Chapter 1:

Investigating Earth’s
Systems
 Why Study the History of Earth?

• Geology is the science that studies the history of

Earth and its life
– Understand how previous and future Earth changes tell us
how natural processes affect humans and how humans
affect natural process
– Many natural processes act very slowly
– Earth’s environments change over the time span of many
human generations
 Why Study the History of Earth?

Data from: United States Census Bureau, International Programs Center, 2001.
 Why Study the History of Earth?
• Humans have begun to affect Earth’s environment at
rates faster than rates of natural processes
– Burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases such as
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
– Greenhouse gases trap heat and keep Earth’s temperature
warm
– Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have increased
thirty percent since the start of the Industrial Revolution
generations
Data from: the United States Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration,
International Energy Annual, 2002, 2003 (May–July 2005), 2005 and System for the
Why Study the History of Earth?

Analysis of Global Energy Markets, 2005 and 2006.

 Why Study the History of Earth?

• Anthropogenic (human generated) activities such as

fossil fuel combustion affecting Earth has led to the
study of Earth as a series of systems
– A system is a series of components that interact to
produce a larger, more complex whole
– Rocks and fossils are studied by geologists because they
preserve the interactions of the Earth systems
© Studio 1a Photography/ShutterStock,
Inc.
Why Study the History of Earth?
Data from: McMichael, A. J. 1993. Planetary Overload.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Why Study the History of Earth?

Data from: Rhode, R. A. “Atmospheric Carbon

Dioxide”, Global Warming Art, October 1, 2008.
 What Are the Major Earth Systems and
What Are Their Characteristics?

• Earth’s environments are regulated by four major

systems and their components
– The solid Earth system consists of the nonliving
solid Earth from its center to its surface, including
continents and seafloor
– The atmosphere comprises the gaseous envelope
surrounding Earth
What Are the Major Earth Systems and
What Are Their Characteristics?

– The hydrosphere
consists of oceans,
rivers, streams,
lakes, ice in
glaciers, and ice
caps (the latter is
sometimes termed
the cryosphere)
– The biosphere
consists of all
living organisms
and their dead
remains
 What Are the Major Earth Systems and
What Are Their Characteristics?

• Some compartments (smaller parts of a

system) may serve as reservoirs in which
certain types of matter may be stored for
some length of time
 What Are the Major Earth Systems and
What Are Their Characteristics?

• Most natural systems are open systems,

meaning that they exchange matter and
energy with the surrounding environment
– This is termed a flux; an example is the operation
of Earth’s convection cells, both in Earth’s interior
and in the atmosphere
 What Are Their Characteristics?

Data from Coveney, Peter, and Roger Highfield. The Arrow of

Time: A Voyage through Science to Solve Time's Greatest
Mystery. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1991.
What Are the Major Earth Systems and
 What Are Their Characteristics?
What Are the Major Earth Systems and

Data from: Lovelock, J. 1988. The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our

Living Earth. New York: W. W. Norton.
 What Are the Major Earth Systems and
What Are Their Characteristics?
• Earth’s systems interact through feedback
– Positive feedback promotes an effect whereas negative
feedback counters an effect
– Feedbacks may involve the biogeochemical cycles of
elements such as carbon
• The relative importance of processes within the
Earth systems varies with the duration of time
What Are the Major Earth Systems and
What Are Their Characteristics?
What Are the Major Earth Systems and
What Are Their Characteristics?
 Geologic Time and Process

• Many processes relevant to change in Earth’s

systems are imperceptible on human time scales
• Early geologists recognized the enormity of
geologic time
 Geologic Time and Process

• Analysis of layered

Courtesy of Ronald Martin, University of Delaware

rock sequences led
to the Principle of
Superposition and
other relative age
techniques
 Geologic Time and Process

