GEOL 1006 (Introductory Geology I)

GEOL1021(Understanding the Earth I)

Pedro Jugo
QUICK NOTES:
Which course should I take?
1. GEOL1006 and GEOL1021 share the same lectures
2. GEOL1006 has a lab component
(and you need to enroll in one of the four available lab sections)
3. There is no lab component for GEOL1021
4. GEOL1006 is mandatory to several programs
(e.g. BSc in Earth Sciences).
5. Both can be taken as electives
6. If in doubt, consult with your program coordinator
Textbooks and course content:
1. There are no mandatory textbooks for this course
2. Most ‘Physical Geology’ and ‘Introductory Geology’ books share the same
content and most of them are reasonably good.
However, the majority contain errors (often minor), mostly because they
try to oversimplify complex concepts.
3. There are several ‘Open Textbook’ options available. One of most recent is
by Karla Panchuk: https://openpress.usask.ca/physicalgeology/
4. If you need to buy a book, I recommend:
Essentials of Geology by Stephen Marshak
5. All slides shown in the lectures will be posted in D2L (but only after the end
of each topic). The slides from last year are already on D2L. Additional
material relevant to the course (news articles, papers, etc.) will also be
uploaded in D2L.
GRADING

Marking Scheme for GEOL 1021 Marking Scheme for GEOL 1006
Midterm Exam 50% Midterm Exam 35%
Final Exam 50% Final Examination 35%
Laboratory Work 30%
Why is geology relevant?
Understanding geological concepts is relevant to four broad areas:
1. Finding, extracting, and managing energy resources. From traditional energy sources
(fossil fuels: oil, gas, coal) to alternative sources of energy (which require chemical
elements, such as lithium, cobalt, neodymium, etc.)
2. Finding, extracting, and managing materials required to maintain and develop civilization
(iron, copper, lead, zinc, plastic, etc.). Humans have found use to essentially every known
element in the periodic table
3. Understanding, assessing, and mitigating geological hazards; from localized, and
relatively short-term events (such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis), to
planet-scale processes operating over long terms (such as glacial periods), to
Anthropogenic impacts (such as climate chaos).
4. Understanding planetary evolution, including causes of mass extinctions, such as
meteoritic impacts
CONTENT
This is a list of the topics we usually cover in this course:
Plate Tectonics Rocks and Minerals
Igneous Rocks Sedimentary Rocks
Metamorphic Rocks Geologic time
Volcanism Earthquakes
Earth’s resources Earth’s Interior
Near Earth Objects (NEO) Meteoritic impacts
Course delivery is synchronous (real-time). There will be no pre-recorded
lectures or posting of recorded lecture.
Tips to do well in this (or any) course:
Take notes by hand!
(instead of just listening or ‘transcribing’ notes using a keyboard)
Why?
It has been shown that typing on a keyboard is more an automatic process
and involves less mental processing than taking notes by hand.
(see resources on D2L)
Taking notes by hand is a very useful skill. It does not mean ‘transcribing’ all
that is being said BUT active processing of information and mostly
highlighting three key things: main points, aspects that need clarification,
questions (then, of course, ask those questions)
Use the resources available at the Centre for Academic Excellence to learn
or improve how to take notes
Tips to do well in this (or any) course (Cont.):
Be aware of the concept of metacognition:
The match (or discrepancy) between what you think you know and what you
really know
Best summarized as the Dunning-Kruger effect
Read more at:
https://serc.carleton.edu/sage2yc/musings/dunning-kruger.html
(including a link to the original paper)
“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom.
The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able
to put together the right information at the right time, think
critically about it, and make important choices wisely.”

E. O. Wilson
 Break 1

Questions?
GEOL 1006 Introductory Geology I
GEOL 1021 Understanding the Earth I

Introductory lecture:
Perspective
Quick overview of the course content
Go to Plate Tectonics
Saturn, Cassini-Huygens, 2013-07-22
(~9.5 AU from Earth)
Saturn rings
Cassini, 2013-07-19
(~9.5 AU from Earth)

That's here. That's home. That's us...

