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93 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Cuvier |
fossils are the remains of once-living organisms |
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William Smith |
Fossils are a fundamental source of information about the past. |
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strata |
layers of rock, representing various periods of deposition. |
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how are strata positioned? |
relative to each other |
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The principles of Faunal succession |
each strata contains unique fossils |
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What does the study of fossils center around? |
time and environment |
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paleontology |
the study of fossils |
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fossils |
the remains of once-living organisms that have been mineralized |
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taphonomy |
the study of the deposition of plant or animal remains and the environmental conditions affecting their preservation. |
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where are fossils most commonly found? |
sedimentary rock |
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sedimentary |
rock formed when the deposition of sediments creates strata |
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What are the 3 eras that evolution is ordered into? |
paleozoic, mesozoic, cenozoic |
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era |
major divisions of geologic time that are divided into periods and further subdivided into epochs. |
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paleozoic |
the first major era of geologic time, 570-230mya, during which fish, reptiles, and insects first appeared. |
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mesozoic |
the second major era of geologic time, 230-65mya, characterized by the emergence and extinction of dinosaurs |
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cenozoic |
the era lasting from 65mya to the present, encompassing the radiation and proliferation of mammals |
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epoch |
division of periods (which are the major division of eras) in geologic time |
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Pangaea |
a hypothetical landmass in which all the continents were joined; 300-200mya |
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tectonic plates |
continental plates that move by plate tectonics |
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steno's law of superposition |
the principles that the stratum or layer, the older the age; the oldest layers are at the bottom and the youngest at the top |
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stratigraphic correlation |
the process of matching up strata from several sites through the analysis of chemical, physical, and other properties |
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flurine dating |
a relative (chemical) dating method that compares the accumulation of fluorine in animal and human bones from the same site. |
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chemical dating |
dating methods that use predictable chemical changes that occur over time |
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James Middleton |
fluorine dating |
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biostratigraphic dating |
a relative dating method that uses the associations of fossils in strata to determine each layers' approximate age. |
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index fossils |
fossils that are from specified time ranges, are found in multiple locations, and can be used to determine the age of associated strata |
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cultural dating |
relative dating methods that are based on material remains' time span |
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pebble tools |
the earliest stone tools, in which simple flakes were knocked off to produce an edge used for cutting and scraping |
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dendrochronology |
a chronometric dating method that uses a tree-ring count to determine numerical age |
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what is dendrochronology affected by |
climate and amount of precipitation |
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radiocarbon dating |
the radiometric dating method in which the ratio of 14C to 12C is measured to provide an absolute date for a material younger than 50,000 years. |
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What is radiocarbon dating's other name? |
carbon 14 method |
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isotopes |
two or more forms of a chemical element that baby in the number of neutrons in the nucleus and by the atomic mass |
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half life |
the time it takes for half of the radioisotopes in a substance to decay; used in various radiometric dating methods. |
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What happens to the c14 while you're living and when you die? |
you collect c14 by eating plants and other animals. When you die the c14 starts decaying. |
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do non-organic materials contain 14C? |
no |
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igneous |
rock formed form the crystallization of molten magma, which contains the radioisotope 40K; used in potassium dating |
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radiopotassium dating |
the radiometric dating method in which the ratio of 40K to 40Ar is measured to provide an absolute date for material older than 200,000 years. |
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fission track dating |
an absolute dating method, based on the measurement of the number of tracks left by the decay of uranium 238. decay process leaves lines |
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amino acid dating |
an absolute dating method for organic remains such as bone or shell, in which the amounts of change in the amino acid structure is measured |
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polarized light |
a ind of light used in amino acid dating because it allows amino acid changes to be observed and measured. L bends left and turns to D which bends right. |
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racemization |
the chemical reaction resulting in the conversion of L amino acids to D amino acids for amino acid dating |
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what largely determines the amino acid decay? |
temperature of the environment. Higher temperature means higher decay |
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paleomagnetic dating |
an absolute dating method based on the reversals of Earth's magnetic field |
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electron spin resonance dating |
an absolute dating method that uses microwave spectroscopy to measure elections' spins in various materials |
