EARTH SCIENCE REVIEWER FOR 2ND QUARTER
LESSON 1
Weathering - is the physical disintegration
or chemical alteration of rocks at or near the
Earth’s surface.
Types of Weathering:
Mechanical weathering – rocks are broken
down into smaller pieces without changing
their composition (doesn’t change what
they’re made of)
Chemical weathering - rocks break down
as their minerals change in composition
(they become different substances)
Biological weathering – is the
disintegration or decay of rocks and
minerals caused by chemical or physical
agents of organisms
Types of Mechanical Weathering
Exfoliation
soil and rock is removed (glaciers or
uplifting), exposing rock found deep
underground
This releases the pressure causing the
surface of the rock to expand and eventually
crack
Ice wedging/frost action
water enters small cracks in the rock
When it freezes, it expands and forces the
crack to open more
The process repeats over again until the
rock breaks apart
Temperature Changes
● Daily diurnal and seasonal
temperature changes affect certain
minerals and facilitate the
mechanical weathering bedrock.
● Warmer temperatures may cause
minerals to expand, and cooler
temperatures cause them to
contract.
● The gradual expansion and
contraction of minerals weakens the
rock causing it to break apart into
smaller fragments or to fracture.
● Temperature changes are often not
the dominant form of weathering, but
instead temperature changes tend to
accelerate other forms of weathering
already occurring
SALT WEDGING
● Similar to first wedging
● Growth of salt crystals breaks rocks
apart
● Most effective in coastal
environments
ABRASION
Is the action of rocks and sediments
grinding against each other and the wearing
away of exposed surfaces
For example, abrasion occurs in the body of
rivers when rocks and pebbles roll along the
bottom. They eventually become river rocks
TYPES OF BIOLOGICAL WEATHERING
Plant Roots
The deep roots of trees often break apart
rocks
Lichen & Moss
These low to the ground plants can grow on
rocks and eventually break them apart
Chelation
- Organisms such as lichen and moss
produce acids that breakdown rocks
TYPES OF CHEMICAL WEATHERING
Hydrolysis
water (hydro) reacts with minerals such as
feldspar and form clay
HYDRATION
Is when minerals in the rock absorb water
and expand, creating stress which causes
the disintegration of rocks
Oxidation
oxygen reacts with some minerals,
especially those containing iron (magnetite)
to form rust (called iron oxide)
This occurs faster with water!
Carbonic acid
carbon dioxide (CO²) dissolves in water to
form this acid
can cause minerals to dissolve, especially
those containing calcite
EROSION
– moving of rock material from one place to
a new location
Three processes must take place:
● detachment of particles
● lifting them
● transporting them
Agents of erosion:
● flowing water
● Waves
● Wind
MASS WASTING
is a rapid form of erosion that works
primarily under the influence of gravity in
combination with other erosional agents.
Rock falls
- It occurs when rock becomes dislodged
because its change in potential energy
becomes too
great to maintain, and the potential energy
becomes kinetic energy which causes the
rock fragment to fall, restoring equilibrium.
Landslides
- are mass wasting events where large
amounts of weathered rock materials slide
down a hillslope or mountain side primarily
by gravity – related erosion.
Debris and Mudflows
Are mass wasting events that form when
heavy rainfalls produce large amounts of
runoff that transport eroded soils, sediments
and plant debris
down slope where the flows eventually
spread out across valley bottoms.
Slump
Fairly common form of mass wasting were
the rock or soil collapses, breaks off from
the hill slope, rotates slightly and slumps
downhill
Creep
It is the slowest mass wasting process that
involves a very gradual downhill movement
of soil, bedrock, and weathered rock
fragments. Usually, the entire slope is slowly
creeping
downhill as a complete
unit.
Deposition – laying down of sediment that
has been transported by a medium such as
wind, and water.
Process of erosion stops:
when the moving particles fall out of the
transporting medium and settle on a surface
LESSON 2
CONTINENTAL DRIFT HYPOTHESIS
is the movement of the Earth's continents
relative to each other, thus appearing to
"drift" across the ocean bed
It was proposed by Alfred Wegener. A
German polar researcher, geophysicist and
meteorologist
He said that there is a Supercontinent called
