Chapter12/13 Geology

Front 1

Name three characteristics of the Silurian trilobite Dalmanities

Back 1

Dalmanites was over a foot in length, had complex eyes, and had a distinctive tail spine.

Front 2

Nautiloids were declining and essentially replaced by which similar animal

Back 2

Ammonoids

Front 3

The Devonian is known as the age of fishes. They have been divided into two groups based on what distinctive feature?

Back 3

A jaw or lack of a jaw

Front 4

A further division of fish was based on a secondary feature, what was that feature?

Back 4

This was either skeleton composition (cartilaginous vs. non-cartilaginous) or fin type (lobe finned vs. ray-finned).

Front 5

By late Devonian there were tree-sized ferns up to 10 meters tall, where have these seed fern trunks been found in North America?

Back 5

Gilboa forest, in the Catskill mountains of New York.

Front 6

Three general groups of spore-bearing plants lived mainly during the Devonian, the Sphenopsids, Ferns, and Lycopods. Describe each.

Back 6

Lycopods/Lycopsids: Long, slender, very simple leaves, which issued directly from the trunk in a spiral arrangement. Had cones. Diamond shaped leaf pad scars on bark.
- Sphenopsids: Joint-stemmed plants, only living relative is the horse-tail. Long hollow stem that is jointed, with leaves and sporangia clustered at the joints.
-Ferns: Abundant today. Large, complex leaves, sporangia occur in small clumps under the leaves.

Front 7

What are the three requirements described in Chapter 12 for a semiaquatic plant to live on land?

Back 7

Waterproof cuticle, a strong supporting structure, and a means of passing the sperm to the eggs.

Front 8

What were the oldest known terrestrial fossil animals?

Back 8

Millipedes

Front 9

What are the oldest known amphibians found in upper Devonian rocks?

Back 9

Icthyostega and Acanthostega

Front 10

Why is the rugose coral Heliophyllum important?

Back 10

Heliophyllum was a Devonian reef building coral.

Front 11

During the Silurian and Devonian periods, how long was the Earth day and year?

Back 11

Roughly 400 days / 22 hours per day for each.

Front 12

What is oolitic iron and where was it found in North American during the middle Silurian?

Back 12

Oolitic iron is a chemically precipitated marine iron deposit containing ooliths. Found in the southeast North America during the middle Silurian.

Front 13

What is an epeiric sea? Did North America during Silurian and Devonian have an epeiric sea?

Back 13

An epeiric sea is a shallow sea which floods a continental craton. These were present on North America during both the Silurian and Devonian times being most pronounced during the Silurian period.

Front 14

What are the three major morphological components of a middle Paleozoic reef?

Back 14

The reef front, reef core, and back-reef lagoon.

Front 15

What are the dominant major skeletal elements of a middle Paleozoic reef?

Back 15

Crinoids, bryozoans, brachiopods, stromatoporoids, corals.

Front 16

What are evaporites?

Back 16

Sedimentary rocks formed by the evaporation of large volumes of sea water (such as salt and anhydrite).

Front 17

Name the two models that describe the formation of evaporites (figures 12.29 and 12.30).

Back 17

-Equilibrium and not specifically named, may be “sabhkas” or “supratidal”.

Front 18

How do dolomites form?

Back 18

Most commonly formed by replacement of limestone through introduction of magnesium ions carried n solution in pore water. Limestone - > Magnesium.

Front 19

Name the two sequences of the Silurian and Devonian. When did one stop and the other begin?

Back 19

The Tippecanoe and Kaskaskia sequences, the Tippecanoe ending during the early Devonian / end of Silurian.

Front 20

What are the three major orogenies in North America during the Devonian and Silurian?

Back 20

-Acadian Orogeny, Antler Orogeny, Caledonian orogeny.

Front 21

When did the Caledonian Orogeny in Britain occur?

Back 21

Late Silurian, early Devonian, roughly 10 million years before the Devonian Acadian event of America.

