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GEOLOGY 1. - Minerals, rocks and processes > Fossil types > Flashcards

Fossil types Flashcards

(75 cards)

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1
Q

What 6 fossil examples do I need to know?

A

Corals
Cephalopods
Trilobites
Graptolites
Brachiopods
Bivalves

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2
Q

What are corals?

A

Creatures closely related to a sea anemone, with hollow, bag-like bodies with a mouth at the top surrounded by tentacles

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3
Q

What do coral tentacles do?

A

catch and paralyse small organisms which are then pushed into the mouth

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4
Q

What is the role of the coral mouth?

A
  • Feeding - mostly at night
  • removing undigested food
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5
Q

What is the polyp?

A

The soft part of the coral

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6
Q

What is the corallum?

A

The calcareous skeleton which is built by the polyp, and is where the polyp sits

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7
Q

What are the two types of corals?

A

Solitary corals
Colonial corals

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8
Q

What is a colonial coral?

A

lots of polyps all living in a group (colony), all attached to the same corallum

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9
Q

What is a solitary coral?

A

A single polyp on a cup-like skeleton

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10
Q

What do corals have living inside them?

A

algae, zooxanthellae

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11
Q

What is the function of the algae inside corals? Why do they have a symbiotic relationship?

A

they photosynthesise during the day, producing nitrogen and carbon for the polyp, and in return, it gets oxygen and a sunny position

they also give the coral its colour

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12
Q

What are the 7 specific conditions that reef building corals need?

A
  1. latitudes of between 30 degrees N/S of equator
  2. depth of above 30m where there is plenty of light
  3. marine - salinity 30-40ppt
  4. temperature - 23-27 degrees C
  5. clear waters for photosynthesis
  6. no sediment which may clog the polyps
  7. high energy levels or wave action as it incorporates more oxygen and circulates nutrients
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13
Q

Name the features of solitary corals

A
  • septa
  • columella
  • tabulae
  • calice
  • dissepiments
  • epitheca
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14
Q

CORAL - What is the septum? (septa)

A

radial partitions

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15
Q

CORAL - What is the columella?

A

rod like axial structure

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16
Q

CORAL - What are tabulae?

A

horizontal partitions

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17
Q

CORAL - What is the calice?

A

cup shaped hollow which the polyp sits in

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18
Q

CORAL - What are the dissepiments?

A

small, downward curving plates between the septa

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19
Q

CORAL - What is the epitheca?

A

outer wall

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20
Q

What are the 3 subclasses of cephalopod?

A

Nautiloid
Ammonoide
Coleoid

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21
Q

What kind of shell does a nautiloid have?

A

Simple chambered

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22
Q

What kind of shell does an ammonoide have?
What else is special about ammonoids?

A

Complex chambered
EXTINCT

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23
Q

What sort of shell does a coleoid have?

A

THEY ARE SOFT BODIED

Doesn’t have a shell - at best they have an internal shell that is more like a skeleton for muscle attachment and buoyancy
- cuttlebone/gladius

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24
Q

a) Give characteristics of a nautilus
b) Give characteristics of an ammonoide
c) What characteristics do they share?

A

a)
- marine creature
- lives close to the sea bed
- swims using jet propulsion

b)
- extinct cephalopod
- similar shell to the nautilus but the outside of their shell has ribs

c)
they both have chambered shells with chamber walls called SUTURE LINES separating the chambers
- though ammonoids have more complex suture lines than nautiloids

