Earth History 870:035

Spring 2006—Exam 3Name: ______

Part 1 (3 pts each)

Read each question carefully and then consult the list of possible answers on the following page. Fill in the number associated with the correct answer.

Answers / Questions:
______/
  1. What Devonian rock sequence consists of sediments derived from the Acadian highlands?

______/
  1. What Devonian–early Carboniferous mountain building event is associated with the RobertsMountain thrust and the KlamathIsland arc?

______/
  1. What name is given to the earilest assemblage of diverse shelly fossils?

______/
  1. What name refers to the group of fin-backed reptiles that includes Dimetrodon?

______/
  1. What is the Early Paleozoic landmass that consisted of present-day North America and Greenland?

______/
  1. Who first recognized and named the Permian System?

______/
  1. What term refers to the episode of generally rising sea-level during Cambrian and early Ordovician time?

______/
  1. What name is given to the giant landmass that existed as a southern supercontinent throughout most of the Paleozoic Era?

______/
  1. What animals constructed the first true reefs in early Cambrian time?

______/
  1. What Middle Paleozoic landmass was formed by the union of Laurentia, Baltica, and Avalonia?

______/
  1. What crustal block formed the western part of the ancestral Rocky Mountains?

______/
  1. What lycopsid plant achieved tree size in Carboniferous time and was a major contributor to Carboniferous coal swamps?

______/
  1. What is the global supercontinent that formed at the end of Paleozoic time?

______/
  1. What geologic basin was surrounded by strome-tabulate barrier reefs during Middle Paleozoic time?

______/
  1. What name refers to the group of armored, jawless fishes that lived in both marine and fresh water environments during Middle Paleozoic time?

______/
  1. Who discovered the Burgess Shale assemblage of middle Cambrian fossils?

______/
  1. What group of animals possesses features that are evolutionarily intermediate between typical reptiles and primitive mammals?

______/
  1. What group of echinoderms diversified during Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) time and were major contributors to Mississippian limestone deposits?

Possible answers:

1 / Acadian orogeny / 21 / coal measures / 41 / Laurentia / 61 / ray-finned fishes
2 / acanthodians / 22 / conifers / 42 / Lazarus taxa / 62 / Reed, Donna
3 / accreted terrane / 23 / conodonts / 43 / Lepidodendron / 63 / reptiles
4 / Alleghenian orogeny / 24 / Conway-Morris, Simon / 44 / lobe-finned fishes / 64 / Sauk sequence
5 / ammonoids / 25 / crinoids / 45 / lycopods / 65 / seeds
6 / amniote egg / 26 / cyclothems / 46 / MarathonMountains / 66 / Siberian flood basalts
7 / amphibians / 27 / Devonian System / 47 / MichiganBasin / 67 / Silurian System
8 / ancestral Rocky Mountains / 28 / ectothermic / 48 / Mississippian Subsystem / 68 / Stewart, Jimmy
9 / anomalocarids / 29 / endothermic / 49 / Murchison, Roderick / 69 / strome-tabulate reef
10 / anoxia / 30 / Euramerica / 50 / nautiloids / 70 / Taconic orogeny
11 / Antler orogeny / 31 / eurypterids / 51 / Ordovician System / 71 / thecodonts
12 / Appalachian Mountains / 32 / ferns / 52 / ostracoderms / 72 / therapsids
13 / archaeocyathids / 33 / Front Range uplift / 53 / Ouachita Mountains / 73 / Tommotian fauna
14 / Avalonia / 34 / fusulinids / 54 / Pangaea / 74 / trilobites
15 / Baltica / 35 / Gondwanaland / 55 / ParanaBasin / 75 / Uncompahgre uplift
16 / blastoids / 36 / Gould, Stephen J. / 56 / pelycosaurs / 76 / Ural Mountains
17 / Burgess Shale / 37 / graptolites / 57 / Pennsylvanian Subsystem / 77 / Valley and Ridge province
18 / Cambrian System / 38 / gymnosperms / 58 / PermianBasin / 78 / vascular plants
19 / Carboniferous System / 39 / Ichthyostega / 59 / Phanerozoic Eon / 79 / Walcott, Charles
20 / Catskill clastic wedge / 40 / Klamath island arc / 60 / placoderms / 80 / Wonderful Life

19. Explain why there are no Early Cambrian or Middle Cambrian marine sedimentary rocks in Iowa. (10 pts)

20. Describe the sequence of Paleozoic orogenic events on the eastern margin of North America. Be as specific as possible, including the approximate timing of events. (10 pts)

21a. When did the first forests appear on Earth? 21b. Discuss the effects of the first forests on Earth’s climate. (10 points)

  1. Discuss the origin and evolution of tetrapod (four-legged) vertebrates during Paleozoic time. Include in your answer the main adaptive breakthroughs that gave rise to the various major groups of tetrapods, and give the geologic time of origin of each major group. (10 pts)

23. List the periods of the Paleozoic Era (in order with oldest at bottom, youngest at top) (6 points)

______(youngest)

______

______

______

______

______(oldest)

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