CHAPTER III

Stratigraphy, Geologic Time and Geologic Mapping

As the ball of fragments and dust that was to eventually become the earth grew, it
began to heat up - firstly from the heat of colliding particles - but more importantly from
the heat generated by radioactive decay (fission) of uranium, thorium, and potassium.

Within a few hundred million years the temperature probably rose to several thousand
degrees, hot enough to melt most things. This allowed the materials to be sorted out so
that the heavier substances sank towards the centre, and the lighter substances floated
towards the surface.

To begin with, much of the iron and magnesium would have combined with silicon and
oxygen to form heavy silicate minerals such as olivine: (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 and pyroxene
(Mg,Fe)SiO3. Most of the remaining iron (along with some nickel and sulphur) would
have migrated towards the centre - forming a very heavy metallic core.

Much of the aluminum, sodium and potassium would have combined with oxygen and
silicon to form minerals such as quartz (SiO2) and feldspar (NaAlSi3O8) that would
have floated towards the surface to form the crust. The original material that formed the
earth included some hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen, and these would have
been brought to the surface during volcanic eruptions as molecules such as water,
carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen gas. By around 4 billion years (b.y.) ago it is likely
that the earth had an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide and nitrogen along with lots of
water vapour.

There are numerous ways in which these amino acids and other similar molecules could
have been formed. For example, in 1953 it was shown by Stanley Millar that amino
acids could have formed as a result of the interaction between an electrical current -
such as lightning - and ammonia and water - as long as there was no oxygen. The early
atmosphere had no free oxygen. We know that because the minerals in very old rocks
show no signs of being oxidized.

Around 2.5 billion years ago, the substances that were available to be oxidized started
to get used up, and the oxygen level of the atmosphere began to increase. We can see
evidence of this oxygenation in the composition and appearance of the rocks that
formed starting about 2.2 billion years ago and continuing to the present day.

Gaia hypothesis explained of the original generation of an oxygenated atmosphere, the

storage and safe keeping of billions of tones of excess carbon in biologically produced
limestone rocks and coal and petroleum bearing rocks, and the gradual reduction of the
level of green house gases (such as CO2 and methane) in the atmosphere - so that a
comfortable temperature has been maintained in spite of the steady and continuous
warming of the sun.

Geological Time

Geology is a science, and like other sciences, such as chemistry, physics and biology,
we can use scientific reasoning to find out how things work. This includes careful field
observation and the use of both field and laboratory experiments to model natural
processes and test hypotheses. In geology, however, time is a critical factor. Most
geological processes are very slow, and many geological events take place over
thousands or millions of years.

Many such processes simply cannot be duplicated in a laboratory. As an example of a

slow geological process, imagine the formation of the Atlantic Ocean. The continents of
Africa and South America and Europe and North America started to split apart around
180 million years and they continue to spread apart. The Atlantic Ocean was formed by
a process that continues at a rate of around 2.5 cm per year.

Such a process would result in a 2- metre wide crack over a person’s lifetime, but over
180 million years produced an ocean that is up to 4500 km wide. It is necessary to have
an appreciation of the immensity of geological time to accept that this is a realistic
concept. The earth is approximately 4.57 billion years (b.y.) old - that is 4,570,000,000
years.

This is such an incredibly long time that it is virtually impossible to comprehend. One
way to help one understand this amount of time would be to imagine that we could
compress those 4.57 b.y. into one. Each month would then be equivalent to 383 million
years (m.y.), each day would be 12.5 m.y., each hour would be 500,000 years, and
each minute would be 8760 years.

On this compressed time scale, oceans and continents first appeared in early February,
the first very primitive life forms probably evolved by late February, the oldest rocks of
British Columbia were deposited in early summer, the oldest rocks of Vancouver Island
were deposited in early December, the uplift of the Rocky Mountains was completed by
Christmas, the dinosaurs died off on Boxing Day,

and the Pleistocene ice age began in the early evening of December, 31st. The most
recent glacial ice melted back from this part of British Columbia around 11:58 PM, and
the first people arrived in this area around 11:59 PM. The first Europeans arrived on this
coast about 250 years ago, which is equivalent to approximately 2 seconds before
midnight on this time scale.

