What Is the Name for the Geologic Time Division That Is Not Labeled?
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Mesozoic—Dinos!
MESOZOIC—DINOS! VOLUME 9, ISSUE 8, APRIL 2020 THIS MONTH DINOSAURS! • Dinosaurs ○ What is a Dinosaur? page 2 DINOSAURS! When people think paleontology, ○ Bird / Lizard Hip? page 5 they think of scientists ○ Size Activity 1 page 10 working in the hot sun of ○ Size Activity 2 page 13 Colorado National ○ Size Activity 3 page 43 Monument or the Badlands ○ Diet page 46 of South Dakota and ○ Trackways page 53 Wyoming finding enormous, ○ Colorado Fossils and fierce, and long-gone Dinosaurs page 66 dinosaurs. POWER WORDS Dinosaurs safely evoke • articulated: fossil terror. Better than any bones arranged in scary movie, these were Articulated skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus rex proper order actually living breathing • endothermic: an beasts! from the American Museum of Natural History organism produces body heat through What was the biggest dinosaur? be reviewing the information metabolism What was the smallest about dinosaurs, but there is an • metabolism: chemical dinosaur? What color were interview with him at the end of processes that occur they? Did they live in herds? this issue. Meeting him, you will within a living organism What can their skeletons tell us? know instantly that he loves his in order to maintain life What evidence is there so that job! It doesn’t matter if you we can understand more about become an electrician, auto CAREER CONNECTION how these animals lived. Are mechanic, dancer, computer • Meet Dr. Holtz, any still alive today? programmer, author, or Dinosaur paleontologist, I truly hope that Paleontologist! page 73 To help us really understand you have tremendous job more about dinosaurs, we have satisfaction, like Dr. -
Geologic Time Scale Cards
PreCambrian SuperEon (4.6 BYA – 541 MYA) Hadean Eon (4.6 BYA - 4 BYA) Slide # 1 46 feet Earth Forms • Earth is formed from a mass of dust and gas that gravity pulled together. • The process causes a huge amount of radioactive decay and Earth is a boiling ball of lava. • At 4.5 BYA a protoplanet named Theia collides with Earth and a debris ring forms which later becomes our moon. • Earth cools and forms the layers – core, mantel, and outer crust. • Meteors bombard earth bringing frozen droplets of water that later become our oceans. • Volcanic activity continues and Earth’s earliest continental crust forms before 4.03 BYA. The Acasta gneiss is one of the oldest rocks on Earth dating 4.03 billion years.. PreCambrian SuperEon (4.6 BYA – 541 MYA) Archaean Eon (4 BYA – 2.5 BYA) Slide # 2 40 feet Primitive, Simple Life Forms • Earth’s crust cools and plate tectonics forms. • Ancient rock formations form from 4 to 2.5 BYA. • The Primordial soup theory suggests early minerals and compounds from meteors made the perfect recipe for primitive, simple life to form at the thermal vents of the ocean. • Single cell life formed the ocean and over time stromatolites, photosynthesizing colonial bacteria, formed in shallow water and released oxygen. • The oxygen attached to trace iron in the oceans and formed sedimentary layers of banded iron formations (BIFS) that are presently mined for iron ore. Banded iron formations from the late Archaean and early Proterozoic eons Stromatolite fossil image PreCambrian SuperEon (4.6 BYA – 541 MYA) Proterozoic Eon (2.5 BYA – 541 MYA) Slide # 3 25 feet Early life • Photosynthesizing life further establishes and releases oxygen throughout the ocean. -
Church 18.Pdf (1.785Mb)
Paleontological Contributions Number 18 Efficient Ornamentation in Ordovician Anthaspidellid Sponges Stephen B. Church August 9, 2017 Lawrence, Kansas, USA ISSN 1946-0279 (online) paleo.ku.edu/contributions Ridge-and-trough ornamented outer-wall fragment of the Ordovician anthaspidellid sponge Rugocoelia eganensis Johns, 1994. Paleontological Contributions August 9, 2017 Number 18 EFFICIENT ORNAMENTATION IN ORDOVICIAN ANTHASPIDELLID SPONGES Stephen B. Church Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602-3300, [email protected] ABSTRACT Lithistid orchoclad sponges within the family Anthaspidellidae Ulrich in Miller, 1889 include several genera that added ornate features to their outer-wall surfaces during Early Ordovician sponge radiation. Ornamented anthaspidellid sponges commonly constructed annulated or irregularly