GLY1102 - EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Using the velocity arrows, which two plates appear to be moving the most? - Answers
:The Indian-Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate
There is not a legend on this map to tell you which plate boundary type is illustrated by
each symbol (thick white line vs. black line with points). But you can determine which is
which by looking at the plate motions illustrated by the arrows. What kind of boundary
exists between the Indian-Australian and Pacific plates? - Answers :convergent
What kind of geologic features would you expect along this boundary from Question #2?
Choose all the answers that make sense for this boundary: - Answers :volcanoes
mountains
earthquakes
Use a ruler or piece of scratch paper and the arrow key in the lower left of the map to
estimate the rate of movement for the North American plate as measured by GPS. What
is the rate of movement for North America? - Answers :about 2.5 centimeters per year
Use Figure 2 for questions 5 & 6.
Use Figure 2 for questions 5 & 6. Say you were looking for the oldest rocks on the
seafloor in the Atlantic Ocean on the JOIDES Resolution - a scientific research ship that
can extract rock samples from the seafloor. Would you look close to land or far out in
the ocean? - Answers :close to land
Use the globe to determine approximately when South America and Africa separated
into two different continents. - Answers :Between 105 and a 120 million years ago.
Jump to 150 million years ago and look for Florida (Hint: if you are having trouble finding
it, just type a Florida city name into the search bar in the top left corner). Now jump to
105 million years ago and look for it again. It becomes clear why we don't find dinosaurs
fossils in Florida! It's because: - Answers :Florida is underwater during this whole time.
The landscapes of modern-day Caracas, Venezuela and Birmingham, Alabama USA
don't appear to have much in common, but geologically speaking they share some
history. Use the city search box to find both cities. Now go back in time to 240 million
years or earlier. What do these locations have in common? - Answers :These locations
were once part of the same contient range.
Look at the globe at the 150 and 105 million year mark. How would you describe the
change in sea level between these two points in time? - Answers :Sea level was
significantly higher during the Cretaceous.
The North and South American continents rifted apart during the Jurassic. They were
finally re-connected by the land that makes up the southern end of Central America
,around __ million years ago (mya). - Answers :0 mya; Yes! It was actually around 4.5
million years ago. Not that long ago in geologic terms!
Which stratigraphic principle tells you the Igneous sill (F) is younger than the Bass
Dolomite (E)? - Answers :The principle of cross-cutting relationships.
The wavy black lines marked as S and R on the diagram represent: - Answers
:Unconformities - times of erosion in the past that took away some of the rock record
from what was then the Earth's surface.
True or false: the rocks in the Precambrian section are in the same orientation they
were in when they first formed. - Answers :False
Study this diagram of the Grand Canyon and put the letters corresponding to different
features in age-order using the Principles of Stratigraphy.
Oldest K __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ G Youngest - Answers :K J S M E F L D C
BARIHG
Say you were looking for oceanic crust that formed in the Cretaceous. You still are on
board the JOIDES Resolution. Which of the following locations would you sail to? -
Answers :South of the Hawaiian Islands.
The first true dinosaurs appear in the fossil record 200 million years ago, after what
major event? - Answers :mass extinction
Find the outlines of modern-day North America and Africa on the globe and find where
they intersect on the supercontinent Pangea during the Early Triassic - 240 million years
ago. Compare that same area in the Late Triassic - 200 million years ago. What new
feature emerges in the Late Triassic? - Answers :A rift valley flooded with sea water.
Technically, there is one feature in the diagram that could be put in any time after
feature E and not break any rules of stratigraphy. What is it? - Answers :The igneous
sill, feature F
Find the Monument headquarters and Independence Monument. Which is located on
the younger rock? - Answers :Headquarters
Find location 3 on the map. This is an outcrop of the Jurassic age Kayenta formation
(Jk). The rocks surrounding this location are ____________ than the Jk formation -
Answers :older
If you were to travel from Location 2 to Location 3 in a straight line, how would you
describe the ages of the rock units you are waking across? - Answers :The rocks get
progressively older from Location 2 until about the halfway point, then progressively
younger until you reach Location 3. Oldest rocks in the middle of the hike.
,All the rocks in this area are sedimentary (with the exception of the Precambrian rocks
marked with an "X") which means they were deposited in flat, roughly horizontal layers.
