Precambrian
Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic
Phanerozoic:
Paleozoic: Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian,
Pennsylvanian, and Permian.
Mesozoic: Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous.
Cenozoic:
Paleogene and Neogene
Quaternary
4560Ma age of the Earth
4000Ma Archean
2500Ma Proterozoic
541Ma Paleozoic
252Ma Mesozoic
66Ma Cenozoic
Rock: igneous
- magma – inside Earth, and lava – outside the Earth.
- Classified by crystal size:
- Felsic/ intermediate/ Mafic – silicate
- felsic ( granite and rhyolite) lighter, Intermediate (diorite and andesite)
light and dark, Mafic (gabbro, basalt) dark.
Sedimentary
- classified by texture
-- Clasts – Big fragments in rock
- matrix – little things inside big things in rock
- cement- the glue
- texture types
-- Gravel- conglomerate and breccia
-- Sand- sandstone
-- Silt- silt stone
-- Clay- shale
- Chem/biochem
-- evaporites- evaporation of water (gypsum)
-- Carbonates- chem processes and biochem processes
--Siliceous rocks- chem processes (silica replacing limestone) or biochemical
processes (silica-secreting organisms) Chert Nodules
Metamorphic
- high temp, pressure, chem active fluids= change
Foliated and Non-foliated
-- contact and regional metamorphism
- contact: lava or magma heats nearby rocks
- regional: affecting rocks over an extensive area as a result of the large-
scale action of heat and pressure.
Sed Structures
Sorting- well and poor
- (quiet water = low energy) and (rushing water = high energy)
Grabbed bedding- Corser at the bottom and finer at the top, currents seed up
and slow down.
- Inverse is rare
- cross bedding:
Ripple marks:
- Symmetrical- ripple marks are produced by oscillating currents/waves
- asymmetric- uneven currents
Mud cracks:
A polygonal pattern of cracks formed from water evaporating from the clay.
Underground, it makes V-shapes. It is used as a scour mark to tell which way
is up.
Scour marks examples- cross beds, graded beds, tracks, burrows, and mud
cracks.
Facies definition: characteristic aspects of a rock or rock sequence from
which
an environment of deposition can be inferred.
Sea level changes
A sea level rise is called a transgression.
A transgression produces a fining-upward (deepening-upward)
sequence of facies.
Finer-grained (deeper water) facies overlie coarser-grained
(shallower water) facies.
Sometimes called an onlap sequence.
Regressions
A sea level drop is called a regression.
A regression produces a coarsening upward (shallowing-
upward) sequence of facies.
Coarser-grained (shallower water) facies overlie finer-
grained (deeper water) facies.
This is sometimes called an offlap sequence
-Causes (building of Ice caps, glacier formation, land uplift)
Fossils
- index fossils- fossils used in relative dating.
- Unaltered: amber fossils, tar, freezing, mummification, bones, and teeth
- altered: permineralization (Filling of tiny pores with minerals),
recrystallization (aragonite alters to calcite), carbonation (soft tissues
preserved as a thin carbon film), mold (impressions), and cast (filling in),
replacements (molecule-by-molecule substitution of one mineral for
another).
Fossilization: buried quickly, avoiding bacterial decay, reworking, and
dissolution.
Steno’s Laws:
1. Law of superposition - in a vertical succession of strata, the oldest layer
will be on the bottom and the youngest on top.
2. Principle of original horizontality- sedimentary layers are originally
deposited as horizontal layers.
3. Principle of lateral continuity- sedimentary layers tend to form as laterally
continuous sheets.
4. Principle of cross-cutting relationships- if a geologic feature cuts across
another, it must be younger.
5. Principle of inclusions- a rock that contains fragments of another rock must
be younger than the rock from which the fragments (inclusions) came.
Time Units
Define specific intervals of time
Basic time unit is the Period- based on time ONLY
Periods may be split or lumped:
Age- Epoch- Period- Era- Eon
-these can be subdivided using: early- middle- late
Unconformities- depositional hiatus or erosion
Angular – Marked by an erosion surface that separates tilted strata from
younger units.
Nonconformity- marked by an erosion surface that separates older
igneous or metamorphic rocks from younger sedimentary rocks.
Disconformity- marked by a surface of non-deposition or erosion that
occurs between parallel older and younger beds
Seismicity
P waves- Move through solids and liquids.
S waves- solids only.
