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Geology > Geo Terminology > Flashcards

Geo Terminology Flashcards

1
Q

Superposition

A

oldest rocks at the bottom as long as it is undisturbed

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2
Q

original horizontality

A

sedimentary particles settle from fluids under gravity, therefore layers should be horizontal

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3
Q

lateral continuity

A

sediment is deposited laterally in layers
can be disturbed by:
-interupted barriers like coast lines
-shift gradually laterally onto different depositional environments
-removed by erosion

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4
Q

discomformity

A

a gap between two layers of rocks with similar dips often indicated by an uneven bedding surface or significant sudden shift in rock type

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5
Q

non-conformity

A

a gap between two layers of different rock types such as sedimentary over igneous

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6
Q

cross-cutting

A

if you have rock that cuts in then the rock it cuts into has to have been there before

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7
Q

inclusions

A

inclusions are older than the rocks they are found in

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8
Q

walthers law

A

the vertical successions of sediments reflects lateral changes in the environment

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9
Q

rocks

A

are interlocking or binding grains of matter composed of minerals

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10
Q

minerals

A

naturally occuring inorganic element with a characteristic crystal structure

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11
Q

bedrock

A

solid rock below soil or loose sediment

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12
Q

outcrop

A

exposures of bedrock at the surface (more common on the resistant pre-cambrian shield)

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13
Q

igneous

A
  • formed when magma cools and crystalizes
  • extrusive rocks:lava cools quickly and forms small crystals
  • intrusive:magma cools slowly below the surface and has large crystals
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14
Q

sedimentary

A

rocks comprised of clasts of rocks, minerals, fossils, or chemically precipitated out of solution at the surface

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15
Q

metamorphic

A

formed from the alteration of other rocks under high temp or pressure
foliated: high pressure aligns platy minerals
non-foliated: dont have a strong band or alignment, probably formed at high temp

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16
Q

absolute dating

A

absolute age with an error range (elements and isotopes)

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17
Q

relative dating

A

age of rock in comparison to other rocks

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18
Q

rock structure

A

faults and folds caused by stress with 3 main stresses- compressional, extensional, shear. and 2 main deformations which are brittle and ductile

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19
Q

plate techtonics

A
  • describe the motion of solid plates on top of the fluid part of the mantle
  • discovered in the early 20th century
  • alfred wagener in 1915
  • evidence: puzzle like fit of the plates, correlation of rocks, remains of flora and fauna that could not have drifted accross oceans
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20
Q

paleomagnetism

A
  • the magnetic iron bearing minerals align with the magnetic north and south poles
  • as the rock cools the orientation is locked in-
  • magnetic field shifts over time and flips at regual intervals
  • young rocks at the oceanic ridges and older rocks far away from them
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21
Q

hotspots

A

islands out in the middle of oceanic plates seem to correspond with linear chains of submarine mountains

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22
Q

earthquakes

A

occur near plate margins

  • at transform faults earthquakes are generally shallower (plates rub side to side)
  • at convergent faults earthquakes are generally deeper (plates push together)
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23
Q

mantle convection

A
  • can explain plate techtonics
  • as you go deeper into the earth rocks become increasingly more ductile and they start becoming like fluid
  • convection cells within the mantle cause the plates on top of the mantle cause the plate techtonics on top of the mantle to move apart and collide together
  • two main forces on the plates: pushing apart and forming mid ocean ridges, pulling plates together and creating convergent boundaries
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24
Q

plate boundaries

A

forms oceans eventually (extension, divergence_

there is also convergence with creates subduction zones or mountains

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25
Q

taxonomy

A

-the science of classifying biotic things
-carolus linnaeus
binomial nomenclature

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26
Q

biological species

A

genetically distinct species which cannot reproduce with another population

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27
Q

morphospecies

A

collection of fossils which is sufficiently different from another fossil

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28
Q

unanchored taxonomy

A

non-hierarchical, because thats not the way nature works

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29
Q

phylogeny

A

the study of how organisms are related through evolution, groups related through common ancestors refferred to as clades

