GEOL 1404
Fall 2010
Exam III Review Sheet – Part 1
The Hadean and Archean Eons (Chapter 11)
Concepts
1. Global distribution of Precambrian rocks
2. Nature and location of the three major structural components of the North America
3. Formation of the universe and evidence that it is expanding
2. Formation of the Solar System and the 8 planets within it
3. Formation of the Moon
4. Evidence for the age of the Moon, Earth, and Solar System
5. Composition and development of the primary Earth atmosphere
6. Composition and development of the secondary Earth atmosphere
7. Two processes for the formation of atmospheric oxygen
8. Location, conditions, and process by which life on Earth may have originated
9. Nature and development of protocontinents
10. Modern analog for the development of continental crust
11. Age and fossil preservation of the earliest life forms
12. Process and timing of the differentiation of the Earth’s interior
13. Relationship between sources of heat and the formation of the Earth’s crust
14. Age and evidence for the oldest continental crust
15. Major rock types that make up greenstone belts
16. Functions of DNA and RNA in a organisms
Terms
amino acid
archaeobacteria
banded iron formation
big bang
chemosynthesis
craton
cyanobacteria
DNA
greenstone belt
komatiite
Miller/Urey experiment
protocontinent
redshift
RNA
shield
stable platform
stromatolite
The Proterozoic Eon (Chapter 12)
Concepts
1. Nature, evidence, timing, causes, and impact of Proterozoic continental glaciations
2. Major types of life forms that existed in the early Proterozoic
3. Timing and development eukaryotes and multicellular life
4. Significance of changes in the composition of banded iron formations
5. Nature and development of Proterozoic continental rift zones in North America
6. Timing and formation of the two Proterozoic supercontinents
7. Evidence for the development of modern-style plate tectonics
8. Evidence for increases in the oxygen content of the atmosphere
9. Process for the development of continents
10. Nature, location, and timing of the Grenville orogenic belt
11. Development and significance of stromatolites
12. Economic significance of Precambrian rocks
Terms
acritarch
aulacogen
Ediacaran fauna
eukaryote
Gowganda Formation
Grenville Orogeny
Midcontinent rift
orogeny
prokaryote
Rodinia
snowball earth
tillite
triple junction
Vendian Period
Wopmay orogeny
Early Paleozoic Era (Chapter 13)
Concepts
1. Types and development of the first Cambrian life forms
2. Major groups of Cambrian and Ordovician life forms in North America
3. Cambrian and Ordovician reef builders and their significance
4. Age and type of first land plants
5. Nature and location of the Cambrian transgression
6. Effects of the Middle Ordovician regression
7. Nature and probable cause of the Late Ordovician extinction
8. Location, timing, and evidence for the Taconic Orogeny
9. Evidence for Avalonia
10. Important Cambrian and Ordovician index fossils
11. Early Paleozoic climate and marine conditions of North America
12. Development and timing for the first fish
13. Probable cause for the decline of stromatolites
14. Nature of modern agnathids
15. Cambrian facies patterns in North America and the evidence for islands in the Cambrian sea
16. Ordovician facies patterns in eastern North America
Terms
agnathid
Archaeocyathid
bryozoa
Burgess Shale
clastic wedge
conodont
epicontinental sea
flysch
graptolite
Lingula
molasse
ostracoderm
Queenston “Delta”
rugose coral
spicule
St. Peter Sandstone
stromatoporoid
tabulate coral
Taconic orogeny
Tommotian fauna
trilobite
Middle Paleozoic Era (Chapter 14)
Concepts and Events
1. Major types of land plants and the two forms of plant reproduction
2. First evidence of land plants and for seed-producing plants
3. Location and evidence for the first forests
4. Important middle Paleozoic reef builders
5. Differences between middle and early Paleozoic cephalopods
6. Types and evolution of major groups of fish
7. Development of amphibians from lobe-finned fish
8. Differences between amphibians and fish
9. Different origins for Paleozoic sedimentary basins in North America
10. Three major evaporite rock types in the Michigan Basin
11. Economic significance of evaporites and sandstones
12. Mechanism for the large volumes of salt precipitated in middle Paleozoic basins
13. Cause for Late Devonian glaciation
14. Describe the location, timing, and evidence for the Acadian orogeny and for the Antler
orogeny
Terms
Acadian orogeny
Archaeopteris
Antler orogeny
Avalonia
Baltica
black shale
Caledonian orogeny
Catskill “Delta”
Chattanooga Shale
coelacanth
eurypterids
Gilboa forest
lungfish
lycopod
Old Red Sandstone
Oriskany Sandstone
Tiktaalik
Ichthyostega