Term
| List pieces of evidence that prove Australia was part of Gondwana. |
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Definition
| Matching continental margins, position of mid-ocean ridges, spreading zones between continental plates, fossils in common Gondwanan continents, similarities between present day organisms and on Gondwanan continents. |
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Term
| Matching Continental Margins |
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Definition
| Show how all of the continents once fitted together; Australia fits with India and Antartica. |
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Term
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Definition
| They form the boundaries of earths crustal plates. Evidence show that Australia moved away from Antartica due to the Southeast Indian Ridge combined with the Pacific Antartic Ridge. |
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Term
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Definition
| Show when the two crustal plates moved apart and dating the rocks around these spreading zones shows a progressive increase in age into the middle. |
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Term
| Common Fossils on Gondwanan continents. |
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Definition
| Many fossils such as fern like fossils can be found on all of the Gondwanan conintents and none of the other, showing that at one point they had to be joined at some point. |
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Term
| Similarities of Present Day Organisms and Gondwanan fossils. |
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Definition
| Many of the present day flora and fauna is South America, South Africa, Australian and New Zealand can be found over all of these continents, showing that they may have once had to be joined. eg. Large flightless birds that are extremely similar on each of the continents such as Emu's and Ostriches. |
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Term
| Research to do with relationships between extinct species and extant Aussie species. |
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Definition
| Although megafauna became extinct many of their smaller relatives still survive such as the extant wombats, kangaroo, emu and echidna. There are still many arguments about how these species became extinct such as the Aboriginal Peoples hunting them out, adverse conditions unsuitable for the animals and an increase of predation. Although there is no fossil evidence supporting the tools that Aboriginals would have hunted with, even thought heir is fossil evidence supporting that they co-existed with the mega fauna. |
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Term
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Definition
| A species is a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring. |
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Term
| Example of Variation Within Members of a Species |
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Definition
| There are differences between the species of the domestic dog, for example, differences in size, colour and hair length. Humans also have variations in species and they then decide what partners they find desirable and then have a baby which combines these features. |
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Term
| Chances of Survival in a Variation of Species |
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Definition
| Variations within a species are very important for when the environment changes. If a particular adaptation provides an advantage than these animals with the adaptation will survive and reproduce, passing on this gene to the next generation, leading to the evolution of a species. |
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