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Please Use the Following Information to Answer the Question(s) Below

question 59

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Please use the following information to answer the question(s) below.
Traditionally, whales and hippopotamuses have been classified in different orders, the Cetacea and the Artiodactyla, respectively. Recent molecular evidence, however, indicates that the whales' closest living relatives are the hippos. This has caused some zoologists to lump the two orders together into a single clade, the Cetartiodactyla. There is no consensus on whether the Cetartiodactyla should be accorded order status or superorder status. This is because it remains unclear whether the whale lineage diverged from the lineage leading to the hippos before or after the other members of the order Artiodactyla (pigs, camels, etc.) diverged (see Figure 20.5) . Figure 20.5
-It was once thought that cetaceans had evolved from an extinct group of mammals called the mesonychids. If, in the future, it is determined that some organisms currently classified as cetaceans did actually evolve from mesonychids, whereas other cetaceans evolved from artiodactyl stock, then what will be true of the order Cetacea?

Definitions:

Contact Metamorphism

Contact metamorphism occurs when rocks are heated to high temperatures and sometimes subjected to increased pressures due to the close proximity of magma or lava, without melting the rock completely.

Normal Faults

A type of fault where the hanging wall moves downward relative to the footwall, typically a result of extensional forces pulling the crust apart.

Hot Seawater

Seawater that has been heated, often by geothermal activity under the ocean floor, impacting marine life and ecosystems.

Columnar Joint

A geological structure where molten rock cools and contracts to form a pattern of polygonal columns, typically hexagonal in cross-section.