Unit 7 Poss. Test Questions & Unit 1-6 Tests Flashcards
(219 cards)
1
Q
List the Mesozoic periods in order (oldest to youngest).
A
- Triassic
- Jurassic
- Cretaceous
2
Q
What was the fate of the glaciers on Pangaea before the beginning of the Mesozoic?
A
None
3
Q
Which two “landmasses or continents” made up Pangaea?
A
Laurasia and Gondwana
4
Q
What type or classification of a tectonic event caused the opening of the North Atlantic?
A
Divergent
5
Q
What type of rocks form the Palisades of Hudson River (New York)?
A
Basalt
6
Q
Where was Texas located on the globe during the Triassic?
A
South of the equator
7
Q
Define an orogeny.
A
Period of mountain building.
8
Q
What type of environment is associated with the “red beds”?
A
Desert
9
Q
Where do we find some classic examples of red beds in Texas?
A
Palo Duro Canyon in the panhandle of Texas.
10
Q
How did the dinosaurs “walk” (position of their legs) as compared to reptiles?
A
Directly underneath them, like us. Reptiles have a “sprawling” walk.
11
Q
Can you name some marine dinosaurs and flying dinosaurs and why?
A
No, because _______.
12
Q
What would be a unique aspect of the Lystrosaurs, as far as their numbers can be described?
A
More than 1/2 of all life on Earth.
13
Q
What was a Morganucodon and what is it’s importance?
A
Earliest known mammal.
14
Q
What was a pterosaur?
A
Flying reptile
15
Q
What possibly caused the Triassic extinction?
A
Manicouagan crater (meteorite)
16
Q
Which geological period did the Gulf of Mexico first been open for sea water and salt evaporation?
A
Triassic
17
Q
Describe the depositional environment of the Navajo Formation.
A
Sandstone. Ancient sand dunes.
18
Q
What is the name of the Jurassic sea that covered a large part of North America?
A
Sundance
19
Q
What makes the Morrison Formation so famous?
A
Morrison Formation contains the world’s richest assemblage of fossil dinosaur bones.
20
Q
What is the difference between endothermic and ectothermic animals?
A
Endo –> inside heat [warm-blooded]
Ecto –> outside heat [cold-blooded]
21
Q
Describe predatory/prey ratios that suggest dinosaurs were warm blooded.
A
Dinosaurs have a predator/prey ratio of 1% - 5%, same as warm-blooded.
22
Q
From what dinosaur did birds probably evolve?
A
Small, bipedal theropod
23
Q
Describe some general characteristics of archaeopteryx (i.e. a bird with teeth).
A
First verified bird.
24
Q
What is the general classification for the largest land animals of all times?
A
Sauropod
25
What was the name of the largest Jurassic canivore?
Megalosaurus
26
Describe a unique characteristic of an ichthyosaur.
The largest eyes of all known reptiles.
27
Which major group of dinosaurs died out at the end of the Jurassic Period?
- Stegosaurids
- Sauropods
- Marine reptiles
- Bivalves
28
Which major geologic event marked the Sevier orogeny?
Granite batholiths (the heel of Mexico)
29
Define cordilleran.
Range of mountains.
30
Which three orognies make up the Cordilleran Orogeny?
- Nevadian
- Sevier
- Laramide
31
What evidence is there to demonstrate that dinosaurs live in Texas?
Footprints, shallow water fossils.
32
Whitin which Texas state park do we find abundant dinosaur footprints?
Glen Rose.
33
Why is the Edwards formation important to South Texas?
Oil
34
What is the importance of the Eagle Ford shale to Texas?
Oil and gas.
35
What is the importance of the Austin Chalk to Texas?
Oil and gas.
36
What classification of mammals were the Cretaceous Multituberculate?
Marsupial.
37
Describe some unique height characteristic of Quetzalcoatlus.
Over 7 ft tall, Wing span of 36 ft, Necks over 10 ft.
