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67 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Theories for the origin of the universe must conform to an important astronomical observation called
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red shift.
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The process occurring in the upper atmosphere by which water molecules are split by high-energy beams of ultraviolet light from the sun is termed
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photochemical dissociation
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The process by which water vapor and other gases were released from rocks within the first billion years of Earth’s history.
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outgassing
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When early geologists first began to describe local sequences of strata, they sometimes encountered a primary or basement complex of metamorphic and igneous rocks that lay beneath fossil-bearing sedimentary strata. The older more crystalline rocks came to be known as
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Precambrian.
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The most extensive exposures of Precambrian rocks are in geologically stable regions of continents called
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shields
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Relatively thin blankets of sedimentary strata that cover regions of stable, basement rocks is called a
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platform
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The Canadian shield is divided into several provinces on the basis of
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structural trends and age dates.
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The Precambrian is ordered, from oldest to youngest, into the
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Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic Eons.
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The upper most units of a greenstone sequence consist mostly of
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marine sedimentary rocks.
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Pillow lavas found in greenstone belts suggest
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subaqueous eruptions
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Granulites are
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metamorphic rocks formed from felsic igneous rocks by structural deformation and high temperatures.
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The uppermost units of greenstone belts consist mainly of
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sedimentary rocks.
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The first occurrence of shell-bearing multi-cellular animals was in what system?
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Cambrian System
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During the Early Paleozoic the North American craton was bounded on four sides by orogenic belts. They were
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Franklinian, Caledonian, Appalachian, and Cordilleran.
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During what geologic system were extensive evaporite minerals deposited in the Michigan Basin?
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Silurian
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The sequence during which the St. Peter Sandstone was deposited is the
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Tippecanoe.
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Paleozoic rocks of the Ouachita Belt are noted for their
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unusually siliceous and cherty derived from submarine weathering of ash.
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What two orogenies during the late Paleozoic brought North America and Europe together as a combined land mass called Laurussia?
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Caledonian and Acadian
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Gradual flooding of the early Paleozoic erosional surface was the first event of the late Paleozoic. The new inland sea was termed
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Kaskaskia Sea.
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An additional collision occurred in the late Carboniferous period when northwest Africa moved against the southern part of the Appalachian region. This encounter was called
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Allegheny Orogeny.
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The Ouachita, Allegheny, and Hercynian Orogenies represent the
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suturing of Laurasia and Gondwanaland.
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The orogeny in southern Europe that is a contemporary of the Allegheny Orogeny in North America during the late Paleozoic is
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Hercynian.
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Tracheophytes, which have vascular tissues that provide for transport of water and nutrients, include
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trees, ferns, flowering plants.
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The common group of marine algal fossils found in lower Paleozoic rocks are lime-secreting green algae that resemble the seed-bearing part of a sunflower called
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receptaculids.
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The type of unicellar animal that builds its tiny shells (tests) by adding chambers singly, in rows, in coils, or in spiral is called
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foraminifers.
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The earliest abundant reef-building animals constructed conical cup or vase-shaped skeletons from calcium carbonate and are useful in the stratigraphic correlation of lower and middle centurion strata are called
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archaeocyathids.
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Sea anemones, sea fans, jellyfish, the tiny Hydra, and reef-forming corals are all representatives of the phylum
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Cnidaria
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Minute, bilaterally symmetric animals that grow in colonies and frequently appear as crusts or twig-like branches when viewed without the aid of a magnifier are termed
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Bryozoans
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The group that is probably the most abundant, diverse, and useful fossil found in Paleozoic rocks, characterized by a pair of enclosing valves, which together constitute the shell of the animal is called
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brachiopod.
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The fusulinids are among the most important invertebrate guide fossils of which periods?
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Pennsylvanian to Permian
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The group of planktic, colonial, marine organisms that had skeletons made from chitin and housed colonies of tiny individual organisms are called
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Graptolites.
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The Cambrian animal, Pikaia, of the Burgess Shale is important because it
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was the oldest known Chordata.
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The oldest fossil remains of jawless fish that are found in rocks of the early Paleozoic are called
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ostracoderms (Agnatha).
