Unit 3

Earth Systems and Resources

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The following are the basic contents of this chapter:
3.1 Origin and structure of the Earth
3.2 The Geological Time Scale
• The four eras are
The Precambrian era
The Paleozoic era
The Mesozoic era
The Cenozoic era
3.3 Geological events in Ethiopia
3.4 Earthquake
3.5 Volcanism
3.6 Key Terms of Volcanism
3.7 Types of Volcano 2
3.1 Origin and structure of the Earth
The earth is one of the many planets along with the
others, revolves around the sun.
Planets are objects that travel around the sun in a
path.
The solar system is the sun and the objects that are
travelling around it.
The objects around the sun are the nine planets.
The path called an orbit.
Human lives on the surface of the globe that has a
radius of nearly 6500 km, yet no one has penetrated
more than a few kilometers below the solid earth.
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 3.2 The Geological Time Scale
GTS is a record of earth’s history, starting with the earth’s
formation about 4.5 billion years before the present.
Numbers on the scale represent times in millions of years
before present.
Geologists divided the earth’s history into four major eras
and each era into a number of periods and periods into
epochs. (Era Period Epoch)
The four eras are:
The Precambrian era
The Paleozoic era
The Mesozoic era
The Cenozoic era
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The Precambrian Era (From 4.5 Billion to 600 Million years)

It is the largest geological time unit of earth’s history.

It comprises 88% of the geological time scale.
It lasted from 4.5 billion to about 600 million years
before the present.
Little is known about the Earth and the organisms that
lived during this era.
The Precambrian rocks /Crystalline Basement
Complex rocks/ were formed in many parts of the
world.
Rocks have been buried deeply and changed by heat
and pressure.

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The Paleozoic Era (From 600 - 250 Million years)
The beginning of the Paleozoic era is marked by the
presence of the first organisms, /ancient life/ with hard
parts.
Warm shallow seas covered much of the earth’s surface
during the early Paleozoic era.
Because of this, most of the life forms were of marine
origin (lived in oceans).

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The Mesozoic Era (From 250 – 70 Million years)
It is the era of Middle life, began about 250 million
years before the present.
At the beginning, all continents were joined as a single
supper continent/land mass that was called Pangaea.
But, later on during the Triassic Period of Mesozoic era
it separated into two large land masses.
The Northern and Southern land masses, respectively,
were Laurasia and Gondwanaland.
Reptiles were the dominant animal life form in the
Jurassic Period of this era. This was the age of Reptiles.

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 Laurasia consisted of present-day: North America,
Greenland, Europe and Asia (except India).
Gondwanaland consisted of present-day: South
America, Africa and Australia.
The Cenozoic Era (From 70 Million years up to present)
It is the era of recent life, which began about 70 million
years ago, when dinosaurs and many other life forms
become extinct.
Many of the mountain ranges began to form.
The climate become cooler and ice age occurred.
It has two periods - (Tertiary and Quaternary periods).
The present day is the Quaternary period.
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3.3 Geological events in Ethiopia
The whole Africa essentially consists of a basement of
ancient crystalline rock.
During the Precambrian era, Ethiopia was made up of
huge mountains which were folded and faulted.
During the Paleozoic era, the land was greatly affected
by persistent denudation (erosion).

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At the beginning of Mesozoic era, the land surface sank,
very slowly.
As a result, the sea invaded the land from the southeast
towards the northwest.
In this process, layers of Sandstone and Limestone were
deposited, one over the other.
The layers of sandstone, referred to as Adigrat
Sandstone, were formed first, followed by deposition of
layers limestone called Hintalo limestone.

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Gradually, the landmass which was under the sea started
uplifting, and the land emerged out of the sea towards
the end of the Mesozoic era.
Following this, the sea started to retreat to southeast
direction, and it deposited other layers of sandstone
called Upper Sandstone.
Hence, by the end of the Mesozoic era, many parts of
Ethiopia were covered by the three layers of Mesozoic
Marine Sediments.

