Lecture 1 9/6, Cosmic Beginnings (CH1 and 2)

-Earth is 4.5 Billion Years

-we know this not by radiocarbon dating (only goes back 50,000 yrs), used..ROCKS.

-one way is through meteorites (they date 4.5 billion years ago, left over bits from the time of
solar system formation. Dating is using radioactivity (ie. Uranium decays to lead)

-another way is Moon rocks brought back from Apollo, using the same dating method
(radioactivity, up to 4.47 billion years ago).

-Zircons from ancient continental crust. Until recently, oldest rocks on Earth were 3.7-3.8 billion.
In 2014, zircon rocks from Australia were dating to 4.4 billion (prob formed very early in Earth’s history).

-What about age of universe?

-probably 13.8 billion, which was estimated from the velocity and distance of galaxies as the
universe expands

-Edwin Hubble discovered that as galaxy is closer, it moves slower, but if galaxy is farther, it
moves faster

The Expanding Universe

-the Doppler effect is used to document the expanding universe “red shift”.

-ie, ambulance ex. If coming towards you, wavelength shortens, but if its going away,
wavelength lengthens (higher pitch coming towards, lower pitch going away), perceived.

-so galaxies going away from us (red shift) moving at higher velocity.

Big Bang Theory

-13.7 billion years ago, creation of all matter, hydrogen and helium first, more complex elements
evolved through time

Solar System Observations

-Almost all planets orbit the sun in a common plane, planets all orbit in the same direction,
planetary orbits are almost circular,

-one theory is that the gasses clump together (reason is debated), and it begins to rotate. Then
result of contraction and rotation, a flat, rapidly rotating disk forms with the matter concentrated that
will become a proto-Sun. Gas and dust then form grains that collide and clump together into small
chunks or planetesimals.

**basically, initial spinning disk of dust and gas (nebula), gravity caused most mass to move
toward center, increase spin, and create turbulent eddies, Proto-sun formed from central densest eddy
and became star when high density started fusion reactions in core, then proto-planets developed by
gas accretion and condensation.** this is prevailing theory

Planetary formation by homogenous accretion

 -bits of dust slam into each other, and b/c extremely high kinetic energy, stick together and
eventually clump tg in bigger chunks. This energy during collision, is transformed to heat energy. Then,
over time, dense materials sink in the center, while the lighter materials go to the surface. As Earth
melted, iron, nickle, and sulfur sank to the center, while lighter elements (Si, Al, O) floated to the top
and cooled. This process was very fast (30 mill years).

-Moon was born 4.6 billion years, but died 4 billion years, probably due to early collision with
the earth, creating the moon.

Origin of Earth’s atmosphere

-Volcanism: Eruptions release gas, water, etc.

-or Comets: early impact w/ comets probably added gas and water

Lecture 2: Minerals I – Overview (Ch 3)

Rock: any naturally occurring solid

3 types: Igneous (crystalize from melts), Sedimentary (formed from breakdown of parent rock
called sediments), Metamorphic (recrystallization of igneous or sedimentary rocks WITHOUT melting)

Rocks on surface receive damage (water, wind, water becoming ice in the rocks), in process
called weathering.

Rocks are formed from minerals

Minerals: small uniform crystals…1. Naturally occurring 2. Inorganic (not formed by living thing)
3. Crystalline (ordered atomic structure) 4. Unique chemistry (chemical formula)

Ex. Halite (salt, NaCl): over 3000 minerals: vary by composition as well as how they are ordered

Chemical Formula:

Isostructural minerals: minerals with the same geometry or structure but different chemistry
(NaCl vs. PbS)

Pattern can be complicated..Unit cell: simplest pattern that is repeated over and over.

x-ray diffraction: using this, shining x ray on minerals that produce photographs of their patterns

Minerals need to have ordered atomic structure: atoms in regular, repeating 3-D pattern (ex
Crystal vs. Glass, glass is when mineral is cooled too quickly and the atoms don’t go in their place, and it
becomes glass not crystal)

Atoms are generally stable

-Radioactive decay (fission): change one element to another

-fusion: two elements collide and combine

-On large scale: equal + and – charges, would be very apparent if not balanced. Atoms are stable
when electron shells filled (ie 2, 8, 18)
Cont.

-anions (negative ions) generally determine crystal properties

-Oxygen and Silicon are most abundant elements on Earth (followed by Aluminum in the Crust), iron is
at the core, silicon, oxygen, magnesium in the mantle

Chemical bonds in minerals

-Ionic bonds: one element donates an electron and another accepts it (NaCl), sometimes water soluble,
low hardness

-covalent bonds: atoms share electrons to fill outer shells, no acquiring/donating electrons, strong bond,
tend to be hard minerals

-metallic bonds: sharing of free electrons among a lattice of positively charged ions, strong bonding, soft
and conductive

-van der waals bonds: weakest bonding/attractive forces, tied tg by ‘residual electronic charges’
(graphite)

Different minerals that form depend on: what elements are present, temperature, and pressure

-process is accidental

-properties of the minerals depend on the bonding of the element components

Minerals II

-silicates: silicon is covalently bonded to four oxygens in tetrahedral structure (SiO4)4-

Silicates I: isolated tetrahedra: Not bonded to one another (Mg, Fe)2SiO4 (olivine)