The shadow zone is an area where waves don’t pass, either because they
lack the ability or because they are not traveling in that direction. This zone
helps us see exactly where the Earth's core is located.
The S waves also show us that the core has a liquid outer core.
Earths Structure
- Crust:
-- Continental crust- Heterogeneous mixture of rocks that approximates the
composition of granite. Ca. 2.7 g/cm^3. (light) thickness 35 km
-- Oceanic Crust- relatively homogeneous rock of basaltic composition ca. 3.0
g/cm^3. (heavy) thickness 9 km
- Mantle- 2885 km thick, average density = 4.5 g/cm^3, a solid that flows
like plastic, several concentric layers with differing properties. (Ultramafic)
- Core- Outer Liquid- iron and nickel, Inner solid- combination produces a
magnetic field.
Evidence:
Seismic studies
Magnetism- core composed of moving conductors
Heat flow: from radioactive decay/ friction/tidal forces/ primordial heat. Heat
convects/conducts from the center out driving tectonic activity.
Ocean Physiography:
Shelf- the edge of the continent.
Slope- the steep incline area between the shelf and deep ocean floor.
Rise- Significantly lower slopes comprise the rises.
Abyssal Plain- Flat, underwater plain. Depths between 3,000 and 6,000
meters. Covers more than 50% of Earth's surface.
Mid-Oceanic Ridge- 80,000 km long underwater mountain range responsible
for oceanic crust production.
Passive Continental Margin- transition between oceanic and continental crust
occurs without significant tectonic activity.
Active Margin- This is the opposite of a passive margin.
Plate Tectonics:
Earth consists of several lithospheric plates (crust and uppermost mantle)-
Brittle behavior- Underlain by part of the upper mantle- asthenosphere-
plastic.
Oceanic plates= basaltic and young (< 160 Ma)
Continental plates = granitic and may be old (>3,800 Ma)
1. Continental Drift- Alfred Wegener (1912)- continents move around on the
surface of Earth.
Evidence- coastline fits/rock climate indicators such as
tillites/coals/corals/dunes. Shared fossils are another form of evidence (e.g.
Mesosaurus/ Glossopteris)/ rock types, and mountain ranges as well.
Pangea/ supercontinent
2. Sea- Floor Spreading- Hess/Vine and Matthew (1960)
New seafloor is produced at mid-oceanic ridges and consumed at subduction
zones (trenches). Evidence- magnetic polarity strips: mirror image across
MOR.
- Ocean crust gets older away from the MOR
- Ocean sediments thicken away from the MOR
- age gets older away from MOR
- transform faults decrease further you go away
Plate interactions:
Collision-
Oceanic-Oceanic Collision: Two oceanic crusts collide one will be subducted.
A trench and arc will form in a broad convex shape- facing towards the over-
riding plate.
Shallow intermediate, and deep focus earthquakes, island arcs, and trenches
like the Mariana trench.
The older crust will subduct.
Ocean-continent collision: an oceanic plate (basaltic) will always subduct
under a continental plate (granitic) because its denser.
Tranches will form along the margin of the continent.
Andesitic volcanism will form an arc or mountain ranges as a result of
melting of subducting slab.
Continent-Continent Collision-
As two continents approach each other the intervening sea-floor is
subducted
-causing arc type volcanism.
At collision, subduction ceases -oceanic slab breaks off and continues to
sink and continents weld to each other along a suture.
Thrust belts, ophiolites and large scale metamorphism may occur.
Mountain Belt forms.
Continental crust may thicken to up to 70 km thick. e.g. Himalayas
This mountain building activity is called orogenesis.
Crustal shortening in 100-1000 km range possible.
Blueschist (High Pressure/ Low Temperature) metamorphic facies
Transform Boundaries:
Plates moving past each other (shear stress)
Trans form faults link/offset mid-ocean ridges and convergent boundaries
Shallow focus earthquakes but little deformation.
Divergent: continental rift and mid-ocean ridge
Aseismic Ridges- from as seamounts by volcanism on transform/hotspots
Hotspots- come from a plume of upwelling mantle rock. Lava works its way
up from the plume erupting as a volcano.
Plumes are chambers of magma in the underground.
Plate Motion Indicators:
Relative: continental fits: sea floor magnetic anomalies, transforms
Absolute: hot spot reference frame/satellite observations
Driving Mechanisms:
Mantle convection (whole mantle/partial/cells)
Slab Push (off MOR)/
Slab Pull (from trench/subduction zone)