CHAPTER 10:

History of Earth
Learning Objectives:
•Describe how layers of stratified rocks are formed
•Describe the different methods of determining the age of stratified
rocks
•Explain how relative and absolute dating were used to determine the
subdivisions of geologic time
•Describe how index fossils or guide fossils are used to define and
identify subdivisions of geologic time scale
•Describe the history of Earth through geologic time
LESSON 10.1
Stratigraphy and
Relative Ages
PRESENT PROCESSES HELPS US UNDERSTAND THE PAST
PROCESSES AND THE PRODUCTS THAT RESULTED FROM IT
 One of the most important guiding principles in the study of Earth's history is
the principle of unifortarianism by James Hutton. According to Hutton, the physical
processes occuring today also occured at comparable rates in the immensely long past.
Combining the observational skills with the stratigraphic principles proposed by Nicolas
Streno, the basic component of stratigraphy, or the study of rock layers and layering,
was formed.
Stratified rocks are products of the sedimentary processes which includes the
weathering and erosion of preexisting rocks, producing sediments that will be
transported by wind, or ice into depositional basins such as the sea, where it will
undergo compaction and lithification into a sedimentary rock. These sedimentary rocks
normally form layers or stratification which represent periods of deposition of
sediments.
Steno's Laws of Stratigraphy
The law of superposition states that at the time when any given stratum was being formed, all
the matter resting upon it was fluid, and, therefore, at the time when the lower stratum was
being formed, none of the upper strata existed. This law states that in an undisturbed sequence
of rock layers.
Steno's Laws of Stratigraphy
The law of lateral continuity states that material forming any stratum
were continuous over the surface of Earth unless some other solid bodies
stood in the way.
Steno's Laws of Stratigraphy
The law of cross-cutting relationships states that if a body or
discontinuity cuts across a stratum, it must have formed after that
stratum.
 Unconformities
These are surfaces of erosion and non-deposition that
separates younger rocks from older ones. For instance, if a
sedimentary rocks forms and still exposed to the elements,
it would begin to weather away and erode into sediments.
After some time new deposit on that eroded surface,
forming a new layer of rock.
Four main types of Unconformities
1.Angular Unconformity
Originally deposit horizontal layers are
folded or tilted and then eroded. When
erosions stops a new horizontal layer is
deposited on top of tilted layers forming
an angular boundary between the older
tilted rocks and the younger horizontal
layers.
Four main types of unconformities
2. Nonconformity
Metamorphic or igneous rock in
contact with sedimentary layers
which indicates the period of
uplift and erosion of previous
igneous/metamorphic rocks prior
to the deposition of a younger
sedimentary rock.
Four main types of unconformities
3.Disconformity
Layers of sediments are uplifted without
folding but are exposed to weathering and
erosion producing an irregular surface.
Eventually, the layers subsides and
deposition resumes forming an irregular
boundary between the older and younger
layers. This type of unconformity indicate
a large time gap between the two layers.
Four main types of unconformities
4. Paraconformity
Is an unconformity where the
strata are parallel to each other
and the contact is a simple
bedding plane indicative of a
continuous deposition.
LESSON 10.2
Absolute Dating
ELEMENTS HAVE ISOTOPES THAT CAN BE USED TO
DETERMINE AGE.
ABSOLUTE DATING
WHAT IS ABSOLUTE DATING?
Absolute dating is a method of measuring the age of an event or
object in years. To determine the absolute ages of fossils and rocks,
scientists analyze isotopes of radioactive elements. Isotopes are
atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons
but different numbers neutrons. Most isotopes are stable and will
stay in their original form. However, there are unstable isotopes that
decay into other forms in order to achieve stability. Scientists call
them 'radioactive isotopes'. These isotopes tend to break down into
stable isotopes of the same or other elements at a steady rate.
In radioactive decay, an unstable radioactive isotope of one
element breaks down into a stable isotope. The unstable
radioactive isotope is called 'parent isotope', while the
unstable isotope produced by the radioactive decay of the
parent isotope is called 'daughter isotope'.
Half-life is the time needed for half of a sample of a radioactive substance to
undergo radioactive decay. After every half-life the amount of parent material
decreases by one-half. The example on figure 10-7 shows that at time 0, all
atoms are parent isotope (16 parent) are some known ratio of parent top daughter.
After the first half life has elapsed in 10,000 years, has of the materials has
changed from parent to daughter isotope (8 parent; 8 daughter). After another
10,000 years to half-lives have elapsed, and the ratio is now four parent and 12
daughter isotopes. After the fourth half-life which is 40,000 years, only one
parent isotope remain.
Because the radioactive decay or half-life occurs at a steady rate,
scientists use and compare the relative amount of parent isotope
with the amount of daughter material to date an object. Hence, the
more daughter material there is the older the rock is. This
technique is called radiometric dating. There are four radiometric-
dating methods based on the estimated age of an object.
1. Potassium-argon method uses potassium-40, which has a half-
life of 1.3 billion years and as it decay, it leaves a daughter
material, argon. This method is used mainly to date rocks older
than 100 000 years.
2. Uranium-lead method uses
uranium-238, which has has a half-
life of 4.5 billion years. Uranium-
238 decays in a series of steps,
and ultimately becomes lead-206.
The uranium-lead method can be
used to date rocks more than 10
million years old.
3. Rubidium-strontium method
uses rubidium-87, which forms a
stable daughter isotope, strontium-
87. The half-life of Rubidium-87 is
49 billion years. This method is
used for rocks older than 10 million
years.
4. Carbon-14 method uses in three
forms of carbon: carbon-12 and carbon-
13, and the radioactive isotope carbon-
14. Living plants and animals contain a
constant ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-
12. Once a plant or animal dies, no new
carbon is taken in. The amount of
carbon-14 begins to decrease as the
plant or animal decays. The half-life of
carbon-14 is 5730 years. The carbon-14
method of radiometric dating is used
mainly for dating things that lived within
the last 50 000 years.
Lesson 10.3
Fossils and the
Geologic Time Scale
THE GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE INDICATES THE LIFE FORMS
OF DIFFERENT PERIODS
If two rocks anywhere on the planet contain the same index fossil, it can be
concluded that those rocks are of the same age. Examples of index fossils include the
following:

