Introduction
- The Nature of Scientific Inquiry
- Science assumes the natural world is consistent and predictable
- The goal of science is to discover patterns in nature and use knowledge to make
predictions
- Scientists collect data through observation and measurements
- Hypothesis - a tentative (or untested) explanation
- Theory - a well-tested and widely accepted view that the scientific community
agrees best explains certain observable facts
- There is no fixed path that scientists follow that leads to scientific knowledge
- However, many scientific investigations involve:
- A question is raised about the natural world
- Scientific data are collected
- One or more hypotheses are developed
- Experiments are developed to test the hypotheses
- Hypotheses are accepted, modified, or rejected
- Data and results are shared with the scientific community
- The Science of Geology
- Geology is the science that pursues an understanding of planet Earth
- Physical geology examines Earth materials and seeks to understand the
many processes that operate on our planet
- Historical geology seeks an understanding of the origin of Earth and its
development through time
- The Science of Geology and People
- Geology, people, and the environment
- Populations are affected by geologic hazards and rely on natural
resources
- Geologic hazards are natural processes that adversely affect
people
- Natural resources addressed by geology include:
- Water, soil, metallic and nonmetallic minerals, and energy
- Species evolve to survive in given environment
- Can adapt to changes in environment, unless change occurs too
quickly
- The Development of Geology
- The nature of Earth has been a focus of study for centuries
- Catastrophism - Earth’s landscapes were shaped primarily by
catastrophes
- Uniformitarianism - the physical, chemical, and biologic laws that
operate today have operated throughout the geologic past
- Relies on understanding of geologic time - involves millions and
billions of years
- Earth is 4.6 billion years old
- An appreciation for the magnitude of geologic time is important
because many processes are very gradual
- It is not obvious for humans to think in terms of geologic time rather than human
time - millions and billions of years
- Without concept of geologic time, earth scientists relied on catastrophism
(cataclysmic explanations) to explain observed geology
- 1700s, 1800s - geologic time scale and the birth of modern geology
- In 1788, James Hutton introduced concept of geologic time:
- “No vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.”
- Uniformitarianism:
- Natural laws are uniform through time and space
- The present is key to the past
- Everyday changes, for millions of years, and up to major results
- Uniformitarianism has been tested in the last few decades:
- Study of craters since late 20th century
- Current modified actualism: rates of processes can vary
Solar System
- The Geologic Time Scale
* Remember the order of these eras: *
Precambrian
542 mil years ago (boundary between next era)
Paleozoic (oldest era)
250 mil years ago (boundary between next era)
Mesozoic (middle era)
65 mil years ago (boundary between next era)
Cenozoic (newest era)
Dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago
- A view of Earth
This image taken from Apollo 17
in December 1971 is perhaps the
first to be called “The Blue Marble”.
The dark blue ocean and swirling
cloud patterns remind us of the
importance of the oceans and atmosphere
- Earth’s four spheres are:
- Hydrosphere - the water portion
- Atmosphere - the gaseous envelope
- Geosphere - the solid Earth
- Biosphere - all plant and animal life
- Early Evolution of Earth
- The universe began with the Big Bang (14 billion years ago) <- not important time
- Earth and the other planets formed at essentially the same time (4.6 billion years
ago) out of the same material as the sun
- The Nebular Theory proposes that the bodies of our solar system evolved from
an enormous rotating cloud called the solar nebula
- Nebular Theory
- The solar nebula consisted of hydrogen and helium, in addition to
microscopic dust grains
- A disturbance caused the solar nebula to slowly contract and rotate
- The solar nebula assumed a flat, disk shape with the protosun (pre-sun)
at the center
- Inner planets began to form from metallic and rocky substances
(terrestrial)
- Larger outer planets began forming from fragments of ices (H2O, CO2,
and others) (gas planets)
- Nebular Theory (birth of our solar system summarized)
- The birth of our solar system began as dust and gases (nebula) and they
started to gravitationally collapse
- The nebula contracted into a rotating disk that was heated by the
conversion of gravitational energy into thermal energy
- Cooling of the nebular cloud caused rocks and metallic material to
condense into tiny particles
- Repeated collisions caused the dust-size particles to gradually coalesce
into asteroid-size bodies that accreted into planets within a few million
years
- Nebular Theory (detailed)
- 1. A nebula forms from hydrogen and helium left over from the Big Bag,
as well as from heavier elements that were produced by fusion reactions
in stars or during explosions of stars
- 2. Gravity pulls gas and dust inward to form an accretionary disk.
Eventually a glowing ball (the proto-Sun) forms at the center of the disk
- 3. “Dust” (particles of refractory materials) concentrates in the inner rings,
while “ice” (particles of volatile materials) concentrates in the outer rings.