38
Which marine Cretaceous species had necks that were 30 feet long?
Plesiosaurus
39
What length did the snake-like Mosasaurs achieve?
60 ft long.
40
What type of animal is Exogyra ponderosa?
-
41
What type of plants evolved toward the end of the Mesozoic?
Angiosperm
42
What is the name of the state dinosaur for Texas?
Palauxys Jonesi
43
Which dinosaur was the largest land carnivore of all times?
T-Rex
44
What event brought the end of the Mesozoic?
Chixulub (meteorite)
45
During which era were the present day landforms of the Western US created?
Cenozoic Era
46
Describe the probable position of the western North American subducted oceanic plate during the Laramide Orogeny.
Sub-horizontal, push up by mantle plume
| -Mantle plume pushed oceanic crust up, and continental crust overrode it.
47
Which sea remained in the Wyoming area during the Paleocene?
Cannonball Sea.
48
How much coal reserves does the US have?
Enough to last hundreds of years.
| -More than any other country.
49
Describe a characteristic of a Monotreme, and name an example.
Egg laying mammal.
- platypus
- spiny anteater
50
Give an example of a North American marsupial.
Possum
51
Where do we find most of the marsupials today and why there?
Australia, isolated by plate tectonics.
52
Which "animal" was the chief land predator in the Paleocene?
Diatrymidae (Gastonis), the birds.
53
Describe what happened to temperatures at the end of the Paleocene.
Very hot.
54
Name a famous Texas Eocene formation for oil and gas.
Eocene Wilcox
55
Describe the types of fossils associated with the Green River Formation.
Fossil fish.
56
Describe the value of the oil shale of the Green River Formation.
Trillions of barrels.
57
Near which Texas city have been discovered fossil primate bones?
Laredo
58
Describe the feet of the largest land mammal carnivore of all times.
Andrewsarchus, Hoofed feet
59
During which epoch would West Texas volcanoes spew uranium-rich ash over south Texas?
Oligocene
60
What was the name of the largest land mammal that ever walked on the Earth?
Indricotherium (18 ft tall)
61
Which state does the Basin and Range Province dominate?
Nevada
62
Describe the geology of the Colorado Plateau.
Sandstone, Hard rock
63
Describe the Cenozoic igneous activity of the Columbia River area (i.e. what caused it).
Mantle plumes in Washington, Lots of basalt all over.
64
What was the name of the largest shark that ever lived?
Megalodon
65
What were the principle mammal types that evolved in South America before the land bridge?
Marsupials
66
What effect on animal life did the Panamanian Central America land bridge have on South America?
Most marsupials in South America couldn't compete against North American animals.
-Were replaced with North American animals.
67
What was a Smilodon?
Sabre Tooth
68
What was a glyptodont?
A VW-sized armadillo
69
Which are the largest animals to ever live on Earth?
Blue Whale
70
Which epochs did megafauna live in Corpus Christi area?
Pleistocene
71
What epoch do we live in now?
Holocene
72
Name all seven of the Cenozoic epochs - in order from oldest to youngest.
- Paleocene
- Eocene
- Oligocene
- Miocene
- Pliocene
- Pleistocene
- Holocene
73
How long have we been using the words geology and geologists?
It was first used by Jean-Andre Deluc in the year 1778.
74
The Principle of Fossil Succession implies ______.
....strata with the same fossil assemblages are the same relative age.
75
Rock symbols.
00000000
76
Remembering your rock type symbols, the wiggly line in the sketch above represents a hiatus of geologic time. We would call the surface (hiatus) next to the arrow _______.
0000000
77
The wiggly line symbol (without regard to rock types) in the sketch above is used by geologists to represent _________.
....an unconformity.
78
We have quite a few definitions when referring to the characteristics of sedimentary rocks. In the above figure, each of the arrows point to a feature between two layer of sedimentary rocks - these individual features best describe _________.
....a bedding plane.
79
This time I want you to consider the rock types shown in the sketch. With the rock types shown, we would call the wiggly line symbol in the sketch _______.
