Exam 3 Review Topics
Continental Rifting
Rift Stage
Drift Stage
Example of the Atlantic Ocean Basin during the Mesozoic
Modern example from the East African Rift System
Separation of Pangea
Tethyan Seaway
Arkosic SS, Evaporites, Mafic Intrusions, Limestones
Mesozoic Life
Thecodonts
Dinosaurs
Bird hipped and Lizard hipped
Birds
Pterosaurs-flying reptiles
Archaeopteryx
Ammonites
Modern Corals
Belemnites
Calcareous nannofossils
Rudistid Bivalve Reefs (Cretaceous)
Angiosperms (flowering plants)
Mammals evolved from Theraspids-still small in the Mz.
Mammal radiation in early Cenozoic (Paleocene/Eocene)
Mammalian features
Marine Mammals in the Cz (Whales, Sea Lions, Seals)
Marsupial vs. placental mammals
Monotremes (egg layers)
Cretaceous/Tertiary Extinction Event
Organisms affected
Possible mechanisms/scenarios
Sonoma, Nevadan, Sevier and Laramide Orogenies
Change in tectonic style to Sevier and then to Laramide
Eastward migration of Orogenic event with time
Laramide-block uplifts and volcanic “null” due to shallow subdction angle
Cenozoic Features
Himalaya
Alps
Closing of Tethys-isolation of Mediterranean Sea
Sierra Nevada Mts. (uplift in the Cz.)
Basin and Range-related to intersection of Pacific Plate and North American Plate (?) and
end of subduction of the Farallon Plate
Cascade Mts.
Yellowstone Hotspot and Columbia River Basalt Province-relationship(?)
Cenozoic Climate
Stepwise cooling-based on OXYGEN ISOTOPE data
MILANKOVICH CYCLES and their role in climate variation over the past 3.5 million
years
Plate Tectonic changes and effects on climate
Antarctica isolation
Isthmus of Panama
Arctic Basin and Deep ocean water
Floral evidence
Bering land bridge-why was it there?
Change in cyclicity of glaciation about 850,000 years ago.
Isostatic rebound of the continents after glaciation
KNOW THE EONS, ERAS, AND PERIODS OF THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE, AND THE
EPOCHS FOR THE CENOZOIC ERA.