EARTH – 4.

5 billion years ago

- 1/3 of the age of the universe

Nebula theory – it was formed at the same time as the other members of the solar system by accretion
from the solar

Geological events – volcanic eruptions, collision of plate boundaries, creation and destruction of
mountain ranges and seabeds

Iron and Sulphur – sank inside

Silicates and water – floated near earth’s surface (lighter materials)

200 years – the earth’s and ocean formed after the planet’s form action

Major parts of the earth – atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere

70.8% - planet covered w/ water

29.2 – land

Hydrosphere – included all the water found in the ocean, sea lakes, glaciers, groundwater and even
water vapor in the air

1.4 billion km3 – total volume of water on earth

1,300 km3 – oceans

35million km3 or 2.5% - freshwater

70% - freshwater (ANTARTIC, ARCTIC)

CRYOSPHERE – part of the earth’s hydrosphere

- Crucial element , key indicator for climate change

3.7km - average depth of an ocean

Challenger deep in the mariana trench – deepest point in the earth’s ocean with a depth of 10,994km

Geosphere – layer of earth that we are most knowledgeable of

- Planet’s interior structure, rocks, minerals, landforms, and the process that shape its surface

Raisin theory – earth is like a grape that contracted in a raisin due to the cooling process that occurs on
earth after the big bang about 13.77 billion years ago

Upward – mountains

Downward – ocean basins and depression

Clarence Edward Dutton – American seismologists and geologist

- Proposed the term “isostasy” in 1889

theory of isostasy – equilibrium exists

tekton – carpenter or builder

1 – 15 cm per year – mountain ranges

Plate tectonic theory – developed fom earlier hypotheses and data collected

Theatrum orbis terrarium – first word atlas

- Developed and published by Abraham orlelius

- May 20, 1570
- Similarity between the coastlines of Africa, Europe, America

Alfred Wegener – Austrian climatologist

- Proposed the continental drift theory

Origins of continents and oceans

- 1915
- Expanded his theory and presented evidences

Pangaea – all earth

Rodinia – 1,1100 million years ago

Laurasia and Gondwanaland – the smaller continents

Rodinia – Pangaea – Laurasia – Gondwanaland

Panthalassa – a vast ocean surrounding the Pangaea

Earth has 58 crustal plates

 PRIMARY PLATES
a. African
b. Eurasian
c. Indo – Australian
d. North American
e. Pacific
f. South American w/ Nazca
 SECONDARY
a. Arabian
b. Caribbean
c. Cocos
d. Indian
e. Juan de fuca
f. Philippine sea
g. Scotia
  7 MAJOR CONTINENTS
a. Asia
b. Africa
c. North America
d. South America
e. Antartica
f. Europe
g. Australia

Cratons – platforms are connected with basement rock

- Survive the cycles of merging and rifting

Oceanic - made of heavier basalt and gabbro rocks

- Younger than continental

- 200 y/o

TWO TYPES OF LITHOSPHERIC PLATES

a. Continental
- Solid ground water you stand
- Lighter than oceanic
- Lower density materials (granitic)
- Formed through volcanic eruption
- 4 billion years – basement rock (oldest foundation) – granite and volcanic rocks
- Does not subduct
- 10 – 70 km thick
b. Oceanic
- 7km thick
- Subduct

Asthenosphere – soft layer

Volcano – opens downward a reservoir of molten rocks called magma

1, 500 volcanoes

THREE STAGES OF A VOLCANO LIFE’S CYCLE

1. Invasion of magma
2. Building pressure
3. Eruption

95% - boundaries of tectonic plates

5% - mantel plumes and hotspots

John tuzo Wilson – Canadian geophysisct

- One of the founders of the theory of the plate tectonics

- Found the 3 linear chains of volcano

Hawaii emperor – seamount was the most famous : younger

William Jason morgan (1971)

- American geophysicist
- Developed wilson’s theory

Mantle plumes – areas or columns where heat or rocks rising

Hotspots – have experienced active volcanic activities for a long period of time

10 – 50 hotspots – Galapagos islands, Hawaii, Iceland, reunion, Yellowstone

Volcanism – processes and phenomena surficial discharge of molten rock

Convection – occurs when matter , such as magma , circulates w/in earth

Core – 4, 982 C

EARTHQUAKE

- A natural phenomenon that is characterized by a sudden , violent shifting of massive plates

- Form of wave energy that are transmitted through bedrock.