to regularly spaced transverse ridge-and-trough features on their outer-wall surfaces without proportionately increasing the size of their internal wall or gastral surfaces. This efficient technique of modi- fying only the sponge’s outer surface without enlarging its entire skeletal frame conserved the sponge’s constructional energy while increasing outer-wall surface-to-fluid exposure for greater intake of nutrient bearing currents. Sponges with widely spaced ridge-and-trough ornament dimensions predominated in high-energy settings. Widely spaced ridges and troughs may have given the sponge hydrodynamic benefits in high wave force settings. Ornamented sponges with narrowly spaced ridge-and- trough dimensions are found in high energy paleoenvironments but also occupied moderate to low-energy settings, where their surface-to-fluid exposure per unit area exceeded that of sponges with widely spaced surface ornamentations. Keywords: lithistid sponges, Ordovician radiation, morphological variation, theoretical morphology INTRODUCTION assumed by most anthaspidellids. -
Decoupled Evolution of Soft and Hard Substrate Communities During the Cambrian Explosion and Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event
Decoupled evolution of soft and hard substrate communities during the Cambrian Explosion and Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event Luis A. Buatoisa,1, Maria G. Mánganoa, Ricardo A. Oleab, and Mark A. Wilsonc aDepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 5E2; bEastern Energy Resources Science Center, US Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192; and cDepartment of Geology, The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691 Edited by Steven M. Holland, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, and accepted by Editorial Board Member David Jablonski May 6, 2016 (received for review November 21, 2015) Contrasts between the Cambrian Explosion (CE) and the Great shed light on the natures of both radiations. Because there is still Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) have long been recog- controversy regarding Sepkoski’s nonstandardized curves of nized. Whereas the vast majority of body plans were established Phanerozoic taxonomic diversity (13–15), a rarefaction analysis as a result of the CE, taxonomic increases during the GOBE were was performed in an attempt to standardize diversity data. The manifested at lower taxonomic levels. Assessing changes of ichno- aims of this paper are to document the contrasting ichnodiversity diversity and ichnodisparity as a result of these two evolutionary and ichnodisparity trajectories in soft and hard substrate com- events may shed light on the dynamics of both radiations. The early munities during these two evolutionary events and to discuss the Cambrian (series 1 and 2) displayed a dramatic increase in ichnodi- possible underlying causes of this decoupled evolution. versity and ichnodisparity in softground communities. In contrast to this evolutionary explosion in bioturbation structures, only a few Results Cambrian bioerosion structures are known. -
Cambrian Ordovician
Open File Report LXXVI the shale is also variously colored. Glauconite is generally abundant in the formation. The Eau Claire A Summary of the Stratigraphy of the increases in thickness southward in the Southern Peninsula of Michigan where it becomes much more Southern Peninsula of Michigan * dolomitic. by: The Dresbach sandstone is a fine to medium grained E. J. Baltrusaites, C. K. Clark, G. V. Cohee, R. P. Grant sandstone with well rounded and angular quartz grains. W. A. Kelly, K. K. Landes, G. D. Lindberg and R. B. Thin beds of argillaceous dolomite may occur locally in Newcombe of the Michigan Geological Society * the sandstone. It is about 100 feet thick in the Southern Peninsula of Michigan but is absent in Northern Indiana. The Franconia sandstone is a fine to medium grained Cambrian glauconitic and dolomitic sandstone. It is from 10 to 20 Cambrian rocks in the Southern Peninsula of Michigan feet thick where present in the Southern Peninsula. consist of sandstone, dolomite, and some shale. These * See last page rocks, Lake Superior sandstone, which are of Upper Cambrian age overlie pre-Cambrian rocks and are The Trempealeau is predominantly a buff to light brown divided into the Jacobsville sandstone overlain by the dolomite with a minor amount of sandy, glauconitic Munising. The Munising sandstone at the north is dolomite and dolomitic shale in the basal part. Zones of divided southward into the following formations in sandy dolomite are in the Trempealeau in addition to the ascending order: Mount Simon, Eau Claire, Dresbach basal part. A small amount of chert may be found in and Franconia sandstones overlain by the Trampealeau various places in the formation. -