Pangaea.
(comes from the Greek words “pan” – all ;
“gaea” – Earth)
Pangaea which means “All of Earth” or “All
Lands,” is surrounded by waters called
Panthalassa. (means “all water” in Greek)
● The drifting apart of the
supercontinent happened about
200-250 million years ago.
● Pangaea started to break up into two
smaller supercontinents, called
Laurasia and Gondwanaland, during
the Jurassic period. By the end of
the Cretaceous period, the
continents were separating into land
masses that look like our
modern-day continents.
Hypothesis – a suggested explanation for
an observable phenomenon, or a reasoned
prediction of a possible causal correlation
among multiple phenomena
Theory – a tested, well-substantiated,
unifying explanation for a set of verified,
proven factors.
Evidences of Continental Drift Theory
The Continental Jigsaw Puzzle
● Wegener suspected that the
continents might have been joined
when he noticed remarkable
similarity between coastlines of the
South Atlantic.
● The fitting of both South America’s
and Africa’s coastlines with each
other, is a perfect example of the
continental jigsaw puzzle.
Fossils that Matches Across the Seas
● Fossil plants in India, South Africa,
Australia, Antarctica and South
America are similar to each other
and the same goes with the fossil
animals.
● Similar fossil animals and fossil
plants exist in different continents at
the same time.
● Mesosaurus and Lystosaurus are
freshwater reptiles. Fossils of these
animals were discovered in different
continents, such as in South
America and Africa. It is impossible
for these reptiles to swim over the
vast oceans and move from one
continent to another. Fossils were
also found in Antarctica.
Rock Types and Structures Match
● Since the continents fit to each
other, Wegener discovered that
there are continuous rock types and
mountains from one continent to
another.
● Continuous rock types and mountain
belts are evident in Appalachian
Mountains in north eastward of
North America and Caledonian
Mountains in British Isles and
Scandinavia
Ancient Climates
● Wegener observed the paleoclimatic
(ancient climate) data in supporting
the continental drift.
● Glacial deposits indicate that near
the end of Paleozoic era (between
200-300 million years ago), ice
sheets covered extensive areas of
Southern Hemisphere
Rejecting the Hypothesis
● He could not explain the mechanism
of continental drift.
● He explained fossil similarities based
on land bridges in the past, which
allowed plants and animals to
migrate across one continent to
another.
● He was a meteorologist that time
(proposing the continental drift)
which made the scientific community
considered him as an outsider who
proposes a major concept in geology
● He thought that the continents were
moving at a very rapid state.
Scientists ascertained that
Wegener’s calculations were
inaccurate.
LESSON 3
Plate tectonics
● is the theory that Earth's outer shell
is divided into several plates that
glide over the mantle, the rocky
inner layer above the core. The
plates act like a hard and rigid shell
compared to Earth’s mantle.
Plate Boundaries
● Lithospheric plates move as
coherent units relative to all other
plates. Although the interiors of
plates may experience some
deformation, all major interactions
among individual plates (and
therefore most deformation) occur
along their boundaries.
1. Divergent Plate Boundaries
(constructive margins) – where two plates
move apart, resulting in upwelling of
material from the mantle to create new
seafloor.
2. Convergent Plate Boundaries
(destructive margins) – where two plates
move together, resulting in oceanic
lithosphere being thrust beneath an
overriding plate eventually to be reabsorbed
into mantle. Convergence can also result in
the collision of two continental plates to
create a mountain system.
3. Transform Fault Boundaries
(conservative margins) – where two plates
grind past each other without the production
or destruction of lithosphere.
Divergent Plate Boundaries
● Most divergent plate boundaries are
located along the crests of oceanic
ridges and can be thought of as
constructive plate margins where
new oceanic lithosphere is
generated.
Oceanic Ridges
● is a seafloor mountain system
formed by plate tectonics. It typically
has a depth of 2,600 meters (8,500
ft) and rises about two kilometers
above the deepest portion of an
ocean basin. This feature is where
seafloor spreading takes place along
a divergent plate boundary.

