Geologic Time, Concepts, and Principles
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History of Geology
FEBRUARY 2007 PRIMEFACT 563 (REPLACES MINFACT 60) History of geology Mineral Resources Early humans needed a knowledge of simple geology to enable them to select the most suitable rock types both for axe-heads and knives and for the ornamental stones they used in worship. In the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, about 5000 to 2500 BC, flint was mined in the areas which are now Belgium, Sweden, France, Portugal and Britain. While Stone Age cultures persisted in Britain until after 2000 BC, in the Middle East people began to mine useful minerals such as iron ore, tin, clay, gold and copper as early as 4000 BC. Smelting techniques were developed to make the manufacture of metal tools possible. Copper was probably the earliest metal to be smelted, that is, extracted from its ore by melting. Copper is obtained easily by reducing the green copper carbonate mineral malachite, itself regarded as a precious stone. From 4000 BC on, the use of clay for brick-making became widespread. The Reverend William Branwhite Clarke (1798-1878), smelting of iron ore for making of tools and the ‘father’ of geology in New South Wales weapons began in Asia Minor at about 1300 BC but did not become common in Western Europe until Aristotle believed volcanic eruptions and nearly 500 BC. earthquakes were caused by violent winds escaping from the interior of the earth. Since earlier writers had ascribed these phenomena to The classical period supernatural causes, Aristotle's belief was a By recognising important surface processes at marked step forward. Eratosthenes, a librarian at work, the Greek, Arabic and Roman civilisations Alexandria at about 200 BC, made surprisingly contributed to the growth of knowledge about the accurate measurements of the circumference of earth. -
Geologic Time Two Ways to Date Geologic Events Steno's Laws
Frank Press • Raymond Siever • John Grotzinger • Thomas H. Jordan Understanding Earth Fourth Edition Chapter 10: The Rock Record and the Geologic Time Scale Lecture Slides prepared by Peter Copeland • Bill Dupré Copyright © 2004 by W. H. Freeman & Company Geologic Time Two Ways to Date Geologic Events A major difference between geologists and most other 1) relative dating (fossils, structure, cross- scientists is their concept of time. cutting relationships): how old a rock is compared to surrounding rocks A "long" time may not be important unless it is greater than 1 million years 2) absolute dating (isotopic, tree rings, etc.): actual number of years since the rock was formed Steno's Laws Principle of Superposition Nicholas Steno (1669) In a sequence of undisturbed • Principle of Superposition layered rocks, the oldest rocks are • Principle of Original on the bottom. Horizontality These laws apply to both sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Principle of Original Horizontality Layered strata are deposited horizontal or nearly horizontal or nearly parallel to the Earth’s surface. Fig. 10.3 Paleontology • The study of life in the past based on the fossil of plants and animals. Fossil: evidence of past life • Fossils that are preserved in sedimentary rocks are used to determine: 1) relative age 2) the environment of deposition Fig. 10.5 Unconformity A buried surface of erosion Fig. 10.6 Cross-cutting Relationships • Geometry of rocks that allows geologists to place rock unit in relative chronological order. • Used for relative dating. Fig. 10.8 Fig. 10.9 Fig. 10.9 Fig. 10.9 Fig. Story 10.11 Fig. -
GE OS 1234-101 Historical Geology Lecture Syllabus Instructor
G E OS 1234-101 Historical Geology Lecture Syllabus Instructor: Dr. Jesse Carlucci ([email protected]), (940) 397-4448 Class: MWF, 10am -10:50am, BO 100 Office hours: Bolin Hall 131, MWF, 11am ± 2pm, Tuesday, noon - 2pm. You can arrange to meet with me at any time, by appointment. Textbook: Earth System History by Steven M. Stanley, 3rd edition. I will occasionally post articles and other readings on blackboard. I will also upload Power Point presentations to blackboard before each class, if possible. Course Objectives: Historical Geology provides the student with a comprehensive survey of the history of life, and major events in the physical development of Earth. Most importantly, this class addresses how processes like plate tectonics and climate interact with life, forming an integrated system. The first half of the class focuses on concepts, and the second on a chronologic overview of major biological and physical events in different geologic periods. L E C T UR E SC H E DU L E Aug 27-31: Overview of course; what is science? The Earth as a planet Stanley (pg. 244-247) Sep 5-7: Earth materials, rocks and minerals Stanley (pg. 13-17; 25-34) Sep 10-14: Rocks & minerals continued; plate tectonics. Stanley (pg. 3-12; 35-46; 128-141; 175-186) Sep 17-21: Geological time and dating of the rock record; chemical systems, the climate system through time. Quiz 1 (Sep 19; 5%). Stanley (pg. 187-194; 196-207; 215-223; 232-238) Sep 24-28: Sedimentary environments and life; paleoecology. Stanley (pg. 76-80; 84-96; 99-123) Oct 1-5: Biological evolution and the fossil record. -