The earth’s crust is at least 40 million centuries old. The rocks we tunnel in, even if
geologically young, would be typically many millions of years old. One cause of
miscommunication between geologists and engineers is that geologist tend to think in
terms of these long times when considering processes and effects whereas engineers
work with design lives of perhaps 100 years.

The San Andreas Fault may have caused a total offset of the crust of as much as
500km, but it did so over some 60 million years. The Grand Canyon was cut some 2km
deep by the Colorado River, but it did so over perhaps 30 million years.

The earth’s long history is divided into time units called eras and subdivided further into
periods and epochs.

Rocks have been created throughout geologic time. The rocks created during a
particular period.

Geologists have divided up time into four eons, namely: Hadean (Pre-Archean),
Archean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic. Most of the rocks exposed at surface are of
Phanerozoic age. There are exposed rocks of Proterozoic and Archean age and just
a few of Hadean age (see below).

• The oldest known rock in the world - ~ 4.0 billion years (b.y.) old – was the
Acasta Gneiss, situated at the eastern edge of Great Slave Lake. In 2008 some even
older rocks were discovered at a place called Nuvvuaglittuq on the eastern shore of
Hudson Bay. Pictured above, these rocks are estimated to be ~4.28 b.y. old making
them Hadean in age.

The Phanerozoic eon has been divided into three eras, namely Palaeozoic, Mesozoic
and Cenozoic. The eras have been divided into various periods. For example, the
Paleozoic includes the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous
(Mississippian and Pennsylvanian), and Permian. The Cambrian started at about 570
m.y. ago (around mid- November if all of time was compressed into one year) and the
Permian ended at about 250 m.y. (Approx. Dec. 11).

The Mesozoic includes the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. The Cretaceous
period ended about 66 m.y. ago (December 25th), which is about the time that the
sandstone, shale and coal exposed around Nanaimo were deposited. The Cenozoic
includes the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. The Quaternary period, which has lasted
for 2 m.y., is distinguished by the repeated advance and retreat of ice sheets in the
temperate regions on the earth4.

The initial division of time was based largely on evidence from fossils, and as such there
was no absolute time scale. Hundred years ago geologists had a reasonable concept of
the relative ages of the rocks that they studied, but they did not have a clear idea of
their actual ages in years. Fossils are used to provide relative dates of rock units. Rocks
without fossils (such as igneous rocks) cannot be dated in this way.

Another way of determining the relative age of rocks is to study their spatial
relationships. The principle of original horizontality states that sedimentary rocks were
laid down essentially horizontally. The principle of superposition holds that younger
sedimentary beds lie on top of older sedimentary beds. Unless the sequence of
sedimentary rocks has been turned completely overturned (which does happen), we
can assume that the upper layers are younger than the lower layers. Various types of
rocks can be intruded by younger igneous rocks, and this can be clearly understood the
cross-cutting relationships between the rock types about their relative ages. This is
known as the principle of cross-cutting relationships.

Another important geological principle is the principle of uniformitarianism, which

holds that geological processes which are currently happening – such as formation of
mountains, erosion, deposition of sediments, and volcanism – are essentially similar to
those which happened in the past, and which led to the formation of the old rocks that
we can observe. In other words: ―the present is the key to the past

During the last 50 years techniques have been developed to determine the absolute
age of rocks on the basis of radioactive decay of elements such as uranium, potassium,
strontium, carbon, and several others.

For example, the rare isotope of potassium 40K decays into the isotope of argon 40Ar. We
know that this decay takes place at a steady rate, a rate which has not changed over
geological time, and is the same throughout the solar system.

• The decay of 40K has a half-life of 1.3 b.y., which means that in a rock which is
1.3 b.y. old, half of the original 40K will have decayed into 40Ar. By accurately measuring
the proportions of these isotopes it is possible to estimate the age of a rock.

