Istiakur Rahman

Lecturer
Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering
Islamic University of Technology (IUT)
The History of the Earth
 Origin of the Universe
The universe began
about 14.4 billion years
ago
The Big Bang Theory
states that, in the
beginning, the universe
was all in one place
All of its matter and
energy were squished
into an infinitely small
point, a singularity
Then it exploded
 Origin of the Universe

The tremendous amount

of material blown out by
the explosion eventually
formed the stars and
galaxies
After about 10 billion
years, our solar system
began to form
 The Nebular Hypothesis
In cosmogony, the Nebular Hypothesis is the
currently accepted argument about how a Solar
System can form
 The Nebular Hypothesis
A large gas cloud (nebula) begins to condense
Most of the mass is in the center, there is turbulence
in the outer parts
 The Nebular Hypothesis

Small chunks grow

and collide,
eventually
becoming large
aggregates of gas
and solid chunks
 The Nebular Hypothesis
Gravitational attraction causes the mass of
gas and dust to slowly contract and it
begins to rotate
The dust and matter slowly falls towards
the center
Protostar
 The Sun
After sufficient mass and density was achieved
in the Sun, the temperature rose to one million °C,
resulting in thermonuclear fusion.
H atom + H atom = He atom + energy
Birth of the Solar System
 Protoplanets
Gravitational forces allow the inner planets to
accrue and compact solid matter (including light
and heavy atoms)
Solar radiation blew gases (primarily hydrogen,
helium) away from inner planets
These gases were collected and condensed into
the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune)
Beyond Neptune, ice and frozen gases form Pluto,
Sedna and the Kuiper Belt Objects
Left-over debris form comets and asteroids
Birth of the Solar System
Size of the Planets
 The Age of the Earth
Earth is ~ 4,570,000,000 years old
Meteorites give us access to debris left over
from the formation of the solar system
We can date meteorites using radioactive
isotopes and their decay products
Three major factors that caused heating and
melting in the early Earth’s interior:

1. Collisions
(Transfer of kinetic
energy into heat)
2. Compression
3. Radioactivity of
elements (e.g.
uranium,
potassium, or
thorium)
 About 100 million years after initial accretion,
temperatures at depths of 400 to 800 km below
the Earth’s surface reach the melting point of
iron

In a process called global

chemical differential, the
heavier elements, including the
melted iron, began to sink
down into the core of the Earth,
while the lighter elements such
as oxygen and silica floated up
towards the surface
Global Chemical Differentiation
This global chemical differential was completed by
about 4.3 billion years ago, and the Earth had
developed a inner and outer core, a mantle and crust
 Chemical Composition of Earth
Each of the major layers has a distinctive
chemical composition, with the crust being
quite different from the Earth as a whole

Whole Earth: Crust:

Fe+O+Si+Mg = 93% Si+O+Al = 82%
Chemical Composition of Earth
Lithosphere: strong, rocky outer shell of the solid
Earth including all the crust and the upper part of the
mantle to a depth of ~100 km (forms the plates)
Asthenosphere: weak, ductile layer of the mantle
beneath the lithosphere; deforms to accommodate
the motions of the overlying plates
Deep Mantle: mantle beneath the asthenosphere
(~400 to 2900 km in depth)
Outer core: liquid shell composed of mostly iron
Inner core: innermost sphere composed primarily of
solid iron
 A billion Year Old Earth
By 3.5 billion years ago, when the Earth was a billion
years old, it had a thick atmosphere composed of
CO2, methane, water vapor and other volcanic gases

By human standards
this early atmosphere
was very poisonous
It contained almost no
oxygen
Remember, today our
atmosphere is 21%
oxygen
 A billion Year Old Earth
By 3.5 billion years ago, the Earth also had
extensive oceans and seas of salt water, which
contained many dissolved elements, such as iron
 A billion Year Old Earth

But most important, by 3.5 billion years

ago, there was life on Earth
Structure of the Earth

The Earth is made up of 3 main

layers:
–Core
–Mantle
–Crust
Why the earth is a
dynamic planet?
 Plate tectonics theory helps us to explain why the
earth is dynamic.

Plate tectonic theory:

The Earths crust is divided into 12 major plates

which are moved in various directions. This plate
motion causes them to collide, pull apart, or scrape
against each other. Each type of interaction causes
a characteristic set of Earth structures or tectonic
features. The word, tectonic, refers to the
deformation of the crust as a consequence of plate
interaction.
Plates of lithosphere are moved around by the
underlying hot mantle convection cells
Plate Boundaries
• Plate boundaries are where plates meet
• Faults may form along these boundaries.
Faults are breaks in the Earth’s crust where
rocks have slipped past each other.
• There are 3 kinds of plate boundaries

 Transform
 Divergent
 Convergent
Transform Boundaries
• In a transform boundary, the crust is
neither created or destroyed
• At transform boundaries, two plates slip
past each other in opposite directions
Divergent Boundaries

