1. Geology 142 Deciphering Earth History Dr. Bruce F. Rueger bfrueger@colby.edu Phone: 859.5806 Office: Mudd 214Lab: Mudd 219 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 Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday: 9:30 - 10:30 Tuesday, Thursday: 9:30 - 11:00

2. 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. Course Format (What You Need to Know To Do Well)

3. 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.

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

5. 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.

6. Field Trip to Acadia National Park Date to be determined

7. Things You Might Find Useful to Bring: 1. Some colored pencils or pens These will be useful for diagrams. 2. 5x7 index cards These will be used for questions or impromptu written exercises. 3. An interest in learning about the Earth.

8. 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

9. 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

11. TIME Age of the Earth?

14. 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 1,000,000,000 seconds. 1,000,000,000 seconds equals 31.71 YEARS!

15. GEOLOGIC TIME in PERSPECTIVE Appearance of first Hominids3-4,000,000 yBP Demise of the Dinosaurs65,000,000 yBP First Land Plants483,000,000 yBP First Fish505,000,000 yBP First Shelled Invertebrates570,000,000 yBP First Appearance of Life3,770,000,000 yBP Oldest Known Earth Rocks3,960,000,000 yBP Age of the Earth4,600,000,000 yBP

16. Appearance of first Hominids4 mm Demise of the Dinosaurs65 mm First Land Plants483 mm First Fish505 mm First Shelled Invertebrates570 mm First Appearance of Life3,770 mm Oldest Known Earth Rocks3,960 mm Age of the Earth4,600 mm GEOLOGIC TIME in PERSPECTIVE

17. 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

18. Nicolaus Steno (Neils Stensen)1638-1687 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 Founders of Historical Geology

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. Founders of Historical Geology John Strachey1671-1743 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.

24. Founders of Historical Geology Giovanni Arduino1714-1795 Had a broader global view of sedimentary layers Developed the first classification of rocks and relative ages Primary Mountainscrystalline rocks oldest rocks on Earth later became igneous/metamorph. Secondary Mountainslayered fossiliferous rocks later sedimentary rocks Tertiaryunconsolidated sediments lava flows

25. Founders of Historical Geology Johann Lehmann1719-1767 Georg Füchsel1722-1776 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

26. Founders of Historical Geology Peter Simon Pallas1741-1811 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