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30
Q

convergent evolution

A

characters that share the same function can evolve similar forms

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31
Q

quantitative methods

A

use numbers rather than vague descriptions to differentiate taxa, most useful at lower taxonomic ranks

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32
Q

cladistics

A

takes a number of characters and plots all possible evolutionary trees, uses the principle of parsimony

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33
Q

clade

A

informal group with all organisms that share common ancestry

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34
Q

ancestral traits

A

character states that show up earlier in a lineage

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35
Q

derived traits

A

character states that show up later in a lineage

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36
Q

molecular methods

A
  • can be done with DNA
  • more “characters” to compare
  • more reliable but hard to find DNA in old things
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37
Q

Eukarya

A

Protists, plantae, fungi, anamalia

38
Q

archea

A

primitive extremophiles, chemosynthetic, autotrophic/heterotrophic, cyanobacteria

39
Q

prokarya

A

eubacteria, largest and most diverse, rapid evolution, asexual and binary fission

40
Q

chromalveolata

A

plant like protists and unicellular algae

41
Q

rhizaria

A

animal like protists

42
Q

diatoms

A
  • plant like protist
  • 2 interlocking disks
  • fresh water and marine (planktonics)
  • late Jurassic and cretaceous periods which become very diverse in the Miocene era
  • form diatomaceous earth a porous siliceous sediment
43
Q

dinoflagellates

A
  • plant like protist
  • organic walled microfossils
  • alternate between motile and cyst
  • has biomarkers from the pre-cambrian
  • responsible for red tides
44
Q

coccolithophores

A
  • plant like protist
  • late Triassic period with a peak in the cretaceous
  • calcareous plates interlock to form coccosphere
  • exclusively marine, planktonic
45
Q

foraminifera

A
  • animal like protist
  • cambrian period to today
  • secrete test shells that are usually multichambered
  • impartant environmental indicators in conozoic sediment and index fossils
46
Q

radiolaria

A
  • animal like protist
  • radial symmetry
  • opaline silica skeleton
  • main part of silaceous ooze on sea floor
  • ordivician time period
  • contain photosynthetic symbionts
47
Q

multicellular

A
  • all autotrophs

- soft or hard skeleton

48
Q

calcareous green algae

A
  • warm, shallow, low energy environment
  • limited photosynthetic pigments
  • fragile skeleton
49
Q

calcareous red algae

A
  • more photosynthetic pigments
  • more robust skeleton
  • modern=coraline red algae
  • fossil=selenoporid red algae
50
Q

plants

A
  • earliest evidence from the ordivician (cryptospores)
  • early silurian (non vascular plants)
  • silurian (vascular plants)
51
Q

ferns

A

devonian era, sporangia, sometimes a stem

52
Q

lycopod

A

-major devonian flora, sometimes a stem

53
Q

sphenophytes

A

jointed hollow stem, sporangia

54
Q

progymnosperms

A

devonian period, spores, carboniferous

55
Q

gymnosperms

A

devonian, permian, mesozoic, dry environment, produces pollen and has true seeds

56
Q

why are seeds so good?

A
  • allows plants to live in dry and cold environment

- seed contains own nutrients

57
Q

angiosperms

A
  • flowering plants
  • cretaceous period
  • suffered significant radiation in the cenozoic
  • co evolution between angiosperms and pollenators
  • more advanced seed, double fertilization
58
Q

palynology

A
  • micro fossils (pollen and spores)

- good for identifying soft plants in the fossil record and can help determine an animals diet

59
Q

animals

A
  • multicellular heterotrophic
  • protosomes, deuterostomes, vertebrates, non-vertebrates
  • all but sponges have tissue
  • all but sponges and cnidarians have organs
60
Q

sponges

A
  • phylum dorifera
  • cambrian or earlier
  • simplest metazoans
  • radial symmetry
61
Q

cniderians

A

phylum cnidaria

  • pre? cambrian
  • specialized stinging cells called cnicocytes
  • some colonial some solitary
  • radial symmetry
62
Q

