XIV.
Historical Geology
What is historical geology?
Deals with the origin of the Earth
and its development through time.
Strives to establish an orderly
chronological arrangement of the
physical and biological changes
and events that have occurred in
the geologic past.
Previous estimates of the age of the Earth:
Cooling through conduction and
radiation (Lord Kelvin, 1897): ~24 40
m.y.
Rate of delivery of salt to the oceans
(John Joly, 1899-1901): ~90 100 m.y.
Thickness of total sedimentary
record divided by average
sedimentation rates (1910): ~1.6 b.y.
Oldest rocks on Earth found so far:
1. Acasta Gneisses in northwestern
Canada near Great Slave Lake (4.03 Ga)
2. Isua Supracrustal rocks in West
Greenland (3.7 to 3.8 Ga)
2. Rocks found in the Minnesota River
Valley and northern Michigan (3.5-
3.7 billion years), in Swaziland (3.4-
3.5 billion years), and in Western
Australia (3.4-3.6 billion years)
Oldest materials to be found on Earth:
1) Zircon grains found in sedimentary
rocks in west- central Australia =
4.4 b.y.
2) 70 well-dated meteorites using
different dating methods (e.g. Rb-
Sr, Sm-Nd, Ar-Ar) = 4.4-4.6 b.y.
3) Iron meteorite (Canyon Diablo
meteorite) = 4.54 b.y.
Most accepted age for the Earth and the rest
of the solar system: ~4.55 b.y. old (+ ~1%) ;
Best age of the Universe: 14 17 b.y.
Relative dating
Putting rocks and events in their
proper sequence of formation
o Dating of rocks and rock units with
the use of fossils and correlation of
different strata
o Does not require numerical ages of
rocks or fossils or events
Principles used in relative dating:
Stenos Laws
o Law of Superposition
When examining an undisturbed
sequence of stratified rocks, the oldest
strata will be at the bottom and the
youngest strata will be on the top of
the sequence.
o Law of Original Horizontality
Most layers are deposited horizontally
Sedimentary beds which are
inclined at an angle must have
undergone deformation after they
had been deposited and lithified.
o Law of Lateral Continuity
Sediments would spread out until
they thin out at the edge of the
depositional basin, stop at a
depositional barrier or grade into
another type of sediment
(indicative of a change in the
depositional environment)
o Cross-cutting relationships
When a fault or intrusion cuts
through another rock, the fault or
intrusion is younger that the rocks
which it cuts.
Inclusions
o The rock mass containing the
inclusion is younger than the rock
that provided the inclusion.
Unconformity
o Any significant break in time
within a stratigraphic column.
o Gaps in the rock record
representing:
o a long period during which
deposition ceased, erosion
removed previously formed
rocks and then deposition
resumed;
o Angular Unconformity - Tilted
or folded sedimentary rocks that
are overlain by younger, more
flat-lying strata.
o Disconformity- Strata on either side
of
the unconformity are essentially parallel
with a distinctly recognizable surface
o Paraconformity - Beds above
and below are parallel and the
unconformity is identified by
some evidence such as lack of
certain diagnostic zone fossils in
some horizon
o Nonconformity - Older
metamorphic or igneous rocks
are overlain by younger
sedimentary strata
 Principle of Faunal Succession
o Fossil organisms succeed one
another in a definite and
determinable order. Thus,
any time period can be
recognized by its fossil content.
Correlation
o To show correspondence in
character and in stratigraphic
position (International
Stratigraphic Guide)
o To demonstrate correspondence
between geographically
separated parts of a geologic unit
o Based on similarity of lithologic
and paleontologic features
Fossils and fossilization
What are fossils?
o Remains or traces of
prehistoric life preserved in
sedimentary rocks
o Important time indicators and
play a key role in the correlation
of rocks
o Include both the remains of
organisms (bones or shells) and
traces of organisms (trails,
burrows or imprints)
Requirements for preservation
o Rapid burial to prevent
decomposition
o Presence of protective cover or
preserving medium
o Possession of hard parts or durable
tissues such as shells, bones, teeth
and woody tissue
Types of fossilization
o Preservation of unaltered body parts
o Hard parts usually shells,
bone, teeth or pollen
o Soft tissue by mummification
or freezing
o Chemical alteration of hard parts:
o Carbonization soft tissues
preserved as thin carbon film
o Recrystallization conversion of
a mineral polymorph to another
(e.g. aragonite calcite)
o Replacement dissolution of
original material and precipitation
of new mineral
o Permineralization porous
material filled with secondary
materials
o Petrification replacement of
wood
o Imprints of hard parts in sediment or
trace fossils:
o Mold dissolution of shell
o Cast filling of mold
o Borings and burrows worms,
clams and other invertebrates
burrow into rocks and sediments
o Coprolites fossil excrement
o Gastroliths smooth, polished
stones found in the abdominal
cavities of dinosaur skeletonUses of
fossils?
o tracing the evolutionary history of
extinct as well as living organisms
o reconstructing
paleoclimates and
paleoenvironments
o providing the source of energy
resources (e.g.oil,gas, coal)
Absolute dating
o Numerical dating of rocks, minerals
and fossils
o Utilizing radioactive isotopes
o Utilizing radioactive isotopes
o Isotopes variants of the same atom
but with different mass numbers
o Undergo spontaneous breaking apart
(decay) of certain unstable atomic
nuclei
Half life the length of time required for
one- half of the nuclei of a radioactive isotope
to decay
Geologic Time Scale
o The history of the earth is broken up
into a hierarchical set of divisions for
describing geologic time. Units of
time include eon, era, period, epoch,
age.