Geology: Understanding the Earth's Processes, Resources, and History - Prof. Ming-Kuo Lee, Study notes of Geology

Download Geology: Understanding the Earth's Processes, Resources, and History - Prof. Ming-Kuo Lee and more Study notes Geology in PDF only on Docsity! Geology-study of the earth What forces produce mountains? Where should we look for water, oils, and minerals? How much water is available and safe to use? When there will be a major earthquake in SF? What killed dinosaurs? Major Geology Areas Physical Geology – Study the earth materials (minerals, rocks) and geologic processes (earthquakes, landslides, volcanism, land-slide, flooding) Historical Geology – Study the origin and evolution of the earth Environmental Geology – Study the interaction between human and environments Salt dome and hydrocarbon reservoirs in Gulf Coast regions Gulf af Mexico - Quaternary Reservoir rock containing oil Prk ech ce)  A “normal” fault offsetting a geologic layer (blue) AMD contains high levels of Fe, Mn, SO4, Al, Sr, Zn, Co, and Ni, pH = 2.8-3.7 CENOZOIC MESOZOIC PALEOZOIC Grand Canyon Area Geology Tertiary Cretaceous Jurassic Triassic Permian Pennsylvanian Mississippian Devonian Cambrian Precambrian Zion, Park National SP —— Grand Canyon National Park Location of section at bottom of figure -— Canyon National Par! AZ Carmel Fm Toroweap Fm Coconino Ss Hermit Shale Supai Fm Redwall Ls Temple Butte Ls Fm = Formation Ss = Sandstone Ls = Limestone Moenkopi Fm Kaibab Ls Muay Fm Bright Angel shale — Tapeats. Ss a Navajo Ss Kayenta Fm Wingate Ss Chinle Fm Moenkopi Fm Kaibab Ls " Ojider rocks not exposed Wasatch Fm Kaiparowits Fm Wahweap Ss Straight Cliffs Ss Tropic Shale Dakota Ss Winsor Fm Curtis Ss Entrada Ss Carmel Fm Navajo Ss Older rocks not exposed  Eon Phanerozoic Proterozoic Archean Hadean Era Cenozoic Mesozoic Paleozoic Period Epoch Quaternat Holocene 0:01 Pleistocene Pliocene Miocene Tertiary Oligocene ~~ 83.7 Eox Cretaceous 144 “Age of Jurassic Reptiles" 206 Triassic 248 Permian 290 "Age 3 : @ Pennsylvanian of : 323 Amphibians' 5 Mississippian 354 Devonian “ue of _ otf Fishes" Silurian 443 Ordovician “Age 490 of Invertebrates" Cambrian —————_——-5a0 Collectively called Precambrian, comprises about 88% of the geologic time scale ¥ 4500 Relative Time Span of Eras Cenozoic Development of Plants and Animals Humans develop Meso: lesozoic “Age of Mammals" Paleozoic Extinction of dinosaurs and many other species First flowering plants First birds Dinosaurs dominant Extinction of trilobites and many other manne animals First reptiles Large coal swamps Amphibians abundant Precambrian First insect fossils Fishes dominant First land plants First fishes Trilobites dominant First organisms with shells First multicelled organisms First one-celled organisms Origin of Earth Copyright © 2005 Pearson Prentice Hall, Inc. The geologic time scale Slow Mountain Building Processes Rocks with fossils of organisms lived in sea > 15 m.y. ago are now part of Grand Canyon 3000 m above sea level – What it tells us? – Mountains were uplifted 3000 m in 15 m.y., at rate about 0.2 mm/year – Tens of m.y. are required to build mountains and wear them down – Earth has experienced many cycles of Mountain building and erosion Structure of the Earth Mantle – Most solid, thickness = 2900 km – Lower mantle + upper mantle Structure of the Earth Crust – The “skin” (5-50 km) of the earth (radius = 6370 km) – Oceanic crust, density = 3 g/cm3, basalt, 5-10 km – Continental crust, density = 2.7 g/cm3, Si and Al-rich silicate rocks, up to 50 km – Economically important (containing most natural sources, oils, gases, minerals, water Lithosphere – Crust + uppermost part of mantle – “Litho” mean solid, rigid rocks in Greek. Asthenosphere – The upper mantle underlying lithosphere – Materials is “soft”, plastic-like and can flow Rock type Igneous rocks – Form when molten magma cool and solidifies Sedimentary rocks – Weathering and erosion of rocks at surface produce “sediments” – Transportation, deposition, lithification (physical compaction and chemical cementation) produce sedimentary rocks Metamorphic rocks – Recrystallization (involved mineral and texture changes) by high temperatures and pressures Type of rock and source material IGNEOUS Melting of rocks in hot, deep crust and upper mantle SEDIMENTARY Weathering and erosion of rocks exposed at surface METAMORPHIC Rocks under high temperatures and pressures in deep crust and upper mantle Rock-forming process Example Crystallization (solidification of magma or lava) Deposition, burial, and lithification Recrystallization in solid state of new minerals Rock Cycle Each rock type forms at the expense of another by internal or external (surficial) geologic processes