0000000
80
Nicolas Steno is recognized in geology because he ________.
....is considered the father of stratigraphy.
81
Leonardo de Vinci was concerned about being burned at the stake. However he publically doubted that deposits of fossils were caused by a world-wide flood because ________.
....not all layers of rock contain fossils.
82
Hutton's Principle of Deformation basically states that ______________.
....folds and tilted beds indicate deformation which postdates (occurs after) deposition.
83
The geologic Principle of Baked Contacts, refers to the actual contacts of igneous rocks with other rocks. This geologic principle best implies that _________.
....an intrusive igneous rock can or will bake the rocks surrounding it, during the intrusion.
84
Today, we use a "Hutton" approach to the study of geology. Geologist imply that the present geologic processes tat we see today are the key to past geologic processes. This theory defines _________.
....uniformitarianism.
85
The geologic Principle of Inclusions can be used to determine which event took place first and last. For example, we find rounded boulders and gravel of granite within the sandstone strata. This would imply that ________.
....the granite intrusive must be older than the sandstone.
86
The Principle of Original Horizontality demonstrates that _______.
....all rock types must be deposited in a horizontal plane.
87
The Principle of Superposition demonstrates that _______.
....normally, the oldest layers of rock are found at the bottom of a rock sequence.
88
It is a surprise to many people that both sedimentary rock and _______ have been known to contain abundant fossils.
....deposits of volcanic ash....
89
The above example of the geologic Principle of Cross Cutting Relationships implies that ________.
....a rock feature that cuts through a host rock is younger than the host rock it cuts.
90
During the Middle Ages Europe, many people thought that _________.
....fossils resulted from Noah's Flood.
91
What was the Charles Lyell's contribution to geology?
He published the first geology book.
92
It is surprising how external events can affect the scientific community. Society's geologic discoveries would increase dramatically from 1650 to the 1800s because of ________.
....mining, travel and fossil collections.
93
The German Geology Professor Abraham Werner taught "Neptunism" that advocated that all types of rocks came from _________.
....precipitates from the sea which fit well with Noah's Flood.
94
Since Kramer is a Mining Engineer, he thinks the answer to this question is important to remember. Who is considered to be the Father of Mining and Mineralogy?
Agricola.
95
Earth History is principally different from Physical Geology in that Earth History _______.
....studies life (biota) as preserved in rocks.
96
Pliny the Elder (50 AD) recognized insects in amber as fossils. He also proclaimed that the large fossil shark teeth of megalodons were ________.
....tongue stones from lunar eclipses.
97
What type of time indicators are fossils?
Relative time.
98
Aristotle's method (350 BC) was considered to be the only method for scientific inquiry for almost 2,000 years. After some observations, Aristotle would derive explanations to the natural world by _______.
....arbitrary pronouncements that would explain the event.
99
It had been almost impossible to place the "number or years" with non-volcanic sedimentary rocks before today on the geologic time scale. Why?
Because radiometric age-dating of fossil-bearing sedimentary rocks, the rocks used to construct the time scale, usually cannot be accurately done.
100
Using the Principle of Fossil Succession, we make use of "guide fossils" in determining the relative age of a strata. Two characteristics of a guide fossil would include _________.
....quick widespread appearance and quick extinction.
101
How could a geologist determine the geological period in which any particular sediment was deposited, while at the outcrop?
Usually from the fossils in the rocks.
102
Which of the following pairs are equivalent to one another for relative time - stratigraphic units?
Epoch - Series
| {This ______ series is Epoch!}
103
You are a geologist studying a sequence of sandstone near Mason, Texas. You claim the age of this sandstone is Cambrian. How could you have determine this age?
By studying the fossils in the rocks.
104
You want to give a stratigraphic unit of limestone rocks a formation name located in Edwards County, Texas. In general, how are such formations generally named?
Geographic location first, rock type second.
