Earth Science

Weathering
● changes driven by different forces of nature
● a process of breakdown of rocks due to changing temperature, acid, salts and animals.

3 Types of Weathering
1. Physical Weathering: caused by the changing temperature of rocks
● Abrasion : rock surface is exposed to water, wind, and gravity
● Freeze Thaw : water seeps into cracks, freezes then expands
● Exfoliation : cracks develop parallel to the land surface ; occurs in upland areas

2. Chemical Weathering: caused by rainwater reacting with the mineral grains

● Carbonation : Co2 & air dissolves in water

● Acidification: polluting gases dissolves in rainwater
● Hydrolisis : breakdown of rocks by acidic water ; acid rain
● Hydration : water reacts with rock chemically
● Oxidation : breakdown of rocks by oxygen and water

3. Biological Weathering : rock breakage from plants and animals

● Physical Biological: burrowing animals thru excavation

● Chemical Biological : acidic substance from plants and animals

Earth’s Internal Heat Sources

1. Primordial Heat of the Planet Remains from the Early Stage
● from the accresion of dusts and gases.
● the beginning
● Planetisimals : compacted masses

2. Heat from the Decay of Radioactive Elements

● Earth is a thermal engine.

● Radioactive Decay : spontaneous breakdown of atomic nucleus
● Potassium 40 , Uranium 235, Uranium 238, Thorium 232

3. Gravitational Pressure

● the lower you get, the densier

4. Dense can material in the center of the planet

○ the more materials above, the pressure increases

○ iron, nickel, etc
● Dense sinks, less dense rises
Endogenic Processes : Plutonism and Volcanism
Endogenic Process : geological process originated and located under the surface that involves
geological activities

How Magma is Formed?

● formed deep in the crust or the upper mantle

● a process of convection that melts the mantle rocks partially
● Partial Melting : occurs because of the difference in temperature

2 Main Mechanism
1. Decompression Melting : same temperature, reduced pressure
2. Flux Melting : different temperature, same pressure ; water and Co2 are added
● Silica Tethrahedra : Silicon and Oxygen

Magma Escaped in 2 Forms

1. Intrusion : moves up without erupting
● Example : Plutonites : major category of igneous created through crystallization
& solidification

2. Extrusion : erupts along with strong gas pressure

● Volcanic Rock : Pumice

● Plutonism : igneous geological activities taking place below the surface ; does not
make it to the surface
● Plutonic Rock : granite
● Volcanism : makes it out
○ Volcanites : gray, dull pink colored trakibasaitic lava with large phenocrystal

Rock Behavior under Stress

Metamorphism: a process wherein heat and pressure changes the rock’s physical and
chemical components

Foliation : describes a metamorphic rock whose minerals are aligned in layers.

Factors :
● Temperature: heat affects rocks chemical composition, mineralogy, and texture
● Pressure : same with temperature but differs in tectonic settings
● Confining Pressure or Vertical Stress : the same in all directions
● Directed Pressure or Differential Pressure : dominant at convergent

Types of Metamorphism
 1. Contact Metamorphism : magma contacts a rock by extreme heat
2. Regional Metamorphism : great masses of rocks are exposed to pressure
3. Shock Metamorphism : heat and shockwave caused by meteor
4. Burial Metamorphism : lower temperature and pressure
● Diagenesis : transformation of sediments into rocks

5. High Pressure Metamorphism : occurs in subduction zone

Stress : force per unit area that is placed on a rock

3 Main Types
1. Tentional Stress : rocks pull apart ; divergent
2. Compression Stress : rocks fold or fracture ; convergence
3. Shear Stress : rocks slide pass each other that causes slippage and translation

Geologic Structures
Folds : compressive stress and deformed plastically ; bending of rocks

3 Types of Folds
1. Monocline : simple bend (top : youngest , bottom : oldest)
2. Anticline : fold arches upward (center : oldest , top : youngest)
3. Syncline : bends downward

Faults : a rock under ample stress

Footwall : places on top of the fault

Hangingwall : below the fault

Types of Fault
1. Normal Fault : most common at divergent
● East African Rift

2. Reverse Fault : common in convergent

● Himalayas Mountain
● Rocky Mountain

3. Strike Slip Fault : common in transform fault

● San Andreas Fault

Seafloor Spreading
Harry Hess (1960): discovered Seafloor Spreading
Seafloor Spreading : when a magma moves up to the mantle that creates a crack ; results
from mantle convection

3 Evidence of Seafloor Spreading

● Evidence from Molten Materials : rocks are shaped like pillows
● Evidence from Magnetic Strip : rock patterned magnetic strips
● Evidence from Drilling Sample : older rocks are found further

Sonar : device that bounces waves off underwater

Magnetometer : used to measure changes in earth’s magnetic field ; to survey cultural heritage
sites

Magnetic Polarity: north proceeds to south vice versa

Continental shelf- Partly shallow extension of the continent underwater.

