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Earth History exam 1
University of Texas: San Antonio.
109
Geology
Undergraduate 2
01/31/2013

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Term
What are the systems of the earth?
Definition
Atmosphere, geosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere
Term
What is a geologic rapid change?
Definition
Earthquake, Tsunami, Volcanic Eruption
Term
What is a slow geologic change?
Definition
Climate
Term
What is gradualism?
Definition
A geologic slow event
Term
What is catastrophism?
Definition
A geologic fast-lived, violent event.
Term
Recurrence interval
Definition
calculation based on cyclic event, like volcanic eruptions.
Term
Why study earths history?
Definition
learning from the past may allow predictions of the future.
Term
Why study earths history?
Definition
Resources - oil, energy, sand, minerals
Term
Why study earths history?
Definition
Uniformitarianism - physical and chemical processes today assumed to have functioned in earths past, like gravity and streams.
Term
Why study earths history?
Definition
Ecologic implications, why do extinctions occur?
Term
Time
Definition
indefinite continued progress of existence and events. Sequence of events and activities.
Term
Oldest rocks are how old?
Definition
3.8 billion years
Term
Rocks on the moon are how old?
Definition
4.54 bya
Term
Isotope
Definition
atom with same protons, different neutrons. C12, C13, C14
Term
C12 is favored by biology
Definition
C14 is unstable, which shows radioactive decomposition.
Term
Oldest fossils
Definition
3.5 BYA
Term
Banded iron formation shows what?
Definition
the presence of oxygen
Term
Banded iron formation shows end of which era?
Definition
Archean
Term
James Ussher
Definition
believed earth was created 23 October, 4004 B.C.
Term
hypothesis
Definition
provisional explanations of phenomena, subjected to investigation, attempt to disprove, and if you are unable to disprove it will be accepted by the scientific community.
Term
scientific theory
Definition
unifying idea incorporating the number of hypothesis that are provisionally accepted.
Term
Theory
Definition
Speculative
Term
Scientifc theory is
Definition
not speculative
Term
Two theories to understand Earth's history?
Definition
1. Plate Tectonics
2. Biological evolution.
Term
Who created the taxonomy we use today called the Linnaeus classification?
Definition
Carolus Linnaeus
1789
Swedish biologist
Term
What is a species?
Definition
A group of organism that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring.
Term
Is a mule a species?
Definition
No, a subspecies. Horse and Donkey
Term
Binomial nomenclature
Definition
2 part Latin name. Genus species.
Term
Paleontological species
Definition
limits of ancient species may be inferred from preserved physical traits
Term
Prokaryotes
Definition
Very small. Lacks a nucleated cell type and certain organelles. Type = archaea
Term
Eukaryotes
Definition
Us. Nucleated cell type, more complex and incorporate heritable organelles.
Term
6 kingdoms
Definition
1. Protocista
2. Fungi
3. Plantae
4. Animalia
5. Archaebacteria
6. Eubacteria
Term
Archaebacteria
Definition
methane producing (methanogenic)
Salt loving (halophilic)
Heat/acid loving (thermoacidophilic)
base loving (alkaliphilic)
Term
What was possibly the first organism on earth?
Definition
Archaebacteria
Term
What could have been the first organism on earth?
Definition
Archaebacteria
Term
Where was archaebacteria found?
Definition
hot springs
salty sea shores
oxygen depleated soils
boiling volcanoes
Term
How does archaebacteria metabolilze?
Definition
Chemosynthesis . Converting chemical energy into biologically useful organic compounds.
* excellent candidate for extraterrestrial *
Term
Eubacteria
Definition
diverse structure and metabolism
communicate chemically
simple, solitary uni cells
produce "food" through chemical reactions
Term
What type of photosynthesis does eubacteria use?
Definition
Photosystem 1, using a shorter wavelength of light
(violet - UV)
Term
What type of photosynthesis do plants use?
Definition
Photosystems II,
Longer wavelenth of light, (blue-green)
Term
Which photosystem produces oxygen?
Definition
Photosystems II, plant photosynthesis
Term
Autotrophy
Definition
Self producing food and energy.
Term
Protocists
Definition
live in symbiosis
good fossil record dating to Proterozoic - young Precambrian
can be unicellular/multicellular.
Term
Types of protocists
Definition
Algae
oomycetes (water/slime mold)
protozoans (amoebas,diatoms)
Term
Symbiosis
Definition
Two or more dissimilar organisms live together in close association to the benefit of both organisms.
Term
Paracidic
Definition
Something that is beneficial to only one organism.
Term
Fungi is an...
Definition
eukaryotic
Develops from chitinous fungal spores called propagules
Lack locomotion appendages called undulipodia
Term
Chitinous
Definition
Semi-hard protein shell
Term
Fungi is...
Definition
mostly multicellular
aquire nutrients by digesting living/dead tissue through absorptive heterotrophy (consuming organic compounds)
And their cells can have more than one nucleus per cell.
Term
How do fungi reproduce?
Definition
Asexually and sexually
Term
Asexually is mitosis, which is?
Definition
A division of cell nucleii where parent chromosome number stays the same.
Term
Sexually is meiosis, which is?
Definition
Division of two haploid cells as gametes necessary for sexual reproduction.
Term
Plants are divided into
Definition
Vascular and non-vascular
Term
Non-vascular
Definition
Mosses, liverwarts.
Lack true stems, leaves and roots.
Term
Vascular
Definition
Club mosses, angiosperms (Flowering), gymnosperms, ferns, horsetails
Term
Heterotrophy
Definition
Ingesting organic matter.