105
You might have to do a little math for this question. About what year did Bishop James Ussher assign to the Earth's creation?
About 4,000 BC.
106
The heat source that Buffon and Kevin missed while they were trying to calculate Earth's age was _______.
....the heat created by radioactive decay.
107
Dendrochronology has been used to try and age-date the Earth which is ________.
....counting tree rings.
108
A profound discovery that Boltwood make that led to a major contribution to geology was that he ________.
....invented the spectrometer that we use for age dating.
109
Radon is a colorless, odorless gas that ______.
....cause lung cancer.
110
We learned from studying the radioactive half-life decay of an isotope or atom, and that ________.
....each half-life takes as long as the previous half life.
111
Which of the two element pairs are often compared to get a radiometric age date?
Potassium - Argon
112
A positive effect that mutations might have on an organism is ________.
....one that allows it to survive with an environmental change.
113
What two items are compared to get a radiometric age date?
Parent-daughter ratios.
114
The materials that can be used with the Carbon 14 dating method is _________.
....only organic material less than 75,000 years old.
115
Rock types that are best for radiometric age dating include __________.
....igneous rocks and volcanic ash.
116
What is allopathic speciation?
Species that can arise when a small part of its population is isolated from its parent population.
117
Darwin is given credit for the Theory of Evolution because _________.
....his paper was the first to be presented at a conference.
118
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck had the first widely accepted proposal for evolution in 1802. It was based on what we now know to be a false assumption. Which of the following is an example of a false assumption of Lamarck?
Giraffes' necks got longer because they stretched to reach higher leaves, and this was passed on to their offspring.
119
Background extinctions can be compared to _______.
....continual extinctions of species like we have today.
120
Determining the age of rocks and fossils can be difficult unless certain conditions prevail. We have learned that relative-age dating _________.
....does not tell us how long ago an event occurred; only that one event precedes another.
121
What provides the best large scale evidence for evolution, provided by the geologic sciences?
The fossil record.
122
Place the following in order from the longest to shortest time intervals the following geological relative time scales:
Eons - Eras - Periods - Epochs
123
An immense spherical "mass" of ice, gas, dust and rocks surrounds our solar system and extends out to more than one light year. It has been proposed that "long period" comets are derived from this scattered mass of objects. This spherical mass is referred to as the _______.
....Oort Cloud.
{sphere - Oort - Long - outside solar system}
{Kuiper - short - outside Neptune}
124
There are many theories about the origin of our moon. What is the current "accepted" explanation of the origin of our moon?
....Resulted from Earth colliding with a Mars-sized planet.
125
There are three general classifications of meteorites; one of which would include ______ meteorites.
....stony iron....
126
On which near-Earth orbit (NEO) asteroid has the US actually soft landed a space probe?
....Eros.
127
Which of the following answers are the planets are placed in correct order - moving outward from our Sun?
```
My
Very
Educated
Mother
Just
Served
Us
Nasty
Pizza
```
128
With telescopes, we can estimate the number of stars and galaxies and estimate the "visible mass" and energy of our universe. We now estimate that undetectable "dark matter" forms _______.
....about 25% of our known universe.
129
Where is the center of our universe?
There is no center of our universe because all positions are equivalent.
130
If the Sun were to immediately go dark, we would not know about it for more than eight minutes. This is because the speed of light travels at _________.
....186,000 miles per second.
131
We have four outer gas-giant planets along with the four inner rocky planets. Compare the mass of Jupiter to the other solar system planets.
Greater than all other solar system planets combined.
132
What is the name of our home galaxy and what type of galaxy is it?
Milky Way Galaxy ---- a barred spiral galaxy.
133
The discovery and mapping of the CMBR was a major scientific discovery. The significance of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation is that this _________.
....represents the energy left over from the Big Bang.
134
A typical spiral galaxy has groupings of star along its arms and within its center. We have learned that center of this galaxy usually has older "yellow stars" while along its spiral arms we find groupings of younger ________.
