Earth History 8.E.

2
Chapter 15

The Principle of Uniformitarianism

• Scientist James Hutton, the author of Theory of the
Earth, proposed that geologic processes such as
erosion and deposition do not change over time.

• Uniformitarianism is the idea that the same

geologic processes shaping the Earth today have been
at work throughout Earth’s history.

• The next slide shows how Hutton developed the idea

of uniformitarianism.
Chapter 15
Chapter 15

The Principle of Uniformitarianism, continued

• Uniformitarianism Versus Catastrophism
Hutton’s theories sparked a scientific debate by
suggesting the Earth was much older than a few
thousand years, as previously thought.

• A few thousand years was not enough time for the

gradual geologic processes that Hutton described to
have shaped the planet.
Chapter 15

The Principle of Uniformitarianism, continued

• To explain Earth’s history, most scientists supported
the principle of catastrophism.

• Catastrophism is the principle that geologic change

occurs suddenly.

• Supporters of this theory thought that mountains,

canyons, seas, and other features formed during rare,
sudden events called catastrophes.
Chapter 15

The Principle of Uniformitarianism, continued

• A Victory for Uniformitarianism Catastrophism
was geology’s guiding principle until the work of
geologist Charles Lyell caused people to reconsider
uniformitarianism.

• Lyell published Principles of Geology in the early

1830s. Armed with Hutton’s notes and new evidence
of his own, Lyell successfully challenged the principle
of catastrophism.
Chapter 15

Modern Geology—A Happy Medium

• During the late 20th century, scientists such as
Stephen J. Gould challenged Lyell’s uniformitarianism.
They believed that catastrophes occasionally play an
important role in shaping Earth’s history.

• Today, scientists realize that most geologic change is

gradual and uniform, but catastrophes that cause
geologic change have occurred during Earth’s long
history.
Chapter 15

Paleontology—The Study of Past Life

• The history of the Earth would be incomplete
without knowledge of the organisms that have
inhabited our planet and the conditions under which
they lived.

• The science involved with the study of past life is

called paleontology.

• Paleontologist study fossils, which are the remains

of organisms preserved by geologic processes.
How do fossils form?

 Fossils are the preserved remains or

traces of living things.
– Fossils provide evidence of how life has
changed over time.
– Fossils also help scientists infer how
Earth’s surface has changed.
– Fossils are clues to what past
environments were like.
How do fossils form?

 Most fossils form when living things

die and are buried by sediments. The
sediments slowly harden into rock and
preserve the shapes of the organisms.
How do fossils form?
 Scientists who
study fossils are
called
paleontologists.
How do fossils form?
 Fossils are usually
found in
sedimentary rock.
 Sedimentary rock is
the type of rock
that is made of
hardened sediment.
What are the different kinds of
fossils?

 Fossils found in rock include petrified

fossils, molds and casts, carbon films,
and trace fossils.
 Other fossils form when the remains of
organisms are preserved in substances
such as tar, amber, or ice.
What are the different kinds of
fossils?