NASA’s Curiosity rover
(Mars, 80 min after sunset)

That's here. That's home. That's us...

16
Perspective
Let’s change scales to get a better understanding of
distances and size

• Earth diameter = 12,742 km

• Sun diameter = 1,391,684 km
• Sun to Earth distance = 149,600,000 km
Perspective
Let’s change scales to get a better understanding of
distances and size

• Earth diameter ~ 13,000 km

• Sun diameter ~ 1,400,000 km
• Sun to Earth distance ~ 150,000,000 km

If sun scaled to a sphere 100 cm in diameter:

Earth diameter: ~1 cm
Sun to Earth distance ~ 100 m (1 AU)
Therefore, Earth’s orbit: ~ 200 m diameter
Perspective
Let’s change scales to get a better understanding of
distances and size (part II)

• Earth diameter ~ 13,000 km

• Sun diameter ~ 1,400,000 km
• Sun to Earth distance ~ 150,000,000 km

If sun scaled to a sphere 10 cm in diameter

(e.g. size of a grapefruit):
Earth diameter: ~1 mm (dot on a page)
Sun to Earth distance ~ 10 m (1 AU)
Therefore, Earth’s orbit: ~ 20 m diameter
The Blue Marble
(and “the only home
we will ever know”)

This is the first clear

image of a fully
illuminated face of
Earth

(Apollo 17
NASA, 1972)
The Earth system includes atmosphere and hydrosphere
The “solid Earth” excludes atmosphere and hydrosphere
(this course deals mostly with solid Earth processes)
Earth
How and when did it form?

What is it made of?

Why is it changing? (and how fast?)

What causes natural hazards such as

earthquakes and volcanic eruptions?

What is inside?

Where can we find non-renewable

Resources? Why?

How can we use resources responsibly?

To understand geological processes, we need to
grasp the magnitude of geologic time…

Earth Earth now

(4.5 BILLION years ago) Up to here Sep. 8th, 2022
 Geologic Time
v
 Geological time
It is often difficult to
comprehend the
magnitude of geological
time

Up to here
Sep. 8Th
2022
Example of misguiding
information:

Common representation of
Geological time (left) gives
impression that
Precambrian eon is
relatively short

This is done because an

accurate relative scale
(right) cannot
accommodate all the
relevant information for the
Phanerozoic
Some geologic events are fast!

Meteor Crater (Arizona, USA)

(~2 km across). Formed in less than
one minute about 50,000 years ago
Volcanic
eruptions…

Mount Pinatubo, 1991 (USGS)

Some geologic events are slow

It took > 250 million

years to deposit the ~
3000 m sequence of
Rocks at the base of rocks on top
the canyon are
about 2 billion years
old.

Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA)

Relevant aspects
involve large scale
processes…
 ..and the atomic scale
features …

High resolution transmission

electron microscope image of a
gold particle in a sulfur-arsenic-
iron mineral. Each dot is an
atom.

Palenik and Kesler (2004)

Best place to start is at the large scale:

Plate Tectonics

But we need some basic concepts first

1. Structure of the Earth
Main Layers of the Earth
mantle
Earth’s radius: crust outer core
only a bit more than 6,300 km molten

Main contacts:
Inner-outer core boundary:
inner core
~ 5,000 km solid

Core-mantle boundary:
~ 2,800 km

Crust thickness:
oceanic up to 12 km
continental: up to 70 km
How do we know the Earth is layered?
Seismic waves (produced during earthquakes and captured by seismic
stations) “illuminate” (and map) the Earth’s interior:
Compression (P waves) and shear waves (S waves) behave differently. Both are
bent (diffracted) because of differences in density. Shear waves are absorbed
(do not move through) molten material.

Earth’s interior is layered according to density

• Whole Earth density is 5.5 g/cm3
• Surface rock density is variable but less than 3.5 g/cm3
• Core density is higher than 10 g/cm3

*Direct observations at these scales are impossible: the deepest drillhole ever made by
mankind is just above 12 km deep
Layered Earth
The change through the mantle is gradual
(increase in density due to increase in
pressure).

