Earth History and Global Change

                                                          GEOL-1122    Spring 2015

                 Review Questions for Lecture Final

 

Paleozoic Life Forms (Chapter 21)

1) How is the Cambrian‑Precambrian boundary recognized?  Why is the beginning of the Paleozoic cited as an example of Punctuated Equilibrium?  What does this mean?  Describe how major changes in sea level were directly related to punctuated equilibrium. In addition to sea level changes, describe the most likely other cause for the apparent increase in diversity.

2) Describe three major advantages of shells or exoskeletons.  How did shells and exoskeletons apparently develop?   

3) What were the two most abundant types of fossils found in Cambrian rocks?  Describe each of these.  Are they still abundant today?   Name and describe the most important reef builder of the Cambrian.  Which reef builders replaced them in the Ordovician?

4) Describe the marine invertebrates that became abundant and widespread in the Ordovician and Silurian.  Why did bivalves replace the brachiopods in Late Paleozoic?

5) Describe the first vertebrates that appeared during the Lower Paleozoic.  How did these early vertebrates change during the Paleozoic?  Why were these vertebrates less effected by sea level changes than most other vertebrates? Describe the different land vertebrates that lived during this time.

6) When did the first vascular plants appear?  How did these differ from previous plants?  How do they differ from most recent plants?  Why were they so important?              

7) Why was the uppermost Permian chosen as the boundary between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic Eras?  What caused this event? 

8) There was abundant terrestrial plant life on the continents in the Devonian, such that forests and mangrove swamps were common.  What were some of the most‑common plant types at this time?  How did they differ from the modern forms?

9) Define the following terms: Cambrian Explosion, trilobite, brachiopod, eurypterid, crinoid, placoderm, ostracoderm, archaeocyathid, labyrinthodont, spore-bearing plant, gymnosperm, mammal‑like reptile, psilopsid, scale tree and tree fern.

 

The Mesozoic Era (Chapter 22)

1) What are the Triassic Basins?  How did they form?  What type of faults formed these basins?  Which rock types are found in and adjacent to the basins?         

2) Describe when and how the breakup of Pangaea occurred.  What caused this supercontinent to break apart? 

3) Describe the Louann Salt.  How and when did this unit and other thick evaporate sequences form?  Why is this unit economically significant?

4) What was the Rocky Mountain Orogeny?  What caused this orogeny?  Compare and contrast the types, ages and degree of metamorphism of the rocks in the Rocky with those of the Appalachian Mountains.  Why are the Rocky Mountains much taller?  

5) Compare and contrast the terrestrial plant life of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic.  Why were the changes in plant life important to the evolution of animals?                  

6) Describe the important changes in sea level in the Mesozoic.  Compare the intercontinental seas of the Mesozoic with the epicontinental seas of the Paleozoic.

7) How did the marine invertebrates of the Mesozoic differ from those of the Paleozoic?  Why were the cephalopods so important?  Why did the siphon structure allow the bivalves to dominant the shallow water environment?        

8) Describe the important changes in corals between the Mesozoic and Paleozoic.

9) What were the thecodonts?  Why were they important?            

10) Describe and compare pterosaurs and Archaeopteryx.  Which of these appear to represent an important intermediate evolutionary step between reptiles and birds?

11) Compare and contrast the saurischians and ornithischians.   Describe each of the following dinosaurs: tyrannosaurs, brontosaurus, triceratops, and stegosaurus.    

12) Describe several of the possible causes for the extinction of the dinosaurs.             

13) Describe the mammals of the Mesozoic.  How did they differ from modern mammals? 

14) Define the following terms: Triassic dike, triple junctions, cycads, ginkgoes, angiosperms, and mammal‑like reptiles.

 

The Cenozoic Era (no required readings)

1) Why is the Cenozoic divided into more subdivisions than the Mesozoic and Paleozoic?  

2) What was the Great Ice Age?  Describe the important geologic features in North America that resulted from this glaciation.  Describe the most likely causes of glaciation.

3) How did the Appalachian Mountains change during the Cenozoic? Why are high-grade metamorphic rocks exposed in this area today?

4) Compare the typical plate movements of the Mesozoic with those of the Cenozoic.  

5) Describe how birds and reptiles changed in the Cenozoic.

6) Describe possible intermediate steps or life forms between reptiles and mammals.        

7) Describe the important geologic features of the Basin and Range Province and Columbia Plateau.  How and when did these areas form?

8) What are the major advantages that mammals had over reptiles?

9) How did the Himalaya Mountains form?                 

10) Describe some of intermediate evolutionary steps found in human fossils?

11) Define the following terms: monotreme, marsupials, and placental mammals.

 

Geologic Provinces of Georgia (Lab/Lecture Handouts)

1) What is the basis for subdividing the state into distinct geologic provinces?  List rock types, ages, topographic characteristics and dominant geologic structures for each.

2) Name the rock types that form the ridges, valleys and slopes of the Valley and Ridge.

3) Describe how the Coastal Plain Province formed.  What is the Fall Line?

4) List the most abundant fossils of the Valley and Ridge and Coastal Plain Provinces. 

5) Name and describe the most important aquifer for this area.

 

 

 

***Know the eras and periods of the geologic time scale.  There will also be about 30-40% of review material from the previous tests.