The Evolution and Distribution of Life in the Precambrian Eon-Global Perspective and the Indian Record 765
The evolution and distribution of life in the Precambrian eon-Global perspective and the Indian record 765 The evolution and distribution of life in the Precambrian eon-Global perspective and the Indian record M SHARMA* and Y SHUKLA Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53 University Road, Lucknow 226 007, India *Corresponding author (Email, [email protected]) The discovery of Precambrian microfossils in 1954 opened a new vista of investigations in the fi eld of evolution of life. Although the Precambrian encompasses 87% of the earth’s history, the pace of organismal evolution was quite slow. The life forms as categorised today in the three principal domains viz. the Bacteria, the Archaea and the Eucarya evolved during this period. In this paper, we review the advancements made in the Precambrian palaeontology and its contribution in understanding the evolution of life forms on earth. These studies have enriched the data base on the Precambrian life. Most of the direct evidence includes fossil prokaryotes, protists, advanced algal fossils, acritarchs, and the indirect evidence is represented by the stromatolites, trace fossils and geochemical fossils signatures. The Precambrian fossils are preserved in the form of compressions, impressions, and permineralized and biomineralized remains. [Sharma M and Shukla Y 2009 The evolution and distribution of life in the Precambrian eon-Global perspective and the Indian record; J. Biosci. 34 765–776] DOI 10.1007/s12038-009-0065-8 1. Introduction suggested that all the living forms can be grouped into three principal domains viz. the Bacteria, the Archaea, and The sudden appearance and radiation of both skeletal and the Eucarya (Woese 1987, 2002; Woese et al. -
PERMIAN BASIN PROVINCE (044) by Mahlon M
PERMIAN BASIN PROVINCE (044) By Mahlon M. Ball INTRODUCTION The Permian Basin is one of the largest structural basins in North America. It encompasses a surface area in excess of 86,000 sq mi and includes all or parts of 52 counties located in West Texas and southeast New Mexico. Structurally, the Permian Basin is bounded on the south by the Marathon-Ouachita Fold Belt, on the west by the Diablo Platform and Pedernal Uplift, on the north by the Matador Arch, and on the east by the Eastern Shelf of the Permian (Midland) Basin and west flank of the Bend Arch. The basin is about 260 mi by 300 mi in area and is separated into eastern and western halves by a north-south trending Central Basin Platform. In cross section, the basin is an asymmetrical feature; the western half contains a thicker and more structurally deformed sequence of sedimentary rock. The Permian Basin has been characterized as a large structural depression formed as a result of downwarp in the Precambrian basement surface located at the southern margin of the North American craton. The basin was filled with Paleozoic and, to a much lesser extent, younger sediments. It acquired its present structural form by Early Permian time. The overall basin is divisible into several distinct structural and tectonic elements. They are the Central Basin Platform and the Ozona Arch, which separate the Delaware and Val Verde Basins on the south and west from the Midland Basin on the north and east, the Northwestern Shelf on the southern extremity of the Pedernal Uplift and Matador Arch, and the Eastern Shelf on the western periphery of the Bend Arch. -
Chapter 2 Paleozoic Stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon
