GEOG 1200 Module 5

The Solid Earth

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* Read Chapters 8 & 9
* Watch lecture & take notes
* Complete
- Weekly Lab
- Weekly Quiz
* Term Project Outline
- Due Oct 31
* Midterm Next Week
- 1 hour, 50 m/c
-Taken online (open for 1 week)
- Questions from textbook

Halfway Point!

63 slides 1
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Changing Earth
Geomorphology
• Study of the shape of the Earth’s features and they
change over time
• Uniformitarianism
• Geologic timescale

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The Changing Earth
The Timescale for Geologic Change
• Division of the 4.5 billion years since the Earth formed
• Eons
• Eras
• Periods

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The Changing Earth
The Timescale for Geologic Change
• Eons
•Priscoan
•Proterozoic

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Changing Earth
The Timescale for Geologic Change
• Eras
•Paleozoic
•Mesozoic
•Cenozoic

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The Changing Earth
The Timescale for Geologic Change
• Periods
• Ordovician
• Triassic
• Jurassic
• Quaternary

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The Changing Earth
The Timescale for Geologic Change
• Radiometric Dating
•Rate of radioactive decay of rock
elements to determine the age of rocks

7
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 Simple Half Life Example
Half-Life = amount of time for 50% of a known radioactive element to be
converted into a new (stable) element.

If you have 100 grams of a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 10 years:

a. How much of the isotope will you have left after 10 years?
Note 1 half-life (½) = 10 years
100 g ÷ 2 = 50 g
100g X ½ = 50 g
a. How much of the isotope will you have left after 20 years?
Note 20 years / 10 years = 2 half lives
100 g ÷ 2 ÷ 2 = 25 g
100 g x ½ x ½ = 25 g
b. How many half-lives will occur in 40 years?
Note 40 years / 10 years = 4 half lives
100 g ÷ 2 ÷ 2 ÷ 2 ÷ 2 = 6.25 g
100 x ½ x ½ x ½ x ½ = 6.25 g 8
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
 Simple Half Life Example
How do we calculate how old an element is using half
lives?

Half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years

Archeologist discover the remains of an ancient human.

The level of carbon -14 is about 25% (or ¼) of the
original amount. How long ago did this person die?

¼ = ½ x ½ = 2 half lives

2 x 5730 = 11,460 years ago 9

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Changing Earth
The Timescale for
Geologic Change
• History of the Earth since
its formation as spanning a
single 24-hour day
• Long time frame of
geologic history
• Relatively short period of
evolving life-forms

10
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Changing Earth
Forces of Geologic Change
•Endogenic = internal processes such as volcanic and
tectonic activity

• Exogenic = external processes

•Weathering by wind and water, and work at Earth’s
surface
•Removing and transporting matter through running
water, waves, glacial ice, and wind

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Changing Earth
Forces of Geologic Change
• Landforms = specific shapes of the Earth’s surface
• Landforms are categorized by:
• Freshly created
• Shaped by weathering, erosion, and mass wasting
• Initial landforms
• Sequential landforms

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Structure of the Earth
• Core = spherical central
mass of the Earth
composed largely of
iron; consists of an outer
liquid zone and an inner
solid zone
• Mantle = rock layer of
the Earth beneath the
crust and surrounding
the core, composed of
ultramafic igneous rock
of silicate minerals
• Asthenosphere

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Structure of the Earth
• Crust = outermost solid
layer of the Earth,
composed largely of
silicate minerals
• Moho discontinuity
• Oceanic crust: mafic
rocks
• Continental crust:
lower zone mafic
rock, upper zone
felsic
• Continental crust
thicker than oceanic
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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Structure of the Earth
• Lithosphere
• outer shell of rigid, brittle
rock, including the crust
and also the cooler,
upper part of the mantle.
• Moves over
asthenosphere
• Isostasy

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Structure of the Earth
• Lithospheric plates
• A segment of
lithosphere moving as
a unit, sliding on top of
the asthenosphere in
contact with adjacent
lithospheric plates
along plate
boundaries.

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
• Most abundant elements in
crust:
• Oxygen, silicon,
aluminum, iron, calcium,
sodium, potassium,
magnesium

• Minerals: naturally occurring

inorganic crystalline
chemical compounds

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Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
• Rocks:
• Usually composed of
two or more minerals

• Rock classes:
• Igneous
• Sedimentary
• Metamorphic

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
• Igneous Rocks
• Rock formed from the
cooling of magma
• Magma
• Rock in a mobile, high-
temperature molten state.

