mastery 2
The formation of Pangaea was accompanied by the formation of which ocean?
Panthalassa
Of the following periods, when was the Earth's sea level, in general, lowest relative to land?
Pennsylvanian
The petroleum-rich province of west Texas is referred to as the:
Permian Reef Complex.
The spread of land plants likely had which of the following effects?
Possible stimulation of anoxia in late Devonian oceans as a result of increased weathering and nutrient runoff to the oceans Decrease of braided streams Diversification of land vertebrates Increased soil formation and soil profiles
Which deltaic complex in North America originated as a result of the Taconic (Acadian) Orogeny?
Queenston
Plankton of the early-to-middle Paleozoic included which of the following?
Radiolarians
Fossils yield which kind of ages?
Relative
The Principle of Superposition yields which kind of ages?
Relative
The phosphorus inventory of all the deep ocean water masses is 87,100 Terragrams (1 Terragram or Tg = 1012 grams). The amount of phosphorus coming into this reservoir from all sources (settling of sediments in the water column, dissolution of minerals on the ocean floor, etc) is about 60 Tg per year. What is the residence time of phosphorus in this reservoir?
1,450 years
A feldspar crystal in a sample of granite is subjected to potassium-40:argon-40 radioisotope analysis. 25% of the parent potassium-40 remains; 75% of the original sample has been converted over time to argon-40. How many half-lives have passed?
2
The total inventory of phosphorus dissolved in all of the oceans, throughout the water column, is 89,910 Terragrams (1 Terragram or Tg = 1012 grams). Phosphorus is found in tiny amounts in the Earth's crust, yet is an absolutely critical element for all forms of life. Before humans and the industrial revolution, the amount of phosphorus delivered to the oceans from land is about 1.9 Tg per year. If we assume that all the phosphorus in oceans is used up (incorporated into plants, plankton, and minerals) at a constant rate, and we assume that all the phosphorus in the oceans is continually replaced only by runoff from land, what would be the residence time of phosphorus in the ocean? 2.583 billion years
2.583 billion years
Two magnetic reversals are dated: the lower one at 50 MYA and the upper one at 45 MYA. The section between them is 10 meters thick. A biostratigraphic datum is found 5 meters above the lower paleomagnetic datum (i.e., halfway between the two absolute ages). Assuming a uniform rate of sedimentation, what is the age of the biostratigraphic datum?
47.5 MYA
Match the letters in the figure to the organisms in the pictures (Instructor: Figure of early-to-middle Paleozoic seaway):
A Coral B Trilobite C Cephalopod D Crinoid
Sickle cell anemia is an example of balancing selection, also known as hybrid vigor. Humans have two copies of each gene in (almost) every cell in their bodies - one from each parent. Having 2 copies of a normal hemoglobin gene makes humans extremely susceptible to death by malarial infection, since the malarial parasite must spend part of its life in normal red blood cells to properly develop. The malarial parasite cannot incubate in sickled red blood cells, which have hemoglobin proteins that differ from normal hemoglobin by only one DNA base mutation. However, having 2 copies of the sickle cell gene makes humans extremely susceptible to death by sickle cell anemia. Describe the selective pressure for why the sickle cell gene is maintained in human populations in areas that are threatened by malaria.
A human that has one copy of the sickle-cell gene and one copy of the normal red blood cell gene has half as many red blood cells that the parasite can infect, and thus stands a better chance of survival.
What is a foreland basin?
A low surface parallel to, and on the landward side, of mountain range that forms near a subduction zone.
What is a vestigial structure?
A structure that serves no obvious purpose in an organism, but is shared in common with one (or more) different organisms as a result of sharing a common ancestor.
What is a molasse?
A wedge of terrestrial sediment specifically shed from uplifted mountains into the foreland basin.
Which of the following orogenies resulted in the formation of the Old Red Sandstone continent?
Acadian
Gymnosperms are plants that have seeds unprotected by an ovary or fruit. Gymnosperms include the conifers, cycads, and ginkgo. Which of the following is a gymnosperm?
