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Earth Science Second Quarter
Earth Science Second Quarter
Earth Science Second Quarter
Weathering
● changes driven by different forces of nature
● a process of breakdown of rocks due to changing temperature, acid, salts and animals.
3 Types of Weathering
1. Physical Weathering: caused by the changing temperature of rocks
● Abrasion : rock surface is exposed to water, wind, and gravity
● Freeze Thaw : water seeps into cracks, freezes then expands
● Exfoliation : cracks develop parallel to the land surface ; occurs in upland areas
3. Gravitational Pressure
2 Main Mechanism
1. Decompression Melting : same temperature, reduced pressure
2. Flux Melting : different temperature, same pressure ; water and Co2 are added
● Silica Tethrahedra : Silicon and Oxygen
● Plutonism : igneous geological activities taking place below the surface ; does not
make it to the surface
● Plutonic Rock : granite
● Volcanism : makes it out
○ Volcanites : gray, dull pink colored trakibasaitic lava with large phenocrystal
Factors :
● Temperature: heat affects rocks chemical composition, mineralogy, and texture
● Pressure : same with temperature but differs in tectonic settings
● Confining Pressure or Vertical Stress : the same in all directions
● Directed Pressure or Differential Pressure : dominant at convergent
Types of Metamorphism
1. Contact Metamorphism : magma contacts a rock by extreme heat
2. Regional Metamorphism : great masses of rocks are exposed to pressure
3. Shock Metamorphism : heat and shockwave caused by meteor
4. Burial Metamorphism : lower temperature and pressure
● Diagenesis : transformation of sediments into rocks
3 Main Types
1. Tentional Stress : rocks pull apart ; divergent
2. Compression Stress : rocks fold or fracture ; convergence
3. Shear Stress : rocks slide pass each other that causes slippage and translation
Geologic Structures
Folds : compressive stress and deformed plastically ; bending of rocks
3 Types of Folds
1. Monocline : simple bend (top : youngest , bottom : oldest)
2. Anticline : fold arches upward (center : oldest , top : youngest)
3. Syncline : bends downward
Types of Fault
1. Normal Fault : most common at divergent
● East African Rift
● Himalayas Mountain
● Rocky Mountain
Seafloor Spreading
Harry Hess (1960): discovered Seafloor Spreading
Seafloor Spreading : when a magma moves up to the mantle that creates a crack ; results
from mantle convection
Magnetometer : used to measure changes in earth’s magnetic field ; to survey cultural heritage
sites
Continental slope- Transition zone of continental shelf and deep ocean floor. It
Continental rise- It is where the ocean begins. All basaltic and oceanic rocks
are found here. It is the place where the sediments from land are washed. The
Abyssal plain- The flattest part of the ocean. 50 % of the earth’s surface is being covered by
this plain.
Island- It’s not just a piece of land floating up in the middle of the sea, it is part of the ocean
basin that extends up from the ocean floor.
middle of the ocean basin. It is where upwelling of magma happens which causes the sea floor
to spread.
The Wilson Cycle Process of the opening (beginning) and the closing (end)
of an ocean which is driven by Plate Tectonics.
Canadian Geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson (1908-1993).
Rock Layers
● exposed rocks are often sedimentary formed
● a rock is formed due to the passage of time and more particles put together
● Gravel : Conglomerates
● Sand : Sandstone
● Mud : Mudstone or Shale
● Skeleton of Animals and Plants : Fossils
Process of Stratification
1. Sedimentation : eroded sediments
2. Compaction : piling up
3. Strata : layering
4. Cementation : rock masses
Formed Through :
Relative Dating :
● less advanced
● age determined through comparing historical remains
Types
● Stratigraphy : oldest are lowest, youngest are top
● Biostratigraphy : extended version of Stratigraphy but used fossils
● Cross Dating : comparing fossils
● Fluorine Dating : amount of fluorine determines age
Absolute Dating :
● exact numerical age
Types
● Radiometric Dating : amount of radioactivity
● Amino Acid Dating : preserved amount of acid
● Dendro Chronology : growth smthn
● Thermo Luminescence : electrons
Index Fossils
Fossil :
Fossil record : shows that present-day life forms evolved from earlier different life forms
Examples of Fossils
● The griffin was probably based on skeletons of Protoceratops that were discovered by
nomads in Central Asia.
● Coiled horns of a ram. The Greeks named them ammonites after the ram god Ammon.
● Cyclops may be based on fossilized elephant skulls found in Crete and other
Mediterranean islands.
● Giant pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus had a wingspan of up to 12 meters (39 feet).
● Dinosaur Argentinosaurus had an estimated weight of 80,000 kg.
Index fossils
Living Fossils
● organisms that have existed for a tremendously long period without changing very much
at all
EARTH'S BIODIVERSITY
descendants are very different from their ancestors and may become a whole new
species.
Scientists believe the Earth began its life about 4.6 billion years ago. Chemosynthetic bacteria
appear on Earth at some time between 3.9 billion years ago.
● Hadean : the first geologic eon of Earth. It began with the formation of the Earth about
4.6 billion years ago and ended 4 billion years ago.
● Archean : it is the period where life first formed. Earth cooled down and was able to
support continents and oceans.
● Proterozoic : 2.5 billion years ago and ended 541 million years ago. Significant events
from this eon are the Great Oxygen Event, Snowball Earth, formation of the
supercontinent Rodinia, and the evolution of eukaryotic cells and of multicellular
organisms.
● Phanerozoic : 541 mya-present. It is the period of visible life where rapid expansion and
evolution of life forms occur and fill the various ecological niches available on Earth. 3
Eras ;
○ Paleozoic : 541 - 252 million years ago; ancient life
■ The Cambrian Period: Following the Precambrian mass extinction, there
was an explosion of new kinds of organisms in the Cambrian Period (544-
505 million years ago). Many types of primitive animals called sponges
evolved.
■ The Ordovician Period: (505-440 million years ago), the oceans became
filled with invertebrates of many types. Also during this period, the first
fish evolved and plants colonized the land for the first time.
■ The Silurian Period:(440-410 million years ago), corals appeared in the
oceans, and fish continued to evolve. On land, vascular plants appeared.
■ The Devonian Period (410-360 million years ago), the first seed plants
evolved. Seed plants eventually became the most common type of land
plants. In the oceans, fish with lobe fins evolved.
■ The Carboniferous Period:(360-290 million years ago) The first
amphibians evolved to move out of the water and colonize land, but they
had to return to the water to reproduce. The first reptiles evolved.
■ The Permian Period:(290-245 million years ago), all the major land
masses collided to form a supercontinent called Pangaea.
○ Mesozoic -252-66 million years ago; means 'middle life' and this is the time of
the dinosaurs
■ The Triassic Period (245-200 million years ago), the first dinosaurs
branched off from the reptile. The supercontinent Pangaea started to
separate into Laurasia and Gondwanaland
■ The Jurassic Period: (200-145 million years ago) This was the golden
age of dinosaurs.
■ The Cretaceous Period: (145-65 million years ago), dinosaurs reached
their peak in size and distribution.
○ Cenozoic Era - spans only about 65 million years; the age of mammals, we are
in this era.
■ divided into three periods: the Paleogene (66 million to 23 million years
ago), the Neogene (23 million to 2.6 million years ago), and the
Quaternary (2.6 million years ago to the present)
Era (several hundred million years) : Eons of geological time are subdivided into
eras, which are the second-longest units of geological time.