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WEATHERING
 Process by which rock and minerals break down at or near the earth’s surface.
 Advantages: produces soil (minerals and elements)
 Disadvantages: destroys structures we build
 Physical/Mechanical Weathering
 The breakdown of rock into smaller pieces without a chemical change in the rock.
1. Frost action- water freezes and expands in rocks’ small cracks, breaking them
apart.
2. Exfoliation- rocks expand and crack due to the unloading or fluctuations in
temperature.
3. Abrasion- rocks grind against each other.
Agents that move
rock:
 Plants and animals are also important agents of physical  Wind
weathering. (Biological)  Liquid water
 Expanding seeds and growing roots push  Solid water
outward with tremendous force  Gravity
 Soil burrowing creatures abrade small rock
Particles earth worms are especially important
4. Root Action-plant roots uplift and fracture rock

 Chemical Weathering
 The breakdown of rock due to a chemical change inthe rock.
1. Hydration - occurs when water combines with minerals – most often in granite (mica
and feldspars) to form CLAY

2. Carbonation
 Example 1 Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide mixes with water and produces Carbonic Acid (a weak acid).

CO2+ H2O → H2CO3

Carbonic acid will slowly dissolve rocks and minerals.

 Example 2 Limestone
Limestone is a hard rock that is weathered byweak acids.

H2O + CO2 → Carbonic acid H2CO3

This is how most caves are formed.

o Water containing carbonic acid dissolves minerals (all rain wateris slightly acidic)
o Most strongly affected are calcite minerals:limestone and marble.
o Stalagmites and stalactites
o Sink Holes
- causes: changes in groundwater levels or a sudden increase in surface water.
- typically occurs when acidic rainwater seeps down through the surface soil and
sediment until it reaches a soluble bedrock like salt, limestone or sandstone.
3. Man-made Acids - Nitric and sulfuric acids: produced by industrial processes and
cause the chemical weathering of buildings, statues, headstones and other structures
4. Oxidation - Oxygen is added to other elements rusting of magnetite into hematite
-OXIDATION OCCURS when free oxygen combines chemically with
metallic elements(usually iron)
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 CHEMICAL WEATHERING RATES

o CLIMATE
 Chemicalreactions occurfaster at higher
temperatures and often require water(H2O)

o ROCK TYPE
 Some minerals are resistant to chemical weathering
 Ex. Quartz- that’s why most beach sand is made of quartz
 Some minerals are easily weathered chemically

The End Products of Weathering

- CALLED SEDIMENTS OR SOIL: a combination of sediment, rock minerals,
and humus (organic material)

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER MAGMA FORMATION

 Igneous rocks-originate beneath earth’s surface in the molten state called magma.
 Magma- hot molten rock containing chemical elements from uppermost mantle called
the asthenosphere.
- contains dissolved gases such as water, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and
possibly few crystals.

 Magma is formed in the mantle where the subducted

oceanic plate is located.
 Temperatures and pressures in this area are extremely high
to cause water to sweat into the mantle.
 The addition of water into the hot mantle rocks causes rock
to melt and form magma.
 This magma begins to rise because it is less dense
compared to its surroundings.

Fig. 1. Two processes as magma rises up: (1) erupted out to the surface through volcanoes (2) solidifies within the lower levels.

 At deeper levels in the surrounding mantle rock, magma rises and passes through mineral
grain borders and cracks.
 Magma may no longer rise because its density is almost the same as that of its surroundings.
 When the magma solidifies at an area, it forms different types of plutonic bodies.
 Crystals start to form as magma continues to cool.

 VISCOSITY
 the extent of a fluid’s resistance to flow. Magmas with low viscosity flow faster than
those with high viscosity.
 Temperature, silica content and volatile content affect the viscosity of magma.

Different Factors that Affects Magma’s Viscosity

Facto Effect to Viscosity
r
↑ temperature ↓ viscosity
↑ Silica content (SiO2) ↑ viscosity
↑ dissolved water (H2O) ↓ viscosity

 Norman L. Bowen
 explained why certain minerals occur together while others are almost never linked with
one another.
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 early 1900s, Bowen heated powdered rock material until it melted. He cooled down the
molten material and observed the minerals that formed in the rocks. He repeated this
process with gradually lower temperatures and the results led him to the now called
Bowen’s reaction series.
 Based on his works, one can conclude from the minerals present in a rock the
conditions (temperature and pressure) under which the rock had formed.