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
• Intrusive Igneous rock = rock
formed from magma that
solidifies below the Earth’s
surface
•Visible mineral crystals
• Extrusive igneous rock = rock
formed from magma that
cooled rapidly at the surface
or under the ocean
•Mineral crystals
microscopic
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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
• Silicate minerals in igneous
rocks are classified as:
• Felsic rock:
•Light-colored
•Less dense
• Mafic rock:
•Mafic minerals
•Dark-colored
•More dense
• Ultramafic rock:
•Heavy mafic minerals
•Very dense
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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
Sedimentary
Rock
• Rock formed
from the
accumulation of
sediment
• Strata

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
Three Major classes of
sediment
• Clastic = formed from
rock and mineral
fragments
• Chemically precipitated:
formed by chemical
precipitation from
seawater or salty inland
lakes
• Organic = formed from
organic material
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Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
Clastic Sediment

Sandstone, deposited in
layers

Conglomerate
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Shale
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Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
Chemically precipitated sediment

Chalk cliffs provide a record

of climate change
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Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
Organic Sediment
• Biomass (e.g., peat)
•Form of hydrocarbon
•Fossil Fuels
•Hydrocarbons can be
solid (coal), liquid
(petroleum), or a gas
(natural gas).

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
Metamorphic Rock = rock altered in physical or chemical
composition by heat, pressure, or other processes taking place
at a substantial depth below the surface

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Earth Materials and the Cycle of
Rock Change
The Cycle of Rock Change

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Topography of the Earth

Topography = Major surface features of Earth’s crust

Mapping the Earth’s Topography from Space

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Topography of the Earth
Alpine chains
•Narrow zones along the margins of lithospheric plates
•Grow from volcanism or tectonic activity

•Volcanism
• Cascade Range
•Tectonic Activity
• Himalayan range

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Topography of the Earth
Continental Shields
•Active mountain-making
belts
•Continental shields:
very old, low-lying
igneous and
metamorphic rocks
•Mountain roots:
remains of older
mountain belts, long,
narrow ridges

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Topography of the Earth
Continental Landforms

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Topography of the Earth
Continental Landforms

Widely spaced mountains Ice sheets

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Topography of the Earth
Continental Landforms

Plains Mountains

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Topography of the Earth
Continental Landforms

Depressions High plateaus

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Topography of the Earth
Continental Landforms

Hills and low plateaus

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Topography of the Earth
Relief Features of the
Ocean Basins
• Oceanic crust <60 million
years old; continental crust
>1 billion years old
• Ocean basins have:
• Midoceanic ridge

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Topography of the Earth
Undersea Topography

Two tectonic plates are Active continental margins:

spreading apart along deep offshore trenches,
the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. volcanic activity

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Topography of the Earth
Configuration of the Continents
•The Theory of continental drift
•Wegener’s Pangea

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© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Topography of the Earth
Seafloor Spreading

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Topography of the Earth
History of the
continents

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Plate Tectonics
Major and minor lithospheric plates of the globes
• Plate tectonics = The theory of tectonic activity, which deals
with lithospheric plates and their motions
• Movement of these plates is driven by heat from Earth’s core

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Plate Tectonics
Diverging boundaries
• A boundary where two
lithospheric plates move apart
• Mid-ocean ridge

© NG Image Collection
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© A.N. Strahler
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Plate Tectonics
Transform boundaries
• Plates slide past each other without colliding
• The Dead Sea Fault marks the transform boundary
between the African Plate on the west and the Arabian
Plate on the east.

Courtesy NASA Images © A.N. Strahler

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Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Plate Tectonics
Convergent boundaries
• Subduction zones = Descent of
the edge of a lithospheric plate A
under an adjoining plate and B
into the asthenosphere
• Oceanic trenches
• Mariana Trench
• Japan Trench responsible © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
for Great Tohoku earthquake
of 2012
• Andes mountains
45
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Plate Tectonics
B
Convergent boundaries C A D
• Subduction zones
• Associated with volcanoes
© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
and earthquakes

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

© NG Image Collection 46
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Plate Tectonics B A

Collision zones © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

• Continental plates collide

• Folds
• Orogeny is a mountain
C D
building process
• Himalayas
• Appalachian © Science Source/Photo Researchers © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