• James Hutton interpreted the action of processes

slower than those observed on human time scales

Courtesy of Clifford E. Ford

 Geologic Time and Process

• The Principle of Faunal Succession is based on

fossils as evidence for ancient life
– It states that different groups of fossils follow
each other in a characteristic sequence
• More recently (during the 20th century),
absolute ages were determined from the rates
of radioactive decay of certain minerals
 Geologic Time and Process
• The modern geologic time scale incorporates both
changes in fossil assemblages and absolute ages
 Geologic Time and Process

• The Principle of Uniformitarianism states that

processes we observe today have always
operated; it underlies all scientific inquiry
– Traced to James Hutton, but also expressed in
writings of earlier scientists
 Geologic Time and Process
– Hutton recognized that

Courtesy of National Library of Medicine

natural processes are
cyclic and that Earth has
an internal source of
heat
– Charles Lyell developed
uniformitariansm to

Courtesy of National Library of Medicine

counter castrophism, the
view that Earth resulted
through processes not
observable today
 Geologic Time and Process

• The uniformitarian approach is termed

actualism, and considers processes in modern
environments as analogs of those in ancient
environments
 Courtesy of Jeremy Young, University
College London

Courtesy of NASA Earth Science Enterprise

Geologic Time and Process

Courtesy of Michele Miller

 Geologic Time and Process

• Uniformitarianism is often stated as “the

present is the key to the past” but the past is
not the key to the present; conditions then
may have been quite different from present-
day conditions
 Geologic Time and Process

• The current understanding of

uniformitarianism is that although processes
remain the same, the rates can vary (and the
duration of time involved can be important);
also, that highly unusual conditions and
phenomena such as meteor impacts and mass
extinctions occur
 Geologic Time and Process

Courtesy of Billy Glass, University of Delaware

 Directionality and the Evolution of
Earth Systems
• Lyell envisioned Earth as being in equilibrium,
meaning a system exhibiting no net change
through time
• Evidence exists, however, that Earth has also
evolved, meaning that its seemingly equilibrium
states have actually shifted through time in
particular directions; this is termed secular
change
 Directionality and the Evolution of
Earth Systems

• Earth’s history has consisted of a succession of

vastly different worlds leading up to ours
 Geology as an Historical Science

• The view of nature and its components as

machines dates to Rene Descartes (16th
century)
– This led to reductionism, the view that nature can
be understood by taking it apart, such as breaking
the Earth system into components
 Geology as an Historical Science

• Science is also based on the assumption that

each effect has a particular cause
– This view is called determinism
– The notion that the simplest explanation of a
phenomenon is most likely to be correct is called
Ockham’s Razor
 Geology as an Historical Science

– Earth’s phenomena are not strictly deterministic

because the same effect may have multiple or
overlapping causes; this is termed multiple
causation
– The processes that occurred during the ancient
past have varied with historical circumstances, or
contingency
 Method and Study of Earth’s Evolving
Systems

• According to most scientists, proof is based on

formulating and testing hypotheses to see
whether or not predictions hold
– This method is iterative and self-correcting
 Method and Study of Earth’s Evolving
Systems

• Karl Popper, a
philosopher who
developed the modern
scientific method,
stated that the best
hypotheses are the
ones that can be easily
falsified
 Method and Study of Earth’s Evolving
Systems
• This approach to science is best exemplified in
experimental sciences such as physics and chemistry
– Geologists typically test hypotheses by looking for rocks,
sediments, or fossils and make observations on them on
the variables of interest
– They then use postdiction (rather than prediction) to
reason backward from the geologic data to infer the
processes involved
 Method and Study of Earth’s Evolving
Systems
• Scientists follow the method of multiple
working hypotheses in which multiple factors
acting on different scales may interact to
product a final effect
• A theory synthesizes observations and data
into a coherent explanatory picture
 Systems
Method and Study of Earth’s Evolving

Data from: Colbert, C. H. 1973. Wandering Lands and Animals.

London: Hutchinson & Company.
 Method and Study of Earth’s Evolving
Systems

• Relationships between phenomena

considered to be fundamental truths are
called laws
– Laws are abstractions; they describe relationships
that are repeatable irrespective of contingencies
– In geology, general truths are referred to a
principles rather than laws