Eventually, the dense ball of gas at the center of the disk becomes hot
enough for fusion reactions to begin. When it ignites, it becomes the Sun
- 4. Dust and ice particles collide and stick together, forming planetesimals
- 5. Forming the planets from planetesimals: Planetesimals grow by
continuous collisions. Gradually, an irregularly shaped proto-Earth
develops. The interior heats up and becomes soft
- 6. Gravity reshapes the proto-Earth into a sphere. The interior of the
Earth differentiates into a core and mantle
- 7. Soon after the Earth forms, a protoplanet collides with it, blasting debris
that forms a ring around the Earth
- 8. The Moon forms from the ring of debris
- 9. Eventually, the atmosphere develops from volcanic gases. When the
Earth becomes cool enough, moisture condenses and rains to produce
the oceans. Some gases may be added by passing comets
- Formation of Earth’s layered structure
- Metals sank to the center (dense material)
- Molten rock rose to produce a primitive crust
- Chemical segregation (or differentiation) established the three basic divisions of
Earth’s interior
- A primitive atmosphere evolved from volcanic gases
- The earliest primitive crust was lost to erosion and geologic processes
- Earth’s Internal Structure
- Gravity and Layered Planets
- Layers formed through differentiation, early on
- The densest material (iron) sinks to the center of the planet
- The least dense material makes up the outer layers of the planets
- Earth’s interior can be divided into three major layers defined by chemical
composition
- Crust, mantle, core
- These layers are further divided into zones based on physical properties
- Earth is divided into three major layers by composition:
- Crust - Earth’s think, rocky outer skin, divided into the continental and
oceanic crust
- Oceanic crust is approximately 7 kilometers thick and
composed of basalt (density: 3.1grams per cm3)
- Continental crust is 35 - 70 kilometers and composed primarily
of granodiorite (density: 2.7 grams per cm3)
- Mantle - is approximately 2900 kilometers thick and composed of
peridotite
- Core - is composed of an iron-nickel alloy
- Outer core - liquid outer layer of the core
- Inner core - solid inner layer of the core
-
- The Face of Earth
- Earth’s surface is divided into continents and ocean basins. The difference
between these two areas is relative levels
- The elevation difference is a result of differences between density and
thickness
- Continents are relatively flat plateaus approximately 0.8 kilometers above sea
level composed of granitic rocks
- The average depth of ocean basins, composed of basaltic rocks, is 3.8
kilometers below sea level
- Probing Earth’s interior
- “Seeing” Seismic Waves
- Most of our knowledge of Earth’s interior comes from the study of
earthquakes waves, since about 1900
- Seismic velocities
- Travel times of P (compressional) and S (shear) waves through
Earth vary depending on the properties of the materials
- Seismic waves travel fastest in stiff (rigid) rocks
- Seismic wave velocities also vary based on composition of
the rocks
- Interactions between seismic waves and Earth’s layers
- Seismic waves reflect and refract as they pass through the
different layers of Earth
- Studying seismic-wave velocities gives seismologists a layer-by-layer
understanding of Earth’s composition
- Seismic waves provide a way to “see” into our Planet
- S-wave shadow zones are what allow us to know that the outer core is
liquid
- The S-Waves don’t go through the outer core at all, which is what causes
the shadow zones
- S-Waves can only go through solids, they cannot go through
liquids. This is how we know the outer core is liquid and the inner
core is solid
Plate Tectonics
- From Continental Drift to plate Tectonics
- Prior to late 1960s, many geologists believed that the positions of the continents
and ocean basins were fixed
- Continental drift, a hypothesis designed to explain continental movement, was
first proposed in the twentieth century, but initially rejected by North American
geologists
- Continental Drift: An Idea Before Its Time
- Alfred Wegener
- First proposed continental drift hypothesis in 1915
- Published The Origin of Continents and Oceans
- Continental drift hypothesis
- A supercontinent, consisting of all of Earth’s landmasses, once existed
- This supercontinent was called Pangaea and began breaking apart about
200 million years ago
- Evidence used to support of continental drift hypothesis:
- The continental Jigsaw puzzle
-
- Fossil evidence - identical fossil organisms are found on continents now
separated by vast oceans
- Organisms that should have been impossible to be found in
certain continents, were be found in
- Rock types and geologic features
-
- Ancient climates
- The Great Debate
- Objections to the continental drift hypothesis:
- Wegener incorrectly suggested that the gravitational forces of the Moon
and Sun were capable of moving the continents
- Wegener also incorrectly suggested that continents broke through the
ocean crust