 Petrified Fossils
– A fossil may form
when the remains of
an organism become
petrified.
– Petrified means
“turning to stone”
– Petrified fossils are
fossils in which
minerals replace all or
part of an organism.
What are the different
kinds of fossils?
 Molds and casts
– A mold is a hollow area in sediment in the shape
of an organism or part of an organism.
 A mold forms when the hard part of the organism such
as a shell, is buried in sediment.
– A cast is a copy of the shape of an organism.
 Water carrying dissolved minerals and sediment may
seep into the empty space of a mold. If the water
deposits the minerals and sediment there, the result is
a cast.
Molds and Casts
What are the different
kinds of fossils?
 Carbon films
– An extremely thin coating of carbon on rock.
HOW DOES A CARBON FILM FORM?
– When sediment buries an organism, some of the
materials that make up the organism can
become gases. These gases escape from the
sediment, leaving carbon behind. Eventually,
only a thin film of carbon remains.
Carbon Films
What are the different
kinds of fossils?
 Trace fossils
– Trace fossils provide evidence of the
activities of ancient organisms.
– A fossilized footprint is on example of a
trace fossil.
– Other examples of trace fossils include
the trails that animals followed or the
burrows that they lived in.
Trace Fossils
What are the different
kinds of fossils?
 Preserved Remains
– Some processes preserve the remains of
organisms with little or no change.
 Some remains are preserved when organisms
become trapped in tar.
 Ancient organisms also have been preserved
in amber. Amber is the hardened resin, or
sap, of evergreen trees.
 Freezing is another way in which remains can
be preserved.
Preserved Remains
What do fossils tell about how
organisms have changed over
time?
 The fossil record provides evidence about
the history of life on Earth. The fossil
record also shows that different groups of
organisms have changed over time.
 The fossil record reveals a surprising fact:
fossils occur in a particular order.
– Older rocks contain fossils of simpler organisms.
Younger rocks contain fossils of more complex
organisms.
– In other words, the fossil record shows that life
on Earth has evolved, or changed.
What do fossils tell about how
organisms have changed over
time?
 The fossil record provides evidence to
support the theory of evolution.
 A scientific theory is a well-tested concept
that explains a wide range of observations.
 Evolution is the gradual change in living
things over long periods of time.
 The fossil record shows that millions of
types of organisms have evolved.
– But many others have become extinct.
– A type of organism is extinct if it no longer exists
and will never again live on Earth.
What do fossils tell about how
organisms have changed over
time?
 Paleontologists use fossils to build up
a picture of Earth’s environments in
the past.
 Fossils also provide evidence of Earth’s
climate in the past.
 Scientists can use fossils to learn
about changes in Earth’s surface.
How do geologists determine
the relative age of rocks?
 When you look at a rock containing a
fossil, your first question may be, “How
old is it?”
 The relative age of a rock is its age
compared to the ages of other rocks.
 The relative age of a rock does not
provide its absolute age
– The absolute age of a rock is the number
of years since the rock formed.
How do geologists determine
the relative age of rocks?
 The position of Rock Layers
– Geologists use the law of superposition to determine
the relative ages of sedimentary rock layers.
– According to the law of superposition, in horizontal
sedimentary rock layers the oldest layer is at the
bottom. Each higher layer is younger than the layers
below it.
– To determine the age of most sedimentary rocks,
scientists study the fossils they contain.
– How would a geologist find the relative age of a rock?
 By observing the rock’s position in relation to the rock layers
above and below it.
How do geologists determine
the relative age of rocks?
 Other clues to Relative Age
– Clues from Igneous Rock
 Igneous rock forms when magma or lava harden.
 Lava that hardens on the surface is called an
extrusion. The rock layers below an extrusion
are always older than the extrusion.
 The magma cools and hardens into a mass of
igneous rock called an intrusion.
 An intrusion is always younger than the rock
layers around and beneath it.
How do geologists determine
the relative age of rocks?
– Clues from Faults
 A fault is a break in Earth’s crust. Forces
inside Earth cause movement of the rock on
opposite sides of a fault.
 A fault is always younger than the rock it cuts
through. To determine the relative age of a
fault, geologists find the relative age of the
most recent rock layer through which the
fault slices.
How do geologists determine
the relative age of rocks?
 Gaps in the Geological Record
– The geologic record of sedimentary rock
layers is not always complete.
– Deposition slowly builds layer upon layer
of sedimentary rock.
– Some of these layers may erode away,
exposing an older rock surface.
– Then deposition begins again, building a
new rock layer.
 How do geologists
determine the relative
age of rocks?
– The surface where new
rock layers meet a much
older rock surface beneath
them is called an
unconformity.
– An unconformity is a gap in
geologic record.
– An unconformity shows
where some rock layers
have been lost because of
erosion.
– Unconformities show where
an old, eroded surface is in
contact with a newer rock
layer.
How are index fossils
useful to geologists?
 If a type of organism existed for only a
short period of time, its fossils would
show up in a limited range of rock layers.
These fossils are called index fossils.
 Index fossils are fossils that are found
in the rock layers of only one geologic
age, and can be used to establish the
age of the rock layers.
How are index fossils useful
to geologists?
 To date rock layers, geologists first give a relative
age to a layer of rock at one location.
 Then they can give the same age to matching
layers of rock at other locations.
 Certain fossils, called index fossils, help geologists
match rock layers.
 To be useful as an index fossil, a fossil must be
widely distributed and represent a type of organism
that existed only briefly.
 Index fossils are useful because they tell the
relative ages of the rock layers in which they occur.
 The
Trilobite
 One example of an index
fossil is a trilobite.
 Trilobites were a group of
hard-shelled animals
whose bodies had three
distinct parts.
 They evolved in shallow
seas more than 500
million years ago.
Examples of Index Fossils
 What is “B”?
 Place the layers in order from oldest to youngest
Put the events in order
Put the events in order
Chapter 15

