Environmental Science 1G03 Lecture Notes: Earth’s Beginnings 09/08/2009
How old is the universe?
- 13.7 billion (+/- 200 million years)
- Formed by cosmic explosion
How old is the solar system?
- 4.5/4.6 billion years old
- Oldest known rocks known in the solar system are 4.6 billion years old (meteorites)
- Oldest rocks in earth are 4.03 billion years old found on the Canadian Shield
How do we learn about the early solar system?
- calculating the half-lives compared to samples of S.S sample material from
meteorites
- meteorites = fragments of asteroids
ex. Meteor crater in Arizona an example of a large meteor crater that can use half- life
Kinds of Meteorites:
- Stony = 4.6 billion
- Iron = about 6% nickel-iron alloy interlocking crystals (Widmanstatten pattern)
- Stony-Iron
Origin of the Solar System
- probably evolved from nova explosion of a Red Giant that created cloud of ashes and
dust
e.g. Crab Nebula remnant of Super Nova explosion about 900 years old
- after explosion, most mass concentrated (mainly helium and hydrogen) in centre of
rotating cloud of gas and dust which forms a PROTOSUN.
e.g. NGC 2363 star-forming region AND brightest star 30-60x larger than our sun
- rotation flattens out dust and cloud into disc called SOLAR NEBULA
- gravitational attraction of larger particles on smaller forms PLANETISMALS
- planetismals form protoplanets which combine to form 8 planets and Pluto (dwarf
planet)
- lighter materials move outwards towards less dense gases (Fig. 1.4 Solar System)
• This is called the Nebula Hypothesis (Fig 1.5), Final product to scale (Fig 1.6)
- it takes about 1 million years for a planet to form
* the process of building large bodies of matter through collisions and gravitational attraction
is called ACCRETION
***RADIOACTIVE DATING***
Environmental Science 1G03 Lecture Notes: Earth’s Beginnings 09/08/2009
How long did Earth take to form?
- collision of matter compressed due to gravity, high temperature of planet to 1000C
- when internal radioactive elements start to decay, temp. increases on earth (raised to
2000C)
- iron melts, 1/3 of Earth made of iron, and because of gravity, iron falls to center to
make core of the Earth
What’s inside the Earth?
- all elements and minerals mixed during melting and denser materials fall towards
centre and lighter materials float towards surface
- densest= iron and nickel therefore they are at the core of the planet
- Lightest elements surfaced to the top to form a crust and the remainder forms the
mantle composed of Fe-Mg silicates, forming rock called peridotite
** THIS PROCESS IS CALLED DIFFERENTIATION**
(Fig 1.8)
THE CONTINENTS, OCEANS, AND ATMOSPHERE
How did they form?
Continents:
- light minerals floated to the top of the surface of the Earth
- altered by rainwater and broken up by sediment
- made up of recycled material
Ocean’s and Atmosphere:
- gases escaped during differentiation
- comets and meteorites isotopic composition has great similarity to ocean H20
DEEP IMPACT
- smashed into comet Tempo July 4/05
- comet=frozen early planetary material
- analysis: - ice
- silicate (olivine)
- clay, carbonates
- iron compounds
- organics
*comets may have supplied organic compounds to early Earth that are found today
Atmosphere:
- consisted of H2O (g), H2, CO2, N2
- mostly O2, and N2 today
Other Planets:
- 4 inner planets: terrestrial planets that have undergone differentiation (Mercury,
Mars, Earth, Venus) started as hot, rocky masses
- Mars has crust and core similar to Earth’s
- Mercury is heavily cratered
- 4 gaseous outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (Jovian Planets)