Hypocenter – the point within the earth along the geological faults where the earthquake is originated

Epicenter – the point on earth’s surface directly above the focus

Shallow focus – 0 – 70 km ; closer to the surface where rocks are stronger larger and more damaging

Deep focus – 70 – 700 km

Fault – crack across which the rocks have been offset first

- Micrometers to thousand of km

Magnitude – size of the earthquake

Aleutian arc – 650 km

PARTS OF FAULT

1. Fault plane – where the fault occurs ; sloping or vertical

2. Fault trace – line that may be visible or not
3. Hanging wall – block of crust above the fault
4. Footwall – block of crust below the fault
CLASSIFICATION

1. Normal fault – a fault in which the hanging wall moves down relative to the footwall of extensio
2. Reverse fault – also called thrust fault. A fault in which the hanging wall moves up relative to the
footwall as a result of compression
3. Strike – slip fault - a fault in which two blocks of crust slide past each other on the same plane

CLASSIFICATION OF SEISMIC WAVES

1. Surface waves – can only travel along the surface

a. Love waves – move transverse to the direction of the propagation but w/no vertical motion
b. Rayleigh waves – also called ground roll; cause rock particles to move upward
2. Body waves – waves that travel below the surface of earth
a. Primary waves – travel the fastest 4 – 8 km /s
b. Surface waves – can only travel through solid materials 2.5 – 4 km/s

TYPES OF EARTHQUAKE

1. Tectonic earthquake – most common type ; happens when the shifting of earth’s plates are
driven by the sudden release of energy w/in some limited region of rocks.
Elastic rebound theory - by the American geologist, harry fielding reid
- Occurs when strains in rock masses have accumulated to a point where the resulting stress
exceeded the strength of rocks

Asperities – the roughness or harshness along the faults

Fault barriers – the places where the rupture slows or stops

2. Volcanic earthquake
- Occurs in volcanic regions and can serve as an early warning of a volcanic eruptions
a. Volcano tectonic earthquakes – occur after a volcanic activity has taken place
b. Long period volcanic earthquake – occur after a volcanic eruption
c.
3. Collapse – caused by seismic waves produced from the explosion of rocks on the surface
- Small earthquakes located underground and in mines that are caused by the disintegration of the
roof of the mine or cavern or by massive landsliding
- Mine (rock) burst
-
4. Explosion earthquake – results from detonation of chemicals or nuclear devices
-occurs when enormous nuclear energy is released during underground nuclear explosions

Seismology – study of earthquakes

Robert mallet – irish civil engineer and scientist

- Studied earthquake motion by observing the effects of earthquakes and by measuring the velocity

Mercalli scale – Giuseppe Mercalli (1902) ; who experienced the eq estimate its intensity
Richter scale – Charles f. richter (1934) ; distance between the eq and seismograph

Circum – pacific belt – also called ROF

Foreshocks – small earthquakes that commonly precede a major earthquake

Tsunami - “big wave in the port”

- 100 km ; 5 minutes to an hour

Seiche – a large wave that moves up and down

Mountain ranges – succession of many closely spaced mountains covering a particular portion of earth

Pacific ring of fire / alpide belt

Circum – pacific seismic belt – a horseshoe shaped region in the pacific ocean

- Andes of south America, north American cordillera along pacific coast, Aleutian range , Kamchatka ,
japan, Taiwan, Philippines, papua new guinea, new Zealand

Alpide belt - a mountain range that is created by ongoing collision of plate tectonics

Orogeny -forces and events that lead to a large structural deformation of earth’s lithosphere

- “oros” – mountain , “genesis”- creation

Orogenesis – deformed rocks called orogens or orogenic belts are formed on the continental plate

Geomorphology – study of mountains

Gorge – a very steep valley between young mountains

STAGES OF MOUNTAIN RANGES

1. Accumulation of sediments
- Mountain belt are composed of igneous rocks and sediments
- Produced limestones , sandstones, holes that composes the continental
- Several km in the thickness
2. Orogenic period of rock deformation and crystal uplift
- Deformed by compressional forces from the collision of tectonic plates
a. Arc- continental – an island arc collides with the edge of a continental plate
b. Oceanic – continental – collision ocean and continental plates allows the accretion
c. Continental – continental – convergence occur where an ocean basin and continental plates
collide
3. Period of crustal uplift caused by isostatic rebound
- The final stage of orogenesis occurs at the end of the plate convergence
 1. Himalayas – highest mountain range in the world
- Also the youngest in the world
- Jurassic era, 80 million years ago
- “Himalaya” came from the Sanskrit language means the “ house of snow or the snowy range”
- Between Tibet and Nepal with a peak of 8, 848m in the above sea level
- Stretches along a 1,500 mile curve
- 200 miles wide range
- 1, 100ft (305m) elevation
- Hinduism and Buddhism
2. Andes – longest mountain range in the world
- 4, 500 miles distance (west coast of south america from cape horn to panama)
- 20,000ft (6,096) peak
3 sections
a. Central andes – Chilean and peruvian mountains
b. Southern andes – argentina and chile\
c. Northern andes – Columbia, Ecuador and venezuela
- Mesozoic tertiary – orogenic belt
3. The Appalachians – oldest mountain range in north America
- Stretched southwestward for about 1,500 miles from Quebec in Canada to central meuburn
- Ordovocian period ; 480 million years ago
- More than 40 peaks reach over 6,000 ft
4. The alps – largest mountain system in Europe
- Southeastern France and northern Italy
- 8, 000 ft peak ; ice and snow covered ; 15, 782 ft above sea level
- Alpine orogeny ; 300 million years ago
- Alpinism, mountaineering is believed to have originated in the alps
- Caused by the collision between the Eurasian and African plates
5. Rocky mountains – major ranges in western north American
- Jagged snow capped peaks
- Mexico , British Columbia, north alberta in Canada, usa
- 6,035 km length of ths range
- 80 to 55 million years ago ; laramide orogeny
6. The great dividing range – a mountain range that forms a watershed
- Eastern highlands ; Australia’s most substantial
- 3rd longest based range
- Stretches a 3,500 km from dawan island to western Victoria