There is no elevation data displayed on this map, but we can use what we observed in
the previous question and the Stratigraphic Principle of Superposition to get a rough
idea of what kind of elevation change our hike would have. (Hint: Do an image search
on the web for 'Colorado National Monument' to see if you are on the right track.)
The elevation of the hike from Location 2 to Location 3 would most likely be: - Answers
:A hike that starts on a high plateau, goes down into a valley and back up onto another
shorter plateau
This area is well-known for dinosaur fossils, but you can't find them just anywhere - you
have to know where to look. For example: Stegosaurus existed from 164-145 million
years ago. Which number corresponds to the area where you would have the best
chance of finding stegosaurus bones? - Answers :2
Tyrannosaurus Rex roamed this region from 83 million years ago to 66 million years
ago. Is there a chance of finding T-Rex fossils digging around in any area inside the
map boundaries? - Answers :No. None of the rocks in this area are the correct age for
T-Rex fossils.
The first time you see a value on the diversity curve is generally when that animal group
first evolved. During what geologic Period did the two groups of dinosaurs, Saurischia
and Ornithischia, first appear in the fossil record? - Answers :Triassic
When did the Ornithischia group of dinosaurs extinct? - Answers :end of the Cretaceous
When did the Saurischian dinosaurs go extinct? - Answers :they haven't gone extinct
yet.
Examine the graph for Pterosauria. At what point in time were pterosaurs the most
diverse? In other words, when were there the most number of genera at one time? -
Answers :mid-Cretaceous
When comparing data in graph form, you have to be very careful to make sure you
understand how the graphs may display data differently. Compare your graph for
Pterosauria and the graph for Plesiosauria. Which group was more biologically diverse
(had the most genera at one time)? Hint - don't just look at the shape of the graphs -
check the numerical values on the x-axis! - Answers :Pterosauria
The end of the Cretaceous is the most famous extinction event on the geologic time
scale. Not because it was the most extreme, but because it took out most of the
dinosaurs. However, a closer examination of these graphs indicates a significant drop in
diversity around 20 million years before the end of the Cretaceous (this marks the start
of the Campanian Age of the Cretaceous Period). Comparing Plesiosauria and
Pterosauria, which group was the most impacted by this extinction event? In other
, words, which one lost the most genera in this smaller Cretaceous extinction event?
(remember to read the y-axis!) - Answers :Pterosauria
Some extinction events work as catalysts for diversity because the organisms that go
extinct often make room for other groups to fill the void. You can tell when a group has
taken advantage of just such a situation when the diversity post-extinction event is
greater than pre-extinction event. How did Plesiosauria fare following this event (the one
described in 4a) in terms of biodiversity? - Answers :Plesiosauria recovered and even
exceeded the biodiversity it had before the extinction event.
How about the Pterosauria group? Were they able to recover the same degree of
diversity after the mid-late Cretaceous extinction event? - Answers :No. The number of
genera rebounds slightly, but never reaches the level it did before the mid-Creatceous.
In the Triassic, what was the percentage of therapods (t-rex and other big meat-eating
dinos) versus aves (birds) in the group Saurischia? - Answers :more than 50%
therapods, almost no aves.
Now clear out the Triassic from your filters and select Cretaceous. What is the percent
of Therapod versus Aves in the group now? - Answers :25% therapods, 7% aves
Now set the time period for the Paleogene. What is the percent of therapods versus
aves? - Answers :0 therapods, 30 percent aves.
Following up on questions 5 a,b and c, were the therapod dinosaurs thriving
(diversifying) or declining (losing diversity) in the time before the Cretaceous/Paleogene
extinction event? - Answers :declining
There are often jokes about eating dinosaurs on Thanksgiving because turkeys (birds)
are descended from dinosaurs. Most often on social media, the dinosaur pictured on the
Thanksgiving menu is a T-Rex. Given what you learned in this exercise, is this strictly
accurate? - Answers :Sort of. Birds can't be direct descendants of T-Rex because
therapods went extinct. But they are descendant of aves dinosaurs.
According to radiometric dating techniques, the earth is about 4.6 billion years old, or
4.6 using standard geologic time abbreviations. - Answers :Ga
At plate boundaries where continental crust and ocean crust are running into each
other, the oceanic crust will be subducted beneath the continental crust because
oceanic crust is than continental crust. - Answers :thinner but more dense
A "Depositional environment" is best described as - Answers :the ancient environment
that existed at the time loose sediment was deposited.
