Geology 142 Deciphering Earth History Dr Bruce F

Geology 142 Deciphering Earth History Dr. Bruce F. Rueger bfrueger@colby. edu Phone: 859. 5806 Office: Mudd 214 Lab: Mudd 219 Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday: 9: 30 - 10: 30 Tuesday, Thursday: 9: 30 - 11: 00 Text: The Earth Through Time (8 th edition) Author: Harold L. Levin Lab Manual: Deciphering Earth History (4 th ed. ) Author: Gastaldo, Savrda, and Lewis

Course Format (What You Need to Know To Do Well) 1. Come to class (all the time). 2. Buy the textbook and the lab manual. 3. READ the textbook and the lab manual. (Preferably before you come to class) 4. Do the assignments in lecture and lab. 5. Go to lab. (the lab guy is really tough about this) 6. Study for the exams.

Lecture Part of the Course Consists of: Three meetings each week. Three written experiences (exams). Exams will be worth 600 points Written exercises and projects are worth 150 points. There will be some unannounced exercises. Lecture portion of the course is worth 750 points. Lecture is worth 75% of your course grade. I strongly recommend that you buy the book.

The Geology 142 Web Site http: //www. colby. edu/personal/b/bfrueger/

Laboratory Part of the Course Consists of: One laboratory session each week. Lab exercises are worth 150 points. Lab final is worth 100 points. Lab portion of the course is worth 250 points. Lab is worth 25% of your course grade. You DO need the laboratory manual. It would be beneficial to read the lab before lab Lab starts this week.

Field Trip to Acadia National Park Date to be determined

Things You Might Find Useful to Bring: 1. Some colored pencils or pens These will be useful for diagrams. 2. 5 x 7 index cards These will be used for questions or impromptu written exercises. 3. An interest in learning about the Earth.

IMPORTANT STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW (at least to start with today) You should be able to do simple conversion from English measurements to Metric using the following: 1 inch = 2. 54 centimeters 3. 3 feet = 1 meter 0. 62 miles = 1 kilometer 1. 1 quarts = 1 liter 1 pound = 0. 45 kilograms C (Celsius) = (5/9)( F-32) F (Fahrenheit) = C (9/5)+32

GEOLOGY Study of planet Earth Includes: materials (131/141) physical & chemical processes (131/141) history of Earth and life on it (142) Based on physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy and mathematics

TIME Age of the Earth?

Time is a critical ingredient to most geologic processes. Geologic time has an immense vastness. We have 4. 6 BILLION years to work with. (info comes from the moon and meteorites) To us a decade is a long time! Lots of events happen in this interval of time. How big is a billion? Consider 1, 000, 000 seconds equals 31. 71 YEARS!

GEOLOGIC TIME in PERSPECTIVE Appearance of first Hominids Demise of the Dinosaurs First Land Plants First Fish First Shelled Invertebrates First Appearance of Life Oldest Known Earth Rocks Age of the Earth 3 -4, 000 y. BP 65, 000 y. BP 483, 000 y. BP 505, 000 y. BP 570, 000 y. BP 3, 770, 000 y. BP 3, 960, 000 y. BP 4, 600, 000 y. BP

GEOLOGIC TIME in PERSPECTIVE Appearance of first Hominids Demise of the Dinosaurs First Land Plants First Fish First Shelled Invertebrates First Appearance of Life Oldest Known Earth Rocks Age of the Earth 4 mm 65 mm 483 mm 505 mm 570 mm 3, 770 mm 3, 960 mm 4, 600 mm

Founders of Historical Geology Can be traced back to classical Greece Nicolaus Steno (Neils Stensen) 1638 -1687 Originally a Danish physician An expert in anatomy (Public Dissections) Developed the fundamental principles of historical geology Physician to the de Medici family in Florence

Founders of Historical Geology Nicolaus Steno (Neils Stensen) In 1669, Steno wrote De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus Prodromus to a dissertation on Solids Naturally Enclosed in Solids only 78 pages long 1638 -1687

Founders of Historical Geology Superposition - The scientific law stating that in any unaltered sequence of rock strata, each stratum is younger than the one beneath it and older than the one above it, so that the youngest stratum will be at the top of the sequence and the oldest at the bottom.

Founders of Historical Geology Superposition, con’t. With tilted beds, we need to consider other sedimentary structures, like ripple marks, mudcracks, graded bedding, geopetal structures or cross-bedding to help determine up direction. Can also use vesicles in lava flows.

Founders of Historical Geology Principle of Original Horizontality - The scientific law stating that sediments settling out of a fluid (air and water) are deposited horizontally or nearly horizontally in layers that lie parallel or nearly parallel to the Earth’s surface.

Founders of Historical Geology Principle of Lateral Continuity - The scientific law stating that as originally deposited, strata extend in all directions until they terminate by thinning at the margins of the basin, end abruptly against some former barrier to deposition, or grade laterally into a different kind of sediment.

Founders of Historical Geology John Strachey 1671 -1743 Used superposition and original lateral continuity Determined the stratigraphic succession of coals in England Recognized what would later be termed unconformities Performed local-scale observations.

Founders of Historical Geology Giovanni Arduino 1714 -1795 Had a broader global view of sedimentary layers Developed the first classification of rocks and relative ages Primary Mountains crystalline rocks oldest rocks on Earth later became igneous/metamorph. Secondary Mountains Tertiary layered fossiliferous rocks later sedimentary rocks unconsolidated sediments lava flows

Founders of Historical Geology Johann Lehmann 1719 -1767 Georg Füchsel 1722 -1776 Came up with classification similar to that of Arduino Developed stratigraphic successions of rocks in Thuringia, and the Hartz and Ertz Mountains. Began to understand the events that lead to mountain building Lehmann

Founders of Historical Geology Peter Simon Pallas 1741 -1811 Improved geologic history of the mountains of Europe Developed the general geologic history of the Urals Observed changes in rock assemblages going from margins to the core of mountains. Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reiches 1771 -1776 Journey Through Several Provinces of the Russian Empire