Bryozoans

A
  • “moss animals”
  • evolved during cambrian
  • occupy a lot of envirnments
  • bilateral symmetry
63
Q

brachiopods

A
  • cambrian period
  • pair of shells that enclose lophophore
  • shell made of calcium phosphate or carbonate
  • attach to substrate vie fleshy pedical or cement
  • most common during paleozoic
64
Q

mollusks

A
  • cambrian
  • most well fossilizing phyla
  • mantle that excretes shell
65
Q

bivalves

A
  • mollusk phylum
  • cambrain
  • foot for moving on sea floor
  • two calcium carbonate shells
  • gill filter feed
66
Q

gastropods

A
  • mollusk phylum
  • snails
  • cambrian
  • large coiled calcium carbonate shell
  • adapted to every envirnment
  • slow foot
  • true head, advanced sensory organs, twist body plan (torsion)
67
Q

cepholopods

A
  • mollusk phylum
  • cambrian
  • squids
  • jet propultion
  • prehensive tentacles
68
Q

arthropoda

A
  • cabrian
  • chitin exoskeleton that moults through ecdysis
  • jointed appendages
  • most diverse phylum today
69
Q

trilobites

A
  • phylum arthropoda
  • cambraind to permian
  • marine only
  • deposit feeders on the sea floor
  • three lobes and three body segements
  • segments: cephalon (head), thorax (body), pygidum (tail)
70
Q

chelicerates

A
  • phylum arthropoda
  • cambrian
  • modified front two appendages
71
Q

crustraceans

A
  • cambrain
  • mostly marine
  • chitonous skeleton not well preserved
  • commonly found in concretions
72
Q

ostracodes

A
  • bi-valved crustaceans
  • cambrian
  • marine, fresh water, low energy
  • up to 2cm
73
Q

insects

A
  • devonian
  • early flight
  • fossilized in amber
74
Q

echinoderms

A
  • is a deuterosome
  • cambrian
  • sear cucumbers and star fish
  • 5 rayed symmetry
  • advanced water vascular system
75
Q

crinoids

A
  • class crinoidera
  • cambrain
  • abundant in paleozoic
  • suspension feeders
76
Q

star fish

A
  • class asteroidea
  • ordivician
  • not good fossils
  • carniverous
  • feed on bi-valves
77
Q

brittle stars

A
  • class ophiuroidea
  • ordivician
  • bad fossils
  • deep sea
  • scavengers
78
Q

graptolates

A
  • hemichordate
  • cambrian
  • always colonial
  • preserved as carbon film
  • index fossils
79
Q

chordates

A
  • dorsal nerve chord
  • urochordates, cephalachordates, vertebrates
  • rare in the fossil record
80
Q

amphibians

A
  • tetrapod
  • stay near water
  • soft eggs need water
  • diverse in carboniferous
81
Q

reptiles

A
  • triassic and jurassic
  • dominant large reptiles in mesozoic
  • dry environments and hard eggs
82
Q

birds

A
  • cretaceous

- evolved from therapod dinosaurs

83
Q

mammals

A
  • permian
  • small and probably nocturnal in mesozoic
  • rapid evolution in cenozoic
84
Q

genetic drift

A

traits moving in one direction

85
Q

genetic divergence

A

traits splitting off from one another

86
Q

mass exticintion

A

varies ins magnitude

  • triassic-20-30% of marine families died
  • permian - <50% of marine familes and 95% or marine species went extinct
87
Q

ecology

A

the study of factors that govern the distribution and abundance of organisms in an evironment

88
Q

paleoecology

A

the study of fossile ecosystems

89
Q

niche

A

a way species relates to its environment which is defined by limiting factors: environmental, competition, predation

90
Q

atmosphere

A

living envirnment, not highly populates but very important.

  • 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% carbon dioxide and wter vapor
  • warm most air rises from surface and precipitates (creating convection cells) and moderating climare
91
Q

terrestrial

A
  • modern world forms bands that roughly follow lattitudinal zones
  • close to the equator is hot and wet, glaciers in polar zones etc
92
Q

marine

A
  • well preserved with less erosion, rapid burial, and anoxia
  • currents are a major influence
  • warm water creates shells easily

Geology (3 decks)

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