• Synclines
• Anticlines
• Overthrust faults
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Visualizing Physical Geography Courtesy NASA
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Plate Tectonics
Continental suture
• Two continents can converge to eliminate an ocean
between them
• A continental
suture permanently
unites the two plates,
so that there is no
further tectonic
activity along that
collision zone
• Appalachian and
Ural mountains
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© A.N. Strahler
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Tectonic Activity and Earthquakes
Faults and fault landforms
• Faults occur when a sharp break
associated with a slippage
of the crustal block on one
side of a tectonic plate with
respect to another
• Depth can be several kilometers
© A.N. Strahler
• Fault slippage varies (1 cm to 15 m)
• Four main types of faults
• Normal
• Strike-slip
• Reverse
• Overthrust
© A.N. Strahler
49
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Tectonic Activity and Earthquakes
Earthquakes
• Earthquakes = A trembling or
shaking of the ground
produced by movements along
a fault.
• Focus = Location where fault
slipped
• Epicenter = The location on the
Earth’s surface directly above
where a fault slipped to © John Wiley & Sons

produce an earthquake

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Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Tectonic Activity and Earthquakes
Earthquakes

• P-waves
• S-waves

• Epicenters are calculated by

triangulating the readings
from three different
© John Wiley & Sons seismometer reading
centers (A, B, and C), using
the difference in travel times
for P and S waves.

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Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Tectonic Activity and Earthquakes
Earthquakes

• Magnitude = the amount of

energy released by an
earthquake
• Richter scale

© NG Image Collection
© John Wiley & Sons
52
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Tectonic Activity and Earthquakes
Tectonic environments of earthquakes
• Pacific Ring of Fire

© John Wiley & Sons

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Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Volcanic Activity and Landforms
• Volcano = conical, circular
structure built by
accumulation of lava flows
and tephra (volcanic ash)
• Magma © Chris Johns/NG Image Collection

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 54

Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Volcanic Activity and Landforms
Volcanic activity

Many volcanoes are

located on subduction
boundaries or rift zones

© Emory Kristof/NG Image Collection

© A.N. Strahler
55
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Volcanic Activity and Landforms
Volcanic activity

•Hot spots = A center

of volcanic activity
thought to be located
over a rising mantle
plume.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
56
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Volcanic Activity and Landforms
Volcanic eruptions

•When lava is forced out of a volcano

violently, in the form of a volcanic
eruption, it is a severe hazard

© Kevin West/Getty Images

• Various impacts from

eruptions

• Mt. Pelée on the

island of Martinique in
1902

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 57

Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Volcanic Activity and Landforms
Volcanic eruptions

• Atmospheric impacts
from volcanic ash and
gases have been
shown to affect global
weather and surface
temperatures for
months or years after Data from NOAA
an event
• Mt. Tambora in 1815
was the year without a
summer
58
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Volcanic Activity and Landforms
Volcanic eruptions

• Types of Volcanoes
• shape, size, and
explosiveness depend
on the type of magma
© Chris Johns/NG Image Collection
• Magma comes from
two main types of
igneous rocks: felsic
and mafic
• Two most common
volcanoes:
• Stratovolcano
• Shield Visualizing Physical Geography
© Frans Lanting
59
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Volcanic Activity and Landforms
Volcanic eruptions

•Stratovolcano = volcano
constructed of multiple layers
of lava and tephra (volcanic
ash) © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

•Felsic lavas
•Rhyolite, andesite
•Thick, resistant to flow
•Builds steep slopes
around volcanic vents
•Tall, steep cone, with
crater

© Chris Johns/NG Image Collection 60

Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Volcanic Activity and Landforms
Volcanic eruptions

•Stratovolcano
• Most active
stratovolcanoes on
circum-Pacific
mountain belt © Kevin West/Getty Images

• Associated with
subduction zones
• Felsic lavas produce
explosive eruptions
• Caldera

©Randy Wells/Getty Images

61
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Volcanic Activity and Landforms
Volcanic eruptions

• Shield Volcano = low, often

large, dome-like
accumulation of basalt lava
flows emerging from long ,
radial fissures on flanks © Frans Lanting

• Mafic lava (basalt) is thin,

not viscous
• Holds little gas
• Usually quiet eruptions

62
© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.
Volcanic Activity and Landforms
Volcanic eruptions

Shield Volcanoes

•Lava travels long

distances, spreads out in
thin layers

•Shield volcanoes are

rounded domes, with
gentle slopes
© Frans Lanting

•End of Lecture
Midterm Review Posted Online
•Next: Fresh Water
63
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.