Summary:

 Bowen's Reaction Series describes the temperature

at which minerals crystallize when cooled, or melt
when heated. The low end of the temperature scale
where all minerals crystallize into solid rock is
approximately 700°C (158°F).
 Bowen's Reaction Series describes the
temperatures at which different common silicate
minerals change from the liquid to solid phase (or
from the solid to liquid). In general terms, the faster
the rate of cooling (common to extrusive,
volcanic rocks), the smaller the resulting mineral
grains.
 Significance: crystallization of igneous rocks
expressed in the form of Bowen's reaction series;
early high-temperature crystals will tend to react with
the liquid to form other minerals at lower

 Magmatic differentiation is the process of generating one or more subordinate magmas from
single parent magma.
 Crystal Fractionation is a chemical process by which the structure of a liquid, such as
magma, changes due to crystallization.
 Different processes of crystal fractionation:

- Crystal settling happens when heavier minerals crystallize first and settle down
while the less dense minerals crystallize at the final stages. Bowen’s reaction
series shows that heavier minerals such as olivine and Calcium-rich
plagioclases are created first, leaving the magma more silicic.

- Partial Melting as described in Bowen’s reaction series, quartz and muscovite

are mostly formed under low temperature conditions, making them the first to
melt from the parent rock once exposed in higher temperature and/or pressure.
Partial melting of an ultramafic rock in the mantle forms basaltic magma.

 When solids made up of mixed materials start to melt, the materials with the lowest
melting point melt first – giving a partial melt. Materials with the highest melting points
often don’t melt but settle through the partially molten material to the bottom. The material
that flows to the top cools and solidifies; it contains only of the lower melting point
material.

 Magma mixing happens when two different magma rises up, with the more buoyant
mass overtakes the slower rising body. Convective flow then mixes the two magmas,
producing a single, and intermediate (between the two parent magmas) magma.

 Assimilation or contamination of magma by crustal rocks is a reaction that occurs when

the crust is mixed up with the rising magma. When magma rises to the surface, the
surrounding rocks may dissolve (due to the heat) and eventually get mixed with the
magma. This scenario produces change in the chemical composition of the magma
unless the material being added is the same as the magma.
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1. Define viscosity.
- Viscosity refers to a fluid's resistance to flowing. As the lava cools on the surface,
its viscosity increases and the flow slows down.

2. Identify three major factors that control the viscosity of the magma.
- Temperature, silica content and volatile content affect the viscosity of magma.

3. Describe how viscosity affects the movement of magma.

- High viscosity lavas flow slowly and typically cover small areas. In contrast, low viscosity
magmas flow more rapidly and form lava flows that cover thousands of square
kilometres.
4. How does magma composition change during crystallization?
- The crystal is denser than the surrounding magma and it begins to settle. By settling
the crystals are being removed from the magma, causing the chemical composition of
system to change. As more and more olivine crystals settle, the magma has less and
less magnesium oxide and more and more silica.
5. What is Bowen’s reaction series?
- Bowen's Reaction Series shows the sequence in which minerals crystallize from a
cooling mafic magma if the crystals are removed during the cooling process. It
demonstrates that it is possible to derive intermediate and silica magmas from a basaltic
parent magma.

