 In Greek, Geo means Earth, Logos means Science.

 Geology is a branch of science dealing with the study of the Earth. Therefore also
termed as Earth Science.

 Geology comprises the study of the whole Earth, its origin, structure, composition, and
history including the development of life and the nature of the process.

 Geology is the study of the Earth, the material of which it is made, the structure of
those materials, and the processes acting upon them. It includes the study of organisms
that have inhabited our planet. An important part of geology is the study of how Earth’s
materials, structures, processes, and organisms have changed over time. (Prof. Dr. Boris
Natalin)

 Geologists believe that a million year is a short amount of time and their heads are
harder than rocks.
How Geology was Born ?
 Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers collected pyrite concretions, quartz and galena crystals, and fossils mussels.

 Neolithic (onset 10,000 to 8000 years BC) – first true divinites

 Myth as explanation of nature

 Noah’s flood

 Pre-Socratic Greeks explained natural phenomenon and thought that the universe was governed by
unchanging principles and with intelligible and discoverable natural laws.

 Heraclitus (6th century BC) – ever changing world.

 Xenophanes of Colophon (6th century BC) – observed shells on the mountains and infer the sea level changes

 Herodotus (5th century BC) – suggested change of shorelines, steady growth of the Nile

 Empedocles of Agrigentum (490-430 BC) – assumed that the earth is perforated by many channels of various
sizes in which water and fire circulate. Importance of the internal heat!
Contribution of Greek
 First geographic map: Anaximander (610-546 BC)

 Long duration of geologic time: Anaxagoras (500-428 BC), Herodotus (485-425 BC), Strabo (64/63 BC-
23AD)

 Landscape is formed by erosion: Herodotus (485-425 BC), Publius Ovidius (Ovid) Naso (43 BC – AD
17/18), Pliny the Elder (23-78 AD), Polybius (ca. 200–118 BC) , Strabo (64/63 BC -23 AD)

 Sea level changes: Xenophanes of Colophon (570-470- BC), Herodotus (485-425 BC), Aristotle (384-322
BC), Strabo (64/63BC-23AD), Ovid (43 BC – AD 17/18)

 Earthquakes are caused by internal motions of air, water, fire, heat, etc.: Anaximander (610-546
BC), Aristotle (384-322 BC), Ovid, Pliny the Elder

 Earthquakes are caused by cooling and heating: Anaximenes of Miletus (585-528 BC)

 Volcanoes are safety valves reacting on internal motion of air, water, fire, heat, etc.: Anaxagoras
(500-428 BC), Strabo (64/63BC-23AD) , Ovid (43 BC – AD 17/18)

 Cyclic nature of geologic processes: Anaximander, Xenophanes of Colophon, Aristotle (384-322 BC),
Plato (427-347BC), Pliny the Elder, Strabo (64/63BC-23AD)
 Links between geologic processes: Anaximenes of Miletus (585-528 BC)

 Stable and unstable regions of the Earth: Democritus (460-370 BC), Strabo

 Linear shape of mountains: Pythagoras (570-497 BC), Plato (427-347BC)

 Contraction of the Earth: Anaximenes of Miletus

 Nicolaus Steno (1638-1686): Glossopetrae (tongue stones)

 Nicolaus Steno "The prodromus of Nicolaus Steno's dissertation concerning a solid body
enclosed by a process of nature within a solid"

 Steno introduced three principals of spatial and temporal relationships of rocks

• Original horizontality
• Original continuity
• Superposition
 James Hutton
(1726 – 1797)

 James Hutton, the eighteenth-century Scottish

geologists who is often called as the “Father of
Modern Geology”.

 Uniformitarianism –
 Physical, chemical, and biological laws that
operate today have also operated in the
geological past

 The present is key to the past

 The result, therefore, of our present inquiry is

that we find no vestige of a beginning, no
James Hutton (Photo courtesy of British Museum) prospect of an end

 Rock cycle
The Geological Time
Scale
 The Geological time scale is a record of the life forms and geological events in Earth’s history.

 Geologists developed the time scale by studying rock layers and fossils world wide.

 Radioactive dating helped determine the absolute divisions in the time scale.

 Eras are subdivided into periods ….periods are subdivided into epochs.
One Super Eon and Four Eras
 PRE-CAMBRIAN Super Eon – 88 % of earth’s history

 Paleozoic (ancient life)

- 544 million years ago …..lasted 300 million yrs

 Mesozoic (Middle life)

- 245 million years ago …..lasted 180 million yrs

 Cenozoic (Recent life)

- 65 million years ago …..continues through present day

 Today we are in the Holocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period of the Cenozoic Era
Paleozoic Era (Ancient Life)
 The Cambrian period is the 1st period of the Paleozoic Era. “Age of the Trilobites” or the
“Age of Fish”

 Explosion of life in the oceans began during this era.

 Most of the continents were covered in warm, shallow seas.

• Invertebrates were dominant – Trilobites

• Fish emerged during this time
• Fish led to the arrival of amphibians (the end of the Paleozoic era is called the “Age
of Amphibians”
• Early land plants including mosses, ferns and cone-bearing plants.
• The early coal forming forests were also formed during this time (Carboniferous
Period)
 The Cambrian (beginning) opened with the breakup of the world-continent Rodinia and
closed with the formation of Pangaea, as the Earth’s continents came together once again.

 This event is thought to have caused the climate changes that led to mass extinction event.

 The Appalachian mountains were formed during this time.

 At the end of the Paleozoic, the largest mass extinction in history wiped out approximately 90
% of all marine animals 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
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 the drier climate of the
Mesozoic Era.

• Skin maintains body fluids

• Embryos live in shells

 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.
 The main plant life of this time were Gymnosperms or plants that produce seeds, but no flowers (e.g.
Pine Trees)

 Flowering plants appeared during the END of this era.

 This era ended with mass extinction event about 65 million years ago.

 Many groups of animals, including the dinosaurs disappeared suddenly at this time.

 Meteorite Impact Hypothesis

Mesozoic Era – Mass Extinction Events
 Asteroid or Comets 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.
Geology is truly an interdisciplinary science, relying on the knowledge of chemistry, biology and
mathematics to fully understand the processes, which are at work on the surface of the earth and its
interior.
Career as a Geologist