Lab 7: Relative Dating and Geological Time
LAB 7: RELATIVE DATING AND GEOLOGICAL TIME Lab Structure Synchronous lab work Yes – virtual office hours available Asynchronous lab work Yes Lab group meeting No Quiz None – Test 2 this week Recommended additional work None Required materials Pencil Learning Objectives After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you should be able to: • Apply basic geological principles to the determination of the relative ages of rocks. • Explain the difference between relative and absolute age-dating techniques. • Summarize the history of the geological time scale and the relationships between eons, eras, periods, and epochs. • Understand the importance and significance of unconformities. • Explain why an understanding of geological time is critical to both geologists and the general public. Key Terms • Eon • Original horizontality • Era • Cross-cutting • Period • Inclusions • Relative dating • Faunal succession • Absolute dating • Unconformity • Isotopic dating • Angular unconformity • Stratigraphy • Disconformity • Strata • Nonconformity • Superposition • Paraconformity Time is the dimension that sets geology apart from most other sciences. Geological time is vast, and Earth has changed enough over that time that some of the rock types that formed in the past could not form Lab 7: Relative Dating and Geological Time | 181 today. Furthermore, as we’ve discussed, even though most geological processes are very, very slow, the vast amount of time that has passed has allowed for the formation of extraordinary geological features, as shown in Figure 7.0.1. Figure 7.0.1: Arizona’s Grand Canyon is an icon for geological time; 1,450 million years are represented by this photo. -
GEOL 1104 Historical Geology
Administrative Master Syllabus Course Information Course Title Historical Geology Laboratory Course Prefix, Num. and Title GEOL 1104 Division Life Sciences Department Geology Course Type Academic WCJC Core Course Course Catalog Description This laboratory-based course accompanies GEOL 1304, Historical Geography. Laboratory activities will introduce methods used by scientists to interpret the history of life and major events in the physical development of Earth from rocks and fossils. Pre-Requisites Credit for or concurrent enrollment in GEOL1304 Co-Requisites Enter Co-Requisites Here. Semester Credit Hours Total Semester Credit Hours (SCH): Lecture Hours: 1:0:2 Lab/Other Hours Equated Pay Hours 1.2 Lab/Other Hours Breakdown: Lab Hours 2 Lab/Other Hours Breakdown: Clinical Hours Enter Clinical Hours Here. Lab/Other Hours Breakdown: Practicum Hours Enter Practicum Hours Here. Other Hours Breakdown List Total Lab/Other Hours Here. Approval Signatures Title Signature Date Prepared by: Department Head: Division Chair: Dean/VPI: Approved by CIR: Rev. January 2020 Additional Course Information Topical Outline: Each offering of this course must include the following topics (be sure to include information regarding lab, practicum, and clinical or other non-lecture instruction). 1. The Sedimentary Environment 2. Geochronology Part I: Relative Dating of Strata 3. Geochronology Part II: Absolute or Radiometric Dating of Strata 4. Fossils, Taxonomy, and the Species Concept 5. The Sponges: Early Multi-celled Animals 6. The Corals and their Relatives 7. The Bryozoans: “Lacy Animals” 8. The Brachiopods: Bivalved Lophophorates 9. The Bivalves: Clams, Oysters, and Relatives 10. The Gastropods: Snails, Slugs, and Relativesacticum, and clinical or other non-lecture instruction). -
The Importance of French Transformist Ideas for the Second Volume of Lyell’S Principles of Geology Pietro Corsi
The importance of french transformist ideas for the second volume of lyell’s principles of geology Pietro Corsi To cite this version: Pietro Corsi. The importance of french transformist ideas for the second volume of lyell’s principles of geology. 2004. halshs-00002894 HAL Id: halshs-00002894 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00002894 Preprint submitted on 20 Sep 2004 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. THE BRITISH JOURNAL FOR THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE Vol. II t No. 39 (1978) < 221 > THE IMPORTANCE OF FRENCH TRANSFORMIST IDEAS FOR THE SECOND VOLUME OF LYELL'S PRINCIPLES OF GEOLOGY PIETRO CORSI* RECENTLY there has been considerable revaluation of the development of natural sciences in the early nineteenth century, dealing among other things with the works and ideas of Charles Lyell. The task of interpreting Lyell in balanced terms is extremely complex because his activities covered many fields of research, and because his views have been unwarrantably distorted in order to make him the precursor of various modern scientific positions. Martin Rudwick in particular has contributed several papers relating to Lyell's Principles of geology, and has repeatedly stressed the need for a comprehensive evaluation of Lyell's scientific proposals, and of his position in the culture of his time. -