Term
Characteristics of animals
Definition
heterotrophy, specialized cells (respiration, digestion, protection..etc)
Term
zoxanthallae
Definition
dinoflagelate, needs oxygen and clucose. Corals need this to create reefs. Alga
Term
Why is there a loss of alga?
Definition
corals bleaching, dying due to warmer waters.
Term
How are animals classified?
Definition
Whether or not there is a backbone. No? Invertebrates, Yes? vertebrates.
Lack organized tissue. Yes? Parazoans, no? metazoans (olfactory system, nervous system)
Term
Ecology
Definition
study of the factors controlling the distribution and abundance
Term
Habitat
Definition
Settings inhabited with life forms.
Term
Hysometric curve
Definition
Graph showing distribution and proportion of Earth's surface.
71% ocean.
Term
Fossil
Definition
any evidence of ancient life
Term
Older than pre-Holocene (10,000 years)
Definition
A fossil
Term
Younger than pre-Holocene
Definition
sub fossil
Term
Body fossils
Definition
bones, teeth, shell, leaf
Term
Trace
Definition
footmark, evidence of organic presence but no parts, droppings (coprolites), burrows, gastrolith (stomach rock)
Term
Biomarkers
Definition
chemical minerals unique to biological activity (magnetite - FeO x Fe2O3 )
Term
What do you need to form body fossils?
Definition
Durable, inedible hard parts
Term
Fossil record is in favor of what?
Definition
Biomineralized stuff, like calcite, aragonite shells, phosphatic teeth/bones
Term
Fossil record is biased against?
Definition
Insects, spiders, plant leaves...etc..
Term
Oldest known body fossil?
Definition
Eubacteria is found in strata as old as 3.4 BYA which is the oldest known body fossil.
Term
Panspermia
Definition
Life on Earth seeded from space
Term
What is the most known record for eubacteria?
Definition
Stromatolites and Thrombolites.
Term
Primary physical evidence of life is through which Eons?
Definition
Archean and Proterozoic.
(cynobacteria)
Term
Are protocists good fossils?
Definition
yes. Red algae makes calcareous structures in creating Phanerozoic reefs, and green algae is the source of calcareous needles forming in Phanerozoic carbonate muds.
Term
Type of protocists called foraminifera
Definition
40,000+ species are in fossils back from the Cambrian period. Ex = plankton (pelagic) float, excellent index fossils.
Term
Where is ancient fungi found?
Definition
Fossilized hyphae, some borings in wood/shell,
nonmarine and marine deposits
Term
Plant fossils
Definition
Leaves, stems, bark, seeds, spores
spores in terrestrial plants are found in the Cabrian strata
Term
First clear evidence of a plant fossil
Definition
Silurian period
Stalks, with reproductive organs
Term
Diversity
Definition
Number of species
Term
abundance
Definition
Number of individuals
Term
Animal fossils
Definition
Hard skeletal parts
plenty of mollusks, brachiopods, bryozoans, coral, sponges, chinoderms, arthropods and vertibrates
Term
When were animal fossils first found?
Definition
550+ MYA at the late proterozoic. Some scientists say more like 600-1500 MYA
Term
Bibles explanation for fossils
Definition
Fossils in the mountains are because of the great flood, it pushed up the mountains and the debris. Erosion suggested the decay of Earth and ultimate destruction.
Term
Why study fossils?
Definition
Insight into the past, ecology, to gather info that may help us today. innate curiosity. important resources like coal found with specific fossil types. economic purposes.
Term
Direct evidence of a fossil?
Definition
Body
Term
Indirect evidence of a fossil?
Definition
Trace/index fossils
Term
What did DaVinci find?
Definition
Shells in rocks far inland from the sea. Decided that the shore couldn't have washed them up because then they would have been broken.
Term
Father of Geology?
Definition
Nicolaus Steno
Term
How did Steno start learning about Geology?
Definition
"Tounge stones" were shark teeth
Term
Steno was the first to recognize what?
Definition
Stratification, and formulated a hypothesis on horizontal layering, which occurs as a result of differences in particle size and density.
Term
Principle of superposition.
Definition
Lowermost layer and fossils is the oldest, going up they get younger. Age relationships.
Term
Principle of original horizontality.
Definition
Sediment layers are deposited in nearly horizontal layers, and parallel to earths surface.
Term
Principle of original lateral continuity.
Definition
Sediment depositions spread out in all directions until thinned to zero or bumped against edges of depositional basins and can't go any farther.
Term
correlation
Definition
compare and determine that two layers are the same.
Term
unconformity
Definition
Lost interval in history, a gap in geologic history.
Term
Why would there be an unconformity?
Definition
1 - erosion
2 - nothing happened there for a while. (non-deposition)
Term
Four steps to creating an angular unconformity
Definition
1. deposition
2. deformation
3. erosiion
4. deposition again.
Term
Nonconformity
Definition
Sediment bed in contact with igneous and metamorphic rocks.
Term
Why would a nonconformity exist?
Definition
If the rocks are still hot, the sediment beds would melt on contact. baked.
Term
Robert hooke found what?
Definition
fossils found in layers, used those to correlate layers of rocks.
Term
William "strata" smith made what?
Definition
First geologic map of England and Wales
Term
Curvier and Brongniart
Definition
Maped the Paris Basin which led to a huge increase of geology mapping because of the industrial revolution for coal and iron
Term
Fossil correlation
Definition
similar assemblages of fossils are of similar age
Term
Index fossils
Definition
Used for correlation, indicates specifically a layer/group of strata
Term
criteria for being an index fossil
Definition
1. Unique, easily recognized
2. Cosmopolitan, found globally
3. Short lived, evolved quickly
Term
Two criteria to rely on index fossils
Definition
1. once extinct, stay extinct.
2. no two species can be identical.
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