However, the abrupt change in density between

mantle and core require changes in the
chemical composition.

Smaller but abrupt change between inner and

outer core (coupled with lack of S waves
through outer core) imply the outer core is
liquid.
2. Composition of the Earth
Problem: How to estimate the composition of an entire
planet?
Only a very small fraction of the planet can be sampled directly:
• The deepest drilled well (Kola superdeep borehole) is 12 km
• Some rare volcanic processes (kimberlite pipes) often bring very
rare samples from the Earth’s mantle (estimated from up to ~400
km deep)
Solution: The composition of the Sun and composition of certain
meteorites can be used to ESTIMATE the bulk composition of the
Earth.
Main assumption: The Earth formed from the same components as the rest
of the solar system (except the most volatile gases, such as hydrogen and
helium)
 Carbonaceous chondrite
(Allende Meteorite)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allende_meteorite.jpg (cropped from original)

Iron meteorite, showing the
diagnostic
Widmanstätten pattern
(intergrowth of two different Ni-
Fe alloys)

Cropped from original: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Widmanstatten_hand.jpg

 Some types of chondrites
match chemical parameters
estimated for the Sun’s
photosphere

Iron meteorites almost

have the density required
to explain the inner and
outer core
 Problem: How to estimate the composition of the Sun?

Emission Spectra

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fraunhofer_lines.svg
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1733:_Solar_Spectrum
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/ssp/stars_planets/solarspectrum.html
Whole Earth Chemical Composition
(from chondritic meteorites)
 Main Divisions:
The core took a large proportion Mantle + Crust
of iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni).

The rest of the elements outer core

(and some Fe and Ni) +
remained in the mantle inner core

The Earth’s crust was (and is)

extracted from the mantle

The structure (layering) of the

planet can be determined from
Earthquakes (seismic waves).
(more of this later!)
Summary (how to estimate the composition of a planet):
• From the Sun spectra: the ratio of major elements (Mg/Si, Al/Si, Fe/Si)
• From Chondrites: relative proportion of all other elements
(except hydrogen and helium, which are lost in terrestrial planets)
• From iron meteorites: That planetary cores are mostly Fe-Ni alloys
• The mantle composition is essentially chondrites minus the core
• Results can be independently validated (or calibrated) by analyzing mantle rocks
ESTIMATED Chemical composition of the Earth:
Main differences:

1. Core is mostly
iron-nickel alloys
(Fe-Ni) with minor
amounts of a lighter
element (not clear yet
but main suspects are
oxygen, sulfur, silicon)

2. Mantle and crust

are mainly composed
of ‘silicates’ (compounds in
which silicon oxide structures
are the main ‘building blocks’.
Man
made

You will need to know the symbols

for at least the elements indicated in red
Summary:
• The structure of the planet (major discontinuities) can be established
by seismic methods
• The composition of the planet can be estimated from the sun and a
particular type of meteorites (chondrites)
• The Earth’s mantle composition is essentially chondrite minus Fe-Ni
core
• The crust was extracted over time from the mantle
• The crust is heterogeneous (oceanic crust is thinner and more dense
than continental crust)
Main Layers of the Earth’s solid surface
The crust: continental crust is made of slighter lighter (less
dense) rock than the oceanic crust, which is slightly less dense
than the mantle. Thus, crust “floats” on the mantle

Depth
(km) 0
10 Average Continental Crust
20 (2.8 g/cm3)
30
Oceanic crust
Mantle (3.0 g/cm3)
40 (3.4 g/cm3)
50
Horizontal distance not to scale
Continental crust includes land masses above water AND submerged plateaus
Oceanic crust is most of the oceanic floor AFTER the plateaus
 Now to Plate tectonics

Up to here
Sep. 12Th
2022
Additional slides with syllabus information
(fall 2022) – not shown in class
(PDF of syllabus on D2L)