A dinosaur is defined by all these traits, except for: - Answers :scales (instead of fur or
feathers)
Using the velocity arrows, which two plates appear to be moving the most? - Answers
:The Indian-Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate
There is not a legend on this map to tell you which plate boundary type is illustrated by
each symbol (thick white line vs. black line with points). But you can determine which is
which by looking at the plate motions illustrated by the arrows. What kind of boundary
exists between the Indian-Australian and Pacific plates? - Answers :convergent
What kind of geologic features would you expect along this boundary from Question #2?
Choose all the answers that make sense for this boundary: - Answers :volcanoes
mountains
earthquakes
Use a ruler or piece of scratch paper and the arrow key in the lower left of the map to
estimate the rate of movement for the North American plate as measured by GPS. What
is the rate of movement for North America? - Answers :about 2.5 centimeters per year
Use Figure 2 for questions 5 & 6.
Use Figure 2 for questions 5 & 6. Say you were looking for the oldest rocks on the
seafloor in the Atlantic Ocean on the JOIDES Resolution - a scientific research ship that
can extract rock samples from the seafloor. Would you look close to land or far out in
the ocean? - Answers :close to land
Use the globe to determine approximately when South America and Africa separated
into two different continents. - Answers :Between 105 and a 120 million years ago.
Jump to 150 million years ago and look for Florida (Hint: if you are having trouble finding
it, just type a Florida city name into the search bar in the top left corner). Now jump to
105 million years ago and look for it again. It becomes clear why we don't find dinosaurs
fossils in Florida! It's because: - Answers :Florida is underwater during this whole time.
The landscapes of modern-day Caracas, Venezuela and Birmingham, Alabama USA
don't appear to have much in common, but geologically speaking they share some
history. Use the city search box to find both cities. Now go back in time to 240 million
years or earlier. What do these locations have in common? - Answers :These locations
were once part of the same contient range.
Look at the globe at the 150 and 105 million year mark. How would you describe the
change in sea level between these two points in time? - Answers :Sea level was
significantly higher during the Cretaceous.
The North and South American continents rifted apart during the Jurassic. They were
finally re-connected by the land that makes up the southern end of Central America
,around __ million years ago (mya). - Answers :0 mya; Yes! It was actually around 4.5
million years ago. Not that long ago in geologic terms!
Which stratigraphic principle tells you the Igneous sill (F) is younger than the Bass
Dolomite (E)? - Answers :The principle of cross-cutting relationships.
The wavy black lines marked as S and R on the diagram represent: - Answers
:Unconformities - times of erosion in the past that took away some of the rock record
from what was then the Earth's surface.
True or false: the rocks in the Precambrian section are in the same orientation they
were in when they first formed. - Answers :False
Study this diagram of the Grand Canyon and put the letters corresponding to different
features in age-order using the Principles of Stratigraphy.
Oldest K __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ G Youngest - Answers :K J S M E F L D C
BARIHG
Say you were looking for oceanic crust that formed in the Cretaceous. You still are on
board the JOIDES Resolution. Which of the following locations would you sail to? -
Answers :South of the Hawaiian Islands.
The first true dinosaurs appear in the fossil record 200 million years ago, after what
major event? - Answers :mass extinction
Find the outlines of modern-day North America and Africa on the globe and find where
they intersect on the supercontinent Pangea during the Early Triassic - 240 million years
ago. Compare that same area in the Late Triassic - 200 million years ago. What new
feature emerges in the Late Triassic? - Answers :A rift valley flooded with sea water.
Technically, there is one feature in the diagram that could be put in any time after
feature E and not break any rules of stratigraphy. What is it? - Answers :The igneous
sill, feature F
Find the Monument headquarters and Independence Monument. Which is located on
the younger rock? - Answers :Headquarters
Find location 3 on the map. This is an outcrop of the Jurassic age Kayenta formation
(Jk). The rocks surrounding this location are ____________ than the Jk formation -
Answers :older
If you were to travel from Location 2 to Location 3 in a straight line, how would you
describe the ages of the rock units you are waking across? - Answers :The rocks get
progressively older from Location 2 until about the halfway point, then progressively
younger until you reach Location 3. Oldest rocks in the middle of the hike.
,All the rocks in this area are sedimentary (with the exception of the Precambrian rocks
marked with an "X") which means they were deposited in flat, roughly horizontal layers.
There is no elevation data displayed on this map, but we can use what we observed in
the previous question and the Stratigraphic Principle of Superposition to get a rough
idea of what kind of elevation change our hike would have. (Hint: Do an image search
on the web for 'Colorado National Monument' to see if you are on the right track.)