Continental slope- Transition zone of continental shelf and deep ocean floor. It

starts from oceanic crust to continental crust.

Continental rise- It is where the ocean begins. All basaltic and oceanic rocks

are found here. It is the place where the sediments from land are washed. The

continental margin starts from continental shelf up to continental rise.

Abyssal plain- The flattest part of the ocean. 50 % of the earth’s surface is being covered by
this plain.

Island- It’s not just a piece of land floating up in the middle of the sea, it is part of the ocean
basin that extends up from the ocean floor.

Seamount- It is an undersea mountain. The erosion caused by waves destroyed

the top of a seamount which caused it to be flattened.

Trench- It is the deepest part of the ocean.

Mid-oceanic ridge- The seafloor mountain system which is situated in the

middle of the ocean basin. It is where upwelling of magma happens which causes the sea floor
to spread.

The Wilson Cycle Process of the opening (beginning) and the closing (end)
of an ocean which is driven by Plate Tectonics.
Canadian Geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson (1908-1993).

● Embryonic Ocean Basin :

 ● Motion : Uplift
● Complex System of linear rift valleys on continent
● Example : East African Rift Valleys
● Juvenile Ocean Basin
● Motion : Divergence
● Narrow seas with matching coasts
● Red Sea
● Mature Ocean Basin
● Motion : Divergence
● Ocean Basin with continental margins
● Atlantic and Arctic Oceans
● Declining Ocean Basin
● Motion : Convergence
● Island Arcs and Trenches around basin edges
● Pacific Ocean
● Terminal Ocean Basin
● Motion : Convergent
● Narrow, Irregular seas with young mountains
● Mediterranean Seas
● Suturing (Continental collision)
● Motion : Convergence and Uplift
● Young to mature mountain belts
● Himalayas Mountains

Rock Layers
● exposed rocks are often sedimentary formed
● a rock is formed due to the passage of time and more particles put together
● Gravel : Conglomerates
● Sand : Sandstone
● Mud : Mudstone or Shale
● Skeleton of Animals and Plants : Fossils

Process of Stratification
1. Sedimentation : eroded sediments
2. Compaction : piling up
3. Strata : layering
4. Cementation : rock masses

Stratification: process that leads to formation of sedimentary rocks

Formed Through :

1. Erosion and Weathering

2. Lava Flows

Steno’s Law of Stratigraphy

● Law of Superposition : youngest on top, older at the bottom
 ● Law of Original Horizontality : rocks were tilted or horizontal due to gravity
● Law of Continuity: cycle unless blocked by an agent

Relative Dating & Absolute Dating

Stratified Rocks : layered rocks formed from deposition of sediments

Relative Dating :
● less advanced
● age determined through comparing historical remains

Types
● Stratigraphy : oldest are lowest, youngest are top
● Biostratigraphy : extended version of Stratigraphy but used fossils
● Cross Dating : comparing fossils
● Fluorine Dating : amount of fluorine determines age

Absolute Dating :
● exact numerical age

Types
● Radiometric Dating : amount of radioactivity
● Amino Acid Dating : preserved amount of acid
● Dendro Chronology : growth smthn
● Thermo Luminescence : electrons

Isotopes : same amount of protons, different in neutrons

Parent Isotope : unstable radioactive isotope

Daughter Isotope : stable isotope

Halflife : time needed to undergo radioactive decay

Index Fossils
Fossil :

● is any remains of ancient life

● give clues about the history of life on Earth, environments, climate, movement of plates,
and other events.
● The first clue that fossils can give is whether an environment was marine or terrestrial.
Fossils can indicate whether the water is shallow or deep.

Adaptations : help organisms to survive in their given environment.

Evolution : changes in population that accumulates over time

Fossil record : shows that present-day life forms evolved from earlier different life forms

Examples of Fossils

● The griffin was probably based on skeletons of Protoceratops that were discovered by
nomads in Central Asia.
● Coiled horns of a ram. The Greeks named them ammonites after the ram god Ammon.
● Cyclops may be based on fossilized elephant skulls found in Crete and other
Mediterranean islands.
● Giant pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of up to 12 meters (39 feet).
● Dinosaur Argentinosaurus had an estimated weight of 80,000 kg.

