Cretaceous/life
What was Wegeners theory about continental drift?
The continents were once connected and they are moving around
How do rock layers prove the theory of continental drift?
There are matching rock layers on the coasts of South America and Africa.
What is Pangaea?
The latest supercontinent/ a supercontinent
What are tectonic plates?
Mobile slabs of rock that covers the Earth's surface
Mid Ocean Ridge
An underwater mountain range, where new oceanic crust is created by volcanic activity as tectonic plates move apart.
What was one piece of evidence that proved Wegeners idea?
1. antarcticas animal fossils, proving that the climate change was real
2.the glaciers of ice covers india, south america, etc that now aren't there
3.plant fossils (glossopteris) in most continents
4.rock layers on continents (tectonic plates)
What evidence do we have that Antarctica was once in a different location on the planet earth?
Scientists found coal, which is evidence that plant and animal life once was found on Antarctica. It is too cold now.
one thing that causes global warming?
Deforestation, greenhouse gases, earths orbit (very slowly) and pollution
What is found on the edges of tectonic plates?
High elevation, earthquakes, volcanoes, ocean trenches, mid ocean ridge
Topography
Measuring the height of geologic features on the Earth's crust (like mountains, valleys, hills, plateaus)
How does the ocean floor spread apart?
Tectonic plates
What do you know about the Mesosaurus and what does it tell you about continental drift?
Their fossils were found on the coasts of South Africa and Africa, meaning that these places were once connected.
Name one animal from the ice age. (if you get this right you get 100 extra points!)
dire wolf, mammoths, steppe bisons, horses, mastodons saber toothed-cats, etc
true or false: during the early years of earth (4500mya/4.5 billion years ago) there was a lot of oxygen
False, only high amounts of co2 and hot temperatures which could kill you in a moment
Ocean Floor spreading
the process of which tectonic plates pull away and new oceanic crust is formed at mid ocean ridges.
Was Alfred Wegener correct? Why or why not?
He was correct that the continents drifted over time, but he was wrong about how it happened.
What supercontinent existed 1.2 billion years ago?
Rodinia
What allowed biodiversity to spread?
Oxygen levels increasing in the atmosphere
How did Alfred Wegener think the continents moved?
He thought the continents plowed across the ocean floor like bulldozers. The continents sit on the much larger tectonic plates, which move.
HE WAS WRONG.
When did the Earth start forming?
4.5 billion years ago
What was the bacteria that produced oxygen and led to the Earth's atmosphere forming?
cyanobacteria
whys it important and useful for scientist to study the past and have models of it?
With information of the past, scientist can predict what will happen in the future, create new things, and have a better understanding of how are planet works.
What is seismic activity
Any type of wave that can be measured, caused by the shifting of the Earth's crust.