The elevation of the hike from Location 2 to Location 3 would most likely be: - Answers
:A hike that starts on a high plateau, goes down into a valley and back up onto another
shorter plateau
This area is well-known for dinosaur fossils, but you can't find them just anywhere - you
have to know where to look. For example: Stegosaurus existed from 164-145 million
years ago. Which number corresponds to the area where you would have the best
chance of finding stegosaurus bones? - Answers :2
Tyrannosaurus Rex roamed this region from 83 million years ago to 66 million years
ago. Is there a chance of finding T-Rex fossils digging around in any area inside the
map boundaries? - Answers :No. None of the rocks in this area are the correct age for
T-Rex fossils.
The first time you see a value on the diversity curve is generally when that animal group
first evolved. During what geologic Period did the two groups of dinosaurs, Saurischia
and Ornithischia, first appear in the fossil record? - Answers :Triassic
When did the Ornithischia group of dinosaurs extinct? - Answers :end of the Cretaceous
When did the Saurischian dinosaurs go extinct? - Answers :they haven't gone extinct
yet.
Examine the graph for Pterosauria. At what point in time were pterosaurs the most
diverse? In other words, when were there the most number of genera at one time? -
Answers :mid-Cretaceous
When comparing data in graph form, you have to be very careful to make sure you
understand how the graphs may display data differently. Compare your graph for
Pterosauria and the graph for Plesiosauria. Which group was more biologically diverse
(had the most genera at one time)? Hint - don't just look at the shape of the graphs -
check the numerical values on the x-axis! - Answers :Pterosauria
The end of the Cretaceous is the most famous extinction event on the geologic time
scale. Not because it was the most extreme, but because it took out most of the
dinosaurs. However, a closer examination of these graphs indicates a significant drop in
diversity around 20 million years before the end of the Cretaceous (this marks the start
of the Campanian Age of the Cretaceous Period). Comparing Plesiosauria and
Pterosauria, which group was the most impacted by this extinction event? In other
, words, which one lost the most genera in this smaller Cretaceous extinction event?
(remember to read the y-axis!) - Answers :Pterosauria
Some extinction events work as catalysts for diversity because the organisms that go
extinct often make room for other groups to fill the void. You can tell when a group has
taken advantage of just such a situation when the diversity post-extinction event is
greater than pre-extinction event. How did Plesiosauria fare following this event (the one
described in 4a) in terms of biodiversity? - Answers :Plesiosauria recovered and even
exceeded the biodiversity it had before the extinction event.
How about the Pterosauria group? Were they able to recover the same degree of
diversity after the mid-late Cretaceous extinction event? - Answers :No. The number of
genera rebounds slightly, but never reaches the level it did before the mid-Creatceous.
In the Triassic, what was the percentage of therapods (t-rex and other big meat-eating
dinos) versus aves (birds) in the group Saurischia? - Answers :more than 50%
therapods, almost no aves.
Now clear out the Triassic from your filters and select Cretaceous. What is the percent
of Therapod versus Aves in the group now? - Answers :25% therapods, 7% aves
Now set the time period for the Paleogene. What is the percent of therapods versus
aves? - Answers :0 therapods, 30 percent aves.
Following up on questions 5 a,b and c, were the therapod dinosaurs thriving
(diversifying) or declining (losing diversity) in the time before the Cretaceous/Paleogene
extinction event? - Answers :declining
There are often jokes about eating dinosaurs on Thanksgiving because turkeys (birds)
are descended from dinosaurs. Most often on social media, the dinosaur pictured on the
Thanksgiving menu is a T-Rex. Given what you learned in this exercise, is this strictly
accurate? - Answers :Sort of. Birds can't be direct descendants of T-Rex because
therapods went extinct. But they are descendant of aves dinosaurs.
According to radiometric dating techniques, the earth is about 4.6 billion years old, or
4.6 using standard geologic time abbreviations. - Answers :Ga
At plate boundaries where continental crust and ocean crust are running into each
other, the oceanic crust will be subducted beneath the continental crust because
oceanic crust is than continental crust. - Answers :thinner but more dense
A "Depositional environment" is best described as - Answers :the ancient environment
that existed at the time loose sediment was deposited.
A dinosaur is defined by all these traits, except for: - Answers :scales (instead of fur or
feathers)