Seafloor Spreading
● The mechanism that operates along
the oceanic ridge system to create
new seafloor is appropriately called
seafloor spreading
Convergent Plate Boundaries
Although new lithosphere is constantly
being added at the oceanic ridges, our
planet is not growing larger. Its total surface
area remains constant. To accommodate
the newly created lithosphere, older portions
of oceanic plates return to the mantle along
convergent plate boundaries. (Because the
lithosphere is destroyed at convergent
boundaries, they are also called destructive
plate margins.)
Subduction Zones
● Destructive plate margins where
oceanic crust are being consumed in
the mantle are called subduction
(sub=under, duct=lead) zones.
● Although all convergent zones have
the same basic characteristics, they
are highly variable features. Each is
controlled but the type of crystal
material involved and the tectonic
setting. Convergent boundaries can
form between two oceanic plates,
one oceanic and one continental
plates.
Types of Convergence Boundaries
Ocean-Continental Convergence
● Whenever the leading edge of a
continental plate converges with an
oceanic plate the buoyant
continental plate remains floating,
whereas the denser oceanic slab
sinks into the asthenosphere
Oceanic-Oceanic Convergence
● When two oceanic slabs converge,
one descends beneath the other
initiating volcanic activity is a
manner similar to that which occurs
at an oceanic-continental boundary.
If this activity is sustained, it will
eventually build a chain of volcanic
islands that are spaced about 80
kilometers apart and are built upon
submerged ridges a few kilometers
wide. This newly formed land
consisting of and arc-shaped chain
of small volcanic islands is called a
volcanic island arc.
Continental-Continental Convergence
● When an oceanic plate is subducted
beneath continental lithosphere, an
Andean-type volcanic arc develops
along the margin of the continent. If
the subducting plate also contains
continental lithosphere, the
continued subduction eventually
brings the two continents together. If
oceanic lithosphere is relatively
dense and sinks into the
asthenosphere, the continental
lithosphere is buoyant
Transform Fault Boundaries
● The third type of plate boundary is
the transform fault, where plates
grind past one another without the
production or destruction of
lithosphere.
 ● Transform Plate Boundaries are
locations where two plates slide past
one another. The fracture zone that
forms a transform plate boundary is
known as a transform fault. Most
transform faults are found in the
ocean basin and connect offsets in
the mid-ocean ridges. A smaller
number connect mid-ocean ridges
and subduction zones
LESSON 4
Dating
The technique used to determine the age of
the rocks, minerals, fossils, and artifacts.
The types of dating methods are relative
dating and absolute dating.
Relative dating
It is defined as the science that determines
the relative order of the geological
formations without necessarily determining
their absolute age.
Absolute dating
It is the science that involves dating that
uses the chronological measurements such
as calendar, radiocarbon dates, and
historical investigation to obtain the age of
the deposit
Stratigraphy
This involves the study of rock layers. The
stratification of rocks occurs in sedimentary
rocks as they build up through time. This
layering can be used to identify the
succession of the historical events in the
earth's past. Relative dating falls under this
sub-discipline.
Nicholas Steno (1638-1686) was a
Danish-born pioneer of geology, and is
considered to be the father of stratigraphy.
The Four Fundamental Principles of
Stratigraphy used in Relative Age
Dating:
The principle of Original Horizontality
means that layers of sediment are
generally deposited in a horizontal position.
The principle of Cross
Cutting Relationships states that a rock is
younger than any rock through which it cuts.
The surrounding rock (dark colored) will be
older than the cutting magma (light colored
The principle of superposition
simply states that in an undeformed
sequence of sedimentary rocks, each bed is
older than the one above it and younger
than the one below
The principle of lateral continuity
It states that the rock strata extend outward
horizontally. They may thin at their farthest
edges, but they generally do not terminate
abruptly unless cut by a younger rock unit.
UNCONFORMITIES
This represent the period during which
deposition ceased, erosion removed
previously formed rocks, and then
deposition resumed.
When observed layers of rock formed
without interruption, it is called
CONFORMABLE
ANGULAR UNCONFORMITY
are those where an older package of
sediments has been tilted, truncated by
erosion, and then a younger package of
sediments was deposited on this erosion
surface
DISCONFORMITY
are also an erosion surface between two
packages of sediment, but the lower
package of sediments was not tilted prior to
deposition of the upper sediment package
CORRELATION
It is a technique used to determine
equivalency between two physically
separated rock units.

