Cenozoic Era Flashcards

iridium

extra-terrestrial element

East Pacific Rise

continent is moving on top of Pacific plate

Effects of the subduction of the East Pacific Rise

1) mountains push upward and create the Colorado Plateau
2) Grand Canyon (doesn't come until the Neogene)
3) San Andreas Fault (transform fault between Pacific and NA plates)
4) zone in Nevada and Utah called the Basin Range and Province
5) Columbia River basalt flows

Horst

Mountain range

Grabens

Valley/basins between mountain ranges

During the Paleogene, _______________ and the ____________________
_________________________ formed.

Alaska, Hawaiian Islands

Magma at Yellowstone

very viscous, full of water and gases

Magma in Hawaii

easy flowing lava coming from deep in the mantle

Eruptions at Yellowstone

huge caldera forms and erupts in high explosions, very volatile

First Greenland glacial event

Nebraskan

Second Greenland event

Kansan

Third Greenland event

Illinoisan

Fourth Greenland event

Wisconsinan

These two great lakes were rift valleys millions of years ago

Superior and Ontario

These two great lakes are the shallowest

Michigan and Erie

1.8 million years ago

Big North American glacial event

During the ice age there was ________ volcanism.

little

During the Ice Age, the ________________ _______________ hadn't
formed yet, so the northern hemisphere had very _________ _____________.

Atlantic Conveyor, cold water

During the Ice Age, the buildup of the _________________ interfered
with air flow, which brought about ____________.

Himalayas, monsoons

Three surviving species of bird

1) flightless
2) fish-eating swimmers
3) flight

Where did horses and camels get their start?

North America

type of terror bird that dominated during most of the Cenozoic and
was confined to NA and SA

gastornis

Grass uses ______________ to create _____________

glucose, cellulose

_________ is one of the most adaptable angiosperms

grass

ruminate

constantly eating/regurgitating

better of the two groups of ungulates. even toed.

artiodactyls

odd toed group of ungulates

perissodactyls

meat eating ungulates with hooves. no living examples.

mesonychid

descendant of the mesonychid. ex. porpoises and whales

cetacea

four legged descendant of the mesonychid

pakicetus

short-legged, long spine, aquatic with webbing, descendant of the mesonychid

ambilocetus

Alpha bird during most of the Cenozoic, confined to NA and SA

gastornis

Three surviving families of birds

flightless, fish-eating swimmers, flight

Epochs of the Paleogene period

Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene

Epochs of the Neogene period

Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Holocene/Anthropogene

The first primates occurred in the Late Cretaceous/ Early Paleogene
and were called _____________

prosimians

Prosimians have

#NAME?

During the _________________, a major climactic change occurred in
which everything shifted to drier conditions. This resulted in the
shrinking of tropical rainforests and the formation of larger plains
and savannahs. This restricts the distribution of the _____________.
There is a flux in establishment of ___________ _____________.

Oligocene, prosimians, ocean currents

Human lineage comes from

Africa

man-like" basically monkeys

anthropoids

Anthropoids divide into 3 groups during the ___________. The groups are:

Miocene, ceboidea, cercopithecidea, and homonoids

hominoid found in Africa, Europe, Asia with a small brain and very
ape-like face

dryopithicus

jaw jutting out

prognathus

shorter and small hominid, canines change to become smaller

ramapithicus

common ancestor between chimps and humans

procounsel

hominids

our primate line

ardipithecus

first group of hominids

advantages of bipedalism

height/size intimidating to predators, and it's hands free (probably
for carrying)

australopithecus

first found in south africa