....blue stars.
135
What would cause an "Einstein ring" OR "Einstein cross" to appear in a telescope?
A frontal galaxy's gravity bending of light from a more distant, aligned galaxy.
136
In five billion years from now, explain the ultimate fate of our home galaxy with our nearest largest neighbor galaxy?
They will collide and ultimately form one galaxy.
137
The galaxies, often referred to as the Magellanic Clouds ________.
....are irregular galaxies only visible from the southern hemisphere.
138
We should know the size of our Sun that we see every day. In miles, what is the Sun's approximate diameter?
800,000 miles.
139
The two atoms (elements) that comprises most of our Sun are ________.
....hydrogen and helium.
140
We discussed "light shifts" that would include "red shift". A red shift spectrum implies ________.
```
....stars and galaxies are moving away from us.
{Red - Moving Farther
|
|
|
Blue - Moving Closer}
```
141
The two classifications of giant stars include the blue giants and the _______ giants.
....red....
142
We have discovered our star is not alone in having a planetary system. Which method (besides the more recent transit method) is used by astronomers to detect other planets (exoplanets), outside of our own solar system?
The wobble of a star.
143
So far, we know of ________ large meteor craters in Texas.
....two....
144
The Hubble Space Telescope has taken some incredible pictures of "materials" within our galaxy. We see in the above Hubble picture vast "clouds" of dust and molecules of methane, amino acids, etc. These "clouds" are called ______?
....nebula.
145
The largest structure in the visible universe _______.
....are great voids of empty space.
146
We discovered space is expanding. We found that the space is ________.
....expanding fastest the for the most distance galaxies from Earth.
147
Most of Earth's largest tectonic plates are composed of a combination of both continental crust and ________ crust.
....oceanic....
148
The Earth's asthenosphere is ________.
....the "sphere" that is directly above and adjacent to Earth's (lower) mantle.
149
When we look to the daylight sky from our Earth, the Sun looks as small as a baseball. From the moon's surface, the Earth looks the size of a blue marble. We have learned the approximate diameter of our Earth is about ____________.
....8,000 miles.
150
Most people do not know that Earth has a liquid iron core which is __________.
....the "sphere" that is directly below the Earth's (lower) mantle.
151
We have learned that "Pangaea" is __________.
....the last known super-continent.
152
The Theory of Continental Drift, proposed in 1915 was rejected by the majority of scientists because the _________.
....lack of an acceptable mechanism to move the continents.
153
Earth's internal heat creates a "plastic zone" over which the Earth's tectonic plates most likely "move". The original sources of Earth's remaining internal heat would include kinetic energy from the meteorite impacts, gravitational energy and ______.
....Earth's powerful rotational energy.
154
During the formation of the Earth, huge quantities of hydrogen and helium gas were also present. The original hydrogen and helium ___________.
....were mostly lost to space because Earth's gravity was not strong enough to hold these gases.
155
What visible evidence do we have to show that Earth has a magnetic shield?
The aurora borealis.
156
Which one of the following is the only area that science can truly address?
Phenomena of the natural world.
157
There are several theories for the various plate movements. The most favored mechanism (today) for plate tectonic movement is the ______ theory.
....slab-pull....
158
The presence of rounded pyrite grains (resembling sand) in the earliest sedimentary rocks implies ________.
....the lack of free oxygen in the Earth's early atmosphere.
159
Which one of the following was not a type of evidence used to support the theory of continental drift?
The size and locations of Earth's major river systems.
160
The composition of Earth's present atmosphere that you are currently breathing contains ________.
....approximately 78% Nitrogen and 21% Oxygen.
161
The scientist who is credited with proposing the Theory of Continental Drift is _______.
....Alfred Wegener.
162
The generation of Earth's magnetic field is possibly caused by ________.
....Earth's solid iron core spinning slightly faster than the outer liquid iron core.
163
The scientist who is credited with proposing the Theory of Seafloor Spreading is _________.