CHAPTER 2 PALEOZOIC STRATIGRAPHY OF THE GRAND CANYON PAIGE KERCHER INTRODUCTION The Paleozoic Era of the Phanerozoic Eon is defined as the time between 542 and 251 million years before the present (ICS 2010). The Paleozoic Era began with the evolution of most major animal phyla present today, sparked by the novel adaptation of skeletal hard parts. Organisms continued to diversify throughout the Paleozoic into increasingly adaptive and complex life forms, including the first vertebrates, terrestrial plants and animals, forests and seed plants, reptiles, and flying insects. Vast coal swamps covered much of mid- to low-latitude continental environments in the late Paleozoic as the supercontinent Pangaea began to amalgamate. The hardiest taxa survived the multiple global glaciations and mass extinctions that have come to define major time boundaries of this era. Paleozoic North America existed primarily at mid to low latitudes and experienced multiple major orogenies and continental collisions. For much of the Paleozoic, North America’s southwestern margin ran through Nevada and Arizona – California did not yet exist (Appendix B). The flat-lying Paleozoic rocks of the Grand Canyon, though incomplete, form a record of a continental margin repeatedly inundated and vacated by shallow seas (Appendix A). IMPORTANT STRATIGRAPHIC PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS • Principle of Original Horizontality – In most cases, depositional processes produce flat-lying sedimentary layers. Notable exceptions include blanketing ash sheets, and cross-stratification developed on sloped surfaces. • Principle of Superposition – In an undisturbed sequence, older strata lie below younger strata; a package of sedimentary layers youngs upward. • Principle of Lateral Continuity – A layer of sediment extends laterally in all directions until it naturally pinches out or abuts the walls of its confining basin. -
Late Paleozoic Sea Levels and Depositional Sequences Charles A
Western Washington University Western CEDAR Geology Faculty Publications Geology 1987 Late Paleozoic Sea Levels and Depositional Sequences Charles A. Ross Western Washington University, [email protected] June R. P. Ross Western Washington University Follow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/geology_facpubs Part of the Geology Commons, and the Paleontology Commons Recommended Citation Ross, Charles A. and Ross, June R. P., "Late Paleozoic Sea Levels and Depositional Sequences" (1987). Geology Faculty Publications. 61. https://cedar.wwu.edu/geology_facpubs/61 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Geology at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Geology Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research, Special Publication 24, 1987. LATE PALEOZOIC SEA LEVELS AND DEPOSITIONAL SEQUENCES CHARLES A. ROSSI AND JUNE R. P. ROSS2 1 Chevron U.S.A., Inc.,P. O. BOX 1635, Houston, TX 77251 2 Department of Biology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225 ABSTRACT studies on these changes in sea level and their paleogeographic distribution (Ross, 1979; Ross Cyclic sea level charts for the Lower and Ross, 1979, 1981a, 1981b, 1985a, 1985b) are Carboniferous (Mississippian), Middle and Upper elaborated on in this paper with charts in a Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian), and Permian show similar format to that used for Mesozoic and considerable variability in the duration and Cenozoic sea-level cyclic fluctuations by Haq, magnitude of third-order depositional sequences, Hardenbol, and Vail (1987 and this volume). and also in the position of general sea level as represented by second-order sea level. -
Grand Canyon National Park Centennial Paleontological Resource Inventory (Non-Sensitive Version)
Grand Canyon National Park Centennial Paleontological Resource Inventory (Non-Sensitive Version) Natural Resource Report NPS/GRCA/NRR—2020/2103 Vincent L. Santucci1 and Justin S. Tweet,2 editors 1National Park Service Geologic Resources Division 1849 “C” Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20240 2National Park Service 9149 79th St. S. Cottage Grove, Minnesota 55016 March 2020 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Fort Collins, Colorado Chapter 1. Introduction and Summary: The Paleontological Heritage of Grand Canyon National Park By Vincent L. Santucci1 1National Park Service Geologic Resources Division 1849 “C” Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20240 Throughout my life I have been bestowed the privilege of experiencing the world-renowned landscape and resources of the Grand Canyon from many perspectives and viewsheds (Figure 1-1). My first views were standing and taking photos from the many vantage points and overlooks along