Types of Fossil Preservation

1. Preserved Remain : rarest form of fossilization
2. Permineralization : most common method of fossilization is permineralization. Water
will deposit minerals into empty spaces, producing a fossil.
3. Molds and Casts : in some cases, the original bone or shell dissolves away, leaving
behind a space in the shape of the shell or bone. This depression is called mold.
4. Replacement : The original shell or bone dissolves away and is replaced by a different
mineral.
5. Compression : fossils form when their remains are compressed by high pressure.
Compression is most common for fossils of leaves and ferns but can occur with other
organisms, as well.

Two of the most famous places with soft preservation smthn :

● Burgess Shale in Canada

● Solnhofen Limestone in Germany.

Index fossils

● usually sea creatures due to preservation conditions

● widespread but only existed for a relatively brief period.
● the relative age of the bed is immediately known

Living Fossils

● organisms that have existed for a tremendously long period without changing very much
at all

Correlation by Index Fossils

3 criteria:

1. Must be easily recognizable.It must be easy to ID and look unique.

2. Must be geographically widespread or found over large areas.
3. Must have lived for only a short time so that it appears in only a horizontal layer of
sedimentary rocks.
History of Earth’s Life Forms
Charles Doolittle Walcott :

● paleontologist, a scientist who studies past life on earth

● discovered Burgess Shale fossils in Canada in the early twentieth century.

EARTH'S BIODIVERSITY

•Changes and adaptations in a species accumulate over time. Eventually, the

descendants are very different from their ancestors and may become a whole new

species.

Studying the Fossil Record

The eras are separated by events called mass extinctions.

Precambrian time or also known as the "time of hidden life"

Scientists believe the Earth began its life about 4.6 billion years ago. Chemosynthetic bacteria
appear on Earth at some time between 3.9 billion years ago.

Time spans include :

Eon (half a billion years or more)

Divided into 4 ;

● Hadean : the first geologic eon of Earth. It began with the formation of the Earth about
4.6 billion years ago and ended 4 billion years ago.
● Archean : it is the period where life first formed. Earth cooled down and was able to
support continents and oceans.
● Proterozoic : 2.5 billion years ago and ended 541 million years ago. Significant events
from this eon are the Great Oxygen Event, Snowball Earth, formation of the
supercontinent Rodinia, and the evolution of eukaryotic cells and of multicellular
organisms.
● Phanerozoic : 541 mya-present. It is the period of visible life where rapid expansion and
evolution of life forms occur and fill the various ecological niches available on Earth. 3
Eras ;
○ Paleozoic : 541 - 252 million years ago; ancient life
■ The Cambrian Period: Following the Precambrian mass extinction, there
was an explosion of new kinds of organisms in the Cambrian Period (544-
505 million years ago). Many types of primitive animals called sponges
evolved.
■ The Ordovician Period: (505-440 million years ago), the oceans became
filled with invertebrates of many types. Also during this period, the first
fish evolved and plants colonized the land for the first time.
■ The Silurian Period:(440-410 million years ago), corals appeared in the
oceans, and fish continued to evolve. On land, vascular plants appeared.
 ■ The Devonian Period (410-360 million years ago), the first seed plants
evolved. Seed plants eventually became the most common type of land
plants. In the oceans, fish with lobe fins evolved.
■ The Carboniferous Period:(360-290 million years ago) The first
amphibians evolved to move out of the water and colonize land, but they
had to return to the water to reproduce. The first reptiles evolved.
■ The Permian Period:(290-245 million years ago), all the major land
masses collided to form a supercontinent called Pangaea.
○ Mesozoic -252-66 million years ago; means 'middle life' and this is the time of
the dinosaurs
■ The Triassic Period (245-200 million years ago), the first dinosaurs
branched off from the reptile. The supercontinent Pangaea started to
separate into Laurasia and Gondwanaland
■ The Jurassic Period: (200-145 million years ago) This was the golden
age of dinosaurs.
■ The Cretaceous Period: (145-65 million years ago), dinosaurs reached
their peak in size and distribution.
○ Cenozoic Era - spans only about 65 million years; the age of mammals, we are
in this era.
■ divided into three periods: the Paleogene (66 million to 23 million years
ago), the Neogene (23 million to 2.6 million years ago), and the
Quaternary (2.6 million years ago to the present)

Era (several hundred million years) : Eons of geological time are subdivided into
eras, which are the second-longest units of geological time.

Period (one hundred million years)

Epoch (tens of millions of years)

Age (millions of years),