GEOLOGY 1111 Earth Systems

Instructor: Dr. David Schneider - 0011 Marion Hall

office hours: W 10:00-11:30, or by appointment

teaching assistants (TAs):

GEO1111@uottawa.ca
Name e-mail
Hao Mai hmai090@uottawa.ca
Adriana Raats araat027@uottawa.ca
Tatiana Sitnikova tsitn029@uottawa.ca
Catherine Suclan csucl094@uottawa.ca
Quan Zhang qzhan168@uottawa.ca
Hao Mai hmai090@uottawa.ca

office hours: see syllabus; MRN 102

Schedule is subject to change!

Course Evaluation
Exam I 20%
Exam II 20%
Exam III 20%
Final Exam 40%
(15% new material + 25% cumulative)

‘exam-type’ Q&A posted after each lecture;

not graded – only for self-assessment

No required textbook.
Any intro-level Physical Geology or Earth
Science book is adequate.
“Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.”
– Will Durant (American philosopher & historian, 1885-1981)
 What should we be worried about?
Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Eruption – January 15th, 2022

Ash cloud was 650 km wide, and at least 20 km high

What should we be worried about?
7.2 magnitude, January 03, 2010
22:36:28 UTC, Solomon Islands
What should we be worried about?
7.1 magnitude, January 02, 2011
05:20:18 UTC, Araucania, Chile
What should we be worried about?
9.0 magnitude, March 11, 2011
05:46:24 UTC, Honshu, Japan
What should we be worried about?
What should we be worried about?
Earthquakes >2.5M: 2022
What should we be worried about?
What should we be worried about?
Earthquakes >2.5M: 2022

Ottawa
Yellowstone

New Madrid zone

 Eastern ON / Western QC

2010-2011 2006-2011
 Eastern ON / Western QC

4.4 magnitude, May 2013 5.0 magnitude, June 2010

What should we be worried about?
Earthquakes >2.5M: 2022

Ottawa
Yellowstone

New Madrid zone

Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
What should we be worried about?
Earthquakes >2.5M: 2022

Ottawa
Yellowstone

New Madrid zone

New Madrid Fault Zone

Correlation?

Trauma cited in mysterious Arkansas bird kill

USAToday (Jan 2011)
~2000 birds fall from sky
(unrelated?) ~80,000 to 100,000 freshwater fish wash onshore
 The science of the solid Earth
• Geology is the science that pursues an
understanding of planet Earth
• Modern approach is to examine Earth as a
SYSTEM:

Atmosphere Hydrosphere

Biosphere Cryosphere

Lithosphere

the intellectual & practical activity encompassing the systematic

study of the structure & behaviour of the physical & natural world
through observation & experiment
Where Earth Scientist Work
• In the field (the natural laboratory)…
Where Earth Scientist Work
• In the laboratory…
Most of the resources we use come from geologic materials
 If it wasn’t grown, it was mined
 The nature of scientific inquiry

• Science assumes the natural world is

consistent & predictable
Geology differs from other sciences:

1) Deals with large spatial scales &

complex systems
• controlled experiments are difficult / impossible
• observation & description acquire proportionately
more importance

Nanga Parbat, Pakistan - 8.1 km Zircon crystal

(8100000000 microns) (200 microns)
 The nature of scientific inquiry

• Science assumes the natural world is

consistent & predictable
Geology differs from other sciences:

2) Deals with time scales that are immense

compared to human lives
• impossible to observe entire process directly
(only able to view snapshots)
• spatial variation can be interpreted as temporal evolution

• Principle of Uniformitarianism:
geological processes & natural laws that operate today have
acted throughout geologic time
oldest continental rock:
4.6 billion years old

extinction of dinosaurs:
65 million years ago

evolution of Homo sapiens:

500 thousand years ago

last glacial maximum:

15,000 years ago

duration of average earthquake: <10 seconds

• Earth is ~4.6 Ga (billion years old)
Jan 1: Earth formed
..compressed into 1 year
Feb 21: life formed
Oct 25: complex organisms
Dec 7: reptiles evolved
Dec 25: dinosaurs extinct
Dec 31, 11:00 pm: homo sapiens appear
Dec 31, 11:59:59.97: Leonard da Vinci paints Mona Lisa
• typical university course: 0.0000011% of Earth’s history
 The nature of scientific inquiry