Ice-Core Dating of the Pleistocene/Holocene
[RADIOCARBON, VOL 28, No. 2A, 1986, P 284-291] ICE-CORE DATING OF THE PLEISTOCENE/HOLOCENE BOUNDARY APPLIED TO A CALIBRATION OF THE 14C TIME SCALE CLAUS U HAMMER, HENRIK B CLAUSEN Geophysical Isotope Laboratory, University of Copenhagen and HENRIK TAUBER National Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark ABSTRACT. Seasonal variations in 180 content, in acidity, and in dust content have been used to count annual layers in the Dye 3 deep ice core back to the Late Glacial. In this way the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary has been absolutely dated to 8770 BC with an estimated error limit of ± 150 years. If compared to the conventional 14C age of the same boundary a 0140 14C value of 4C = 53 ± 13%o is obtained. This value suggests that levels during the Late Glacial were not substantially higher than during the Postglacial. INTRODUCTION Ice-core dating is an independent method of absolute dating based on counting of individual annual layers in large ice sheets. The annual layers are marked by seasonal variations in 180, acid fallout, and dust (micro- particle) content (Hammer et al, 1978; Hammer, 1980). Other parameters also vary seasonally over the annual ice layers, but the large number of sam- ples needed for accurate dating limits the possible parameters to the three mentioned above. If accumulation rates on the central parts of polar ice sheets exceed 0.20m of ice per year, seasonal variations in 180 may be discerned back to ca 8000 BP. In deeper strata, ice layer thinning and diffusion of the isotopes tend to obliterate the seasonal 5 pattern.1 Seasonal variations in acid fallout and dust content can be traced further back in time as they are less affected by diffusion in ice. -
The Geohistorical Time Arrow: from Steno's Stratigraphic Principles To
JOURNAL OF GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION 62, 691–700 (2014) The Geohistorical Time Arrow: From Steno’s Stratigraphic Principles to Boltzmann’s Past Hypothesis Gadi Kravitz1,a ABSTRACT Geologists have always embraced the time arrow in order to reconstruct the past geology of Earth, thus turning geology into a historical science. The covert assumption regarding the direction of time from past to present appears in Nicolas Steno’s principles of stratigraphy. The intuitive–metaphysical nature of Steno’s assumption was based on a biblical narrative; therefore, he never attempted to justify it in any way. In this article, I intend to show that contrary to Steno’s principles, the theoretical status of modern geohistory is much better from a scientific point of view. The uniformity principle enables modern geohistory to establish the time arrow on the basis of the second law of thermodynamics, i.e., on a physical law, on the one hand, and on a historical law, on the other. In other words, we can say that modern actualism is based on the uniformity principle. This principle is essentially based on the principle of causality, which in turn obtains its justification from the second law of thermodynamics. I will argue that despite this advantage, the shadow that metaphysics has cast on geohistory has not disappeared completely, since the thermodynamic time arrow is based on a metaphysical assumption—Boltzmann’s past hypothesis. All professors engaged in geological education should know these philosophical–theoretical arguments and include them in the curriculum of studies dealing with the basic assumptions of geoscience in general and the uniformity principle and deep time in particular. -
Full-Text PDF (Final Published Version)
Pritchard, M. E., de Silva, S. L., Michelfelder, G., Zandt, G., McNutt, S. R., Gottsmann, J., West, M. E., Blundy, J., Christensen, D. H., Finnegan, N. J., Minaya, E., Sparks, R. S. J., Sunagua, M., Unsworth, M. J., Alvizuri, C., Comeau, M. J., del Potro, R., Díaz, D., Diez, M., ... Ward, K. M. (2018). Synthesis: PLUTONS: Investigating the relationship between pluton growth and volcanism in the Central Andes. Geosphere, 14(3), 954-982. https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01578.1 Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record License (if available): CC BY-NC Link to published version (if available): 10.1130/GES01578.1 Link to publication record in Explore Bristol Research PDF-document This is the final published version of the article (version of record). It first appeared online via Geo Science World at https://doi.org/10.1130/GES01578.1 . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher. University of Bristol - Explore Bristol Research General rights This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/red/research-policy/pure/user-guides/ebr-terms/ Research Paper THEMED ISSUE: PLUTONS: Investigating the Relationship between Pluton Growth and Volcanism in the Central Andes GEOSPHERE Synthesis: PLUTONS: Investigating the relationship between pluton growth and volcanism in the Central Andes GEOSPHERE; v. 14, no. 3 M.E. Pritchard1,2, S.L. de Silva3, G. Michelfelder4, G. Zandt5, S.R. McNutt6, J. Gottsmann2, M.E. West7, J. Blundy2, D.H. -
