4.

5bn years ago Earth was created

13.8 bn years ago Big Bang
cant see surface area in fossil record but know that complexity had been increasing
genetic evidence that homo sapiens and neanderthals interbred
within human race, very genetically similar when compared to other species
classic marker studies
genetic legacy of the mongols
Genghis Khan = 1.5% of all men have his gens
Star Cluster = y haplotype that originated 700-1,300 years ago
this unique gene is carried by 8% of men in East/Central Asia and 0.5% of men worldwide
debate over cradle of humans Africa vs. Turkey
obviously Africa, probably in great African rift valley where an ocean tried to open up
migration patterns are obtained through markers
some early homos moved around Asia, small amount made it through the Bering strait to N.
America
migrations
humans colonized N. America around 11,000-15,500 years ago
Clovis people
relied upon elephant population (wooly mammoths (c), mastodon, etc.) evidence of hunting
mass extinction
large mammal extinction of 35 genera
12,000-10,000 years ago
included all 3 American elephants
the La Brea tar pit preserved many fauna
causes?
overkill hypothesis: human hunting may have led to a mass extinction of large mammals
(happened to arrive then)
climate change: rapid changes in climate at that time led to glacier expansion and habitat
changes
evidence = iridium spikes makes it less clear, remains unclear
agriculture
huge expansion of human population, very successful strategy, start of power relationships
hypsithermal interval = 9000-6000 years ago, 2 degrees warmer than today, could farm in more
places --> agriculture developed
Zagro Mt. (first site), Greek islands (8,000 years ago), N. Europe (6,000 ya)
Review Proterozoic - Present

1.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2.
3.
a.

Isotopes
different number of neutrons
same number of protons
electrons = ions
C-12, -14, -13
C-14 is radioactive with a half life of 5700 years, 10 half-lives and no more C-14
Different types of oxygen tell us how temperature, glacier level, sea level, and carbon are related
isotopically light O16 > O18
when there are increased glaciers, there is isotopically heavy water (because most of the light
water is locked in glaciers)
b. lots of O16 in the ocean means not a lot of glaciers, less means greater glacial cover
4. Silicate weathering (part of the carbon cycle)

a. weathering of CaCO3 releases Ca+ and HCO3- (p.227)

b. next part = limestone moves along continental drift, eventually subducted, reaches volcano, and
volcanoes emit CO2 into the atmosphere
c. rain releases carbon
5. Organic part of carbon cycle
a. plants remove CO2 for growth and reproduction
b. plants are consumed, decay, or are buried in sediment
c. sunlight provides energy made into sugar by producers through photosynthesis, we exhale water
and carbon dioxide
d. low varietal organic matter, we have high CO2 in the atmosphere
6. Feedback processes
a. Frozen methane, when warmed turns into vapor, goes into the atmosphere, and makes it hotter
(positive feedback), releases carbon, signal is C12 dominates
b. ocean acidification, addition of carbonic acid into the ocean, can cause limestone or build reefs,
that cant create limestone to get rid of excess acid and continue to be more acidic (positive
feedback)
7. Fractionation
a. carbon burial
b. high rate of burial indicates little consumption of O2 --> low CO2 in the atmosphere
c. low rate of burial --> high consumption of O2 --> high CO2 in atmosphere
d. carbon isotopes
i.
lots of O = high burial, more sequestration of C-12 and should be higher in the atmosphere
ii.
plants sequester carbon in their tissues
8. Snowball Earth
a. What is it?
b. Why would it happen?
i.
Runaway albedo
c. How would we get out of it?
i.
volcanoes and no silicate weathering
9. Cambrian explosion occurred 500 million years ago
10. Ordovician
a. fungi and plants
b. plants as climate indicators -- leaf margins: smooth/waxy = tropics; jagged: temperate
11. Increased CO2 = decreased stomata density
12. decreased CO2 = increased stomata density
13. trilobites burrowed and biotrubated the oceanic sediment
14. Silurian and Devonian
a. Devonian - modern fish
15. Carboniferous and Permian
a. low sea levels
b. a lot of coal and plants
c. 1st amphibians and reptiles
16. Triassic and Jurassic
a. more reptiles
b. first dinosaurs and birds
17. Mass extinction
18. US had wide interior seaway
19. 66 mya an asteroid impacted and ended the dinosaurs, evidence
a. coal
b. stratigraphy
c. iridium concentration

20. impact layer = smectite

21. what survived? shamll mammals
22. different hypothesis for cause of dinosaur extinction
23. Mass extinctions
a. end Ordovician
b. Late Devonian
c. end Permian the great dying associated with anoxia (red or black coloring of ocean beds; red=
oxidation, black = lack of oxygen) , didnt recover to normal levels of mass extinction
d. end Triassic
e. end Cretaceous
24. rates of extinction and origination (event)
25. biodiversity over geologic time
a. 250 my took off exponentially, but that was simplified
b. dont have full biodiversity yet
c. food webs
d. bites taken out of trilobites indicate trophic levels
e. causes of extinction
f. causes/consequences of biodiversity
g. extinction rate vs. extinction magnitude
h. Cenozoic
i. oxygen isotopes to understand temp. , ice volume, sea level, CO2, so looked at O2 isotopes over
the past --> large overall cooling and more ice
26. hypothesis: Himalayan mountain chain --> high mountain chains -->increasing slopes --?
increasing chemical weathering --> more CO2 drawn out
27. tectonic movements that cause subduction drive the carbon cycle
28. isolation of Antarctica led to glaciation and thermal isolation and global cooling
29. tectonic processes changing ocean current, changing climate in an area, and increased Albedo
between S. America and Australia
30. ACC = arctic circumpolar current
31. Pliocene - transition to Ice house
a. uplift of isthmus of Panama 3.5-3 million years ago
b. started modern circulation, disconnected the Atlantic and Pacific, affecting how heat reached
the north pole
c. Gulf stream now carries salty Atlantic north (saltier because no exchange with fresher water of
pacific) --> cools, sinks (oceanic conveyor belt) and comes back south, warms up again and
repeats
32. sea level rising, temperature and sea level are connected
33. Eocene = increase temp. and increasing sea level
34. today sea level = 0 meters
35. last glacial maximum (20,000 years ago) = 120 m sea level, all that ice on land (glaciers)
36. ice cube melts into water, therefore, only ice on land matters and adds to sea level
37. Orbital parameters !! (elliptical...)
38. Ice age
a. interglacial
b. indicators (lines of evidence)
c. 15 ice ages in our history
39. weight of massive ice sheet complicates mantle
40. sea level rise from de-glaciation mainly, a tiny bit due to global warming
41. 10 indicators of a warming world
42. greenhouse effect

43. impacts of global warming

a. positive feedbacks
b. food webs --> climate and horse