Introduction

To
Geology
Geology: Study of origin, structure and composition of
Earth Branches of Geology

Physical geology: Study of geological processes

Structural Geology: Study of structural features of the

rocks

Mineralogy: Study of physical, chemical and optical

properties of minerals

Petrology: Study of rocks with reference to their mode

of formation and evolution
• Stratigraphy: Study of rocks in their sequence of
time
• Palaeontology: Study of remains of plants and
animals (fossils)
• Economic Geology: Study of mode of formation and
occurrence of rocks and minerals of economic
importance
• Engineering Geology: Study of geological conditions
for construction of dams, bridge,tunnel sites
• Hydrogeology: Study of ground water supply
• Importance:

•Academic interest
•Palaeogeography
•Palaeoclimate
•Palaeoenvironment
•Evolution of animals
• Applied interest
• Discovery and exploration of
economic minerals, coal and
petroleum
• Methods of mining of rocks and
mineral deposits
• Construction of road,bridge,dam and
tunnels
• Ground water supply
• Principles of Geology
• (a) The Principle Catastrophism: Suddenly acting
geological forces like erosion, sedimentation,
disruption and uplift result in rapid changes in
geological structures. It is opposite to

• (b)The Principle of Uniformitarianism" is the

idea that natural geologic processes have been
uniform in frequency and magnitude throughout
time. The principle is basically stating that "the
present is the key to the past." The concept given
by James Hutton (1783)
• Origin of Earth
• Various Theory

• 1. Nebular Hypothesis
• 2. Planetesimal Hypothesis
• 3. Gaseous Tidal Hypothesis
• Nabular Hypothesis
• German philosopher, Kant and French mathematician,
Laplace
• Earth, planets and sun originated from Nebula.
• Nebula was large cloud of gas and dust. It rotates
slowly.
• Gradually it cooled and contracted and its speed
increased.
• A gaseous ring was separated from nebula
• Later the ring cooled and took form of a planet
• On repetition of the process all other planets came
into being
• The central region, nebula became sun.
• Objections to Nabular Hypothesis :
• Sun should have the greatest angular
momentum because of its mass and situated in
the center, however, it has only two percent of
momentum of the solar system

• How the hot gaseous material condensed

in to rings
•Planetesimal Hypothesis
Chamberlin and Moulton
proposed the theory in 1904
• The sun existed before the formation of
planets
• A star came close to the sun.
• Because of the gravitation pull of the star,
small gaseous bodies were
separatedfrom the sun
• These bodies on cooing became small
planet's
• During rotation the small planets collided and
form planets
• Objections to Planetesimal Hypothesis
• The angular momentum
could not be produced by the
passing star.

• The theory failed to explain

how the planetesimals had
become one planet
• Gaseous Tidal Theory
Jeans and Jeffrey proposed the theory in 1925
• Large star came near the sun. Due to
gravitational pull a gaseous tide was raised
on the surface of the sun.
• As the star came nearer, the tide increased
in size.
• Gaseous tide detached when star move
away.
• The shape of the tide was like spindle.
• It broke into pieces-forming nine planets of
the solar system.
• Big Bang theory of origin of universe
Most scientists now believe that the
Universe sprang into existence from a
singularity -- a term physicists use to
describe regions of space that defy
the laws of physics. Once the
singularity was created (however it
happened), it began to expand
through a process called inflation.
• The Universe went from very
small, very dense, and very hot to
the cool expanse that we see
today. This theory is now referred
to as the Big Bang, a term first
coined by Sir Fred Hoyle during a
British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) radio broadcast in 1950.
• Internal structure of the Earth:
• Crust:
• Continental crust (25-40 km)
• Oceanic crust (~6 km)
• Mantle
• Upper mantle (650 km)
• Lower mantle (2235 km)
• Core
• Outer core: liquid (2270 km)
• Inner core: solid (1216 km)
 Lithosphere: Crust+ Upper Mantle
• Chemical composition
• in terms of oxide:
• Ten oxides
(SiO2(60%),Ai2O3,Cao,Feo,Na2O,MgO,K2O,Fe
2O3, H2O, TiO2) constitute 98%.
• In terms of elements:
Oxygen (46.71%),Silicon(27.69%), Aluminum
(8.07%),
Iron (5.05%),Calcium(3.65%),Na,K,Mg(7%),Ti,H.
• In terms of Minerals, (by volume)
• Quartz – 11%
• K-feldspars- 16%
• Plagioclase feldspars- 47%
• Amphibole and Biotite- 20%
• Magnetite – 5%
• Apatite- 1%
•In terms of rocks
Igneous rocks- 95%
Shale- 4%
Sandstone- 0.75%
Limestone- 0.25%
• Age of the Earth: Different criteria and various
factors have been used to determine age of
the earth. Two distinct processes of
estimation are as follows:-

• (i) Relative age

• (ii) Actual age

• Relative age: It includes various
processes of determining the age like-
• Varve clay- 0 to 10000 years
• Sedimentation clock- 510 million years
• Salinity clock- 100 million years
• Rate of cooling of the earth- 20 to 400
million years
• Evolutionary changes of animals- 1000
million years
• Actual age: The basic principle underlying all the
radioactive methods is that “ radioactive parent
element decays in to stable daughter element at the
constant rate.”

• Uranium – lead method: Half life of U238- 4498 Million

years
• Thorium – lead method: Half life of Th232 13900
Million years
• Potassium- argon method: Half life of K40-11850
Million years
• Rubidium-strontium- Half of Rb 87- 50000 Million years
• Isotopes Commonly used for Radiometric Dating7
Element, Daughter Half-life (yrs), Effective dating
range
• Uranium-238† Lead-206† 4.51 billion, 10 million to
origin of Earth,
• Uranium-235 Lead-207 0.704 billion, 10 million to
origin of Earth
• Rubidium-87 Strontium-87 48.8 billion, 10 million to
origin of Earth Potassium-40†
• Argon-40 1.25 billion 100,000 to origin of Earth
• Carbon-14 Nitrogen-14 5730 ± 40 yrs, 0-100,000
years
•Tectonic elements of
crust:
• Continental shelf:D-200m,W-70 Km,
coverage- 7.5% of ocean
• Continental slope: Slope-40 D- 200-1000m
• Ocean floor:D-1000-4000m,MOR,Volcanic
Massifs, Abyssal Plain
Coastal Set up
• Ocean floor
1) Mid Oceanic Ridge (MOR)
2)Mid Atlantic Ridge
3)Indian Oceanic Ridge
4)Oceanic trench
5)island Arc