....H. H. Hess.
164
Describe what happens to a magnetite grain as the grain cools within a basaltic magma.
Most magnetite grains align themselves to Earth's current magnetic field, at the time of cooling.
165
The "magnetic polarity stripes" within the ocean's seafloor were found to be useful because the stripes _________.
....are polarity symmetrical on both sides of a typical mid-oceanic ridge and are thus datable.
166
How is science different from other fields of human endeavor? Science ________.
....searches for regularities and patterns in the natural world.
167
Describe a convergent plate boundary including the movement of neighboring plates.
This is the area where the plates are coming together (compression).
----><------
168
When a tectonic divergent zone develops on a continental land mass, this zone is _________.
....also called a rift zone.
169
We have many of hot spots on Earth. A hotspot is a location _________.
....found only at convergent zones.
170
Describe a transform plate boundary including the movement of neighboring plates.
A zone where tectonic plates slide past one another because of a divergent zone.
171
We have defined the Precambrian as _______.
....an informal term for all time before the Cambrian.
172
Most Precambrian rock outcrop surfaces are represented by igneous rocks and __________.
....metamorphic rocks.
173
Exposures of Precambrian rocks in Texas can be found in Central Texas and __________.
....El Paso and Van Horn.
174
Where is found the largest North American Precambrian exposure?
Canada shield
175
We have describe a Precambrian platform as _______.
....Precambrian rocks that are found under geologically younger-aged rocks.
176
Which of the following describe the rocks surrounding a typical Precambrian geologic province?
A core area of igneous rocks surrounded by metamorphic rocks.
177
We have learned that the Earth's oldest particle, dated at 4.4 billion years is ________.
....a zircon crystal.
178
The effect of the moon on the early Earth was vastly different that today's effect. During the Early Archean Eon ________.
....the moon probably caused Earth's land mass to rise and fall 200 feet each day.
179
The Archean rocks of the "greenstone belts" represent _________.
....ancient island arcs that later collided with a continental mass.
180
Greywacke sandstone and its environment would represent ________.
....graded-bedding sandstone derived from deep ocean turbidty currents.
181
We find very old deposits of unusual rocks called tillites - what is a tillite?
Sedimentary deposits of rocks and boulders derived from icebergs.
182
Banded iron-ore formations of iron oxides and chert were being deposited in the seas for a time that began very early in Earth's history (starting about 4 billion year ago). The thicknesses and masses of banded iron formations will vary over all geologic time. Describe the occurrence of banded iron formations that were deposited after the end of the time period of 2.0 billion years in Earth's history.
Most of the banded iron formations were already deposited by 3 billion years.
183
The valuable mineral resources commonly found within the Keweenawan basalts include enormous deposits of ________
....copper and silver metals.
184
The first continent was created with the Grenville Province that includes part of Texas was named ________.
....Rodinia.
185
What is the snowball Earth theory?
A time when the entire Earth was covered with ice.
186
All living matter is composed of at least four elements; what are __________.
....Chemical compounds of the elements C, H, O and N.
{C}arbon
{H}ydrogen
{O}xygen
{N}itrogen
187
When reviewing our Earth's early history, we discussed microspheres. We defined a microsphere as _________.
....simple non-living organic molecules that show organizational complexity.
188
What geologic evidence indicates that life could have originated on Earth as early as 3.85 billion years ago?
The Ediacaran fossils are 3.85 billion years old.
189
Most Early Precambrian fossils are found within ________.
....limestone.
190
Stromatolites have survived for billions of years and are actually _________.
....cyanobacteria and other bacteria that form colonial associations.
191
We have defined arcitarchs as _________.
....cysts of algae.
192
Cyanobacteria describes __________.
....an aquatic bacteria that uses photosynthesis.
193
Ediacaran fossils are __________.
....fossils found at the beginning of the Archean Period.
194
We often subdivide the Proterozoic Eon as _________.
....Early, Middle and Late.
