Professional Documents
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Introduction To Geology: Phil Murphy
Introduction To Geology: Phil Murphy
Introduction to Geology
Phil Murphy
[email protected]
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• GEOLOGY WORKS
• (everyone wants to drive to Sainsburys)
Principle of Superposition 5
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Principle of Original Horizontality 6
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• Uniformitarianism
• Assumption: we can use cause and effect to
determine causes of past events
• Finding: Earth history dominated by small-scale
events typical of the present.
• Catastrophes do happen but are uncommon
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Horizontality
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Cross-cutting Relationship
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Cross-cutting Relationship
Which
crater is
youngest?
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Cross-cutting Relationships
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• Types of unconformities
Angular unconformity
• tilted rocks (disturbed) are overlain by flat-lying
rocks
Disconformity
• strata on either side of the unconformity are
parallel
Nonconformity
• metamorphic or igneous rocks in contact with
sedimentary strata
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Angular Unconformity
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Angular Unconformity
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Angular Unconformity
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Uniformitarianism
• Continuity of Cause and Effect
• Apply Cause and Effect to Future - Prediction
• Apply Cause and Effect to Present - Technology
• Apply Cause and Effect to Past –
Uniformitarianism
Correlation
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• The Bible
• Add up dates in Bible
• Get an age of 4000-6000 B.C. for Earth
• John Lightfoot and Bishop Ussher - 4004 B.C.,
October 26th 9 a.m (1584)
• Too short!
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Radiometric Decay
• Parent
• an unstable radioactive isotope
• Daughter product
• the isotopes resulting from the decay of a parent
• Half-life
• the time required for one-half of the radioactive
nuclei in a sample to decay
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Radiometric Dating
• Principle of radioactive dating
The percentage of radioactive toms that
decay during one half-life is always the
same (50%)
Primordial
• K-Ar (K-40) 1.25 B.Y.
• Rb-Sr (Rb-87) 48.8 B.Y
• U-235 704 M.Y.
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Radiometric Dating
• Sources of error
A closed system is required
To avoid potential problems only fresh,
unweathered rock samples should be used
Uplift of Alps
• 5 km/10 m.y. = 1 cm/20 yr.
Opening of Atlantic
• 5000 km/180 m.y. = 2.8 cm/yr.