All are gymnosperms
Chordates are characterized by:
All of these
What evidence would you look for in order to corroborate an impact during the late Devonian?
All of these
Nautiloids are most closely related to which group?
Ammonoid cephalopods
Even if you found iridium associated with the late Devonian mass extinction, which of the following besides impact could account for its concentration?
Anoxia
To which phylum does this organism (Anomalocaris) belong? long tub with semi circle and spikes
Arthropoda
Trilobites belong to which phylum?
Arthropoda
Why are beds of volcanic ash exceptionally useful for lithocorrelation in the field?
Ashfalls are deposited very rapidly (geologically speaking).
The Taconic Orogeny involved the collision of North America and the microcontinent of:
Avalonia.
Phosphorus weathered from land earlier during the Proterozoic may have been sequestered (trapped) primarily in which type of rock?
Banded iron formations
The image below is a stratigraphic column of the geologic formations of Niagara Falls. Dolomite is a rock that forms from limestone that has been soaked in magnesium-rich waters over time. Describe the position of sea level at the location of Niagara over the timeframe from the Ordovician Period to the Silurian Period.
Sea level rose over time and was highest in the Middle Silurian.
The Lockport and other layers indicated by the slanty-brick symbol are formed from dolomite, which is very much like limestone and is a major source of concrete. These rocks are formed in a calm, warm marine environment where plankton with microscopic calcite shells die and fall to the sea floor, and then lithify into rock. What type of rock is dolomite?
Sedimentary
Which statement best describes the concept of facies?
Similar environments exist at different times and different environments exist at the same time.
The simplest multicellular animals without true tissues belong to the:
Sponges (Porifera)
All cniderians have:
Stinging cells (cnidae)
Which stable isotope (discussed in the text) is used as a marker for increased nutrient runoff (erosion) of the continents?
Strontium
Which is the correct sequence of orogenies that formed the Appalachians?
Taconic, Acadian, Alleghenian
Complete cycles of sea-level change (high to low and back to high again) associated with Milankovitch cyclicity occur on approximately which durations?
Tens-of-thousands to about a hundred thousand years
Which type of gut provides for more efficient digestion?
That of an organism of the phylum Annelida
The circumglobal seaway that once ran around the Earth is called the:
The Tethys Sea.
Black shales were widespread on the continents at times during the Paleozoic. What does this imply?
The oxygen minimum zone moved onto the cratons. The sea level rose onto the cratons.
Iridium layers have been found associated with the end-Permian extinctions but scientists do not think they resulted from impact. Why?
They were probably concentrated by anoxia in black shales.
Which of these does not belong to the phylum Mollusca?
Brachiopods
Which is the proper sequence in the fossil record?
Burrows—Ediacara Fauna—Burgess Shale
The European counterpart of the Taconic and Acadian orogenies is the:
Caledonian Orogeny.
Enhanced marine photosynthesis during the late Ordovician is suggested by more positive _______ isotope values.
Carbon
Which mountains are remnants of the Acadian Orogeny?
Catskills
Conodonts likely belonged to which taxon?
Chordates
The eye of cephalopods and vertebrates is quite similar. Why?
Convergent evolution
Of the following taxa, which survived the end-Permian extinctions?
Crinoids
Which taxon did not become extinct by the end of the Paleozoic Era?
Crinoids
If you identified an unconformity at the boundary between two depositional sequences of sedimentary rocks, which type of unconformity would it most likely be?
Disconformity
To which fauna does this organism belong? sweirling stones
Ediacara Fauna
Index fossils can sometimes provide time resolution down to about which level?
Epoch
Most of the major phyla known today were present by the beginning or shortly after the beginning of the Phanerozoic.
True
Most of the periods of the geologic time scale were originally recognized and named by researchers studying which of these areas?
Europe
True or false: The evolution of spores enabled up land plants to invade continental interiors.
True
True or false: The formation of Pangaea resulted in greater climatic extremes on the Earth.
