Dynamic Earth

Class 3
17 January 2006
Any Questions?
 Radiometric Dating
 Key principle: Half Life = time required
for 1/2 of the nuclei in a sample to
decay
 Earth formed about 4.6 billion years
ago
 Youngest rocks

Oldest rocks

Principle of Superposition
Principle of Original Horizontality
Principle of Cross-cutting Relationships
 CORRELATION
 Process used to tie separated strata
together
 Based on matching physical features such
as
 Physical continuity - trace of rock unit
 Similar rock types - marker beds, coal
seams, rare minerals, odd color
 CORRELATION
 Within sedimentary layers there are
often the remains of small animals
(fossils)
 Fossils are quite useful for correlating
between two sections that are not
laterally continuous
 Paleontology
The study of life in the past based
on fossilized plants and animals.
Fossil: Evidence of past life
Fossils preserved in sedimentary
rocks are used to determine:
1) Relative age
2) Environment of deposition
 Ammonite Fossils Petrified Wood

Chip Clark Tom Bean

Using Fossils to Correlate
Rocks
 CORRELATION
 Fossils have evolved through time, so
when we find a fossil of the same type in
two different areas, we are pretty sure
that the rocks are about the same age
 CORRELATION
 This technique is not very useful in
Hawaii -- Why?
 Fossils helpful in sedimentary rocks,
but usually no fossils in volcanic rocks
 Radiometric
dates provide
absolute
ages to the
local
stratigraphy
Radiometric dating of lava flows provides
absolute dating of glacial events in Hawaii
Bracketing ages
 Magnetostratigraphy
 An alternate method for absolute age
dating that works well with volcanic
rocks
 Magnetostratigraphy
 Technique that works best in volcanic
rocks
 Time scale based on polarity reversal of
Earth's magnetic field
 Major problem is that Earth's magnetic
field has been constant for the past
700,000 yrs (no reversals), so this
doesn't work for very young rocks
Earth’s
Magnetic
Field
Magnetization of
Magnetite
 Lavas
record
magnetic
reversals
 Magnetic
reversals
over the past
20 million
years
 Magnetic time scale
 0-700,000 -- Normal
 700,000 - 2.5 my -- Reversed
 > 2.5 my -- Normal
 Ko`olau lavas mostly reversed in
polarity, so they must be older than
700,000 yrs, but younger than 2.5 my
 Lavas on Kaua`i and in Wai`anae
Range show normal polarity, so they
must be older than 2.5 my
 The Geologic time scale
 Divisions in the worldwide
stratigraphic column based on
variations in preserved fossils
 Built using a combination of
stratigraphic relationships, cross-
cutting relationships, and absolute
(isotopic) ages
The Geologic
Column
and
Time Scale
Hominoid fossils can
be dated using both
radiometric and
paleomagnetitic
techniques.
Generalize
d
Stratigraph
ic Section
of Rocks
Exposed in
the Grand
Canyon
 Some of the Geologic Units
Exposed in the Grand Canyon

Michael Collier
The first ~4 billion years of
Earth’s history was nearly
devoid of life – this time is
known as the Precambrian.
After the Precambrian, life began to
develop very rapidly.
The Paleozoic lasted for 300 my.
Dinosaurs dominated the Mesozoic,
which lasted for almost 200 my.
After the dinosaurs died out,
mammals began to dominate in the
Cenozoic.
These are the main subdivisions
that you should know.
 The geologic
timescale
and absolute ages
Isotopic dating of intebedded
volcanic rocks allows
assignment of an absolute
age for fossil transitions
Bracketing ages
 The geologic
timescale
and absolute ages
Isotopic dating of intebedded
volcanic rocks allows
assignment of an absolute
age for fossil transitions
 What are these
subdivisions based on?
 Boundaries are marked by mass extinctions
 Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (death of the
dinosaurs): 65 million years
 Permian-Triassic boundary (the biggest
mass extinction of them all): 250 million
years
 Start of the Cambrian (first hard animal
parts--nice fossils): 550 million years
The Geologic
Column
and
Time Scale
How do we know
when it started?

What is the age of

the Earth?
Many methods have been used to
determine the age of the Earth
1) Bible: In 1664, Archbishop Usher
of Dublin used chronology of the
Book of Genesis to calculate that
the world began on Oct. 26, 4004
B.C.

