REVIEW

Exam 1

A. Terms

1. isotopic date provinces

2. Archean

3. greenstone belts

4. gneiss belts

5. compositional maturity

6. midcontinent gravity anomaly

7. red beds

8. banded-iron formations

9. Proterozoic

10.stromatolites

11.amino acids

12.cyanobacteria

13.prokaryote

14.eukaryote

15.Vendian

16.Burgess Shale

17.Ediacarian

18.cratonic sequence

19.Sauk sequence

20.Tippecanoe sequence

21.Iapetus Ocean

22.flysch

23.bentonites

24.Transcontinental Arch

25.isopach

26.sediment facies

27.passive margin

28.active margin

29.foreland basin

30.thrust loading

31.molasse

32.clastic wedge

33.Taconic orogeny

34.ophiolite

35.Tippecanoe Sequence

36.Queenston delta

37.Laurentia

38.Baltica

39.Gondwanaland

40.St. Peter Sandstone

41.Bryophyte

42.Angiosperm

43.Gymnosperm

44.Lycopsid

45.Psilopsid

46.Sphenopsid

47.inhomogeneous accretion

48.homogeneous accretion

49.continental accretion

B. Short Answer and Essay

1. What was the Miller Experiment?

2. What animals dominanted Early Paleozoic reefs?

3. Describe the evolutionary development of the atmosphere.

4. How did the oceans form?

5. Describe the fossil record between the Vendian and EarlyCambrian.

6. Describe different alternatives for defining the base ofthe Cambrian.

7. The oldest land plants are of what are?

8. How old are the earliest forest?

9. Of what age are the oldest coals?

10.Name two plant types common in the Mesozoic.

11.Name four basins and domes that formed in N. America duringthe Early Paleozoic.

12.Describe sedimentation in the Ordovician foreland basin adjacentto the Taconic Highlands.

13.Describe the Cambrian-Ordovician paleogeography of the NorthAmerican continent.

14.What is a cratonic sequence (e.g. Tippecanoe or Saulk)?

15.Describe some of the characteristics of Archean greeenstoneand gneiss terranes.

16.Of what significance and general age are Precambrain redbeds and banded iron formations.

17.How did such pure and widspread sandstones (e.g. St PeterSs.) form during the Ordovician?

18.Cite two large sources of energy and heat which may accountfor the lack of rocks being preserved from the initial 0.5 billion yearsof Earth history.

19.Describe the probable origin of the oceans.

20.Why are cryptozoic rocks so widely exposed in Canada?

21.What is the general significance to the age (2.5 billionyears) given to the end of the Archean?

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Exam 2

A. Terms

1. Acadian orogeny

2. Oriskany Sandstone

3. Catskill clastic wedge

4. Old Red Sandstone

5. Caledonian orogeny

6. Antler orogeny

7. barrier reef

8. fringing reef

9. atolls

10.gypsum

11.anhydrite

12.Chattanooga Black Shale

13.Avalonia

14.cyclothem

15.Appalachian orogeny

16.Ouachita orogeny

17.Permian Basin

18.Delaware and Midland Basins

19.Ancestral Rocky Mts.

20.Tethys Sea

21.Newark Series

22.aulacogen

23.Palisades sill

24.suspect terrane

25.exotic terranes

26.accretionary prism or wedge

B. Short Answer and Essay

1. What were the three main reef builders of the Ordo-Devonian?

2. What caused the terminal Permian extinctions?

3. Describe environmental and sedimentary conditions betweennon-marine and marine rift basins.

4. What caused the Acadian, Appalachian, and Ouachita orogenies?

5. What what the style of deformation in these orogenies?

6. What areas were deformed by these orogenies?

7. Where was there glaciation during the Paleozoic?

8. When was the last great episode of carbonate deposition inthe eastern U.S. ?

9. Where were some sites of major reef development in N. Americaduring the Devonian?

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Exam 3

Terms

• Sonoman Orogeny
• Nevadan Orogeny
• know Nevadan batholiths
• Sevier Orogeny
• Navajo Desert and Navajo Sandstone
• Sundance Sea and Sundance Formation
• suspect terrane
• exotic terrane
• Morrison Formation
• Wingate Fm
• Franciscan melange, Franciscan Fm
• Great Valley Group
• Moenkopi Formation
• Chinle Formation
• Entrada Formation
• Collision of Golconda arc (Sonoma Orogeny) in E. Triassicattaching a microcontinent ( SE Oregon, N. California, Nevada).
• review Mesozoic paleogeography
• Mowry Sea
• Eagle Hills formation
• Louann Salt
• salt domes
• Juan de Fuca Plate (remanent of Farallon Plate)
• Mt Rainer
• Crater Lake
• Mt. Mazama
• Mt. St. Hellens
• Volcanic Hazards in the U. S.
• Volcanic Hazards in the Pacific Northwest
• tholeittic (Hawaiian-type) volcanism
• Yellowstone hot spot
• Columbia River Plateau
• Snake River Plain
• Owyhee Plateau (OP)
• Yellowstone Plateau
• Basin and Range
• Colorado Plateau

B. Short Answer and Essay

• Discuss the evidence for a bolide impact cause for the terminalCretaceous extinctions.
• Discuss the probable environmental impacts of a terminalCretaceous impact event.
• What groups of organisms went extinct or suffered seriousdecline at the end of the Cretaceous?
• What do the Snake River Plain  and Columbia Plateauhave in common?
• When were the Sierra Nevada uplifted and in how many stages?
• When was the major phase of Columbia Plateau volcanism? Whattype of igneous rocks were extruded? Where was the source of the floodbasalts?
• Describe the deformation and igenous activity assocaitatedwith the Yellowstone hot spot trace (in advance of the plume, at the hotspoy, and after its passage).
• Explain how a single hot spot plume could account for theSnake River Plain, and  Owyhee Plateau.
• How does the slab-gap hypothesis relate to formation of theBasin and Range?
• What caused formation of the modern transform plate marginof North America?
• Why did the Cascades and Sierra Nevada rotate?
• to name a few potential questions.

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Final Exam-Edited 12/8/07

Unlike previous exams, the final will be mostly or all multiple choice. I may include a few definitions. Most questions will come from lecture or lecture web pages. In past classes, grades on this exam have been higher than those of exams 1 through 3.

Topics to Review

California Borderland
Rio Grande Rift
Appalachians
Rocky Mountains and High Plains
Cenozoic Glacial History
    know glacial geomorphologic landforms shown in class slide presentation

Text readings not on exam
Life in the Marine Realm (p. 489)
The Age of Mammals (p. 489-502)
The evolution of Primates and Humans(p. 532-538)
Climate in Human History (p. 538-543)

CyclicSedimentation - read last portion on the late Paleozoic glaciation