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 During the Cenozoic era, Ethiopia experienced two major geological
events. Those are:
i) Uplifting of the Ethiopian landmass, followed by crustal deformations
and the emissions of an immense lava flow, old lava series, to the
surface.
• This process produced the Ethiopian highlands.

ii) During the Middle Tertiary Period, the land was subjected to major
vertical displacements, which produced the formation of the
Ethiopian Rift Valley.
• This divides the Ethiopian highlands into the western highlands
and the southeaster highlands.
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During the Quaternary period, the earth experienced a marked
climatic change resulting in rains known as the Pluvial Rain in
Africa.
During this period, the Ethiopian plateaus were affected by
heave erosion.
Later on, the heavy rains were replaced by a dry climatic
conditions which increased the rate of evaporation.
As a result, the rift valley lakes reduced in size.
Within Afar depression, there was believed to be a large lake.
But, due to absence of rivers flowing into the lake and a
continuous rate of evaporation, it disappeared.
Finally, salt, potash and pocket of saline water were left
behind. For more, you can see the following figures.
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3.4 Earthquake
An earthquake is the vibration of Earth produced by
the rapid release of energy.
• Energy released radiates in all directions from its
source, the focus
• Energy is in the form of waves
• Sensitive instruments around the world record the
event

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Seismographs are instruments that record seismic waves.
Focus - the place within Earth where earthquake waves
originate.
Epicenter – location on the surface directly above the focus.
Seismology- the study of earthquake.
Seismometer- it is an instruments that detect seismic waves.
Richter Scale - (logarithmic scale)
– Magnitude - based on amplitude of the waves
The following are the two measurements that describe the size
of an earthquake.
Intensity – a measure of the degree of earthquake shaking at
a given locale based on the amount of damage
Magnitude – estimates the amount of energy released at the
source of the earthquake

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3.5 Volcanism

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 The word, ‘volcano’ comes from the name Vulcan,
who was the Roman god of fire.
(See the video references)
3.6 Key Terms of Volcanism
Bomb – a lump of rock thrown out in an eruption
Crater – a deep hollow at the top of a volcano
Eruption – the release of gases, magma and rock from a
volcano
Lava – melted rock that flows down the volcano
Magma – melted rock inside the Earth
Molten – melted, liquid
Vent – a crack on the side of a volcano where magma can
escape

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Volcanoes are often cone-shaped, but they can take other
shapes too.
They are formed when molten, sticky rock called
magma, forces its way through a crack in the Earth’s
crust.
The melted rock that spills out of the crater on the top of
the volcano is called lava.
The lava destroys everything in its path because it is
very, very hot!

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Where do volcanoes happen?
Most volcanoes are formed on land, but there are
some volcanoes that are on the ocean floor.
Some of these volcanoes emerge from the water
because they are very high.
Why does a volcano erupt?
A volcano erupts when magma and gases find a way
to escape, so they burst/explode to the surface
through a vent.
An eruption can be quite gentle/calm or very
violent/forcefully.
 
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3.7 Types of volcano
There are three types of volcanoes. These are:
Active - a volcano is active, or alive, when it erupts
often/frequently.
Dormant - when a volcano is dormant, or sleeping, it
has not erupted for a long time – but it might in the
future.
Extinct - a volcano is extinct, or dead, when it hasn’t
erupted for at least 100,000 years.

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 Unit Review Questions
I. True/False
1. Jurassic Period was the age of Reptiles.
2. During the Paleozoic era, most of the Ethiopia’s land was greatly
affected by persistent denudation.
3. The present day is the Tertiary period.
II. Fill the blank spaces
4. _________is It is the largest geological time unit of earth’s history.
5. The location on the surface directly above the focus of an earthquake is
referred to as ___________.
6. ________are the objects that revolve around the sun?
III. Gives short answer
7. Write the three types of volcano with their characteristics.
8. What is the difference between magma and lava?

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