Sillicates II: Chains

If shortage of oxygen, can make a chain of silicates and share oxygens, but then becomes
(SiO3)2-

-single chain: pyroxenes (ex. Augite)

-double chains: amphiboles (ex. Horneblende)

Silicates III: Sheets

-Silica tetrahedra may also be connected by covalent bonding of three oxygens in sheets

-ionic bonding w/ metals b/t the sheets, but weakly bonded to one another and easily
break (cleave) b/t sheets

-Mica family

Silicates IV: framework

-silica tetrahedra may also be connected in interlocking network (framework silicates), where all
4 oxygens in each tetrahedra are shared
 -Quartz and Feldspar families

Carbonates

-Pale color, rhombohedral cleavage, fizzes in dilute HCl (ie. Calcite)

-occurs as primary sediments in

Fe oxides and sulfides

-black, metallic, magnetic

-chemistry: 1/3 is Fe2+, rest Fe3+

-magnetite

Lecture 4: Igneous Rocks (chapter 5)

-Rock: naturally occurring, solid, can be composed of more than one mineral, one mineral only,
or no minerals

-Igneous rocks: cooling of melted rock

-Magma: liquid rock (mostly silicate): temperatures from 700 to 1300 celcius (1300 to 2400 F)

-Viscosity: ‘stickiness’ of a liquid (high: thick, low: like water)

-Magma can come to surface or get stuck at depth: both cases it will cool and crystalize

-Magma at the surface of earth is called lava

-Volcanoes located where mantle rising or water added

-Igneous rocks: form by crystallization from magma, siliceous melt

Two Types: Intrusive (plutonic), when magma cools beneath Earth’s surface, extrusive (

-Amount of cooling time determines igneous textures (longer time to cool: bigger the crystals,
short/no time to cool: little to no crystals ie glass or obsidian)

-igneous rock names depend on composition (how much Si) and texture (amt. and size of
crystals)

-Mafic: rich in Fe, Mg (ferromagnesian)

-dark colored, dense minerals, low viscosity, high melting temp, low gas content,
oceanic crust

-Felsic: Si, Al, K, Na, poor in Mg

 -Light colored, low density minerals, high viscosity, low melting temp, high gas content,
continental crust

Magnetic differentiation

-In a cooling magma chamber, ferromagnesian minerals begin to crystallize first, at high
temperatures

Extrusive igneous structures (volcanoes): mafic shield volcano (not really steep)

Stratovolcano: more felsic composition, more viscous magma, More explosive (partly due to gas trapped
in magma from H20 and others), steep cones

Volcanoes vs. Calderas (after explosion, when volcano collapses)

-Most deaths from volcano eruptions come from “pyroclastic flows”: hot gas and volcanic bits that can
travel more than 100 mph

Sedimentary Rocks (ch 7)

Sed rocks: formed by transportation, deposition, compaction, and cementation of sediments or

chemical or biochemical precipitation. Typically forms near surface at low temp and pressure

Sed rocks are classified by how they form

-Clastic: come from pre-existing rocks have been weathered, transported, and glued (lithified)
together

-Chemical: from mineral crystals that formed from chem or biological precip from water at Earth
surface temperatures

How are sediments produced? Weathering: chem/phys breakdown of rock at/near surface

-mechanical weathering: abrasion by flowing ice/water/wind, pressure changes (exfoliation),

frost wedging, wetting/drying, roots/burrows

-chemical weathering: reaction between minerals and water to form new minerals and/or
dissolved ions

-feldspars change in water to clay minerals (kaolinite): other reactions release Fe ions
that can form hematite

Sediments: fragments of rock that have been broken down as result of weathering, and
calssified by their size, angularity, sorting

-Sediment deposited according to size: ions can reach ocean and stay in water

Lithification: how do sediments become rocks?

 -compaction: burial of sediment leads to compaction, reducing the heavy spaces b/t sediment
particles

-cementation: precipitation of cements in sediment pore spaces to “glue” rocks together:

usually calcite or quartz: process called “diagenesis”

Clastic sedimentary rocks

-classified by their size (+ angularity)

-Breccia: rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by

a fine-grained matrix

-Sandstone: is a rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains (made

mostly of quartz).

-Shale: rock composed mainly of clay-sized minerals or rock grains (microscopic) – most
common sedimentary rock

Chemical Sedimentary rocks

-Made by either chemical or bio. Precipitation and lithification

-Inorganic geochemical/crystalline…Evaporites: form as dissolved ions become more

concentrated in solution and precipitate (Limestone formed in shallow seas), common minerals in salt
water: halite, gypsum, anhydrite

-precipitates: form as dissolved ioins become more concentrated in solution

-Biochemical: organic, like coal, or inorganic, like chalk (made of lithified remains of
microscopic carbonate shells of marine algae)

Metamorphic Rocks (Chapter 9)

-Rocks that have been changed as a result of exposure of intesnse heat and/or pressure

-Could have started out as igneous, sedimentary, or meta

-Ingredients of metamorphism: Elevated temp, pressure, shear stress, tiny amts. Of H20

Telling Geologic time, part 1 the radioactivity clock (ch 11)

-uniformitarianism: natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now have always operated
in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe.

-decay is an energy-releasing process