Test 1 Chs 1-4 Flashcards
Components of the system:
- Physiochemical
- Inorganic physical and chemical processes shaping Earth - Biological
- Life and related processes.
These two are often interrelated, and difficult to discuss entirely separate from one another.
Often, physiochemical influences biological conditions and vice versa.
Life exists because
-Earth’s unique T due to distance from the sun.
-Earth’s mass is large enough to
retain water through gravitational attraction (oceans, lakes, rivers).
-Earth’s mass is small enough to not
attract many giant meteorites through gravitational attraction.
Actualism
physical and chemical principles observed today, have operated throughout Earth’s history.
-• James Hutton: Uniformitarianism = “the present is key to the past”.
• What’s the difference? Understanding change and rates of change.
Catastrophism
global floods caused by supernatural forces formed most of the rocks visible at Earth’s surface.
• Popular until the 19th century.
• Hutton proposed a different idea, later popularized by Charles Lyell who wrote a book titled Principles of Geology.
what Hutton & Lyell beleived:
- The Earth has been shaped and transformed by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.
- Operate on local or regional scales
- All occur at subtle rate of change (e.g., weathering)
- Earth has remained basically the same, with slight changes to its features over time
- But this isn’t entirely correct…..
• Lyell argued: no events unseen by humans have occurred
Special circumstances arise in which we cannot use actualism entirely, but do not violate the fundamental principle
• Rocks may form under conditions nonexistent today.
• Conditions responsible for formation of certain rocks
may exist, but at depths greater than those observable.
• Conditions may exist, but require geologic time.
Rock
interlocking or bonded grains of matter (minerals)
Mineral
naturally occurring, inorganic, solid element or compound with a particular chemical composition.
3 rock types:
igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic
igneous rock:
- Formed from cool magma/lava
- Intrustive/extrusive
- Felsic/mafic
Metamorphic rock:
• Formed from alteration of rock due to P, T, and/or differential
stress
• Foliated/non-foliated
sedimentary rock:
- Formed from lithification of physically or chemically weathered clasts, direct precipitation from solution, or biologically aided.
- Clastic/chemical/biochemical/organic
Bodies of rocks are classified into 3 formal units:
formation
members
and groups
formation:
discrete body of rock of a particular type that formed in a particular way. E.g., Kaibob Limestone
members (type of rock unit)
smaller rock units within some formations.
groups (type of rock unit):
formations united into larger units
Stratigraphy
study of stratified rocks and their relationships in space and time.
• Important because much of Earth’s history can be understood from the Stratigraphic Record.
Steno’s 3 principles for interpreting sedimentary rocks:
Superposition
original horizontality
lateral continuity
superpostion
oldest strata are at the bottom within an undisturbed sequence of strata
original horizontality
strata are closest to horizontal when they form (except a few, e.g., dunes)
lateral continuity
strataare deposited in a laterally continuous sequence, later broken by erosion or faulting
Two other important principles (non-sedimentary):
intrusive relationships
and principle of components
intrusive relationships
intrusive igneous rocks are always
younger than the rock they intrude.
principle of components
fragments within a body of rock are older than the body of rock (i.e., inclusions).
rock cycle
endless pathway of rocks of varying kinds transformed into rocks of other kinds
Fossils
remnants of ancient life (existing thousands to millions of years ago) useful for comparing the ages of bodies of sedimentary rock throughout the world.
• Fossils don’t survive high T and P – thus nearly exclusively occur in sedimentary rock.
• Fossils occur at a variety of scales, from microns to many meters.
What is the foundation of geology?
Actualism versus Catastrophism
• The same physical laws governed in the past as they do in the present, and some occurrences are plausible despite the absence of direct physical observations today (e.g., meteorite impact).
• Think: Actualism = uniformitarianism + catastrophism