The Paleozoic
These were two important geologic events of the Paleozoic Era.
What are the formation of Pangea, flooding of the continents, formation of the Appalachian Mountains, etc.?
This is one geologic event of the Mesozoic Era.
What are the splitting of Pangea, the formation of the Rockies, the return of shallow seas, etc.?
These are two true geologic events of the Cenozoic Era.
What are the Himalayan Mountains being formed, much of the land drying out, grasses and flowering field plants evolving, the Pleistocene ice age, etc.?
This is the longest unit of geologic time.
What is an eon?
What is the sudden development/evolution of many multicellular life-forms which begins the Cambrian period and the Paleozoic era?
These were the three stages of life during the Paleozoic Era.
What are invertebrates, fishes, and amphibians?
These were the common life-forms of the Mesozoic Era.
What are reptiles (i.e., dinosaurs, plesiosaurs, and pterosaurs)?
The Cenozoic Era is called the age of mammals for this reason.
What is the success and dominance of mammals on Earth?
What is an epoch?
The Precambrian Eons are the longest span of time in Earth's history. This is the reason why there are so few fossils from that time.
What is a lack of easily fossilized and preserved organisms?
There was a mass extinction in the early Paleozoic, at the end of the Ordovician period. This could have been what caused the mass extinction.
(Give a reasonable guess based on what you know about mass extinctions and the Paleozoic Era, as well as an explanation as to why this would cause one.)
What are volcanic eruptions, meteor impacts, ice ages, etc. (with good reasoning)?
This is the period that started off the Mesozoic Era, where we begin to see the rise of this era's dominant life-forms.
What is the Triassic period?
The coal used nowadays, in the Cenozoic era, was mostly formed in the Paleozoic. This is how it was made.
What is the process of plant life dying and sinking in swamps, then being altered into coal over time?
This is the unit of time we have studied most in class, and it is the second largest unit on the geologic time scale.
What is an era?
This is how one might define a mass extinction.
What is the disappearance of many species over a short period of time?
This was the period where Earth experienced its biggest mass extinction.
What is the Permian period?
This is the period which ended the Mesozoic Era, where a mass extinction pushed Earth into a new stage of evolution. (Despite common belief, most of the dinosaurs commonly associated with the previous period actually lived during this one.)
What is the Cretaceous period?
The early Cenozoic Era gave rise to these types of life-forms. Name three examples in your answer.
What are mega-mammals? Saber Tooth Cats, Mammoths, Giant Camels, Giant Sloths, Cave Bears, Dire Wolves, etc.
This is the unit of geologic time used to refer to lengths of time designated by specific and important geologic events. It is the second smallest unit we use.
What is a period?
This is the unit of time we use when referring to studies of the geologic time scale.
What is m.y.a. (million years ago)?
This is the period which started the Paleozoic Era, and it is a very important one, too.
These are two environmental changes which might affect evolution.
What are geographic isolation, land bridges, plate movement, ice ages, volcanic eruptions, meteor strikes, changes in sea level, etc.?
The late Cenozoic gave rise to this very important mammal, considered the most dominant species in Earth's existence.
What is the human/homo sapien?
What is the use of fossil records and important geologic events of the past?
Land bridges can be defined in this way.