True
Which statement best characterizes Earth surface conditions as time moves from the middle Paleozoic to the late Paleozoic?
Falling sea level, higher albedo, icehouse conditions
Swimming and deep burrowing are energetically inexpensive.
False
True or false: Based on the geologic record, magnetic reversals are predictable.
False
The periods of the modern geologic time scale (the one you will have memorized by the end of the class) are based mainly on the Principle of:
Faunal Succession.
Trepostome ("stony") bryozoans were replaced in the late Paleozoic by which groupduring the last half of the Paleozoic Era?
Fenestrate bryozoans
Plants invaded terrestrial areas before animals. Plants evolved certain traits to survive and thrive on land in the Paleozoic. Which of these is NOT one of the plant traits that evolved in the Paleozoic?
Flowers: Angiosperms ("seed in a vessel") produced a flower containing male and/or female reproductive structures.
Sediments of the Taconic and Acadian orogenies were shed into what kind of basin?
Foreland
Of the following, which would probably be the most reliable for detecting that a limestone formation is actually two separate limestone formations, separated by a paraconformity?
Fragments from the lower formation reworked into the lower beds of the formation that have been incorporated into the top formation
Which of the following is best suited to provide a unique marker bed for lithocorrelation while conducting field work?
Volcanic ash
During field work, lithocorrelation would be done by which of the following methods?
Walking the outcrop
The Taconic "Alps" have been largely eroded away. What makes scientists think that they once existed?
Intense regional metamorphism Extensive igneous intrusions Younger rocks thrust-faulted inland over older rocks All of these Thick wedges of "molasse" following the intense igneous activity and metamorphism
The Taconic "Alps" have been largely eroded away. What process helps to keep them eroding after they had formed?
Isostasy
When would you expect to find the first well-developed soils based on the fossil record? (Hint: this would correspond with proliferation of plants on land)
Late Devonian
Glaciation definitely occurred during which of these times?
Late Ordovician
What sorts of evidence could you use to reconstruct the supercontinent Pannotia?
Lithologic Structural Paleomagnetic
The type of ocean circulation during the early-to-middle Paleozoic Era most resembles that of which modern ocean basin?
Mediterranean
What is the primary reason to use igneous rocks for radiometric dating, rather than metamorphic rocks?
Metamorphism "resets" the radioactive clock, so it can be impossible to tell if the radiometric date refers to the original rock or to the date of metamorphism.
With regard to ocean circulation and chemistry, which statement best characterizes Earth surface conditions as time moves from the middle Paleozoic to the late Paleozoic?
More rapid ocean circulation, higher oxygen levels (black shales less widespread), deepening CCD
The wing color of Britain's population of peppered moths (Biston betularia) was observed to change over relatively short periods of time during the 19th century. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, this common species was observed to have its wings and a body colored white with black spots. Towards the end of the 19th century, over 90% of the population of these moths displayed wings and bodies that were almost or totally black, an example of industrial melanism. Which of these best describes the selective pressures at work?
Moths that were light in color were easier for predators to spot.
What evidence would you look for in order to corroborate an impact during the late Devonian?
None of these Microtektites Well-developed shock mineral assemblages
Where is most of the heat at the Earth's surface stored?
Oceans
Of the taxa below, which are typically not predators?
Ostracoderms: the armored jawless fish
Crinoidal limestones are abundant in some places such as Indiana and are quarried as building stone. During which era did these limestones likely form?
Paleozoic
During which era were barrier reefs and atolls most widespread throughout North America?
Paleozoic
The total inventory of phosphorus dissolved in all of the oceans, throughout the water column, is 89,910 Terragrams (1 Terragram or Tg = 1012 grams). Phosphorus is found in tiny amounts in the Earth's crust, yet is an absolutely critical element for all forms of life. Before humans and the industrial revolution, the amount of phosphorus delivered to the oceans from land is about 1.9 Tg per year. What is the most likely source of this infusion of phosphorous?
Weathering and erosion of terrestrial minerals, carried by runoff.