Absolute Age
• Absolute dating is any method of measuring the
age of an event or object in years.

• To determine the absolute ages of fossils and

rocks, scientists analyze isotopes of radioactive
elements.

• Atoms of the same element that have the same

number of protons but different numbers of
neutrons are called isotopes.
Absolute Age

 Think of determining the absolute age

of a rock layer as finding the rock
layer’s birthday.

 Often impossible to do

 Uses Radioactive Dating

Chapter 15

Absolute Age: Radioactive Decay

• Most isotopes are stable, meaning that they stay
in their original form.

• Other isotopes are unstable. Scientists call

unstable isotopes radioactive.
Chapter 15

Radioactive Decay, continued

• Radioactive isotopes tend to break down into
stable isotopes of the same or other elements in a
process called radioactive decay.
Chapter 15

Radioactive Decay, continued

• Because radioactive decay occurs at a steady rate,
scientists can use the relative amounts of stable and
unstable isotopes present in an object to determine the
object’s age.

• Dating Rocks—How Does It Work? In

radioactive decay, an unstable radioactive isotope of
one element breaks down into a stable isotope. The
stable isotope may be of the same element or of a
different element.
Chapter 15

Radioactive Decay, continued

• The unstable radioactive isotope is called the
parent isotope.

• The stable isotope produced by the radioactive

decay of the parent isotope is called the daughter
isotope.
Chapter 15

Radioactive Decay, continued

• The rate of radioactive decay is constant, so
scientists can compare the amount of parent
material with the amount of daughter material to
date rock.

• The more daughter material there is, the older

the rock is.
Chapter 15

Radiometric Dating
• Determining the absolute age of a sample,
based on the ratio of parent material to daughter
material is called radiometric dating.

• If you know the rate of decay for a radioactive

element in a rock, you can figure out the absolute
age of the rock.
Chapter 15

Radiometric Dating, continued

• A half-life is the time needed for half of a
sample of a radioactive substance to undergo
radioactive decay.

• After every half-life, the amount of parent

material decrease by one-half.
Chapter 15

Types of Radiometric Dating

• Scientists use different radiometric-dating methods
based on the estimated age of an object. There are
four radiometric-dating techniques.

• Potassium-Argon Method Potassium-40 has a

half-life of 1.3 billion years, and it decays leaving a
daughter material of argon.

• This method is used mainly to date rocks older

than 100,000 years.
Chapter 15

Types of Radiometric Dating, continued

• Uranium-Lead Method Uranium-238 is a
radioactive isotope with a half-life of 4.5 billion
years. Uranium-238 decays in a series of steps to
lead-206.

• The uranium-lead method can be used to date

rocks more than 10 million years old.
Chapter 15

Types of Radiometric Dating, continued

• Rubidium-Strontium Method The unstable
parent isotope rubidium-87 forms a stable daughter
isotope strontium-87.

