Human and Geologic Time
● Human time: geological processes that can occur within a human time span, approx. 100
years
○ Examples: avalanches, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis occurring, earthquakes,
landslides/mudslides
● Geologic time: geological processes that take hundreds, thousands, millions, or more
years
○ Pangaea separating and drifting apart, canyons forming, Mid-Atlantic ridge
forming, trenches forming, mountain ranges forming, fossilization, subduction,
building stress at a plate boundary
Constructive and Destructive Forces
● Constructive force: a force that creates, builds or adds on to the Earth
○ Examples: seafloor spreading/mid ocean ridge, convergent boundaries making
mountains, when magma rises from a volcano and cools and makes new land
● Destructive force: a force that destroys, or takes away part of the Earth
○ Examples: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions can burn stuff and
therefore destroy them
● Most mountains are formed by internal or subsurface activities. (volcanic, folded, fault
block, dome)
● Eroded mountains/plateaus are formed by the surface activities of wind or water erosion.
Types of Mountains
● Volcanic
○ Formed by quiet lava flow or an explosion
○ Example: Mauna Loa
● Fold
○ Formed by collision of two lithospheric plates
○ Examples: the Alps, Himalayas, Urals, Rockies, and the Appalachian mountain
ranges
● Fault Block
○ Formed when pressure causes the Earth’s crust to break apart along faults,
resulting in some blocks rising and some dropping down, making steep sided
mountains
○ Example: Sierra Nevadas
● Dome
○ Formed when magma from the mantle pushes the layers of rock on top of the
mantle, making a dome-shaped mountain
○ Example: Black Hills (South Dakota)
● Eroded
○ Formed when streams/rivers erode valleys through plateaus
○ Examples: The Catskills, Pikes Peak
Volcanoes
● An opening in the Earth’s crust through which lava, ash, and gases erupt.
● Parts of a volcano:
○ Magma chamber, main vent, secondary vent, crater, secondary cone
● Types of volcanoes:
○ Composite/stratovolcano, made from thicker, more viscous lava
○ Shield volcano, made from thinner, runny lava
● How/where they form:
○ When magma rises to the Earth’s surface and erupts, and then cools and
solidifies to form volcano landforms.
○ They form where an oceanic plate sinks under either another oceanic plate or a
continental plate.
Tsunamis
● Definition: A catastrophic wave created by an underwater earthquake, an underwater
volcano (volcanic activity), or a mudslide [Tsunami is “harbor wave” in Japanese]
● They can change the face of the Earth very quickly
● We use satellites to track them
Earthquakes
● A sudden and violent shaking of the ground, sometimes causing great destruction, as a
result of movement in the Earth’s crust or volcanic activity. (also human activity
sometimes) [can change the face of the Earth quickly]
● Parts
○ Fault, epicenter, focus/hypocenter
○ Tectonic plate(s), seismic waves?
● What causes them
○ Sudden release of energy from the Earth’s crust
■ Usually happens at transform boundaries: friction between the two plates
builds up stress, and when the plates release, the stored energy releases
causing the ground to shake
● How they’re measured
○ Measured in magnitude, seismic waves recorded by seismographs
○ Different earthquakes have different strengths
● Can you predict them?
○ No, they cannot be effectively predicted by scientists or seismologists
● How to keep safe
○ Engineers need to make earthquake resistant structures
○ Stay under a table when indoors, be aware of aftershocks