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how does electron spin resonance dating work? |
the material being tested pulls radioactive isotopes from the surrounding environment. |
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thermoluminescence dating |
a relative dating method in which the energy trapped in a material is measured when the object is heated. |
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When did our ancestors split from old world monkeys? |
25 mya |
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When did our ancestors split from lesser apes such as gibbons? |
18mya |
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when did our ancestors split from orangutans? |
14mya |
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when did our ancestors split from gorillas? |
7mya |
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when we split from chimps? |
6mya |
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foraminifera |
marine protozoans that have variably shaped shells with small holes. |
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In what climes do foraminifera flourish? |
colder temperatures |
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C3 plants |
plants that take in Carbon through 3c photosynthesis, which changes carbon dioxide into a compound having 3 carbon atoms. TEMPERATE REGIONS |
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C4 plants |
plants that take in carbon through c4 photosynthesis, which changes carbon dioxide into a compound with 4 carbon atoms. WARMER REGIONS WITH LOW HUMIDITY. |
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What kinds of plants does c3 include? |
trees, bushes, and shrubs associated with a relatively wet, wooded environment. |
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What kinds of plants does c4 include? |
associated with open grasslands typical of tropical savannas. |
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Cervical Vertebrae |
7 present, from head to ribs |
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atlas vertebrae |
directly articulates with the skull allows the yes movement. |
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axis vertebrae |
articulates with the atlas to make the no movement. |
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When was the first life on Earth? |
4.6bya |
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Phanerozoic |
an eon that was 545 myBP thats hallmark was diversity and complexity of organisms. |
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Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic |
eons that encompassed the first 4 billion years and were comprised of single celled organisms |
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What happened at the end of the Cretaceous period? |
the dinosaurs went extinct and mammals proliferated |
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What happened late triassic and early jurassic periods? |
first mammals, and dinosaurs ruled |
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What happened Early Triassic? |
therapsids arose; warm blooded reptiles |
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When did the first primates occur? Period and years ago. |
Paleocene at 60mya |
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When did anthropoids occur? |
Oligocene at 30mya |
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When did apes occur? |
Miocene at 20mya |
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When did Hominins occur? |
Pilocene at 5mya |
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When was pangaea formed? |
200mya |
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What are fossils (to evolution)? |
physical evidence, trace anatomies, and timeline of human evolution |
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Herodotus |
B.C. scientist who believed fossils were mineralized shells. |
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Cuvier |
18th century, fossils are the remains of once-living organisms |
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What's the science behind fossilization? |
Calcium and phospherous are replaced by iron and silica |
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How do fossils form? |
1. organism dies, 2. soft tissue decays, 3. water rises and sediments bury it, 4. strata accumulate, 5. mineral replacement occurs, 6. geologic activity exposes the fossil. |
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Caves and fossils? |
predators drop bones in the caves and then sediment accumulates. |
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When was the first evidence of bipedal ancestors found and what was it? |
3.6mya and laetoli footprints in volcanic ash. |
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What are the limitations of the fossil record? |
fossilzation events are rare, scavenging and predation, incomplete skeleton, must be discovered, geological destruction, areas not conducive to fossilization. |
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Nicolaus Steno |
16th century; law of superposition, relative dating, stratigraphic correlation |
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William Smith |
late 17th century; the principle of faunal succession; fossil specific layers |
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What dating methods work on rocks? |
Stratigraphic correlation (relative), cultural (relative/absolute), radio-potassium (volcanic rocks; absolute), paleomagnetic (absolute). |
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What dating methods work on bones? |
Fluorine (relative), radio-carbon (anything organic; absolute), amino acid (absolute) |
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What dating methods work on both rocks and bones? |
faunal (relative). |
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Why did primates emerge? Hypothesis.. |
Arboreal: life in trees, visual predation: hunting in trees, and angiosperm radiation: fruit eating in the trees. |
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Plesiadapiforms |
early cenozoic at 60mya; claws, small brain, no bar, no convergent eyes. |
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What's so special about carpolestes? |
plesiadapiform that has some primate characteristics such as grasping hands and feet and nail on big toe; lived in tropical forests |
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Eocene primates |
first true primates 34mya to 56mya; adapids and omoyids. |
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Adapids |
diurnal, larger, dimorphic, vertical incisors, no tooth comb, lemur-like |
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What is the difference between adapids and strepsrrhines? |
No tooth comb in the adapids |
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Omomyids |
nocturnal, smaller, short snout, tarsier-like |
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What's the difference between haplorhines and omomyids? |
There are none. |