NONCONFORMITY
are unconformities that separate igneous or
metamorphic rocks from overlying
sedimentary rocks. They usually indicate
that a long period of erosion occurred prior
to deposition of the sediments (several km
of erosion necessary).

LESSON 5: DATING AND CORRELATION

● A way to relate time in geology is

through RELATIVE DATING /
RADIOACTIVE DATING. TWO TYPES OF ROCK UNITS

RELATIVE DATING 1. STRATA

It helps determine what came first and what
followed, but does not help determine actual
age.
RADIOMETRIC DATING/ NUMBERIC
DATING
● It determines an actual or
approximate age of an object by
studying the rate of decay of
radioactive isotopes, such as
Uranium, Potassium, Rubidium and
Carbon-14 within that object
● Radioactive isotopes decay at a
fixed rate. This rate provides
scientists with an accurate
measurement system to determine
age.
It is the parallel layers of sedimentary rocks
2. FORMATION
● It is the package of strata grouped
together based on recognizable
character.
● It is correlated with a region, a
continent, or sometimes even
between continents.
METHODS OF ROCK CORRELATION
1. Rock layers can be correlated by
physical continuity
2. Rock layers can be correlated by
rock type
3. Rock layers can be correlated by
the fossils they contain.
PRINCIPLE OF FAUNAL SUCCESSION
WILLIAM SMITH
● 23 March 1769 – 28 August 1839
● “Father of English Geology”
● He is the proponent of the Principle
of Faunal Succession.
When scientists see a specific index fossil,
they know right away how old it is.
FOSSIL ASSEMBLAGES
It is composed of different species occurring
together in a layer of rock. It is also used in
correlating rocks.

PRINCIPLE OF FAUNAL SUCCESSION

“Fossil species succeed one another
through layers of rock in a definite,
invariable order. Layers that contain the
same sequence of fossils are likely to be of
the same age.”
● Observation that assemblages of
fossil plants and animals follow or
succeed each other in time in a
predictable manner.
● Faunal succession occurs because
evolution generally progresses from
simple to complex in a non-repetitive
and orderly manner.

The organisms found in the top layers

appeared after the organisms found in the
layers below them.

INDEX FOSSILS
● It represents the organisms that live
with the span of geologic time which
can be used for fossils correlation.
● Exists over a short geologic time
range
● Easily-recognizable

To be an index fossil:
● An organism must have lived only
during a short part of Earth’s history.
● Many fossils of the organism must
be found in rock layers.
● The fossil must be found over a wide
area of Earth.
LESSON 6: GEOLOGIC HISTORY
The theory states that the true age of the
earth is about 4.6 billion years old formed at
the same time at the rest of solar system.
Scientists relied on the determination of the
age of the rock using radiometric dating
method.
Without fossils, scientists may not
have concluded that the earth has a
history that long precedes mankind.
The Geologic Time Scale is divided by
the following divisions:

THE PROCESS: Eons: Longest subdivision; based on the

● In the very beginning of earth's abundance of certain fossils.
history, this planet was a giant, red
hot, roiling, boiling sea of molten Eras: Next to longest subdivision; marked
rock - a magma ocean. by major changes in the fossil record.
● The heat had been generated by
the repeated high speed collisions of Periods: Based on types of life existing at
much smaller bodies of space rocks the time.
that continually clumped together as
they collided to form this planet. Epochs: Shortest subdivision; marked by
● As the collisions tapered off the differences in life forms and can
earth began to cool, forming a thin vary from continent to continent.
crust on its surface
● As the cooling continued, water
vapor began to escape and
condense in the earth's early
atmosphere.
● Clouds formed and storms raged,
raining more and more water down
on the primitive earth, cooling the
surface further until it was flooded
with water, forming the seas.

GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE

● The geologic time scale divides up
the history of the earth based on
life-forms that have existed during
specific times since the creation of
the planet. These divisions are
called geochronologic units (geo:
rock, chronology: time).
● Most of these life-forms are found as
fossils, which are the remains or
traces of an organism from the
geologic past that has been
preserved in sediment or rock.