- There was strong opposition to this hypothesis from all areas of the
scientific community
- The Theory of Plate Tectonics
- Following World War II, oceanographers learned much about the seafloor
- The oceanic ridge system winds through all of the major oceans
- There is no oceanic crust older than 180 million years old
- Sediment accumulations in the deep oceans was relatively minor
- These developments led to the theory of plate tectonics
- Earth is divided into different zones based on physical properties:
- Lithosphere - the rigid outer layer of Earth that consists of the crust and
the upper mantle, divided into plates
- Asthenosphere - the soft, weak layer below the lithosphere
- Transition Zone - a zone marked by a sharp increase in density below
the asthenosphere
- Earth’s Major Plates
- The lithosphere is broken into approximately two dozens smaller sections
called lithospheric plates
- These plates are in constant motion
- Plate Boundaries
- Most interactions among individual plates occur along their boundaries
- Types of plate boundaries:
- Divergent plate boundaries (constructive margins) - plates move
apart (new crust is formed)
- Convergent plate boundaries (destructive margins) - plates
move together (subduction is the destruction of plates when it
goes back into the mantle)
- Oceanic plates subducts because it is heavier and came
from the mantle so it is more likely to go under into the
mantle
- Continental plates can not subduct because it is too light to
go under back into the plate
- Transform plate boundaries (conservative margins) - plates
grind past each other without the production or destruction of
lithosphere (also called a transform fault)
- Are when two plates just slide past each other
- Testing the Plate Tectonic Model
- Hot Spots and Mantle Plumes
- A mantle plume is a cylindrically shaped upwelling of hot rock
- The surface expression of a mantle plume is a hot spot, which is
an area of volcanism
- As a plate moves over a hot spot, a chain of volcanoes, known as
a hot-spot track, is built
- The age of each volcano indicates how much time has passed
since the volcano was over the mantle plume
- Once a volcano passes over the hot spot it will slowly erode away
- Examples include:
- Hawaiian Island Chain
- Hot Spots and Hot Spot tracks
-
- How is Plate Motion Measured?
- Geologic Evidence for Plate Motion
- By knowing the age of the seafloor and the distance from the
spreading, center, an average rate of plate motion can be
calculated
- Testing the Plate Tectonics Model
- Evidence from Ocean Drilling
- Some of the most convincing evidence has come from drilling
directly into ocean-floor sediment
- Age of the deepest sediments: The oldest sediments are
furthest from the spreading center
- The thickness of ocean-floor sediments verifies seafloor
spreading: Sediments are almost absent on the ridge crest
and thickest furthest from the spreading center
- Paleomagnetism
- Basaltic rocks contain magnetite, an iron-rich mineral affected by
Earth’s magnetic field
- When the basalt cools below the Curie point, the magnetite
aligns towards the position of the north pole
- The magnetite is then “frozen” in position and indicates the
position of the north pole at the time of rock solidification. This is
referred to as paleomagnetism
- Apparent Polar Wandering
- The apparent movement of the magnetic poles indicates that the
continents have moved
- It also indicates North America and Europe were joined in the
Mesozoic
- Earth’s Three-Dimensional Structure
- Earth’s Magnetic Field
- Produced by convection of liquid iron in the outer core
- A geodynamo is the magnetic field caused by spiraling columns
of rising fluid in the outer core
- It is primarily dipolar
- Patterns of convection change rapidly enough so that the
magnetic field varies noticeably over our lifetimes
Ways in which earth’s magnetic field changes (test material)
- Measuring Earth’s magnetic field and its changes
- The magnetic field is measured by declination and
inclination
- Declination measures the direction of magnetic
north pole with respect to the geographic north pole
- difference
- Inclination measures the downward tilt of the
magnetic lines
- angle / slope
- Magnetic Field
- Magnetic reversals
- The magnetic field randomly reverses the north and south
poles swap direction
- Reversal takes only a few thousand years, but during that
time, the magnetic field, which protects Earth from solar
wind, significantly decreases
Plate Tectonics and Deformation
- Testing the Plate Tectonic Model
- Apparent Polar Wandering (used to confirm the plates moved)
- The apparent movement of the magnetic poles indicates that the
continents have moved
- It also indicates North America and Europe were joined in the Mesozoic
- How is Plate Motion Measured?
- Measuring Plate Motion from Space
- Accomplished by using the Global Positioning System to measure various
points on Earth’s surface
- GPS data are collected over various points repeatedly for many years to
establish plate motion
- What Drives Plate Motions?