SEAFLOOR SPREADING – created at mid ocean ridges, spreading in both direction from ridge system

- Played a crucial role in providing a conceptual base

- Harry hess, American geologist, professor and military office (1960)
Boundary – border between tectonic plates

a. Convergent boundary – destructive plate

- Occurs where 2 plates are pushing toward each other
- 100km wide, more than a thousand km long ,several kms deep.

Subduction zones – regions where a portion of the tectonic plates are dividing beneath other plates

- Wadatti – Benioff zone

- 100km

3 types of convergent boundary

1. Oceanic – oceanic – when 2 plates meet and one oceanic plate ; pushed underneath
- Outer swell , bulge in descending plate commonly develops where the plate bends to dive down
the mantle
- Forearc ridge, traps sedimentary deposits and is underlain by faulted and highly deformed
sedimentary and metamorphic rock
- Back arc, located behind the volcanic arc, a broad region of variable character that may be
compressed or extended
2. Oceanic continental – where an oceanic plate pushes into and moves underneath a c plate
3. Continental – continental – when 2 continents meet head on
- Too light to slide down into a trench

b. Divergent boundary – a zone where 2 lithospheric plates where apart from each other
- Constructive boundary
- Long rift zones, normal faults and basaltic volcanism

Mid oceanic ridge - a characteristic of an oceanic spreading center that is responsibe for ss

Arctic basin – center of atlantic , Indian ocean, across the south pacific

Mid atlantic ridge – rate of 2.5 cm per year (25km)

c. Transform fault boundary – a zone between 2 plates that slides horizontally past each other
- Neither creates nor destroys a crust
- Conservative boundary

Fracture zones – occur on seafloor (san andreas)

Faults -land

Triple junction – where 3 plate boundaries meet

3 ways

a. Ridge -ridge – connects 2 segments of a divergent plate boundary (deadsea)

b. Ridge – trench – connects a ridge and a trench (queen charlotte island fault)
c. Trench – trench – couple trenches at 2 different convergent plate bounsaries
RIDGE, TRENCH, TRANSFORM

50 tectonic plates with about 100 triple junctions

RRR – all 3 plates are moving apart

FFF – all transform

TTT – 3 plates pushing together

GEOMORPHOLOGY – scientific study of landform and the process that shape them

Topography – the current terrain features of region and the graphic representation

Landforms – natural physical features on the surface of the earth

Nii-jima – new island dubbed ; born undersea volcano

- November 21, 2013

- 13. 8 acres ; 20 – 25 yards

1. AEOLIAN LANDFORMS – chemichal and mechanical

- Greek god of the wind, aelous
a. Dunes – mounds or small hills made up of sand ; dome shaped, crescent, star, linear, parabolic
- 1 – 10 m high
b. Loess – predominantly silt- sized sediment formed by the accumulation of wind blown dust
- Yellowish or brownish, “ cat steps” ; 100km thickness
c. Mushroom rock – rock pedestal ; glacial action/ earthquakes
2. EROSIONAL LANDFORMS – weathering activities
a. Mesas – table mountains , elevated areas of land w/ a flat top and sides that steep cliffs
- Cap rock ( resistant rock) surrounded
b. Buttes – flat topped hills ,steep sides ; semi -arid desert
- Smaller amount of area than mesa
- “hillock” or small hill (French)
c. Canyons – gorge , deep ravine between cliffs carved from the river,wind, glacier
3. MOUNTAINOUS LANDFORMS – rise higher than the rest of their surroundings
- Slopes ,summit areas and local reliefs
a. Volcanoes – controlled by geological processes ; vent, opening top
b. Hills – elevated portions of land formed by geological activities such as faulting
- Grass, grazing lands
- Smaller than mountains ; 300m high
c. Valleys – or dales, low lying areas of land located between hills or mountains.
- V shaped, flowing water
- U shaped, glaciers
- Vales, dells , mountain coves, hollow, hanging valleys
4. GLACIAL LANDFORMS – action of the glaciers
- Alpine, high mountains ; continental , cold polar regions
5. FLUVIAL LANDFORMS - underwent sedimentation, erosion, disposition
- Glaciofluvial , interacted with glaciers of ice caps

wave refraction – wave crests in the bodies of water realign themselves as a decreasing depths.

