GEOLOGIC TIME

A story in the rocks

From “Introduction to Earth Science” by
Thompson and Turk ©2012

“Rocks are records of events that took

place at the time they were formed.
They are books. They have a different
vocabulary, a different alphabet, but
you learn how to read them.”
- John McPhee
Mass Extinction
• 245 million years ago,
90% of all species in
the oceans suddenly
died out. On land,
two thirds of reptile
and amphibian
species and 30% of
insects vanished.
“Introduction to Earth Science” by Thompson and Turk ©2012
Mass Extinction
• 65 million years
ago, another
catastrophic
extinction wiped
out one fourth of
all species,
including the
dinosaurs.
“Introduction to Earth Science” by Thompson and Turk ©2012
 WHAT CAUSED THESE
SUDDEN EXTINCTIONS?
 EXTRATERRESTRIAL IMPACT

• In 1977, father-and-son Walter and Luis Alvarez suggested

that 65 million years ago, a meteorite 10 kilometers in
diameter hit the Earth with energy equal to 10,000 times that
of today’s entire global nuclear arsenal.
• The collision between the meteorite and the Earth’s crust
formed a plume of hot dust and gas that ignited around the
planet. The thick dark cloud blocked out the sun and halted
photosynthesis for as much as a year. Surface water froze and
many plants and animals died.
• This is the so called Terminal Cretaceous Extinction
VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

• Scientists have noted that some mass

extinctions coincided with unusually high
rates of volcanic activity. For example,
massive flood basalts erupted onto the
Earth’s surface in Siberia 248 million years
ago – at the same time that the Permian
extinction occurred.
 SUPERCONTINENTS AND EARTH’S CO2 BUDGET

• Modern ocean currents mix deep and shallow seawater, returning

the CO2 to the atmosphere. However, because there was little
mixing in the Permian oceans, carbon accumulated in ever-
increasing concentration in the deep oceans.
• Eventually, a threshold was reached at which polar surface water
became denser than deep water. At this point, the cool, dense
surface water sank forcing the CO2-rich deep water to rise to the
sea surface where it rapidly released massive amounts of CO2 into
the atmosphere.
• Accdg to this hypothesis, the CO2 asphyxiated life both in the seas
and on the continents, killing most life on Earth.
GEOLOGIC TIME
Two ways of measuring geologic time:

• Relative Age – refers only to the order in which

events occurred, but not measured in years
“In order for an event to affect a rock, the rock
must exist first.”

• Absolute Age – age in years

- tells us both the order in which events occurred
and the amount of time that has passed since they
occured.
RELATIVE GEOLOGIC TIME
 RELATIVE GEOLOGIC TIME:

• Principle of
Original
Horizontality
- Based on the
observation that
sediment usually
accumulates in
horizontal layers
 RELATIVE GEOLOGIC TIME:

• Principle of STRATA IN THE GRAND CANYON

Superposition
- States that
sedimentary
rocks become
younger from
bottom to top
 RELATIVE GEOLOGIC TIME:

• Principle of
crosscutting
relationships
- Based on the
obvious fact that a
rock must exist
first before
anything can
happen to it
 RELATIVE GEOLOGIC TIME:

• Principle of Faunal Succession

- States that species succeeded one another
through time in a definite and recognizable order
and that the relative ages of sedimentary rocks
can therefore be recognized from their fossils.
RELATIVE GEOLOGIC TIME:

• Evolution
- States that life-forms have
changed in their physical and genetic
characteristics over time
UNCONFORMITIES AND
CORRELATION
UNCONFORMITIES

• UNCONFORMITY – represents an interruption in

deposition, usually of long duration

• Types of Unconformities:
1. Disconformity
2. Angular Unconformity
3. Nonconformity
 UNCONFORMITIES

• Disconformity
– The
sedimentary
layers above
and below the
unconformity
are parallel
 UNCONFORMITIES

• Angular
Unconformity –
Younger
sediments rest
on the eroded
surface of
tilted or folded
older rocks
 UNCONFORMITIES

• Nonconformity
– layered
sedimentary
rocks lie on an
erosion surface
cut into igneous
or metamorphic
rocks
CORRELATION

• The process of establishing the age

relationship of rocks or geologic
features from different locations on
Earth
 SOURCES USED IN CORRELATION:

• Index fossils – A fossil

that dates the layers
where it is found
because it came from
an organism that is
abundantly preserved in
rocks, was widespread
geographically, and
FOSSIL RIPPLE MARKS
existed as a specie or
genus for only a
relatively short time.
 SOURCES USED IN CORRELATION:

• Key Bed– A thin widespread, easily

recognized sedimentary layer that can be used
for correlation because it was deposited
rapidly and simultaneously over a wide area
ABSOLUTE GEOLOGIC
TIME
 ABSOLUTE GEOLOGIC TIME

Measuring absolute age relies on (1) a process that

occurs at a constant rate such as earth rotating once
every 24 hours and (2) some way to keep a cumulative
record of that process such as marking a calendar each
time the sun rises.
 ABSOLUTE GEOLOGIC TIME

•RADIOACTIVE
ISOTOPES –
atoms of the same 100

element that have % parent remaining Parent

the same number 50 Daughter
of protons but
different numbers 25
13
of neutrons
time----------->
 RADIOACTIVE DECAY

• Parent
• an unstable radioactive isotope

• Daughter product
• the isotopes resulting from the decay of a parent

• Half-life
• the time required for one-half of the radioactive
nuclei in a sample to decay