DATING AND GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE

It is estimated that the Earth formed along with the solar system 4.6 billion years ago (4,600 million
years ago)

Geologic time scale

 A summary of the major events in earth’s history

Eon- largest segment of geologic time

Era
Period
Epoch- smallest segment of geologic time
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FINDING THE AGE OF ROCKS WITH RELATIVE TIME

Law of superposition
 In undisturbed sedimentary rocks, the oldest rock layers are
at the bottom and the youngest are at the top

Law of included fragments

 If fragments of one type of rock are found in
another rock layer, the rock fragments must be
older than the rock layer in which they are found
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Faulted and folded layers

 Layers of rock that have been faulted or
folded must have been present before the
actions of faulting or folding took place

RADIOACTIVE DATING
 Used to date far back in time. Certain rocks contain radioactive isotopes

Radioactive isotopes
 Are atoms of elements that give off radiation from
their nuclei

Radioactive decay
 Is the process by which a radioactive isotope
changes into a new stable element

Radiocarbon dating
 uses the radioactive isotope carbon-14 found in all living things
 because carbon-14 is continually absorbed by food and water it stays constant in living things.
 when the living thing dies the percentage of carbon-14 decreases at the rate of its half-life
 can be used to date back about 100,000 years

Uranium lead method

 useful to date rocks older than 10 million years.
 can be used only on igneous rocks that contain the right kind of uranium

Rubidium-strontium method
 can also be used to date older rocks because of its long half-life
 it is also very commonly found in igneous rocks

Potassium-argon method
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 is very useful since potassium-40 can be found in metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous
rocks
 can date older rocks but may also date rocks as young as 50,000 years

The Proterozoic:

 No life possible as the Earth initially forms

4.6 billion years ago.  
 Simple, single-celled forms of life appear 3.8 billion
years ago, becoming more complex and successful
over the next 3 billion years: Prokaryotes then
Eukaryotes
  Cyanobacteria begins producing free
oxygen (photosynthesis)
  Land masses gather to make up a continent
called “Rodinia”

Cambrian:
 Explosion of life
 All existing phyla come into being at this time
 Life forms in warm seas as oxygen levels
rise enough to support life
 Dominant animals:  Marine invertebrates
(trilobites and brachiopods)
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 Supercontinent Gondwana forms near the

South Pole (note position of present-day Florida)

Ordivician:
 The 1st animals with bones appear, though
dominant animals are still trilobites, brachiopods
and corals
 The beginning of the construction of South Carolina
 A very cold time in Earth’s history:  there was a great
extinction due to ice caps in present-day Africa
 Four main continents:  Gondwana, Baltica,
Siberia and Laurentia

Silurian:
 First land plants appear and land animals follow
 Laurentia collides with Baltica and closes
Iapetus Sea.  
 Coral reefs expand and land plants begin to
colonize barren land.
 First millipede fossils and sea scorpions (Euryptides)
found in this period

Devonian (Age of the Fish):

 Pre-Pangea forms.  Dominant animal: fish
 Oceans still freshwater and fish migrate from
southern hemisphere to North America.  
 Present-day Arctic Canada was at the equator and
hardwoods began to grow.
 Amphibians, evergreens and ferns appear
 The Acadian Orogeny, leading to S.C. metamorphism

Carboniferous:
Mississippian:
 First seed plants appear
 Much of North America is covered by shallow seas
and sea life flourishes (bryoza, brachipods, blastoids)

Pennsylvanian:
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 Modern North America begins to form  

 Ice covers the southern hemisphere and coal
swamps formed along equator.  
 Lizards and winged insects first appear.

Permian:
 Last period of the Paleozoic
 Pangea forms.  Reptiles spread across
continents.
 The Appalachians rise
  90% of Earth’s species become extinct due to
volcanism in Siberia.  This marks the end of
trilobites, ammonoids, blastoids, and most fish.

Triassic:
  First dinosaurs appear
  First mammals- small rodents appear
  Life and fauna re-diversify
  Rocky Mountains form.  
  First turtle fossil from this period
 Pangea breaks apart

Jurassic:
   Pangea still breaking apart
   Dinosaurs flourish “Golden age of dinosaurs”
   First birds appear
   North America continues to rotate away
from Africa

Cretaceous:
   T-Rex develops
   First snakes and primates appear
   Deciduous trees and grasses common
   First flowering plants
   Mass extinction marks the end of the Mesozoic Era,
with the demise of dinoaurs and 25% of all marine life.
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Tertiary:
   First horses appear and tropical plants dominate
(Paleocene)
   Grasses spread and whales, rhinos, elephants
and other large mammals develop.  Sea level rises
and limestone deposits form in S.C. (Eocene)
   Dogs, cats, and apes appear (Oligocene)
   Horses, mastadons, camels, and tigers
roam free in S.C. (Miocene)
   Hominids develop and the Grand Canyon forms (Pliocene)