The dominant phytoplankton of the Proterozoic belonged to a group called:
acritarchs.
Tiered communities of the Paleozoic included which of the following suspension feeding taxa?
all of these
What is a cyclothem?
alternating stratigraphic sequences of marine and non-marine sediments
The most likely cause of the late Devonian extinctions is thought to have been:
anoxia
Molluscs and annelid worms are thought to have been derived from a common ancestor because:
both phyla have segmented representatives.
geologic contact line
boundary that seperates two rock segments
Vascular tissues confer strength on plant stems primarily because the cells contain:
cellulose.
Halkieria may have been a primitive:
chiton (Mollusca)
Productid brachiopods (pictured here) look like archaeocyathids (an extinct group of sponges, very important in Lower Cambrian communities) and rugose corals (an extinct order of mainly solitary, horn-like corals) because of:
convergent evolution.
Stromatoporoid reefs were replaced in the Mississippian by:
crinoid meadows.
The descendants of ________________, which appear in the fossil record as early as the Permian, include marsupial and placental mammals (the furry creatures usually thought of as mammals), as well as monotremes—mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young, such as the platypus (Links to an external site.) and echidna.
cynodonts
The formation of Pangaea resulted in:
diverted ocean currents. vast continental interiors. the formation of large continental ice caps.
New England and the mid-Atlantic regions of what is now the United States were impacted by both the Taconic and Acadian orogenies. Based on the current position of North America, of the two directions below, in which direction would you predict the grade of metamorphism to increase?
east
The succession of different reef-building taxa is best considered an example of:
ecological replacement.
Noncomformity
exists where sedimentary rock layers lie on top of an eroded surface of nonlayer igneous or metamorphic rock
Fusulinids were small marine (Links to an external site.) organisms that were common inhabitants of the world's seas during the Pennsylvanian (Links to an external site.)and Permian (Links to an external site.) periods, from about 323 to 252 million years ago. The earliest fusulinids occur in rocks deposited during the late Mississippian Period, (Links to an external site.) more than 323 million years ago. Fusulinids became extinct during the mass extinction at the end of the Permian Period (Links to an external site.), about 252 million years ago. Fusulinids were single-celled organisms, about the size and shape of a grain of wheat. True or false: Fossils such as fusulinids do not make good index fossils because they are so small.
false
True or false: All sailback reptiles belong to the therapsids.
false
Vertebrate jaws originated from:
gill supports (arches).
The most likely cause of the late Ordovician extinctions is thought to have been:
glaciation and global cooling.
What major evolutionary innovation led to appearance of reptiles and their radiation into continental interiors?
harder/firmer protective coating (scales) a stronger skeletal structure than amphibians hard-shelled eggs stronger musculature than amphibians
The limbs of labyrinthodonts and lobe-finned fish are examples of:
homologous structures.
What is it? like little palm tree
horsetail
Major animal taxa may have appeared during the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transition in part because of:
hox gene mutatiosn increasing oxygen Biomineralization ecologic changes resulting from the reorganization of biogeochemical cycles.
Cnidarians and flatworms both have:
incomplete guts
Topographic contour lines
lines of elevation
Brachiopods are characterized by their distinctive:
lopophore (horseshoe-shaped, cilia-lined feeding structure)
Currently, the most widely-accepted cause of the end-Permian extinctions is:
massive volcanism
There are one or more very strong negative shifts of carbon isotopes (= an overabundance of lighter isotopes) associated with the end-Permian extinctions. These shifts are so strong that they some scientists think they resulted from:
methane hydrate release.
all mollusks
muscular foot
The main assumption of dating species divergence using molecular clocks is that:
mutation is constant
The broad increase of strontium isotopes during the Permo-Carboniferous likely resulted from:
orogeny. enhanced weathering by land plants.