195
How could a geologist determine the geological period in which any particular sediment was deposited, while at the outcrop?
Usually from the fossils in the rocks.
196
When did true tetrapods first appear on Earth, according to the fossil record?
Devonian.
197
Which one of these statements about the Burgess Shale fossils is false?
They are found in British Columbia, Canada.
198
The first vertebrate were _____ and are found as fossils in rocks of the Early _____ Period.
Fish ---- Cambrian
199
Why are the Early Cambrian Chengjiang fossils from China significant?
They are the oldest fossils of Earth's first complex and diverse animals.
200
What do geologists call the extinction of unusually large numbers of species or higher taxa in a geologically short interval of time?
Mass extinction.
201
The study of the origins of early life on Earth is always coming up with new theories. One theory - the Big Bang of Evolution was considered to be the Early Cambrian explosion (or adaptive radiation). What happened to "life" during this Early Cambrian adaptive radiation?
Rather sudden appearance on Earth of diverse, complex animals with shells and other new adaptations like heads, eyes, mouths and teeth.
202
What group of animals colonized the land first, based on the fossil record?
Animals from Phylum Anthropoda (insects)
203
What major evolutionary step did fish undergo in the Devonian-Silurian Periods?
Developed jaws.
204
To describe bodies of water, we use names like ponds, lakes, seas, oceans, etc. We have learned that an epicontinental sea best describes _____
....a widespread shallow sea over a craton.
205
Rock types in the Central Texas area of Llano can tell us something about the geologic past of this area. This area has undergone more than one orogeny. The last orogeny responsible for the Llano uplift area is given the name of the ____ Orogeny.
Ouachita.
206
On most geologic time scales, we can find reference to the Carboniferous Period. We have learned that the Carboniferous Period represents _____.
....a combination of the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian Periods.
207
Which mineral is associated with the Antler Highlands in Nevada?
Gold.
208
The latest orogeny associated with the Appalachian Mountains was _____.
....the Allegheny Orogeny involving Africa.
209
A mountainous area generally remains as a hilly or mountainous area over geologic time, unless it is subjected to a major rift zone. Some mountains can persist as higher elevations for hundreds of millions of years despite erosion because ______.
....of isostatic rebound.
210
At one time, the trilobite Olenellus was used to define the Precambrian - Cambrian boundary. The types of fossil that are used to define the Precambrian - Cambrian boundary today are ______.
....trace fossils.
211
The Phanerozoic Eon represents Cambrian time to the present time. Read carefully: The Paleozoic Era represents ______ of the Phanerozoic Eon (after the Precambrian).
....about 50%....
212
We have learned that there are seven "Periods" within the Paleozoic Era. Starting from oldest to youngest, which Paleozoic sequence is correct?
Cambrian - Ordovician - Silurian - Devonian - Mississippi - Pennsylvanian - Permian
213
We now recognize "Laurentia" as ______.
....ancestral North America.
214
Over time, the "sea level" of the world's oceans and seas are always changing, often because of factors related to plate tectonics. Typically, a regressive sea represents ______.
....a fall in sea level from a craton.
215
We can prove massive sea level changes by looking at the rocks. By examining thick stratigraphic sequences of rocks, we can determine if the area was covered with a transgressive or regressive sea. Describe a rock sequence that would be associated with a transgressive sea?
Limestone layers over shale layers over sandstone layers.
216
Evolution failed with an early "experiment" of many mammal-like reptiles. One of the mammal-like characteristic shared by these "reptiles" would be ______.
....differentiation of teeth.
217
The type of eggs that evolved so that animals could advance to other-than-water environments are termed ______.
....amniotic eggs.
218
There are many strange ancient creatures that once lived in Texas. We have learned that carnivorous Dimetrodons and plant eating Edaphosauruses were ______.
Permian mammal-like reptiles.
219
Let's do some name dropping. Seymouria baylorensis, Eryops, Cacops and Diploreulus were ______.
Texas Permian amphibians.