Front 22

Throughout North America there are thick sandstones with gigantic cross-beds, representing giant late Paleozoic sand dunes. These are frequently interstratified with repeated marine limestone. What does this represent?

Back 22

This represents repeated inundation by a shallow sea.

Front 23

What is a cyclothem?

Back 23

Repetitive cycle of sedimentation characterized by repeated deposition of a specific set of sediments.

Front 24

What is the Mississippi delta a model of?

Back 24

Certain Pennsylvanian deposits

Front 25

What is unique about the upper Paleozoic red beds?

Back 25

Permian red beds had high numbers of evaporite deposits.

Front 26

El Capitan, found in the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas, is an example of what?:

Back 26

An ancient reef / reef core

Front 27

When did the Appalachian orogeny occur?

Back 27

Between late Pennsylvanian and late Triassic.

Front 28

What are thrust faults and why are they associated with the Appalachian orogenic belt?

Back 28

A fault in which the upper block moved over the lower block. (Hanging rock went over the foot rock.) Recognition of thrust faults The Appalachian orogenic belt is a particularly stark example of thrust faulting. * Best I could find in the text was basically “because the whole event was a big overthrust event”.

Front 29

Which orogenic belts are associated with the collision of Laurasia and Gondawana to form Pangea?

Back 29

Appalachian-ouachita collision belt, the Hercynian belt.

Front 30

What is the evidence for a huge super continent (Pangea)?

Back 30

Gondwana rock succession (late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic strata in southern cratons I a distinct sequence which is similar on all five continents.), paleomagnetism, gondwana fossils, glacial tillites, basalt lava flows, upper carboniferous coal beds containing glossopteris flora.

Front 31

What are tillites and what are their characteristics?

Back 31

Lithified glacial till characterized by heterogenous composition, unsorted texture, and lack of stratification.

Front 32

What are kimberlites?

Back 32

Ultramafic peridotite with high pressure minerals such as diamond. Derived by rapid explosive intrusions into the crust from the mantle, occurs in vertical cylindrical pipelike bodies.

Front 33

Define glossopteris.

Back 33

Glossopteris was a seed fern that bore distinctive tongue-shaped leaves. Glossopteris flora is an assemblage associated with carboniferous coals. Temperate climate deciduous flora.

Front 34

What are the characteristics of late Paleozoic plants?

Back 34

Plant life became very diverse and abundant. Tree-sized vegetation appeared for the first time. Spore bearing plants and seed bearing plants began to flourish, including lycopsids (30 meter / 100 foot trees) sphenopsids (calamites), tree sized furns. Male/female cones.

Front 35

How was coal formed during the late Paleozoic?

Back 35

Coal formed by the accumulation of vast quantities of vegetation which was buried in anaerobic environments and compacted beneath transgressive deposits.

Front 36

There are several characteristics regarding the synapsid Lystrosaurus. List these.

Back 36

Small plant eater, short squat body, toothless bill, could not swim across large oceans, but fossils have been found on South Africa, India, and Antarctica.

Front 37

What caused the great Permian extinction?

Back 37

Global cooling followed by rapid global warming, reduced shallow marine environments (due to Pangaea’s formation), significant drying, oxidation of organic matter which may have depleted atmospheric oxygen levels, basaltic lava eruptions, anoxic conditions, in short “a whole bunch of things”. End of chapter summary lists “regression, climate instability, and massive volcanic eruptions in Siberia”.

Front 38

Who or what is anisopyge cooperi and why is the species important?

Back 38

Anisopyge Cooperi was a trilobite, and one of the last trilobites known from the fossil record.

Front 39

List the important statements found in Chapter 13 concerning late Paleozoic amphibians.

Back 39

Icthyostega was the first amphibian on land, amphibians were the largest animals on land during the carboniferous, they diversified considerably. They developed into predators, many had eyes on top of their heads indicating they may have floated in swamps like alligators. They specialized in different ways from lizards to snakes to horns to boomerang heads. Most important evolutionary innovation was the amniotic egg. Were both herbivorous and carnivorous. Synapsids were mammal-like reptiles from which mammals evolved.