•Ammonites were common during the Mesozoic Era (245 Mya to 65 Mya) and got extinct during
the K-T extinction (65 Mya).

•Brachiopods (mollusk-like marine animals) first appeared during the Cambrian (540 Mya to 500
Mya) and some of which still survive.

•Graptolites (widespread colonial marine hemichordates) lived from the Cambrian period
(roughly 540 Mya to 505 Mya) to the early to mid-Carboniferous (360 Mya to 320 Mya).

•Trilobites were common during the Paleozoic (540 Mya to 245 Mya). They evolved at the
beginning of the Paleozoic and went extinct during the late Permian (248 Mya).
AMMOMITE TRILOBITE

BRACHIOPOD
LESSON 10.4
EARTH’S
HISTORY
THE AGE OF FOSSILS AND THE EARTH ARE STUDIED
SIMULTANEOUSLY
PRECAMBRIAN
The Precambrian accounts for 88% of Earth’s history, starting with the
formation of Earth about 4.54 Gya up until 570 Mya. During this time, Earth
was thought to be a hot, steaming, and hostile landscape, the primitive
crust of the newly formed planet is only beginning to cool.
The Precambrian is subdivided into three eons, the Hadean, as its name implies, the condition
during this eon was like hell. The Archean, plate tectonics allowed crustal building and the
formation of volcanic belts and sedimentary basins. Marine rocks during this eon contain fossil
remains of microscopic algae and bacteria. The rifting of the continental crust and it's subsequent
filling with sedimentary and volcanic rocks occurred during the Proterozoic. Extensive iron
deposits also formed in shallow Proterozoic seas, indicating there was enough free oxygen to
precipitate iron oxide minerals from the iron in the water.

Hadean Eon Archean Eon Proterozoic Eon

PHANEROZOIC
Phanerozoic (visible life)
which followed Precambrian
eon is further subdivided into
the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and
Cenozoic eras. The
Paleozoic era is separated
into 6 periods namely:
Cambrian, Ordovician,
Silurian, Devonian,
Carboniferous, and Permian.
The Paleozoic, also known as Cambrian explosion, marked the beginning of life . In the early
Paleozoic, life was restricted to the sea and included graptolites, brachiopods, bryozoans, and
mollusks.

Graptolites Brachiopods Bryozones

• There was a single southern landmass while the northern landmasses are still separated. By
the end of the Paleozoic, all the continents had come together to form the super continent
Pangaea which resulted in an extreme weather condition and one of the greatest extinction
events in Earth's History.
• During the Devonian period (age of the fishes) air-breathing amphibians began to move from
oceans to land.
• Large area of swamps flourished during the Carboniferous, which would become the
coal deposits that exists today.
• The Mesozoic era occured from about 245 Mya to 66 Mya. This era is known
as the age of the dinosaurs as the fossil records of this era is dominated by
dinosaur species. There were a variety if dinosaur species, during this time,
which included carnivores, herbivores, winged repltiles, and marine reptiles.
• By the mid Mesozoic era, Pangaea rifted into northern Laurasia and southern Gondwanaland. During
the Mesozoic era, new trees such as conifers appeared and mammals were just beginning to emerge
during this time. The end of the Mesozoic is marked by another mass extinction which wiped out the
dinosaurs..
The Cenozoic era, also called age of recent life or age of mammals, contains the last 66 million years of Earth’s history.
The Cenozoic has the most complete geologic record record of any era because it is the youngest and the rocks are
more accessible and are not yet deformed by metamorphism. The continents were fully separated and plate tectonics
have generated many volcanic and orogenic events. During this era, life forms continued to become more complex.
The fossil record shows a diverse array of mammals, flowering plants, grasses, and microscopic foraminifera.