Isotopic dating can only be applied to igneous rocks (rocks formed from magma)
because they have been heated sufficiently to separate parent isotopes from daughter
isotopes. In the case of 40K - 40Ar, for example, an igneous rock will have no 40Ar at the
time of its formation, and hence any 40Ar found in it can be assumed to be derived from
the decay of 40K.

By combining isotopic age information with paleontological information and geological

relationship information it has been possible to attach absolute numbers to the
geological time scale, and also to determine the absolute ages of most rocks.
Geologic Maps

 Are a valuable resource for the engineering geologist;

 Also represents a complete picture of the age relations of the different
formations.

Preparation of a geologic map requires:

 The acquisition of data about the rocks on the surface where rocks outcrop;
 Projection or estimate of where the boundaries between different rock units
continue under forests and grasslands devoid of outcrops.

• Mappable Units
The purpose of geologic investigation is to determine the kind of rock at critical places
within a site. .for example – in the foundations of structures, at the locations of
excavations, and so forth..

• Geological Mapping

 is a multidisciplinary method that combines all geological disciplines such as:

 petrology,
 structure geology,
 geomorphology,
 paleontology,
 stratigraphy,
 sedimentology,
 etc.
To make a good geological map, a geologist must have good skill in geological mapping
and know well about how to read geological map.

Basic step of geological mapping consists of:

 observation and measurement in field,
 taking samples, and
 analyze samples in laboratory.

Geological mapping consists of two kind based on selection trajectory, they are:

1. Systematic mapping
2. Smart mapping

Systematic Mapping
 is done by mapping technically only, without considering geomorphology,
distribution of geomorphology and geological structure pattern.

 is used when variations of lithology are very complex, so observation of some

point isn’t enough to represent all lithologies and structures in the mapped area.

Illustration of systematic mapping

• The geologic map, above, is the product of systematic data collection, plotting
data on the topographic base map, identification of and drawing boundaries

Smart Mapping

 is done by considering the results of satellite image or topographical maps

analysis.
 is used for several reasons, such as
 mapping area is too large,
 a short time mapping and
 lithological variations are relatively homogeneous.
Therefore it is very important to know the purpose of geological mapping before doing
the mapping to desired area.

Key Points of Smart Mapping

 Smart mapper will start by looking at aerial photos to determine where the
available outcrop is and then make 2-3 traverses across strike to ground truth the photo
interpretation;
 Searching patterns will focus in on key areas of interest e.g. shear zones;
 Less time is spent in areas where the rocks are uniform and a lower density of
observations will serve;
 Most useful observations are the predictable geometrical relationships between
bedding, cleavage, lineaments and folds as well as movement indicators for brittle and
ductile shear zones.
Geological Mapping

 is a process of problem solving. It is known as the system of multiple

working hypotheses.
(It is armed with a number of ideas about the geology developed from looking at
published maps, literature, satellite image, aerial photographs, topographic map and/or
gravity map).
 Prediction / interpretation is done to an area and field observations is to prove the
results of the interpretation.
 is a scientific process' and corresponds to the classic scientific method:
theorizing, making predictions from the theories and designing experiments (field
observations or geochemistry analysis) to test the predictions.

Geologic mapping consists of three point stages, they are :

1. Pre-mapping stage
2. Mapping stage
3. Post-mapping stage

Pre-mapping stage
 is performed before collecting data in the field;
 is important because data is retrieved, and mapping depends on the results of
the pre-mapping analysis.
 is aimed to obtain early predictions about the area
 of a tentative interpretation of geological maps,
 tentative interpretation of geomorphological map,
 making trajectory plan, lineament analysis, and
 making a plan or schedule for geological mapping.

Analysis of images and topographic maps

The initial step that should be done is secondary data collection. This data will be the
basis for interpretation of pre-mapping.