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The first heavily armored jawed fish that was also called “plate-skinned” fishes is a(n)
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placoderm.
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During the Mesozoic, the westward motion of the North American continent was a result of the
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opening of the Atlantic Ocean.
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What was the geologic period during which the Sundance Sea occupied a large region of the western United States?
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Jurassic
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Chalk is composed of the shells of what organism?
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coccoliths
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During the Triassic, and increasing in frequency during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, graywackes, mudstones, cherts, and volcanites that had been swept into the subduction zone were severely folded, faulted, and metamorphosed. The intensely crumpled and altered rock sequences that were affected by compression between the plates are appropriately termed
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mélange.
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Besides the extensive mountain-building events of the late Cretaceous, this period of geologic time is also noted for
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widespread marine transgressions.
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The third great episode of plant history is marked by the appearance of species having enclosed seeds and flowers. Such plants are known as
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angiosperms.
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Members of the molluscan class Cephalopoda that were abundant during the Mesozoic and were characterized by elongate internal shell (conch) are called
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belemnites.
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The most important event in the terrestrial plant evolution of the Mesozoic was
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the appearance of the angiosperms.
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One of the particularly specialized Mesozoic pelecypods that had one valve in the shape of a curved or coiled cone and the other valve in the form of a lid was called a
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rudist.
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In the Saurischians, what is the name of the bone, visible on either side of the pelvic structure, which is firmly clamped to the spinal column?
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ilium
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This “basal archosaurs” was lightly built with a tail and short fore limbs and walked upright on their hind legs. It is called the
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hesperosuchus.
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What is the name of the basalarchosaur that were so similar to the living crocodiles that they represent an example of evolutionary convergence?
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phytosaursb
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Which of the following features did Archaeopteryx not have?
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a keel bone (wishbone)
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The wings of the pterosaurs were supported by
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an elongated fourth finger.
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The Cretaceous saw the development and expansion of what type of plant?
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angiosperms
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The globigerinids and nummulitids belong to what order of marine organisms?
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foraminifera
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The pyramids and other structures in ancient Egypt were constructed from marine limestones containing
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foraminifers.
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One of the characteristics of Cenozoic avian fauna is the presence on all continents of
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large, flightless, terrestrial, flesh-eating birds.
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The most primitive of all living mammals lays eggs like a reptile and are called
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monotremes
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The name of the group of even-toed, hoofed mammals is the
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artiodactyls.
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The family tree of horses presently appears to have its roots in a small herbivore from the Paleocene of China named
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radinskya.
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Which of the following is not a trend in the evolution of the horse
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decrease in length of legs
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What is the general name of the group of omnivorous, arboreal primates who have partial stereoscopic vision and five-digits on each hand or foot with either claws or nails?
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Prosimians
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The “New World” monkeys, characterized by prehensile tails, and represented by the capuchin, marmoset, and howler monkeys are included in what suborder of the Order Primate?
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Ceboidea
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The “Old World” monkeys, characterized by non-prehensile tails and closely placed nostrils, and represented by the macaque or rhesus monkeys, baboons, mandrills, and Barbary apes are included in what suborder of the Order Primate?
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Cercopithecoidea
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The general name for a group of lightly built, ground dwelling, Miocene to Pliocene primates exemplified by the famous fossil known as Proconsul.
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Dryomorphs
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The Middle Pleistocene hominids commonly known as “Peking” or “Java” man are really members of:
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Homo erectus
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The first australopithecine (from which the genus Homo is descended) to penetrate the temperate climatic zone and be found widely dispersed in Africa and Asia was:
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Homo erectus
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Modern Homo sapiens appeared
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during the Pleistocene
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The earliest and most primitive of the australopithecines was:
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Australopithecus afarensis
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The Bering Land Bridge between Siberia and northern North America formed as a result of:
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sea level drop due to glaciation
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The dental difference between Old World monkeys and modern apes (and man) is the presence of:
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molars with five cusps and a Y-trough
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Like Australopithecus robustus, what other group of primates appears to have been primarily plant eaters?
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Australopithecus boisei
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