2) Salt in the Ocean: (ca. 1899)

Assuming the oceans began as
fresh water, the rate at which
rivers are transporting salts to the
oceans would lead to present
Many methods have been used to
determine the age of the Earth
3) Sediment Thickness: Assuming the
rate of deposition is the same today
as in the past, the thickest
sedimentary sequences (e.g., Grand
Canyon) would have been deposited
in ~ 100 m.y.

4) Kelvin’s Calculation: (1870): Lord

Kelvin calculated that the present
geothermal gradient of ~30°C/km
would result in an initially molten
 Flawed assumptions
• Bible is not a science text or
history book
• Salt is precipitated in
sedimentary formations
• Both erosion and non-deposition
are major parts of the
sedimentary record
• Radioactivity provides another
 The heat inside the Earth
The discovery of radioactivity at
the turn of the century by
Bequerel, Curie, and Rutherford
not only provided the source of
the heat to override Kelvin’s
calculations but provided the
basis for all later quantitative
estimates of the ages of rocks.
 Oldest rocks on Earth
Slave Province, Northern Canada
 Zircons in a metamorphosed granite
dated at 3.96 Ga by the U-Pb
method
Yilgarn block, Western Australia
 Detrital zircons in a sandstone
dated at 4.10 Ga by U-Pb method.
Several other regions dated at 3.8 Ga
by various methods including
Minnesota, Wyoming, Greenland,
South Africa, and Antarctica.
 Age of the Earth
Although the oldest rocks found on
Earth are 3.96 Ga (or even 4.1),
we believe that the age of the
Earth is approximately 4.6 Ga.
All rocks of the age 4.6 to 4.0 Ga
have been destroyed (the rock
cycle) or are presently covered
by younger rocks.
 Three types of rocks
Igneous

Sedimentary

Metamorphic

Igneous rocks make up most of the earth

sedimentary rocks make up most of the
surface.
 Major Rock Groups
IGNEOUS SEDIMENTARY METAMORPHIC
High Relief of Andes
Low Relief of Western Australia
 The
Rock
Cycle
 Age of the Earth
Although the oldest rocks found on
Earth are 3.96 Ga (or even 4.1),
we believe that the age of the
Earth is approximately 4.6 Ga.
All rocks of the age 4.6 to 4.0 Ga
have been destroyed (the rock
cycle) or are presently covered
by younger rocks.
 Age of the Earth
This is based on the age of rocks
brought back from the Moon (4.4
Ga), and meteorites (4.6 Ga), that
are thought to be good
representatives of the early solar
system as well as more
complicated geochemical
modeling. This data suggests
that the present chemical
composition of the crust must
 The big assumption

The half-lives of radioactive

isotopes are the same as
they were billions of years
ago.
 Test of the
assumption
Meteorites and Moon rocks
(that are thought to have had a
very simple history since they
formed), have been dated by up
to 10 independent isotopic
systems all of which have given
the same answer. However,
 Age of the Earth
 We have not found a way to determine the
exact age of the Earth directly from Earth rocks
 Earth's oldest rocks have been recycled and
destroyed (rock cycle)
 We have been able to determine the probable
age of the Solar System and to calculate an
age for the Earth
 Assume the Earth and the rest of the solid
bodies in the Solar System formed at the same
time and are, therefore, of the same age
 Age of the Earth
 Oldest rocks have been dated by a number of
radiometric dating methods and the consistency
of the results give scientists confidence that the
ages are correct to within a few percent
 Interestingly, these rocks are not from any sort
of "primordial crust" but are lava flows and
sediments deposited in shallow water
 Indicates that Earth history began well before these
rocks were deposited
 Age of the Earth
 Moon rocks returned to Earth on the Apollo
missions are generally 4.4-4.5 billion years old
 No rock cycle on the Moon
 Minimum age of our nearest planetary neighbor
 More than 70 meteorites of many different types
date 4.53 to 4.59 billion years old
 Primitive objects provide best ages the formation of
the Solar System
 So, the best age for the Earth comes not from
dating individual rocks but by considering the
Earth and meteorites as part of the same
evolving system
Any Questions?
 Thursday
 Homework #1 is due – check web
page
 First video: Dating the Earth
 Big Island Field Trip
 Need deposit of $50 on February 17th