GEOLOGY

- geo = earth
- logos = discourse
- study/science of the Earth
- materials, processes, products
- history of the planet and its life forms since its origin
- study of the Earth and all other solid bodies in space
(astrology)
- its beginning is lost in antiquity
- modern geology was born in the 1788
- 1968 Unifying theory of Earth sciences (44 years old)
- Earth: 4.5 4.6 Billion years old
Major Branches
1. Historical
- history of the Earth and its life forms
- stratigraphy
- strata/strarum : layers/beds of rocks
- relationship, composition, fossil of rocks
- paleontology
- paleo=ancient
- history of life forms, ancient organisms
- micropaleontology
- the ff. are protists (one-celled):
- foraminifers
- skeleton: calcareous
(CaCO3 or calcium
carbonate)
- HCl
- radiolarians
- skeleton: siliceous
(SiO2)
- HF
- geochronology
- study of sequence/timing of events
2. Physical
- materials, processes and products
- crystals: Crystallography
- mineral: Mineralogy
- rocks: Petrology
- volcanoes: Volcanology
- land forms: Geomorphology
- structures: Structural Geology
- weather: Meteorology
- earthquake: Seismology
- Eclectic science
- ideas from other fields of science
- geology + physics = geophysics
- geology+ chemistry = geochemistry
- geology + biolody = paleontology
- powerful tool: geologic mapping
- color represents specific rocks with the same history
- topographic map: contour lines = equal elevation
- has demonstrated the immensity of time
- provided the background for organic evolution
- Charles Darwins theory of evolution
- boring and fascinating science (field-oriented)
Applications of Geology
1. Mitigation of natural disasters
- NDRMMC: gov. agency
2. Environmental impact assessment
- Foundation stability analysis
3. Preservation of natural resources
4. Utilization of water, energy, and other natural resources

5. Unraveling the history of life and of the Earth

Uniformitarianism
- the physical, chemical and biological features of the
Earth were produced by the same processes that are
acting today
- the physical, chemical, and biological laws that operate
today have also operated in the geologic past
- James Hutton
- Uniformity of Causes
- Father of Modern Geology
- Edinburgh physician, geologist, farmer, gentleman
- 1788, Theory of the Earth, Transaction of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh
- he said that the history of the planet is composed
of long and numerous cycles (geocycles)
- no beginning, no end
- proof: Siccar Point, Berwick shire, British
Geological Survey
- flat-lying beds, tilted beds
- middle: unconformity or surface of erosion or nondeposition
- outcrop: exposure
- sand, sandstone, sand
- The present is the key to the past.
- uniformity of processes but not of rate, time, and
place of occurrence
- the earth changes but only in accordance with
unchanging physical laws
Catastrophism
- earths history as a series of catastrophes
- each exterminated the existing life
- Baron Georges Cuvier
- 6 catastrophism
- Paris Basin
- outcrop with 6 catastrophes, separated by
unconformities
- 5 catastrophes, no one survived
Great Deluge (Noahs Ark): 6th deluge
NOT TRUE
other places: each layer with mixed species
EARTH
Big Bang
- this occurrence was not a conventional explosion but
rather an event
Nebular Hypothesis
- nebula: cloud of dust and gas
a. started to gravitationally collapse
b. contracted to a rotating disc heated by the conversion
of gravitational energy to thermal energy
c. cooling resulted into the rocky and metallic material to
condense into tiny solid particles
d. repeated collisions from dust-sized particles to
asteroid-sized bodies
e. accretion into planets
f. differentiate to create layers
- globules: small, dark, round nebulae
- gas to liquid to solid
3 layers:
1. Core
2. Mantle

3. Crust

Erastosthenes
- Greek mathematician, geographer, astronomer
- used geodesy
- applied math
- measurement of the Earth and other
large areas
- (distance between 2 points/angel
OBSERVATIONS:
1. Shadows at noon are shorter, shadows get shorter as the
time approaches noon, closer to the equator
2. A part of every well is in shadow during the summer solstice in
Alexandria, Egypt
3. However, there is no shadow in Syene at noon.
4. Alexandria is 925 km due North of Syene
ASSUMPTIONS:
1. The sun is so distant that its rays are virtually parallel.
2. A plabe passing through Syene and Alexandria at noon would
also pass through the center of the Earth
3. Plumb lines point directly to the center of the Earth
- plumb bob (for leveling)
4. The east and west walls of the well in Alexandria are NorthSouth planes.
5. The Earth is a sphere.
Polar circumference
= (distance from Syene to Alexandria)360/(angle of suns ray to
the vertical Alexandria)
= between 45,000 and 47,000 kms
- 14% bigger than actual: 40,008 kms
ERROR:
1. Syene is not in the North of Alexandria
2. Syene is not in the Tropic of Cancer
Earth
- oblate spheroid
- a degree latitude is bigger in Finland than in Peri
1976: International Union of Geogesy and Geophysics
Polar diameter
Equatorial diameter
Polar circumference
Equatorial circumference

12,713.54 kms
12,756.32 kms
40,008.00 kms
40,075.16 kms

ATMOSPHERE:
- gaseous envelope of the Earth
- 78% Nitrogen, 21% oxygen

original atmosphere was different

- Nebular hypothesis
- blown away by solar winds
- methane, ammonia, Hydrogen
second atmosphere
- frozen gases were trapped
no oxygen before
- water vapor
- photochemical dissocation
- chemical action of light
- H, O2
- early photosynthesis
- cyanobacteria, blue green algae

HYDROSPHERE:
- constant motion
- Global Ocean
- most prominent feature of the
hydrosphere, 70.8% of the Earth
- Glacier
- glacial ice
- land: 29.2%
BIOSPHERE:
- narrow zone extending from the photic zone to
the snowline in tropical and subtropical
mountain ranges
- photic zone: sunlit surfaces 200-300 m
below surface
- snowline: 6000 m above sea level
- main factors: temperature, pressure, chemistry
LITOSPHERE
- biggest
- Continents
- triangular
- N hemisphere
- flat
a. Basement complex or shield
- deformed rocks eroded down to sea
level
- Canadian Shield
b. Stable platform
- basement complex is covered with
veneer of sedimentary rocks
- platform in Nashville, Tennessee
c. Folded mountain belts
- applachian mountains
- less dense rocks
-