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91 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What do conodonts, radiolarians, ammonoids, and fusulinids in the Cordillera indicate? |
The cordillera was formed at equitorial latitudes |
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How long ago did Rodinia and Laurentia form, respectively?
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- 1100M years ago - 750M years ago |
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Following what event did trilobites arise? |
Cambrian Explosion |
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Where is one of the worlds best fish fossil localities located in BC? What important fish fossil was discovered there? |
- Wapiti Lake - Ichthyosaurs |
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Where were radiolarian microfossils discovered and what did they record? |
- Queen Charlotte Island - End-Triassic mass extinction |
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Where in BC was the elasmosaur discovered? |
Puntledge River on Vancouver Island |
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Where was BC's biggest ammonite discovered? |
Near Fernie, BC |
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What are the 3 main track-bearing formations in BC? |
1. Mist Mountain Formation (MMF) 2. Gething Formation (GF) 3. Dunvegan Formation (DF) |
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Dinosaurs in BC left fossil ________ & ________ but no _________. |
- fossil footprints & trackways - no bones |
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What types of fossils are predominantly found in BC lake environments? |
Compressional fossils |
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What is Polynology? |
Study of microscopic spores and pollen in sedimentary rocks/sediments |
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What region in BC helped interpret biotic discovery following a mass extinction? What mass extinction event did it assist with? |
- Tumbler Ridge - Permian mass extinction |
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Who was the first person to notice the mass extinction? What evidence did they have? |
- Georges Cuvier - successive assemblages of organisms in the strata |
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What are the 2 types of extinction? |
1. Normal extinction - extinction <= speciation 2. Mass extinction - extinction greatly exceeds speciation |
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What is the importance of extinction? |
1. Clears out niches 2. Leads to diversification of new lineages |
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What are the 4 causes of mass extinction events? |
1. Excessive volcanism 2. Sea level falling 3. Ocean anoxia 4. Asteroid impact |
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When did the Permian extinction occur and what percent of species did it affect? |
- 200,000 years ago - 90-95% marine & 75% terrestrial lost |
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What are the 4 countries that Ichthyosaurs have been discovered? |
1. China 2. Canada 3. Japan 4. Spitzbergen |
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What types of rocks are found in the SMF? |
siltstone, sandstone, shale |
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What is the significance of the SMF? |
1. Improved resolution of early evolutionary history 2. Provides insight into early Triassic biotic recovery |
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When did mapping in the Rockies begin? |
1868 |
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Why did modern understanding of the Rockies come in the 1990's? |
1. Base maps 2. Airphotos 3. Helicopters |
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What are Nicholas Steno's 3 principles? |
1. P of Original Horizontality - sediment is originally layered horizontaly 2. P of Superposition - oldest strata is on the bottom 3. P Lateral Continuity - layers of sediment continue if no interruption |
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What did William Smith do? |
Created a map of strata around Bath, England |
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What did R.G. McConnell do? |
Mapped/explored the Canadian Rockies |
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What did Arthur Oliver (A.O.) Wheeler do? |
Mapped the Omincea belt along the AB-BC border |
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What is an unconformity? |
When a section of the rock record is missing |
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What is a topographic map? |
A detailed map of the natural features on the ground |
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6 reasons we study thermal springs? |
1. Rare ecosystems 2. Endangered species 3. Hydrothermal deposits 4. Geothermal energy 5. Astrobiology 6. Mars analogy |
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Warm waters of thermal springs form ________________ which do not freeze during the winter. |
Microclimates |
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How many thermal springs are in Canada? |
More than 150 |
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What is the temperature range for thermal springs? |
10-89 degrees celsius |
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What is the flow rate for thermal springs? |
1-500 litres/second |
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Thermal waters originate by deep _________ _________ and heating in the __________. |
- deep thermal circulation - heating in the crust |
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Thermal spring distribution is associated with? |
- volcanic activity - fault placement |
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What is the max circulation depth of water in thermal springs? |
5 km |
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Where does thermal spring water preferentially flow? |
along faults |
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Are all thermal springs found near active volcanoes? |
No (thermal springs in Banff) |
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Low permiability means that heat flow is _________? |
conductive |
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High permiability means that water flow _________ __________ __________? |
suppresses geothermal gradient |
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What do rocks to thermal spring pathways under high pressure? What does this cause? |
- lose strength & close permeable pathways - limits circulation of water |
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Are there thermal springs in every belt of the Cordillera? |
Yes |
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What are the highest thermal springs in Canada? |
Sulphur Mountain thermal springs |
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What chemical changes occur due to seasonal variability? |
1. Eh rises 2. Dissolved O2 rises 3. TDS falls 4. Temperature falls 5. H2S falls
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What happens to the snail population every season? |
half the population dies |
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Where does thermal spring water originate from? How was this proven? |
- rain water - comparing isotopic values |
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What belt does Dr. Pattison conduct his research in? |
Omineca belt
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When did a period of extension begin in the Cordillera? |
50 million years ago |
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How do we know there was a period of extension on the Cordillera? |
- Grand Forks Complex - core complexes |
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Where is the Grand Forks Complex located? |
Omineca belt in Southern BC |
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Why is the Grand Forks Complex interesting? |
it has faults on the left and right side |
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Where was Deritrius deposited after being eroded from the Cordillera? |
ocean floor and continential interior |
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What are the 2 fault on either side of the Grand Forks Complex? |
- Granby Fault - Kettle River Fault |
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What month does Calgary receive the most precipitation and in what form? |
- June - Rain fall |
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What month does Banff receive the most precipitation and in what form?