Quaternary:
   Modern humans develop and ice
sheets are predominant- Ice age (Pleistocene)
   Holocene Humans flourish (Holocene)

Fossils: Remains of Ancient Plants and Animals, Evidence of Life 

Commonly preserved:
Hard Parts of Organisms:
 Bones 
 Shells 
 Hard Parts of Insects 
 Woody Material 

Rarely preserved:
Soft or Easily Decayed Parts of Organisms:
 Internal Organs 
 Skin 
 Hair 
 Feathers

Types of fossils
 Original Material (Preserved)
 Casts & Molds 
 Replacement (Petrified Wood) 
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 Carbonized Films (Leaves) 

 Footprints, Tracks, Etc. 
 “Trace Fossils” – Our only preserved record of behavior of fossil organisms
 Amber-preserved fossils are organisms that become trapped in tree resin that hardens after
the tree is buried.

Where fossils occur

Almost Exclusively in Sedimentary Rocks
 Heat of Melting or Metamorphism Would Destroy Almost Every Type of Fossil 
 Rare Exceptions: 
o Some Fossils in Low-grade Metamorphic Rocks

o Trees Buried by Lava Flow 

To Be Preserved, Organisms Have to Be:

 Buried Rapidly After Death 
 Preserved From Decay

Index Fossils
 Easily identifiable
 Short-lived
 Widespread occurrence

Conceptions of Earth History:

Catastrophism
 Assumption: Great Effects Require Great Causes 
 Earth History Dominated by Violent Events 
Uniformitarianism
 Assumption: We Can Use Cause And Effect to Determine Causes of Past Events 
 Finding: Earth History Dominated by Small-scale Events Typical of the Present. 
 Catastrophes Do Happen But Are Uncommon
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Summarize the factors, both natural and man-made, that can contribute to the extinction of a
species.

  Extinction of a species occurs when no more members of a particular species remains.   Extinction through
time is very common, and, in fact, nearly 90 percent of all species that ever lived on Earth are now extinct.

 Organisms that cannot survive a catastrophic or significant change in earth’s climate usually become
extinct.  Extinctions are a way of clearing the path for new kinds of life that is potentially more advanced. 
This is a natural part of life’s process.

 Natural phenomena that can contribute to the extinction of a species include global climate
changes, volcanic explosions, and celestial impacts.   
 The influences of humans on the environment do not include comet impacts or volcanism;
however, man has caused extinctions all the same.  Over the past few hundred years, man has
cut rainforests and woodland forests, destroying natural habitats.  Pollution from industrial plants
and vehicles has also affected the air we breathe and contributed to greenhouse gases, which
drive global warming.  We are looking at the potential extinction of many species due to this
warming trend.  
 In addition to threatening less-adaptive creatures than ourselves, man is negatively impacting
biological resources that our own species need.  Man can adapt to many things with the help of
technology

GEOLOGIC LAND FORMS OF THE OCEAN FLOOR

Continental shelf
 Edges of the continents slope down from the shore into the ocean
 The part of the continent located under the water is known as the continental shelf
 Its width varies around the edges of the continents
 Most life in the ocean exists in the continental shelf because the sun light penetrates

Continental slope
 A steep slope where the continental shelf drops to the bottom of the ocean floor

Ocean basin
 Located on either side of the mid-ocean ridge
 Made up of low hills and flat plains
 Abyssal plain
- flat area of the ocean basin
 Seamounts are generally formed on the ocean basin

Seamounts
 Volcanic mountains not formed on the mid-ocean ridge are called seamounts
 Island
- A seamount that rises above the water.
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Trenches
 There are many steep-sided canyons and deep, narrow valleys in the bottom of the ocean
 Ocean trenches are the deepest part of the ocean basin and are deeper than any valley found
on land

Mid-ocean ridge
 A central ridge, or mountain range, on the bottom of the ocean that divides the ocean floor into
two parts
 These underwater volcanic mountains are known as the mid-ocean ridge