• The place where two plates move apart

• This can cause a mid-ocean ridge (ocean) or a
rift valley (land)
• In plate tectonics, a divergent boundary is a linear
feature that exists between two tectonic plates that
are moving away from each other. These areas can
form in the middle of continents or on the ocean
floor.
• As the plates pull apart, hot molten material can rise
up this newly formed pathway to the surface -
causing volcanic activity.
• Where a divergent boundary forms on a continent it
is called a RIFT or CONTINENTAL RIFT, e.g. African
Rift Valley.
• Where a divergent boundary forms under the ocean
it is called an OCEAN RIDGE.
Spreading ridges:
As plates move apart new material is erupted to
fill the gap
Age of Oceanic Crust
• This map shows the age of the oceanic crust. The red
coloring shows the youngest ages, whilst the dark blue
shows the oldest ages (around 200 million years old)

• Question: Where are the Ocean Ridges located? I.e.

where are the divergent boundaries?
Answer: The divergent boundaries are where the
plates are pulling apart and new material is being
produced. Therefore the Ocean ridges are in the
middle of the red areas (the boundaries are in fact
shown on the map). We can see a progression of the
oceanic crust getting older away from the ocean
ridges (like a conveyer belt).
Iceland: An example of continental rifting
Iceland has a divergent plate boundary running
through its middle
Convergent Boundaries

• A convergent boundary is the place where 2

plates come together resulting in a collision that
can bring together.
 Oceanic crust and oceanic crust
 Oceanic and Continental
 Continental and continental
• Where these two plates collide the density of the
plates determines which will come out on top
(Oceanic crust is more dense than Continental
Crust)
Continent-Continent Collision

Forms mountains, e.g. European Alps,

Himalayas
When continental crust pushes against continental crust
both sides of the convergent boundary have the same
properties. Neither side of the boundary wants to sink
beneath the other side, and as a result the two plates
push against each other and the crust buckles and
cracks, pushing up (and down into the mantle) high
mountain ranges. For example, the European Alps and
Himalayas formed this way.
• India used to be an island, but about 15 million
years ago it crashed into Asia (see map).
Continent-Oceanic Crust Collision
Subduction:
• Subduction is a geological process that takes place
at convergent boundaries of tectonic plates where
one plate moves under another and is forced to sink
due to gravity into the mantle. Regions where this
process occurs are known as subduction zones.

• For earthquakes larger than a magnitude 7.5, this

can cause a tsunami, a giant sea wave, by suddenly
moving the seafloor. However, not all subduction
zone earthquakes will cause tsunamis
• At a convergent boundary where continental crust
pushes against oceanic crust, the oceanic crust
which is thinner and more dense than the
continental crust, sinks below the continental crust.
This is called a Subduction Zone.
• The oceanic crust descends into the mantle at a rate
of centimeters per year. This oceanic crust is called
the “Subducting Slab” (see diagram).
• When the subducting slab reaches a depth of around
100 kilometers, it dehydrates and releases water into
the overlying mantle wedge
• The addition of water into the mantle wedge
changes the melting point of the molten material
there forming new melt which rises up into the
overlying continental crust forming volcanoes.
The Andes mountain range along the western edge of
the South American continent is an example of a
mountain belt formed by subduction.
The continental crust of the South American plate has
buckled under the compressional strain of converging
with the Nasca and Antarctic plates. Additionally there
are many volcanoes, the result of melting of the
subducting slab and the production of new material
that has risen through the crust to the surface.
Ocean-Ocean Plate Collision

• When two oceanic plates collide, one runs over

the other which causes it to sink into the mantle
forming a subduction zone.
• The subducting plate is bent downward to form a
very deep depression in the ocean floor called a
trench.
• The worlds deepest parts of the ocean are found
along trenches.
E.g. The Mariana Trench is 11 km deep!
connection between earthquakes and plate tectonics

The black dots on this map of the world depict where

earthquake activity is occurring. The earthquakes are
NOT randomly distributed around the globe. Instead
they occur in linear patterns associated with plate
boundaries.
At the boundaries between plates, friction causes
them to stick together. When built up energy causes
them to break, earthquakes occur.
• We know there are three types of plate boundaries:
Divergent, Convergent and Transform.
• Movement and slipping along each of these types of boundaries
can form an earthquake.
• Depending on the type of movement, the earthquakes occur in
either a shallow or deep level in the crust.
• The majority of tectonic earthquakes originate at depths not
exceeding tens of kilometers.
• In subduction zones, where old and cold oceanic crust descends
beneath another tectonic plate, “Deep Focus Earthquakes” may
occur at much greater depths (up to seven hundred kilometers!).
• These earthquakes occur at a depth at which the subducted crust
should no longer be brittle, due to the high temperature and
pressure. A possible mechanism for the generation of deep focus
earthquakes is faulting.
• Earthquakes may also occur in volcanic regions and are caused
there both by tectonic faults and by the movement of magma (hot
molten rock) within the volcano. Such earthquakes can be an
early warning of volcanic eruptions.
Determination of age of crust:

d= Depth of crust (m)

t= age of the crust in Ma (Mega-Annum)

**The ocean depth at a distance of 1600 km from

the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is 4700 m.
(a) Calculate:
(i) the age of the crust at this location
(ii) the mean spreading rate represented by this
age.