a. Delta – low lying triangular area located at the mouth of rivers where it meets an ocean, sea,
estuary ; contains rich soil that has been washed away
- Alluvium, sediment that has accumulated due to the interaction of delta and bodies of water
b. Peninsula – byland, piece of land that projects into a body of water and is connected w/ isthmus
c. Meander – bend in a sinuous watercourse of a river
- Concave, inner bank ; convex, outer
d. Sea cliffs – high rocky coasts that plunge down to the edge of the sea
6. PLAINS – flat and broad land areas have no great changes in elevation
- Abyssal plains, deepest part of the ocean ; covers 50%
7. PLATEAUS – table lands or flat topped mountains, portions of land elevated thousand of feet
above their surroundings ; cover about 45% of earth’s land
- Tibetan plateau – “roof of the world”
- Low – farming ; high – livestock grazing

EXAMPLES

1. APPALACIANS – MT. MITCHELL IN NORTHEN CAROLINA

2. ALPS – MONT BLANC , FRANCE
3. ROCKY – MT. ELBERT, 4,401M
4. GREAT – AUSTRALIA
5. CONVERGENT – ANDES MOUNTAIN RANGE
6. DIVERGENT – MID ATLANTIC RIDGE
7. TRANSFORM – SAN ANDREAS FAULT IN CALIFORNIA
8. DUNES – SAND DUNE IN SOSSUSVLEI NAMIBIA
9. LOESS – REGION IN CHINA
10. MUSHROOM ROCK – KANSAS, USA
11. MESAS – GRAND MESA IN WESTERN COLORADO
12. BUTTES – ELEPHANT BUTTE
13. CANYON – GRAND CANYON IN NORTH ARIZONA
14. HILLS – BOHOL
15. GLACIAL – ALESTCH GLACIER
16. DELTA – GANGES DELTA
17. PENINSULA – ISTRIA PENINSULA IN CROTIA
18. MEANDER – IN RIO NEGRO ARGENTINA
19. SEACLIFFS – MOHER, IRELAND
20. PLATEAU – TIBETAN

RHEOLOGY – the study of the flow of matter primarily in the liquid state under conditions at which they
respond with plastic flow
 1. Lithosphere – the outer solid part of the planet including earth’s crust as well as the underlying
cool, dense , and rigid upper part of the upper mantle. ; extends about 70 -100 km
2. Asthenosphere – a highly viscous, hotter, and ductile region of the upper mantle
3. Crust – the outermost layer of the earth, thinnest layer. 5-10km thick
- The crust thickens up to 35km and reaches depths up to 60km under some mountain ranges
Elements of crush (weight) – 98.5% total
- Oxygen (46.6%)
- Silicon (27.7%)
- Aluminum (8.1%)
- Iron (5%)
- Calcium (3.6%)
- Sodium (2.8%)
- Potassium (2.6%)
- Magnesium (2.1%)
- Average temperature is 870C
- Mohorovicic discontinuity (MOHO) , separates the crust from the mantle ( Andrija ) , depth of 8km
beneath the ocean basins and 32km beneath the continental crust
4. Mantle – largest layer of the earth
- Composed of iron, calcium, aluminum, magnesium, silicon, and oxygen
- About 80% of the planet’s mass is concentrated on the mantle
- Average temperature is 3, 700 C
- Geothrmal gradient, increase of temperature
a. Upper mantle - highly viscous layer that lies between crust and the lower mantle
- 660km and consists of peridotite and dunite
b. Lower mantle – 2,200km
- Rocks are hot and soft
5. Core – the innermost layer , which is separated into the liquid outer core and the solid inner c
- Iron- nickel alloy
a. Outer core – 4% of the mantle crust mass ; ball of very hot metals ; iron, some nickel, 10% of
Sulphur and oxygen
b. Inner core – deepest region ; 5,000 – 6,000C ; even hgher at the sun’s temperature
- 1250km thickness ; 70% as wide as the moon ; 0.2 longitude per year faster than earth above

Dynamo effect – circulating current

Magnetic field is detected using a compass

South geomagnetic pole- where it exits

North – enter

12, 756km – planet’s equational diameter

Magnetic reversal has occurred 171 times in the last 71m years

1,100km pole moved ; 10 – 40 km much faster