Rift zone
 A narrow trench in the center of the highest part of the mid-ocean ridge
 Underwater volcanic activity that adds mountains to either side of the mid-ocean ridge occurs
at the rift zone
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Comparing land forms to oceanic land forms:

EVOLUTION OF OCEAN BASINS

According to Wegner
-the continents are sections of a past super continent called Pangea, which broke apart and drifted to
their present locations.
Evidence for Continental Drift: Rock Record
 Pangaea 200 to 300 Millions of Years Before the Present
- Ancient coal beds
 Sea-Floor Spreading: Movement at ridges
- Axis of the oceanic ridge is offset by transform (strike-slip) faults which
produce lateral displacement. Ridges and rifts indicate movement.

 Earth’s geomagnetic field is recorded as new crust cools.

- New crust. Parallel bands of crust with the same magnetism form along
the ridge.
 Because Earth’s size has not changed, expansion of the crust in one area requires
destruction of the crust elsewhere.
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-
Currently, the Pacific Ocean basin is shrinking as other ocean basins
expand.
- Seismicity is the frequency, magnitude and distribution of earthquakes.
Earthquakes are concentrated along oceanic ridges, transform faults,
trenches and island arcs.
- Tectonism refers to the deformation of Earth’s crust.
- Destruction of sea floor occurs in subduction zones.
- Subduction is the process at a trench whereby one part of the sea floor
plunges below another and down into the asthenosphere.
 Wilson Cycle refers to the sequence of events leading to the formation, expansion,
contracting and eventual elimination of ocean basins.
 Stages in basin history are:
o Embryonic - rift valley forms as continent begins to split.
o Juvenile - sea floor basalts begin forming as continental fragments diverge.
o Mature - broad ocean basin widens, trenches eventually develop and subduction
begins.
o Declining - subduction eliminates much of sea floor and oceanic ridge.
o Terminal - last of the sea floor is eliminated and continents collide forming a continental
mountain chain.

ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE DATING

When geologists date rocks, they are determining how long ago they formed.
Scientists use 2 methods to determine the age of fossils:
1. Relative Dating
2. Absolute Dating
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 Relative Dating
 It is when you give the age of a rock or fossil compared to another rock or fossil.
 Use words like “older” or “younger” instead of exact numbers

Rules of Relative Dating

1. Law of Superposition: When sedimentary rock layers are deposited, younger layers are on top
of older deposits.
2. Law of Original Horizontality: Sedimentary rock layers are deposited horizontally. If they are
tilted, folded, or broken, it happened later.
3. Law of Cross-Cutting Relationships: If an igneous intrusion or a fault cuts through existing
rocks, the intrusion/fault is YOUNGER than the rock it cuts through
Absolute Dating
 Determining how old something is
 Use numbers (in millions of years, mya)
 Only works for Igneous Rocks
 Looks at chemical properties
 2 types:
- Carbon-14 (radiocarbon)
- Potassium-Argon
Carbon-14 dating
 Also known as Radiocarbon dating
 Used to date organic substances
 Scientists measure the radiocarbon in the fossil to determine its age
 Can only date specimens up to about 60,000 years old
Potassium-Argon Dating
 Scientists determine the age of the rock surrounding the fossil to determine the fossil’s age.
 Used only for inorganic substances (rocks and minerals)
 Scientists measure the amount of argon in the rock to determine its age
 Dates rock 60,000 years old and older
How absolute dating works
 When magma/lava cools, radioactive elements are incorporated into the minerals
 These elements begin to decay at a known rate starting when the rock cools
 We can measure how much of the element is left
 Tells us how much time has passed since the rock formed.
What can we learn from this?
When did this T-Rex live?
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Between 100 and 80 mya

- This may not seem very accurate, but compared to the 4,500 million years the earth has been
around it gives us a lot more information than we had before

Absolute Dating
 Helps us determine the age of the earth
 Helps us determine when specific events in the history of the earth happened (ex. Extinction of
the dinosaurs)

Relative Dating
 Can help us estimate the time span between major earthquakes, storms, tsunamis etc
 Can help us determine the order that life forms developed on earth