Physical Geology Laboratory Tuesday Tom Burbine

Course Course Website: – Textbook: –Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology, 8 th Edition (2009) Busch You also will need a calculator that you will bring to class.

Virtual office hours You can IM me at tomburbine on AOL

Student: and who are u? lol Student: u gotta answer cuz i asked first both times tomburbine: why r u Iming me Student: cuz u added my sn for some reason so i wana know why tomburbine: sn? Student: screen name? Student: lol tomburbine: no I didnt Student: ok.. tomburbine: do u live in massachusetts? Student: do u? tomburbine: do u live in cambridge? Student: no tomburbine: is it snowing? Student: yea tomburbine: do u have a xnga? Student: no joke who the f**k are ya? Student: yes i do live in MA tomburbine: i never heard of u until u Imed me Student: then how the h**l did u know i lived in MA?

Student: and yes i do go to umass tomburbine: r u in astronomy 100 Student: how do u know all this? tomburbine: because I am the professor Student: OHHHHH OOOPS! tomburbine: i think u must have added me Student: omg lol tomburbine: and then forgot who I was Student: ya i did Student: sorry for all that tomburbine: my name is my screen name tomburbine: seem familar now Student: didnt mean to use language but it happened tomburbine: no problem tomburbine: funny Student: heh tomburbine: i actually dont know who u r Student: good thing we got an exta 2 days for the hw tomburbine: yes tomburbine: u can Im me anytime tomburbine: and Student: ill tell ya if u promiss not to fail me tomburbine: I cant add my name to ur aim tomburbine: only u can tomburbine: i am fine not knowing Student: ok Student: well i have to go ill cya on thursday. take care tomburbine: bye!

Plate Tectonics Plate Tectonics describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere

Continental Drift Hypothesis Alfred Wegener (1915) thought that all continents were part of a single supercontinent called Pangea

Pangea Pangea - One large supercontinent

Principles of Plate Tectonics 1. The surface of the Earth is composed of lithospheric plates that are in constant motion. 2.The plates move in response to plastic flow in the athenosphere. 3.Motion in the asthenosphere is caused by convection driven by the Earth’s internal heat. 4.The internal heat comes from radioactive decay and the latent heat from the Earth’s formation.

Plate Tectonics Earth has a thin rigid lithosphere that is underlain by a plastic asthenosphere Seafloor crust is created along mid-ocean ridges where magma upwells from the mantle Ocean basins are generally younger than continents Seaflloor spreads until it encounters a trench and descends back into the mantle

Rocks can deform and flow Easier for rock to deform and flow when it is warmer

Heating of Planet

Lithosphere Lithosphere is a planet’s outer layer of cool and relatively rigid rock Asthenosphere is the region in the upper mantle characterized by low-density, semiplastic (or partially molten) rock material chemically similar to the overlying lithosphere

Three Types of Plate Tectonic Boundaries Divergent – plates move apart, space is filled with molten magma Convergent – plates collide Transform – plates slide horizontally past each other

Divergent plate boundary

Convergent Plate Boundary

Transform Boundaries

Magma Magma – a mixture of molten rock, volatiles, and solids Lava is magma that erupts on the surface

Melting Point Melting point – temperature that crystals of a given mineral melt All minerals have different melting points Partial melting – part of a rock melts before another rock

Geothermal Gradient Increasing temperature with depth

Pressure Pressure is force per unit area Pressure increases as you go deeper in Earth because of the weight of the surrounding rock

Pressure Raising the confining pressure increases the melting point of the rock Lowering the confining pressure lowers the melting point of a rock

P-T (pressure-temperature) diagram

Hot Spots

Any Questions?