Which came first? At least as far as current fossil discoveries support...
ostracoderms
A rock contains abundant brachiopods and trepostome bryozoans. It mostly likely formed during which era?
paleozoic
This animal is a: lizard lookign with half cirlce
pelycosaur: "mammal-like" reptile
Of the "Big Five" extinctions, the largest was the one at the end of the:
permian
What is this animal? scary super armored fish
placoderms
"Labyrinthodontia" is a group of extinct amphibians that evolved from lobe-finned fishes to become quadrupedal and able to exist on land. The lobed fins of these ancestral species likely served as rudimentary legs. Selective pressure could have driven their legs to become thicker and more supportive over time to exploit a new niche on land. In this case, the lobed fins of Labyrinthodontia's ancestors are an example of:
pre-adaptation
Wings may have evolved in insects by:
preadaptation. hox
Anomalocaris may have been the first known ___________ to be preserved in the fossil record.
predator
The Blue Ridge Mountains extends 550 miles, roughly paralleling the US East Coast. The Blue Ridge Mountains began forming during the Silurian Period (Links to an external site.) over 400 million years ago. Approximately 320 Mya, North America, and Europe collided, pushing up the Blue Ridge. At the time of their emergence, the Blue Ridge were among the highest mountains in the world and reached heights comparable to the much younger Alps (Links to an external site.). Which of these statements is true about the Blue Ridge Mountains?
represents rocks that were thrust-faulted over earlier Paleozoic rocks. represents rocks initialy formed during the Grenville Orogeny. runs from Georgia and Alabama into New England (as the "crystalline Appalchians")
The amount of time it takes for a particular substance to be replaced in a particular reservoir is called its _______________________. (two words)
residence time
Which of the following is not a mammalian trait?
scales
Increasing fecal pellet formation would have oxygenated the oceans by:
sending more organic matter to the ocean bottom rather than having it suspended in the water column.
Volcanic eruptions at the end of the Permian occurred in what is now which continent or region?
siberia
increased erosion of continental rocks as a result of the Taconic and Acadian orogenies is indicated by the ratios of which stable isotope?
stontium
The dominant reef builders of the Paleozoic Era were the:
stromatoporoids (sclerosponges)
Scientists' very earliest efforts at geologic time scales were based on:
superposition and lithology.
By the late Paleozoic, the amniotes had diverged into several taxa. Amniotes lay their eggs on land or retain the fertilized egg within the mother, and are distinguished from the anamniotes, which typically lay their eggs in water. Modern amniotes include reptiles, birds, and mammals. But by the late Paleozoic, amniotes included the: *marine reptiles *Lepidosaurs: reptiles with overlapping scales *Archosaurs: amniotes with two holes in their skulls (diapsids) and.....
synapsids: animals with holes in their skulls under their eyes/cheekbones.
in order to use a fossil species as an index fossil, one must know:
the fossil's total range zone wherever it existed.
Large continental ice caps were located in the southern hemisphere during (check all that apply):
the late Ordovician. most of the Carboniferous and Permian.
Ocean circulation patterns during the early-to-middle Paleozoic Era is thought to have resulted primarily from:
the production of warm, hypersaline water masses in shallow inland seaways.
You are investigating what you think is an ancient reef complex and find that the structures consist mainly of the accumulations of the remains of fusulinids, brachiopods, crinoids, and other invertebrate taxa. You conclude that:
the reefs were not "reefs" with true-frame builders.
A relative sea-level rise - where sea level appears to move landward - is called a:
transgression
Aerobic respiration produces more ATP than anaerobic respiration.
true
Sponges do not possess true tissues.
true
True or False: Oceanic gyres tend to be oligotrophic (nutrient-poor).
true
True or false: Coelacanths and the earliest amphibians share a concestor. Coelacanth, a lobe-finned fish, is a "living fossil":
true
Terrestrial red beds were quite common in the late Paleozoic, perhaps for a number of reasons, among them:
weathering of iron by oxygen. higher oxygen levels. orogeny.
The remains of the Taconic Orogeny are found mainly in:
western Massachusetts and eastern New York state.
how to recoginze faults
when older rock is on top of younger rock