- Researchers agree that convective flow in the mantle is the basic driving force of
plate tectonics
- Models of Plate - Mantle Convection
- Convection in the mantle, where warm, buoyant rocks rise and cool,
dense rock sink, is the underlying driving force of plate tectonics
- Convective flow in the mantle is a major force for transporting heat away
from the interior of Earth
- Forces That Drive Plate Motion:
- The slab-pull and ridge -push forces of plate tectonics are part of the
same system as mantle convection
- The subduction of cold oceanic lithosphere is a slab-pull force
- Elevated lithosphere on an oceanic ridge will slide down due to gravity,
called the ridge-push force
- Divergent Plate Boundaries
- Oceanic Ridges and Seafloor Spreading
- Along the crest of the ridge is a canyon-like feature called a rift valley
- Seafloor spreading is the mechanism that operates along the ridge to
create new ocean floor
- Spreading Rates
- The average spreading rate is 5 cm/year
- The Mid-Atlantic Ridge has spreading rate of 2 cm/year
- The East Pacific Rise has a spreading rate of 15 cm/year
- Anatomy of the Oceanic Ridge
- An oceanic ridge, or mid-ocean ridge, or rise is a broad, linear swell along a
divergent plate boundary
- The longest topographic feature on Earth
- Occupy elevated positions
- Segments are offset by transform faults
- Extensive faulting and earthquakes
- A rift valley (a deep, down-faulted structure) exists on the axis of most
ridges
- Oceanic Ridges and Seafloor Spreading
- Why Are Ocean Ridges Elevated
- Newly created lithosphere is hot and less dense than surrounding rocks
- As the newly formed crust moves away from the spreading center, it cools
and increases in density
- The Nature of Oceanic Crust
- Four Distinct Layers
- The sequence of four layers composing the oceanic crust is called an
ophiolite complex
- Layer 1 - consists of deep sea sediments and sedimentary rocks
- Layer 2 - consists of pillow basalts
- Layer 3 - consists of numerous interconnected dikes called sheet
dikes
- Layer 4 - consists of gabbro
- Continental Rifting - The Birth of a New Ocean Basin
- Evolution of an Ocean Basin
- A new ocean basin begins with the formation of a continental rift (an
elongated depression where the lithosphere is stretched and thinned)
- East African Rift
- Continental rift extending through easter Africa
- Consists of several interconnected rift valleys
- Normal faulting led to garbend (down-faulted blocks)
- Area has expensive basaltic flows and volcanic cones
- Red Sea
- Formed when the Arabian Peninsula rifted from Africa beginning
about 30 million years ago
- Fault scraps surrounding the Red Sea are similar to structures
seen in the East African Rift
- If spreading continues, the Red Sea will grow wider and develop
an elongated mid-ocean ridge
- Atlantic Ocean
- After tens of millions of years, the Red Sea will develop into a
feature similar to the Atlantic Ocean
- As new oceanic crust was added to the diverging plates, the rifted
margins moved further from the region of upwelling
- These margins cooled and subsided below sea level
- Convergent Plate Boundaries
- Types of Convergent Boundaries:
- Continental - Continental convergence (least likely to happen)
- Continued subduction can bring two continents together
- Less dense, buoyant continental lithosphere does not subduct
- The resulting collision produces mountains
- Examples include:
- The Himalayas
- The Alps
- The Appalachians
- Oceanic - Oceanic convergence
- Two plates move towards each other at these destructive plate
margins, where the older portions of oceanic plates are returned
to the mantle
- The leading edge of one plate is bent downward, as it
slides beneath the other at subduction zones
- Why Oceanic Lithosphere Subducts
- Overall density must be greater than underlying
asthenosphere
- Fate of oceanic crust is debated
- Pile up at boundary between upper and lower
mantle?
- Subduct to the core - mantle boundary?
- Convergence and Subducting Plates
- Deep Ocean Trenches
- Created when oceanic lithosphere bends as it
descends into the mantle at subduction zone
- Trench depth is related to the age of the subducting
lithosphere
- Old lithosphere is cold and dense
- Plates subduct at steep angle,
forming deep trench
- Young lithosphere is warm and buoyant
- Plates subduct at a shallower angle
and produce shallower trenches (if
at all)
- Examples include:
- Peru-Chile Trench
- Mariana Trench
- Tonga Trench
- Destruction of Oceanic Lithosphere
- Subducting Plates: the Demise of Ocean Basins
- If a plate subducts faster than it is produced at a
spreading center, the plate will get smaller until it
completely subducts
- Example: Farallon Plate
- Oceanic - Continental convergence
- The denser oceanic slab sinks beneath the continental block into
the asthenosphere
- At a depth of 100 kilometers, partial melting occurs when water
from the subducting plate mixes with the hot rocks of the
asthenosphere, generating magma
- The resulting volcanic mountain chain is called a continental
volcanic arc
- Examples include:
- The Andes
- The Cascade Range
