Module 24

Historical Geology
 EARTH’S VERY EARLY HISTORY
About 4.6 billion years ago . . .
• The Earth started out cool

• Probably with uniform composition/density

mostly silicate compounds iron and magnesium
oxides

• Temperature increased with heat sources:

– meteorite impacts
– gravitational compression
– radioactive decay

• Heated up enough to melt iron and nickel

 EARTH’S VERY EARLY HISTORY
Earth’s differentiation
• Differentiation = segregated into layers of
differing composition and density

• Early Earth was

probably uniform
• Molten iron and
nickel sank to form
the core
• Lighter silicates
flowed up to form
mantle and crust
 EARTH’S VERY EARLY HISTORY
Forming the Earth-Moon system

• 4.6 to 4.4 billion years

ago
• the young Earth was
impacted by Mars-sized
or larger planetesimal
• ejected large quantity of
hot material
• and . . .
formed the Moon
 The Age of the Earth
• Prior to the 19th century, accepted age of Earth based on
religious beliefs
– ~6,000 years for Western culture (Biblical)
– Old beyond comprehension (Chinese/Hindu)

• James Hutton, the“father of geology”, realized geologic

processes require vast amounts of time
• Charles Lyell popularized Hutton’s concepts in book
Principles of Geology
– Uniformitarianism/actualism: same processes operating in past are
operating at present - “The present is the key to the past”
Previous Thoughts on the Age of the Earth
* 1625 – Counted generations
in the Bible ----> 6000 yrs

* Hindu religion estimated a longer time -----> ~1.9 Billion yrs

* 1800's Earth Scientists looking at rocks and fossils said the

Earth must be older ~100's of Millions yrs.

* 1866 Lord Kelvin calculated rate of heat loss

Earth's age -----> only 20-40 Million years.

* 1896 Discovery of Radioactivity (Marie Curie) revealed

a new heat source in mantle rocks and a new method to
age date minerals with better accuracy.
 EARTH’S VERY EARLY HISTORY
Moon

• Most of the lunar material came from the mantle of the

colliding planetesimal
• The material cooled and crystallized into lunar layers
 EARTH’S VERY EARLY HISTORY
Moon

• Light-colored areas
are lunar highlands
• Heavily cratered
provide striking
evidence of massive
meteorite
bombardment
 EARTH’S VERY EARLY HISTORY
Earth

 Atmosphere
 Hydrosphere
 CMC-sphere
 Biosphere
 EARTH’S VERY EARLY HISTORY
CMC-sphere
CRUST
 continental-crust:
granitic (sialic)
composition
 oceanic-crust:
basaltic (mafic)
composition
MANTEL
 composed largely of
peridotite
 dark, dense igneous
rock
 rich in iron and
magnesium
CORE
 composed largely of
iron and a small
amount of nickel
 GEOLOGIC TIME

• From the human perspective, time units are in

– seconds, hours, days, years

• Ancient human history

– hundreds or even thousands of years

• Geologic history
– millions, hundreds of millions, billions of years
 GEOLOGIC TIME
Geologic Time Scale
• Resulted from the work of many 19th century
geologists who
– pieced together information
– from numerous rock exposures,
– constructed a sequential chronology
– based on changes in Earth’s biota through time
• The time scale was subsequently dated in years
– using radiometric dating techniques
 The geologic time scale
• Structure of the geologic time scale
• Eon – subdivided into eras

• Eras of the Phanerozoic eon

– Cenozoic (“recent life”)
– Mesozoic (“middle life”)
– Paleozoic (“ancient life”)

• Eras are subdivided into periods

• Periods are subdivided into epochs

 The Geologic Time Scale

more
time •Eons
Hadean 4.6 - 3.9 Ga “firey”
Archean 3.9 - 2.5 Ga “ancient”
Proterozoic 2.5 - .540 Ga “before life”
Phanerozoic . 540 Ga – present “abundant life”

•Eras
Paleozoic 540 - 248Ma “ancient life”
Mesozoic 248 - 65 Ma “middle life”
Cenozoic 65 Ma – present “modern life”

less •Periods
time •Epochs
 GEOLOGIC TIME
Geologic Time Scale
 GEOLOGIC TIME
Geologic Time Scale and football field
The history of plate movement

150 million years ago

100 million years ago

60 million years ago

30 million years ago

The history of plate movement during the last

200 million years has been reconstructed from
all available geologic and geophysical data.
These maps show the general directions of
movement from the time Pangaea began to
break up until the continents moved to their
5 million years ago present positions
The history of organism
 SUMMARY

• Universe began with

– a big bang 15 billion years ago

• Solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago

– by condensation and gravitational collapse
– of a rotating interstellar cloud

• Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago

– as a swirling eddy in the solar system nebula
 SUMMARY

• Moon may have formed

– when a planetesimal collided with
Earth
– 4.6 to 4.4 billion years ago

• Earth probably started solid

– then differentiated into layers
– as it heated and melted
 SUMMARY

• Earth’s layers mostly solidified

– into the core, mantle and crust,
– with the upper mantle and crust
– making up the soft asthenosphere
– and the solid lithosphere

• Lithosphere is broken into plates

– that diverge, converge and
– slide sideways past each other
 SUMMARY

• Plate tectonics is a unifying theory

– that helps explain features and events

– including volcanic eruptions,
– earthquakes and mountain forming
 SUMMARY

• An appreciation
– of the immensity of geologic time
– is central to understanding Earth’s evolution

• Uniformitarianism holds that the laws

– of nature have been constant through time

• Geology is part of our lives

– and our standard of living depends
– on our use of natural resources
– that formed over billions of years
 SUMMARY

-Earth was formed 4.5 000 My

-Early Paleozoic 500 My

(Marine Fossils)

-Mesozoic (Dinosaurs) 200 My

-Cenozoic (Mammals) 50 My

-Humans 0.1 My