the North and South rims. I have enjoyed many hikes into the canyon with colleagues from the National Park Service (NPS) or with academic geologists and paleontologists. On a few occasions I ventured down and then back up the trails of the canyon with my children Sarah, Bethany, Luke, Jacob, Brianna and Abigail, often carrying one or more in my arms on the climb against gravity. I traversed by foot to the base of the canyon at Phantom Ranch and gained a greater appreciation for the geologic story preserved in the park strata. I have gazed intensely out the window of many commercial aircraft from above this geologic wonder of Earth, contemplating the geomorphic “grandeur” created over "Deep Time" and the artistry of processes perfected by “Mother Nature.” I pinch myself when I recall the opportunity when my friend Justin Tweet and I were granted permission to fly into the western portion of the Grand Canyon on a small NPS plane operated by a pilot from Lake Mead National Recreation Area. -
Revised Correlation of Silurian Provincial Series of North America with Global and Regional Chronostratigraphic Units 13 and D Ccarb Chemostratigraphy
Revised correlation of Silurian Provincial Series of North America with global and regional chronostratigraphic units 13 and d Ccarb chemostratigraphy BRADLEY D. CRAMER, CARLTON E. BRETT, MICHAEL J. MELCHIN, PEEP MA¨ NNIK, MARK A. KLEFF- NER, PATRICK I. MCLAUGHLIN, DAVID K. LOYDELL, AXEL MUNNECKE, LENNART JEPPSSON, CARLO CORRADINI, FRANK R. BRUNTON AND MATTHEW R. SALTZMAN Cramer, B.D., Brett, C.E., Melchin, M.J., Ma¨nnik, P., Kleffner, M.A., McLaughlin, P.I., Loydell, D.K., Munnecke, A., Jeppsson, L., Corradini, C., Brunton, F.R. & Saltzman, M.R. 2011: Revised correlation of Silurian Provincial Series of North America with global 13 and regional chronostratigraphic units and d Ccarb chemostratigraphy. Lethaia,Vol.44, pp. 185–202. Recent revisions to the biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic assignment of strata from the type area of the Niagaran Provincial Series (a regional chronostratigraphic unit) have demonstrated the need to revise the chronostratigraphic correlation of the Silurian System of North America. Recently, the working group to restudy the base of the Wen- lock Series has developed an extremely high-resolution global chronostratigraphy for the Telychian and Sheinwoodian stages by integrating graptolite and conodont biostratigra- 13 phy with carbonate carbon isotope (d Ccarb) chemostratigraphy. This improved global chronostratigraphy has required such significant chronostratigraphic revisions to the North American succession that much of the Silurian System in North America is cur- rently in a state of flux and needs further refinement. This report serves as an update of the progress on recalibrating the global chronostratigraphic correlation of North Ameri- can Provincial Series and Stage boundaries in their type area. -
Geologic History of the Earth 1 the Precambrian
Geologic History of the Earth 1 algae = very simple plants that Geologists are scientists who study the structure grow in or near the water of rocks and the history of the Earth. By looking at first = in the beginning at and examining layers of rocks and the fossils basic = main, important they contain they are able to tell us what the beginning = start Earth looked like at a certain time in history and billion = a thousand million what kind of plants and animals lived at that breathe = to take air into your lungs and push it out again time. carbon dioxide = gas that is produced when you breathe Scientists think that the Earth was probably formed at the same time as the rest out of our solar system, about 4.6 billion years ago. The solar system may have be- certain = special gun as a cloud of dust, from which the sun and the planets evolved. Small par- complex = something that has ticles crashed into each other to create bigger objects, which then turned into many different parts smaller or larger planets. Our Earth is made up of three basic layers. The cen- consist of = to be made up of tre has a core made of iron and nickel. Around it is a thick layer of rock called contain = have in them the mantle and around that is a thin layer of rock called the crust. core = the hard centre of an object Over 4 billion years ago the Earth was totally different from the planet we live create = make on today.