• The half-life of rubidium-87 is 49 billion years. This

method is used for rocks older than 10 million years.
Chapter 15

Types of Radiometric Dating, continued

• Carbon-14 Method Carbon is normally found in
three forms, the stable isotopes carbon-12 and
carbon-13, and the radioactive isotope carbon-14.

• Living plants and animals contain a constant ratio

of carbon-14 to carbon-12. Once a plant or animal
dies, no new carbon is taken in. The amount of
carbon-14 begins to decrease as the plant or
animal decays.
Chapter 15

Types of Radiometric Dating, continued

• The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,730 years.

• The carbon-14 method of radiometric dating is

used mainly for dating things that lived within the
last 50,000 years.
Here are the elements used
in radioactive dating
Which rocks can we date?

 Igneous rocks. Because their

birthdays are when the lava hardens.
 Sedimentary rocks cannot be
dated because they are made of old
rocks. Their birthdays would not be
right.
Why not Sedimentary
Rocks?
Radioactive
Radioactive Dating
Dating would
would say
say
these
these rock
rocksee
Do you particles
particles are
are 50
100
the problem???
million
million years
years old
old

Let’s say this Sedimentary rock

is actually 20 million years old.
Radioactive Dating

 To deal with this problem, we date the

intrusions and extrusions near the
sedimentary rock layers than use their
absolute ages to find the relative age
of the nearby sedimentary rock layers.
Radioactive Dating
We can date the intrusion and
extrusion and use their absolute ages
to tell about how old the other layers
are.
Climate Records from Ice Cores
Major Points
• Ice cores have provided the best record of climate
change over the last 700K years.
• The most important climate characteristics recovered
from ice cores are air temperature, atmospheric CO2
and CH4 concentrations and dust.
• One key unanswered question is the cause of the
atmospheric CO2 shifts between glacial and
interglacial periods.
• Another key question, still not completely answered,
is the sequence of events that occur that cause the earth
to shift from glacial to interglacial periods.
Ice Cores!

PPT 4.1.1
Ice Cores
 Drilling into glacial
ice allows us to see
back in time.

 Each winter new

snow fall packs on
top of previous
snow. This creates a
new band each year.

PPT 4.1.1
Dating Ice Cores

 Ice cores are like tree rings

 Summer ice appears light
 Winter ice appears dark
 How many years do you see?

PPT 4.1.1
Dating Ice Cores

This ice core shows 12 years

PPT 4.1.1
Air Bubbles
 Air bubbles in the ice
trap pollen and the
atmosphere which is
made of gases.
 These help scientists
know what the
climate was like
thousands of years
ago.

PPT 4.1.1
What is the Earth’s time scale?

 The Geological time scale is a record

of the life forms and geological events
in Earth’s history.
 Scientists developed the time scale by
studying rock layers and fossils world
wide.
 Radioactive dating helped determine
the absolute divisions in the time scale.
 Divisions of Geologic Time
 Eras are subdivided into periods...periods are
subdivided into epochs.
Pre-Cambrian Era
 Earth’s 1st era of time
 Began with the formation of the Earth 4.6 billion
years ago.
 Five major events occurred during this era:
– Formation of the Sun and light
– Creation of the Earth
– Creation of the atmosphere through volcanic
out-gassing
– Creation of the oceans
– Creation of life
Pre-Cambrian Era
continued…
 This Era began with simple life forms
such as bacteria and algae
 There was a rise of simple organisms
such as jellyfish and sea worms by the
end of the era
 There are few fossils from this era
because the life forms were soft-
bodied and had no hard skeleton
Paleozoic Era
 The Paleozoic Era—Old Life This era lasted from
about 543 million to 248 million years ago. It is the first
era that is well represented by fossils.
 Explosion of life in the oceans began during this era.
 Most of the continents were covered in warm, shallow
seas.
 This era began with the early invertebrates
– Trilobites and brachiopods
 As time continued the first vertebrate fish appeared and
then arachnids and insects
 Eventually first amphibians appeared
 By the end of the era reptiles appeared and became
dominant
Paleozoic Era