• Required secondary data are: Topographic Map

• Satellite Images
• Regional Geological Map
• Land use Map
• Paper or Journal about Geological Research in Area that will be mapped
• Geological Maps of mapping area that have been made (if available)
•
Analysis process can start. Aim of analysis process:
To determine the following points:

 Landscape and Strike/dip of bedding;

 Distribution of rock units/Formation;
 Geological Structure pattern;
 Tentative maps

Mapping stage

1. What should be prepared?

• Mapping tools:

Geological field is about tools. What tools are appropriate to use in the field. Geologist
should know about the tools, it will be easier if we know the right tools that we need to
use in the field. The tools are:

• Geological hammer:

– Its use to take a sample of rocks or many physical data. There are two
kinds of hammer :
• Pick point (for crystalline rocks or hard-rocks)
• Chisel point (for sedimentary rocks or soft-rocks)

• Geological compass:
-Its used to measure the direction of strike-dip, slope and structural geology. There are
many types of compass, such as Brunton compass, Topochaix- Universal compass,
and many more. But we usually using Brunton compass.

• Geological loupe:

-It’s used to detail-observed the rocks. The rocks compose many macro until micro
minerals and materials. That’s why we need to use it.

• Hydro-chloric acid solution with 0.1 M:

If we work in carbonate fields, we need to use it to distinguish the carbonate rocks and
non-carbonate rocks. If there is carbonate, it will be fizzing. In Indonesia, absolutely
Java island, carbonate fields are abundant in Southern Mountain zone, Kendeng zone,
Rembang zone.

• GPS (Global Positioning System):

It is used to determine our location in the field. GPS working with coordinate system.
Coordinate systems are UTM (Universal Transvere Mercator) and Longitude-Latitude
system. We usually use UTM because it’s easier to check in the field.

• Sample bag:

We need it to save and keep our sample. It should be strong, water and tear resistant,
and big enough for our sample that has at least hand-specimen size.

• Fieldnotes:

It is used to write all of data and make a sketch. Keep the fieldnotes from water, fire,
and anything which will make your lose the data.

• Map:

The map can be topographic map or your tentative maps. It is used to make traverse for
our track, make a boundaries of lithology, and to write all of field data.

• Grain Comparator:

Its used to distinguish the grain size. Its very useful for sedimentary rocks. We can
knows the grain size more detail.

• Jacob Stick:

It’s used to measure the stratigraphic on the outcrop.

• Stationery:

To write and make the data collecting easier.

• Bags:

To collect samples and also bring all of the tools and stuffs for mapping, so it will be
easier to carrry anywhere.

• Stratigraphic Measurement Sheet:

To record the stratigraphic data based on our measurement at the field.

• Digital Camera:

To take a documentation in the field. Every sketch will be better if we take the
documentation of it, too. It’s used to knows the other non-geological data at the field.

2. Safety first:
Before we going to the field, mapping tools should be prepared, include safety
equipment. It is very important, cause it’s concern about safety. Many dangerous things
like reptiles or insect bites, the rebound of rock-particles while getting sampling, or
hitting by hammer, it has probability to happen. The standard suits to use are:

– Safety shoes
– Safety glasses
– A long-sleeves suit
– Gloves
– Raincoat and Jacket
– Mask/buff
– Cap/field cap
– Safety helmet (Important if we go down to hole or cave)
– First-aid medicine
– Knowledge about first-aid healing
– Knowledge about emergency contacts
3. Etiquette is important:
• As geologist, we should know and respect the local culture. We should know the
ethic codes as a scientist. Every civilization have different culture, you should obey the
culture and the rule of life. Begin for a simple things such as:

_Ask for permission to government and civil organization before we start to mapping.

– Do not littering
– Do not kill anything except time
– Do not make a violence's
– Respect all of local residents, examples if we meet with the residents, give
him/her a warm greetings and trying to speak about another topics.
– Do not take anything except something's you need, such as samples.
Take samples appropriately.
– Obey the local rules and respect the folk story. It is real, and don’t
underestimate.