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25
What time periods did a) nautilus b) goniatite c) ceratite d) ammonite live in?
a) Cambrian - Quaternary b) Devonian - Permian c) Carboniferous - Triassic d) Permian - Cretaceous
26
What are trilobites?
Extinct marine arthropods
27
What does planktonic mean? Give an example
free-floating and drifting - little or no effective swimming capacity e.g. jellyfish
28
What does nektonic mean?
able to swim efficiently against the ocean current for prolonged periods
29
What does benthic mean? Give an example
those organisms that live on or in the sea floor e.g. MOBILE - crabs and starfish, IMMOBILE - barnacles
30
What does pelagic mean?
living in the water column
31
What does substrate mean?
the surface or material on which an organism lives, grows, or obtains its nourishment
32
Give the body parts of a trilobite
Glabella Thoracic segment Thoracic spines Thorax Eye Genal spines Genal angle Cephalon Pygidium
33
TRILOBITE - what is the glabella for? What could it suggest?
Size dictates size of stomach large = carnivore small = filter feeder OR for buoyancy large = pelagic
34
TRILOBITE - what is the genal spine for? What could it suggest?
increase surface area, or maybe protection - could suggest pelagic and planktonic to stay in the water column, or benthic to stop it sinking in the mud
35
TRILOBITE - what are the thoracic segments for? What could it suggest?
- each segment has a pair of legs - under the legs is pair of gills, for respiration, produces energy more thoracic segments = more legs = more gills = more respiration = more energy could suggest nektonic, pelagic, carnivorous
36
TRILOBITE - What is the pygidium?
The tail bit
37
TRILOBITE - what are the thoracic spines for? What could they suggest?
Big = increased surface area, or maybe protection could suggest they stop it sinking in the mud. Benthic (mud) or planktonic so it stays the right level in the water column (pelagic) So anything really
38
TRILOBITE - what is the cephalon?
The head bit
39
TRILOBITE - what is the genal angle?
The bit where the cephalon meets the genal spine
40
TRILOBITE - what is the thorax?
The body bit
41
TRILOBITE - how can eye shape suggest the trilobites way of life?
NONE - lived in dark - buried in mud - planktonic CRESCENT - see behind - potentially prey, looking out for predators ON STALKS - buried in mud SEE BELOW - swam LARGE - predators
42
What niches did trilobites occupy?
Nearly every one available swim (nekton) float (plankton) crawl/walk burrow
43
What methods did different trilobites use to feed?
- filter - either water, or mud (mud grubber) - herbivore - carnivore - predator - prey - scavenger
44
What is the anatomy of a trilobite?
- soft parts are covered with an exoskeleton - have compound eyes made of many lenses - many were 3-6cm long, some were up to 60cm
45
What body shapes did trilobites tend to be? How did each one suggest something different?
Streamlined - swam or buried Spines - snow shoe effect to stop sinking into the mud Spikes - protection (on top too), or maybe to attract a mate
46
TRILOBITES - why did some enrol?
some could roll themselves up, maybe for protection
47
What is a bivalve?
a mollusc that lives in both marine and freshwater - the creature lives inside the shell, or valves - 2 valves = bivalve
48
How do bivalves feed?
when it is in water and safe, it opens its shell and uses its siphon to feed - filter feeders: filtering the water for bits of food
49
How many species of bivalve are there?
over 20,000 now and many more in the fossil record
50
What are some bivalve ways of live? Give examples for each
SESSILE - fixed in one place e.g. mussels and oysters BURROWERS - the deeper they burrow, the longer the siphon they have e.g. cockles SOME SWIM! e.g. scallops
51
BIVALVE - what is a pallial sinus? What does it show?
Where the siphon goes when the shell closes - denotes a burrower - no pallial sinus = not a burrower - the bigger the pallial sinus, the bigger the siphon and the deeper it burrowed
52
BIVALVE - what anatomical structures should I look for?
- tooth and socket - ligament pit - muscle scars - pallial sinus - pallial line
53
Where are the lines of symmetry in a bivalve?
between the two shells
54
Where are the lines of symmetry in a brachiopod?
Down the front of a shell
55
Where are brachiopods found?
Exclusively marine
56
What anatomical features should I be looking out for in a brachiopod?
- foramen - pedicle - pedicle valve - brachial valve
57
BRACHIOPOD - what is the pedicle?
the stalk attaching the brachiopod to the substrate
58
BRACHIOPOD - what is the foramen?
the hole that the pedicle comes through
59
BRACHIOPOD - what is the pedicle valve?
The valve with the foramen in
60
BRACHIOPOD - what is the brachial valve?
the other valve - the one without the foramen in
61
How do brachiopods feed?
They open their shells to let water in and filter it through their feeding filter, the lophophore
62
What are the similarities and differences between brachiopods and bivalves?
BRACHIOPODS: - lophophore for feeding - commisure - now rare - line of symmetry from top to bottom - opens with muscles - pedicle and foramen - don't move - exclusively marine BIVALVE: - freshwater and marine - symmetrical from the side - opens with ligaments - mobile - common - siphuncle BOTH: - 2 valves - marine - have lines of symmetry
63
What is a graptolite?
The trace of a fragile skeleton consisting of a series of cup-like thecae arranged in a series along a branch called a stipe
64
What anatomical features should I look for in a graptolite?
- nema - sicula - stipe - thecae
65
GRAPTOLITES - what is the sicula?
The initial cup/thecae from which the other thecae bud
66
GRAPTOLITES - what is the nema?
the thread from the sicula (the top bit)
67
GRAPTOLITES - what is the stipe?
The branch along which the cup-like thecae are arranged
68
What is a rhabdosome?
The network of branches
69
How did graptolites change through the geological periods?
- The earliest graptolites had many branches - The number of stipes was reduced in the Ordovician and Silurian until the last graptolites had only 1. - They died out at the end of the Silurian possibly due to the rise of fish in the Devonian
70
How did graptolites change over the Ordovician and into the Silurian?
ORDOVICIAN: 4 pendant stipe then 2 pendant stipe then 2 flatish stipe then 2 scandent stipe with the nema inside then 2 scandent together in a rod then SILURIAN: 1 stipe, monograptus
71
GRAPTOLITES - what does a) pendant b) scandent c) monograptus mean?
a) Hanging stipe, nema on the top b) Upwards stipe, nema inside c) One stipe, whole new animal?
72
How have thecae evolved?
Larger, fewer, more complex as time goes on`
73
What characteristics do graptolites have and what can they tell us?
1. GRAPTOLITES EVOLVED QUICKLY - easy identified - can be used to come up with relative age for the rocks they are found in 2. NOT SESSILE - floated freely = found all over the world, widespread 3. VERY FRAGILE - only preserved in very low energy environments - facies dependent = they are only found in a particular facies which is the environment in which shales are deposited 4. THEY ARE MARINE - oceans used to be there
74
Where are graptolites often found?
black shales
75
Give some characteristics of black shales
- fine grained = formed in low energy environment - black = high carbon content - lots of dead material - lack of oxygen = anoxic environments - deep sea marine

GEOLOGY 1. - Minerals, rocks and processes (7 decks)

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