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96 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What do Historical Geologists study? |
History of earths continents 4.5 billion year history how life on earth changed |
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What does it mean to be scientific |
Must be testable by expirement |
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What does it mean to prove something scientifically |
proponderance of evidence fossils: footprints |
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Support levels (3) |
1. hypothesis 2. theory 3. law |
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hypothesis |
educated guess |
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theory (3) |
well spported lots of evidence unlikely to be proven wrong |
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law |
highest level |
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why Continets move (6) |
1. pangaea 2. distribution of rocks and fossils 3. Glacial rock where glaciers arent possible 4. Polar wandering (magnetism) 5. magnetic inclination 6. GPS |
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pangaea |
continents fit together |
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distribution of rocks and fosils |
explains species and rocks appearing in very different locations |
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Polar wandering (magnetism) |
The spinning of electrons in iron creates magnetic field movement of earths magnetic poles through time in relation to the continents |
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Magnetic inclination |
Dependent on how far north or south a place is |
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continental drift vs plate tectonics |
theory that the earths continentd move in relation to one another, our view is that continents move by moving plates |
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GPS |
uses satellites to determine movement |
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litosphere |
the plates made of crust plus a little of mantle |
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asthenosphere |
gooey taffylike layer beneath litosphere directly affects plate movement |
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convection (astenosphere) |
cycle that explains plate movement hot material spreads out less dense rises 1. Hot material rises 2. cools 3. contracts 4.sinks becomes less dense begins again |
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divergent pb's and convection |
convection cells rise up plates are ripped apart |
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Rifting |
plates ripped appart make smaller plates due to convection |
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upwelling |
place between plates thats filled in with astenosphere |
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how do we know 2 plates diverged in past (3) What type of fault |
1. rocks and fossils in diff continents 2 .basalt in middle of continent 3. faults normal faults |
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convergent plate boundaries and destroying oceans |
oceanic plate gets subducted and is destroyed (melts) |
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Angle of subduction steep vs shallow |
steep volcanoes more centralized shalloe more spread ot |
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oceanic crust only goes up to 150 million years old why? |
it gets old cools and gets more dense and dies of subducts
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Wilson cycle |
plates break apart oceans create ocean plates die out collide with continents repeats when plates breaks apart |
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magmatic arc |
plate subducts destroyed and melts (stuff rises creates a volcano 1. Death- cause death of species 2. Preserve fossils 3. Helps to date- fossils age 4. separates population when mts arise 5. change climate |
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Acretionary wedge |
save some materials of subduction piled on into continent (marine rocks) |
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Suture zones results of convergent PB's |
Areas at mountain tops water rose with the mountains contain fossils |
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Recognizing ancient convergent pb's (3) |
1. Reverse faults 2. Thrust faults 3. low angle reverse fault |
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Transform Pb's important info (3) |
1. offset rock 2. nothing created or destroyed 3. no subduction |
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Paleoclimate rules of today same as past |
old average weather rules of today as we understand similiar to the past understanding them helps us interpret the past |
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How do temps vary on earth? |
1. Distance from sun 2. Directness of light 3. location of continets |
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distance of sun |
not too important when it comes to temps |
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directnes of sunlight |
very importnat, direct sunlight is hotter (equator) indirect sunlight colder (near poles) |
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What causes seasons |
tilt of earth on its axis only have season if earth is tilted |
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Heat capacity |
lose or gain heat without change in temps |
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Gyres |
in in past diff # of gyres now 5 gyres 2 found in oceans |
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Northern Hemisphere Gyres |
2 and they spin counterclockwise |
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Southern Hemisphere gyres |
3 and spin counter clockwise |
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deserts where? |
30 degrees N and S |
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Most rain falls where least? |
equator deserts 30 degrees no water in air |
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Changing the climates how |
1. location of the continents 2. Green house gases 3. albedo 4. Milankovitch cycles 5. other sun issues |
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Location of continents |
1. Equator most rainy 2. 30 degrees deserts 3. near poles cold |
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Green House gases |
release of gases cause global warming plants can remove co2 reduce warming |