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- December
- Snow fall |
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Where does Dr. Hayashi conduct his research? |
In the Foreland Belt behind Lake Louise |
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What is a watershed? |
an area where all precipitation drains to/converges |
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For a lake, if there is no groundwater contribution, then stream in + rain = __________ + __________? |
= stream out + evaporation |
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Dr. Hayashi's research group found that Lake O'Hara had more __________ than __________? |
more outflow than inflow |
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Ice has _____ electrical resistivity, while water has _____ electrical resistivity. |
ice = more (high) water = less (low) |
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3 modern geologic field work techniques |
1. Airborne geophysical surveys 2. 3D geological models 3. Field/lab work (geochronology & geochemistry) |
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What types of rocks is the Bow Valley composed of? |
Carboniferous & Devonian limestone, siltstone, shale |
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Where is the Miette Group located and how old is it? |
- near Lake Louise - 730-770 mya |
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What is the Miette Group composed of? |
preserved Ediacaran fossils |
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Where is the Cambrian Gog Group located? |
near Lake Louise |
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What is the Cambrian Gog Group composed of? |
- Quartzite - Cambrian Trilobite fossils |
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What is the Walcott Quarry famous for and where is it located? |
- soft body fossils of the Cambrian Explosion
- near Wapta Mountain |
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4 features of the Western Main Ranges |
1. Folded & cleaved clay-rich rocks
2. Low-mid grade metamorphism 3. Cambrian-Ordovician basinal rocks 4. Preserved Cambrian fossils |
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Who discovered the Burgess Shale? When did they discover it? Where is it located? |
- Charles Walcott - 1909 - Yoho National Park |
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What is the most abundant group and fossil in the Burgess Shale? |
- Arthropoda (group) - Marrella (fossil) |
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Burgess Shale-like fossils were discovered in __________ __________ ________. |
Kootenay National Park |
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How did the Burgess Shale allow researchers to gain insight into the Cambrian food chain? |
by looking at the stomach contents of organisms |
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How were the organisms in the Burgess Shale preserved? What type of environment were they preserved in? |
- mudslides causing rapid burial - low oxygen conditions allowed for preservation |
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Where did the Burgess Shale aquatic community originally exist? What is this now called? |
- on a shallow underwater cliff - now called the Cathedral Escarpment |
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What is the current tectonic setting along the west coast of Canada? |
- Juan de Fuca is subducting - also have transform faults |
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What areas on earth have the highest heat flow? |
Mid-ocean ridges |
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What areas on earth have the lowest heat flow? |
Cratons |
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Where is the highest heat flow in Canada? |
Cordillera (Omineca) |
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Where is the lowest heat flow in Canada? |
Canadian shield (Hudson's Bay) |
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What does a Bouguer Gravity map measure? |
gravitational accelaration at different places on earth |
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What does a Bouguer Gravity map correct for? |
- Latitude - Elevation - Terrain |
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What does a Bouguer Gravity map show of Western Canada? |
area of low density under the Rockies |
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What does an Isostatic Residual Gravity map correct for? |
isostatic root assuming Airy isostasy |
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What does a Magnetic Anomaly map show of Western Canada? |
the area west of the Rockies has been heated up and the magnetic field has been reset |
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What was the Lithoprobe program? |
project which mapped the lithosphere using seismic imaging |
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What are the 3 key features of the Lithoprobe of the Souther Cordillera? |
1. Isostatic root thickest beneath Western Rockies 2. Flat Moho beneath most of Cordillera 3. Precambrian basement extends almost to Vancouver |
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What is a Craton? |
stable portion of the lithosphere with little geologic activity |
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What does carbon dating of marsh, offshore deposits indicate? |
500 year return period |
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What was coastal forest flooding caused by? How was it proven? |
- earthquake induced subsidence - proven using tree rings |
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What 2 events does a Cascadia megathrust earthquake include? |
1. interseismic locked period 2. co-seismic rupture |
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Where is episodic slow slip occuring? How was this proven? |
- below the locked subduction fault - proven using GPS monitoring |