Science assumes the natural world is

consistent & predictable
Geology differs from other sciences:
3) Geologic evidence is fragmented / incomplete
• conclusions & models may be non-unique and dependent.
on intuition & experience
• art & science of "geologizing" – geocognition
• organize & resolve disparate data sources:
• chemistry
• physics
• biology
• geography
The nature of scientific inquiry

• Science assumes the natural world is consistent

& predictable

• Scientists collect "facts" through observation &

measurements, but facts are secondary to
understanding

• Goal of science is to discover patterns in nature &

use the knowledge to make predictions

• It's not what you know,

but how you know it!
 The nature of scientific inquiry

• How or why things happen are explained using:

 The nature of scientific inquiry

• How or why things happen are explained using:

Inductive (Baconian) method
early stages; • collection of data without regard to theory
reconnaissance • expect explanation will become apparent from organization &
synthesis of large data sets

Deductive (Darwinian) method

later stages; • devised model(s) accounts for set of observations, and used
focused to make predictions about nature
• iterative
 The nature of scientific inquiry

• How or why things happen are explained using:

• Hypothesis (model) – a tentative (or untested) explanation
--- model: testable, powerful, parsimonious
• Theory – a well-tested & widely accepted view that the
scientific community agrees best explains certain observable
facts
• Law – statement based on repeated experimental
observations that describes some phenomenon of nature
with high degree of confidence (does not always explain
WHY it happens)
 The nature of scientific inquiry

• Deductive scientific method

1) Collection of scientific facts (data)
2) Development of one or more working hypotheses
to explain the facts
3) Development of observations & experiments to test
the hypotheses
4) Acceptance, modification, or rejection

Dinosaur example!
 Not the only extinction event…

Biodiversity during the Phanerozoic

 A scientific inquiry

• Step One: Data collection or observations

• Dinosaurs extinct @ ~66 Ma
• Many plankton extinct @ ~66 Ma
• Many(!) other organisms extinct @ ~66 Ma
• Extinction was FAST
• Corresponds to unique geochemical anomalies
(Ir, S, C) in rock record

Ma = mega-annum = millions of years = 106 years

Ga = giga-annum = billions of years = 109 years
 66 Ma

Iridium (platinum
group metal) found in:
• Earth's primordial lavas & the
core
• meteorites, comets,
cosmic dust
Sulfur derived from:
• Bolide impact on evaporite/carbonate terrain
(volatilization of gypsum/anhydrite : SO42-)
• Volcanism releases S
(reduced gases, SO2 … oxidized to SO42-)

66 Ma

K-T
 Carbon…
(terrestrial C)

66 Ma
 A scientific inquiry

• Step Two: Theory development

• Comet or asteroid impact created the geochemical
anomalies (vs. lava eruptions)
• Testable? Side effects?
• Crater(s)
• Dust cloud + fireball = "nuclear winter"
instant death
(vs. synchronous numerous and thick lava flows)
 A scientific inquiry

• Step Three: Observations & experiments

• Test/confirm world-wide geochemical anomalies
• Test/confirm abrupt end to dinosaurs & plankton
• Identify crater
} multiple working hypothesis
• Identify large lava eruptions
 Step Three: volcanic origin?

Deccan Traps (India)

flood basalts; 60-68 Ma
> 2,000 m thick
area > 500,000 km2
volume > 512,000 km3
Step Three: bolide impact?

Wanapitei crater, ON, 37 Ma

Manicouagan crater, QC, 214 Ma
Charlevoix crater, QC, 342 Ma
Sudbury crater, ON, 1850 Ma
Sudbury crater, ON, 1850 Ma

nickel, copper, platinum, palladium, gold

Chicxulub crater: 66 Ma
Step Three: bolide impact?

• Crater identified
• Anomalies associated with ash, soot, glass (tektites)
 A scientific inquiry

• Step Four: Accept, modify, reject?

• Almost abrupt end to terrestrial & marine life
• Geochemical anomalies are world-wide
• Anomalies associated dust cloud/fireball
• Crater!
• Some large lava eruptions
 Theory of Plate Tectonics

• Plate Tectonics • composite of ideas that explain the

observed motion of Earth’s lithosphere thru mechanisms
of subduction & sea-floor spreading which generate
continents & ocean basins