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Albedo |
reflectivity high albedo is good at reflecting volcanic ash: low ice: high deserts and light colors: high |
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Milankovitch cycles |
earths changes in relation to the sun 1. Eccentricity- orbit pattern around the sun 2. Axial tilt 3. precession |
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Eccentricity |
low ecentricity circular high eccentricity- oval more extreme temps |
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Axial tilt (obliquity) |
more tilt= more extreme |
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WHat tilt is optimal for glaciers to form summers and winters temps? counter intuitive |
1. Less tilt Cold summers Warm winters |
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Precession |
Earths Wobble as is spins |
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Sun issues that affect climate (2) |
1. Suns output 2. Space debris |
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Suns output |
at different times in time sun has emitted more or less sunlight |
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Debris blocking |
debris in space can block sun rays from reaching us |
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Learning about Past climates |
1. Ice cores 2. Rocks 3. Organims 4. Oxygen isotopes |
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Ice cores oldest? |
Trap gases form when glaciers formed 800k years old |
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Rocks |
Sedimentary rocks |
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Organisms |
Planktons |
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Planktons (shell types) (2) |
1. Calcite 2. Sillica |
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Calcite water temp? |
Not acidic warm |
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Sillica water temp? |
Acidic cold |
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Oxygen Isotopes |
Oxygen atoms with diff # of neutrons |
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O-18 vs O-16 levels ice age? Evaporates first |
O-18 indicates ice age O-16 warm weather O-16 evaporates first indicating ice age |
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Population |
all members of one species living somewhere |
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Comunity |
All populations in one area including plants |
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Ecosystems |
Comunity + non living things |
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Biotic |
living stuff |
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Abiotic |
non living stuff |
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Limiting factors |
One thing that prevents species ability to survive |
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Oxygen in the oceans |
highest near surface and deeper down |
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Deep ocean currents affect oxygen |
1. more oxygen deeper down due to the currents |
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Oxygens come what evolved first |
1. dissolved gases 2. Plants evolved first |
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Deep ocean currents are affected by? |
1. When water is warmer less oxygen 2. Salidity- saltier water sinks |
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Salidity |
saltier water sinks |
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Warm water deep currents and life |
1. deep ocean loses oxygen if warm organisms die
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Where in the ocean is water most acidic? |
near top |
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How does carbon dioxide intereact with the ocean? |
Forms carbonic acid |
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calcarous vs siliceous organisms in acidic water |
calcareous are not adapted to acid siliceous are |
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Osmosis |
movement of water molecules across a membrane from high water concentration to low |
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Salinity |
how much salt is in water |
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Food Chain |
starts with producers plants to consumers |
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Food Web |
Network of interconnected food chains |
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autotrophs |
producers use CO2 produce their own food plants |
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heterotrophs |
depend on autotrophs also called consumers |
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Food chains size and number of organisms |
typically bigger animals eat little animals |
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Where is life on land concentrated |
Near plants because consumers live off plants life on earth would not be possible without plants |
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Life on ocean concentrated |
near shorelines because thats were soil is best and were plants grow best |
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Evolution |
Single celled organisms passed traits to multi cellular organisms works at level of populations: traits that led to survival of the species sexual reproduction |
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Evidence of Evolution (8) |
1. Biogeography 2. Fossil Records 3. Embryology 4. Homology 5. Vestigal Structure 6. Molecular biology 7. Biodiversity 8. Comperative anatomy |
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Biogeography |
distribution of species |
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Fossil Records |
fossilized remains of organisms provide historical record |
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Embryology |
similarities and differences in the early development of organisms |
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Homology |
similarities on internal sequences of organims |
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vestigal structure |
structure that has lost its origfinal function do to evolution |
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Molecular Biology |
similiarities and differences in DNA |
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Bio Diversity |
variety of life in a particular place |
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comperative anatomy |
various organims share common ancestors |