 Early land plants during this era

included simple mosses, ferns, and
then cone-bearing plants
 By the end of the era, seed plants
were common
Paleozoic Era
 At the end of the Paleozoic, the largest mass
extinction in history wiped out
approximately 90% of all marine animal
species and 70% of land animals.
– Possible causes of this Mass Extinction Event
 Lowering of sea levels when the continents were
rejoined as Pangaea (convergent boundary)
 Increased volcanic activity (ash and dust)

 Climate changes – cooler climate

 Trilobites

 Lived in Earth’s ancient seas

 Extinct before the dinosaurs
came into existence
 Cambrian Period is know as
the “Age of the Trilobites”
(put in on table)
Brachiopods

 Marine animals that resemble clams.

Early Fish

Early fish did not have jaws.

Some species of sharks
were in existence at this
time.
 Early Land Plants

Mosses

Cone bearing plants

Ferns
 Mesozoic Era – Middle
Life
 At the beginning of this era the continents
were joined as Pangaea.
 Pangaea broke up around the middle of
this era.
 Reptiles became the most abundant
animals because of their ability to adapt to
the drier climate of the Mesozoic Era.
– Skin maintains body fluids
– Embryos live in shells
Mesozoic Era
 Dinosaurs were also very active in this era.
– First small dinosaurs appeared in the Triassic
Period.
– Larger and more abundant dinosaurs
appeared in the Jurassic Period.
 Small mammals and birds also
appeared during this era.
– The mammals were small, warm-blooded
animals. Hair covering their bodies.
 These characteristics help them survive in
changing environments.
 Mesozoic Era
 The main plant life of this time were
Gymnosperms or plants that produce seeds,
but no flowers.
– Pine Trees

 Flowering plants appeared during the END of

this era.
 Mesozoic Era
 This era ended with a mass extinction event
about 65 million years ago.
– Many groups of animals, including the dinosaurs
disappeared suddenly at this time.

 Many scientists believe that this event was

caused by a comet or asteroid colliding with
the Earth.
 Mesozoic Era – Mass
Extinction Event
 Asteroid or Comet collides with Earth.
– Huge cloud of smoke and dust fills the air
– Blocks out sunlight
– Plants die
– Animals that eat plants die
– Animals that eat plant-eaters die.

 However, not all forms of life died during this

event. Many animals that you see today are
descendants from the survivors of this extinction
event.
Dinosaurs
Mesozoic Reptiles
Mesozoic Mammals
Mesozoic
Plants
Flowering plants evolved
towards the end of the
Mesozoic Era.
Cenozoic Era – Recent Life
 Began about 65 million years ago and continues
today!!!!!
– Climate was warm and mild.
– Marine animals such as whales and dolphins evolved.
 Mammals began to increase and evolve adaptations
that allowed them to live in many different
environments – land, air and the sea.
– Grasses increased and provided a food source for grazing
animals
 Many mountain ranges formed during the Cenozoic
Era
– Alps in Europe and Himalayas in India; Rocky Mountains
the USA
Cenozoic Era
 Growth of these mountains may have helped to
cool down the climate
– Ice Ages occurred late in the Cenozoic Era
(Quaternary Period).

 As the climate changed, the animals had to

adapt to the rise and fall of the oceans caused
by melting glaciers.

 This era is sometimes called the “Age of

Mammals”
 Cenozoic Era
 Marine animal examples:
– Algae, Mollusks, Fish and Mammals

 Land animal examples:

– Bats, Cats, Dogs, Cattle and Humans
– Humans are thought to have appeared around 3.5
million years ago (during the most recent period
– Quaternary).

 Flowering plants were now the most common

plant life.
Cenozoic Mammals
Flowering Plants were
common during the
Cenozoic Era