _______. 2) ______ global temperatures. 3) Rapid seafloor _____ can also cause it.

1) transgression 2) Warmer 3) spreading

1) Body fossils may be preserved as ______ remains, meaning they retain their original composition and structure, by freezing, mummification, in amber, in tar. 2) or _______ remains, with some change in composition or structure permineralization, replacement, carbonization

1) unaltered 2) altered

1) Fossils are readily preserved in environments covered by ______. 2) Particularly environments with a high ______ rate or ______ waters. 3) Examples of these environments are what four environments?

1) water 2) sedimentation / anoxic 3) - swamps - deep lakes - tar pits - oxygen-minimum zone in the oceans

The Principle of cross-cutting relationships is based on detailed studies by James Hutton who recognized that: 1) an igneous intrusion must be _______ than the rock it intrudes. 2) Also, faults must be ______ than the rocks they displace.

1) younger 2) younger

List what the five kingdoms of organisms are and what the organisms are.

1. Animalia - animals 2. Plantae - plants 3. Monera - Bacteria and blue-green algae 4. Fungi - mushrooms and fungus 5. Protoctista (Protista) - single celled organisms

What is the saying to remember the periods of the Geologic time scale?

Can Old Senators Demand More Political Power Than Junior Congressmen? Presumably Not!

______ form if minerals or sediments fill in the cavity.

Casts

An example location of a marine transgression is the ______ ______.

Grand Canyon

Which one of the following statements is correct?

Inclusions are older than the rock layer containing them

____ _____ are fossils of organisms that were widespread globally, but lived for only a short period of time. When you find an index fossil in a rock, you know the rock's relative age.

Index Fossils

______ form when buried remains dissolve and leave a cavity

Molds

Fossils are evidence of what?

Past life

Time Units involve Eons, eras, ____, ____, and _____.

Period, epoch, age

Almost 88% of Earth's history is ________.

Precambrian

The _____ __ ____-____ ______(Hutton) states that rock units or fractures that cut across other rocks must be younger than the rocks they cut across.

Principle of Cross-Cutting Relationships

The____ __ ________ ______ states that the evolutionary changes of life are documented in the fossil record.

Principle of Fossil Succession

____________ occurs when the shell, bone or other tissue is replaced with another mineral.

Replacement

Which one of the following would you likely find in an evaporite environment?

Rock gypsum

Time Stratigraphic Units involve Eonothem, erathem, _____, _____, and ______.

System / series / stages

____ ____ traps insects attracted to the sweet taste creating Amber.

Tree saps

The principle of ____________ helps us understand how fossils were buried and preserved because Geologists can observe modern depositional environments in which sediments accumulate, bury and incorporate organic remains within the sediments.

Uniformitarianism

In which type of radioactive decay are two protons and two neutrons emitted from the nucleus?

alpha decay

A fossil ______ can often better define the age of a rock unit due to the overlapping of various life spans.

assemblage

The process whereby organisms burrow through and thoroughly mix sediment is _____.

bioturbation

Phylum Mollusca involves what?

clams, snails, octopus, squid, nautilus, and ammonites

Lithostratigraphic Units involve supergroups, groups, ______, _____, and ______.

formation / member / bed

Organisms from all 5 kingdoms are known as _____.

fossils

The organisms which inhabited the Earth are sometimes preserved in the rock as ______.

fossils

Rarely we might find entire animals preserved by _______ or _______.

freezing / mummification

Evidence of geologic events is preserved in the _____ record.

geologic

The brachiopod Lingula is not useful because, although it is easily identified and has a wide geographic extent and it has too large a ______ ______.

geologic range

A sand deposit that is well sorted ____.

has grains all of about the same size

On a continental shelf, sand may accumulate in the ____-_____ nearshore environment while mud and carbonate deposition takes place at the same time in offshore ___-___ environments

high-energy / low-energy

A world -wide relative time scale of Earth's rock record was established by the work of many geologists applying the principles of ________ _______ and correlation to strata of all ages throughout the world.

historical geology

Phylum Arthropoda involves what?

insects, crabs, shrimp, lobsters, trilobites, and eurypterids

Many limestones are made up of sand- and gravel-size particles and calcium carbonate mud called _____.

micrite

The deposits of meandering streams are mostly ___.

mud with subordinate sand

Phylum Chordata refers to the _____ _____ that extends down the center of the spine.

nerve cord

If a rock is heated during metamorphism, and parent atoms migrate out of a mineral that is subsequently radiometrically dated, an inaccurate date will be obtained. This date will therefore __________ be the actual date.

older than

The atomic number of an element is determined by the number of _____ in its nucleus

protons

We know the dates of rocks due to ______ materials that serve as geologic clocks.

radioactive

During a marine ______, sea level falls with respect to the continent and the environments paralleling the shoreline migrate seaward and the climate is _____.

regression / cooler

Placing geologic events in sequential or chronologic order as determined by their position in the geologic record is ____.

relative dating

We can use the relationships of the rocks in ________ to tell us general information about what happened.

sequence

The brachiopod Atrypa and trilobite Paradoxides are well suited for time-stratigraphic correlation, because of their _____ ____.

short ranges

The most favorable conditions for preservation of body fossils occurs when the organism possesses a durable ________ of some kind and lives in an area where burial is likely.

skeleton

What are the five absolute age dating methods that are now well established?

superposition / cross-cutting / inclusions / fossils / radiometric dating

The earth's history came to be packaged into eons, eras, periods, and epochs from the global compilation of data using ______, the _____ record, and _______ age dating.

superposition / fossil / radiometric

The geologic column and relative geologic time scale were established by the 1840s based on ____.

superposition and faunal succession

Investigations of rocks by naturalists based on superposition and fossil succession, resulted in the recognition of rock bodies called ______ and the construction of a composite geologic column that is the basis for the relative geologic time scale.

systems

Land-dwellers are called ______ organisms.

terrestrial

If a flake of biotite within a sedimentary rock (such as a sandstone) is radiometrically dated, the date obtained indicates when ___.

the biotite crystal formed

The statement that fossil assemblages succeed one another through time in a regular and predictable order is ___.

the principle of fossil succession

Geologists use the principle of superposition to determine ___.

the relative ages of rocks in a vertical sequence

What is being measured in radiometric dating is ____.

the time of crystallization of a mineral containing an isotope

Cross-beds that dip in opposite directions (herringbone cross-beds) are found in ____ environments

tidal flat

An angular unconformity is an erosional surface on _____ or ______ rocks, over which younger rocks were deposited.

tilted / folded

Indications of organic activity including tracks, trails, burrows, and nests are called ______ fossils

trace

group is a lithostratigraphic unit composed of at least

two formations

The alternating dark- and light-colored laminations that form in glacial lakes are _____.

varves

A nonconformity is an erosional surface cut into igneous or metamorphic rocks and overlain by _____ sedimentary rocks.

younger

From correlating between Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce Canyon, it can be concluded that the rocks (and fossils) of Bryce Canyon must be _______ than those in the Grand Canyon.

younger