Geologic Timeline
SCIENCE IN THE PARK: GEOLOGY GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE ANALOGY PURPOSE: To show students the order of events and time periods in geologic time and the order of events and ages of the physiographic provinces in Virginia. BACKGROUND: Exact dates for events change as scientists explore geologic time. Dates vary from resource to resource and may not be the same as the dates that appear in your text book. Analogies for geologic time: a 24 hour clock or a yearly calendar. Have students or groups of students come up with their own original analogy. Before you assign this activity, you may want to try it, depending on the age of the student, level of the class, or time constraints, you may want to leave out the events that have a date of less than 1 million years. ! Review conversions in the metric system before you begin this activity ! References L.S. Fichter, 1991 (1997) http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/vageol/vahist/images/Vahistry.PDF http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html Wicander, Reed. Historical Geology. Fourth Edition. Toronto, Ontario: Brooks/Cole, 2004. Print. VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING ES.10 The student will investigate and understand that many aspects of the history and evolution of the Earth can be inferred by studying rocks and fossils. Key concepts include: relative and absolute dating; rocks and fossils from many different geologic periods and epochs are found in Virginia. Developed by C.P. Anderson Page 1 SCIENCE IN THE PARK: GEOLOGY Building a Geologic Time Scale Time: Materials Meter stick, 5 cm adding machine tape, pencil, colored pencils Procedure 1. -
Scientific Dating of Pleistocene Sites: Guidelines for Best Practice Contents
Consultation Draft Scientific Dating of Pleistocene Sites: Guidelines for Best Practice Contents Foreword............................................................................................................................. 3 PART 1 - OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 3 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3 The Quaternary stratigraphical framework ........................................................................ 4 Palaeogeography ........................................................................................................... 6 Fitting the archaeological record into this dynamic landscape .............................................. 6 Shorter-timescale division of the Late Pleistocene .............................................................. 7 2. Scientific Dating methods for the Pleistocene ................................................................. 8 Radiometric methods ..................................................................................................... 8 Trapped Charge Methods................................................................................................ 9 Other scientific dating methods ......................................................................................10 Relative dating methods ................................................................................................10 -
Mineralogy and Origin of the Titanium
MINERALOGY AND ORIGIN OF THE TITANIUM DEPOSIT AT PLUMA HIDALGO, OAXACA, MEXICO by EDWIN G. PAULSON S. B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1961) SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY May 18, 1962 Signature of At r . Depardnent of loggand Geophysics, May 18, 1962 Certified by Thesis Supervisor Ab Accepted by ...... Chairman, Departmental Committee on Graduate Students M Abstract Mineralogy and Origin of the Titanium Deposit at Pluma Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Mexico by Edwin G. Paulson "Submitted to the Department of Geology and Geophysics on May 18, 1962 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." The Pluma Hidalgo titanium deposits are located in the southern part of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, in an area noted for its rugged terrain, dense vegetation and high rainfall. Little is known of the general and structural geology of the region. The country rocks in the area are a series of gneisses containing quartz, feldspar, and ferromagnesians as the dominant minerals. These gneisses bear some resemblance to granulites as described in the literature. Titanium minerals, ilmenite and rutile, occur as disseminated crystals in the country rock, which seems to grade into more massive and large replacement bodies, in places controlled by faulting and fracturing. Propylitization is the main type of alteration. The mineralogy of the area is considered in some detail. It is remarkably similar to that found at the Nelson County, Virginia, titanium deposits. The main minerals are oligoclase - andesine antiperthite, oligoclase- andesine, microcline, quartz, augite, amphibole, chlorite, sericite, clinozoi- site, ilmenite, rutile, and apatite.