1. Geologic Time

2. Geologic time scale

3. How geologists explain Earth’s rock record
Neptunism: all rocks were precipitated from an ocean (1780’s)
Werner (p. 6)
In line with biblical flood
Appeared to agree with rock layering
Problems:
Where did the water go?
What about volcanoes?
Too simple!

4. How geologists explain Earth’s rock record
Catastrophism (1800’s)-Ch.1
All of Earth’s history resulted from sudden, widespread catastrophes
6 major catastrophes
Last catastrophe was the flood
Problem: need more than 6 events

5. How geologists explain Earth’s rock record
Uniformitarianism (1800’s)-in Ch. 1
James Hutton
Charles Lyell
Present is the key to the past
Processes occurring today have occurred throughout geologic history AT THE SAME RATES
Can’t explain all rocks found on earth
Rocks formed in conditions that no longer exist
Conditions still exist, but at great depth
Conditions exist, but not observable over human lifetime

6. Relative dating Establishing relative sequence of events
Based on uniformitarianism
Doesn’t put a specific age on event
This is what your homework is!

7. Applying Uniformitarianism to rocks
Horizontal sedimentary rocks
Which rock units are older?

8. Principle of superposition
With horizontal sed rocks, the oldest are on the bottom

9. Near vertical Sedimentary Rocks
Were these sed rocks deposited like this?

10. Priciple of lateral continuity
A water-laid layer of sediment, at the time it was formed, must continue laterally in all directions until it thins out as the result of non-deposition or until it abuts against the edge of the original basin of deposition.

11. Principle of original horizontality
Sediments are deposited nearly horizontal. If they aren’t today, they must have been moved or deformed

12. Faulted Rocks
Which is younger, rocks or fault?

13. Cross-cutting relationships
Which is younger, dark rock or lighter rock? (both are igneous)

14. Principle of cross-cutting relationships
An igneous intrusion or fault must be younger than the rocks it intrudes/displaces

15. Principle of inclusions
Fragment of rock contained in another unit of rock is older than rock that surrounds fragment

16. Principle of Inclusions

17. Which rock is oldest. How do you know?

18. Principal of Superposition

19. Original Horizontality

20. Principle of Original Horizontality

21. Principal of Cross-cutting relationships

22. Rock ID Quiz Wed. 30 Jan Look at your rock and answer the following
Describe your rock. Include the texture, color and composition of your rock. (4pts)
Is your rock igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic? (3pts)
What is the name of your rock? (3pts)
Bonus (2pts):
What is a mineral (you must have all characteristics to get the points)?

23. Stratified sedimentary rocks
Stratigraphy: study of layered rocks
Right: pyroclastics in Oregon so not only sed rx are layered

24. Bedding planes in sed rocks
Layers separated by surfaces called bedding planes

25. Relative dating and stratigraphy
Which is younger?

26. Disturbed (deformed) sed rocks
Which is younger? Which way is up?

27. Relative dating and stratigraphy
Which way is up?

28. Principles of relative dating
Assumes constant deposition of rocks
What if not constant?
What if rocks removed from record?
Unconformity: break in geologic time

29. Unconformities Missing time in the rock record Caused by…what? 3 kinds
Disconformity
Angular unconformity
Nonconformity
Relative dating and stratigraphy

30. Erosion and unconformities
How do unconformities occur?
Erosion
Occurs when rocks are above sea level…why is this??

31. Disconformity
Erosional surface is in between parallel beds

32. Disconformity
Description: A disconformity - unconformity, or gap in geologic time, caused by the process of erosion.

33. Angular unconformity
Tilted beds overlain by younger, horizontal beds

34. Angular unconformity
Titled beds overlain by younger horizontal beds

35. Nonconformity
Bedded rocks rest on an eroded surface of crystalline rocks (what are those types of rocks?)

36. Nonconformity
Description: An nonconformity. Crystalline granite in contact with Mesozoic sandstone, near Colorado Springs.T

37. Types of unconformities

38. Relative dating/unconformities

39. Sedimentary environments
How are different types of rock deposited at the SAME time?
Think of a modern day ocean environment…

40. Sedimentary environments

41. Sedimentary environments
Sea level rising, shoreline moves inland transgression
Sea level falling, shoreline moves off land regression
What can cause changes in sea level?

42. Sea level rising: transgression

43. Transgression

44. How to recognize a transgression

45. How to recognize a transgression

46. Sea level dropping: regression

47. Marine regression

48. How to recognize a marine regression

49. Applying stratigraphy and relative dating
Rocks from Saskatchewan Canada. What is sealevel doing? Introduce the concept of sea level fluctuating back and forth

50. Early attempts to date the Earth
St. Augustine of Hippo ( A.D )
Established idea of A.D. and B.C.

51. Archbishop Ussher in 1600’s
Counted geneologies in the bible back to Adam and Eve
Earth formed: October 22, 4004 B.C.

52. Buffon in 1700’s Assumed Earth started molten and cooled to today
He measure the cooling rate of melted balls of iron
Earth ~ 75,000 years old
Problems:
Assumes no new source of heat

53. Other techniques to estimate age:
Deposition rates of sediments
Ages range from less than 1 million to more than 2 billion
Problems:
Assumes constant rates of deposition
Doesn’t take erosion into account

54. Other techniques to estimate age:
Salt content in oceans
Age of earth ~ 90 million years
Problems:
Assumes oceans start as fresh water
Assumes all salt comes from rivers
Assumes no salt is removed from oceans

55. Lord Kelvin’s age of Earth (1866)
Returned to cooling Earth calculations
Earth was hot when first formed, cooling ever since
Earth looses heat through time
Age: 20 million to 40 million years old
Problem:
Too young to account for uniformitarian interpretation
Discovery of radioactivity defeated this idea

56. Where does this leave us?
Earth is old with slow processes
Earth is younger than 400 million with fast processes
Discovery of radioactivity changes things
Radioactivity
Decay of elements through time
Major heat source for Earth

57. Modern uniformitarianism
Less literal uniformitarianism
Processes are the same, rates change
Uniformitarianism and catastrophism combined
Occasional catastrophic events do happen
Earth is 4.6 billion years old

58. Help with relative dating exercise
Geologic time/relative dating
Picture with solution