Geology 103 - Test 2

Monday, October 10, 2011 6:23 PM

History of the Universe - Stars and the Solar System

Occam's Razor - the simplest explanation is generally the most likely Our Universe is expanding: Redshift - light waves from galaxies are being increased in wavelength by being shifted to the red end of the spectrum How we measure the age of the universe An example of the Doppler Effect (sound a train makes when immediately passing you) Electromagnetic spectrum Violet - moving toward us = compressed Red - moving away from us = stretched Light waves emitted from distant galaxies are stretched or shifted to red Dating the age of the universe Time = Distance/Velocity Distance = distance between Earth and galaxy M83 Calculated using the brightness of light emitted ~ 3.96 x 1022 km Velocity Calculated by the amount of red shift ~ 61 x 103 km/sec Amount of time Hydra Galaxy has been traveling T = 3.96 x 1022 km/61 x 103 km/sec = 20 Billion years Universe isn't actually 20 BY old because gravity has slowed down the galaxies Estimates are around 13-14 BY old Nebula - clump of matter. Low density gas and a dust cloud 2 famous ones are the horsehead and the witch head nebulae They are nurseries for stars: Clumps in nebulae attract more material due to gravity Clump density increases mass increases gravity increases Heat produced by the gathering of gases resists gravity If Gravity = Heat, an unstable protostar forms Can become stars if enough heat is generated to fuse H into He Stars manufacture elements Main sequence star - H fuses to form He Red Giant - He burns to form C, C burns to form O, O burns to form Fe. All elements lighter than and including iron (56) formed this way Life span depends on the size of the star Large stars have to fuse H more rapidly and thus last shorter Small stars - last 10s of Billions of years Big stars - Billions of years Massive Stars - 100s of Millions of years Demise of a Star Begins once H is used up, He begins to fuse into heavier atoms at a higher T Higher T causes expansion (gravity<<heat) Red Giant phase Death takes on many forms Small stars - become a white dwarf Big stars - Red Giant to supernova explosion Massive stars - supernova to black hole The sun is not much older than the meteorites and the planets Supernova An exploding star that casts off matter of low density Manufactures all elements heavier than iron & all radioactive elements except C14 Aftermath is a nebula where the star life cycle starts over again The collapse of a nebula formed our solar system: 1. A rotating, collapsed nebula formed 2. Rotation contracted and accelerated 3. Heavier elements were thrown to the edge 4. Planets form by clumping of heavier elements Did a single event form our solar system? Some observations: All planets in our solar system rotate around a central point - The Sun All planets rotate in the same direction All planets lie in essentially the same plane Simplest explanation: All planets formed at the same time All planets formed from the same pool of material When did this happen - can we determine the age of the earth? Can't measure the age by determining age of crust because crust is recycled - most old crust is gone Geologists have to look beyond Earth in order to date it To do this they look at meteorites - extraterrestrial objects that have been captured in Earth's gravitational field and have crashed into our planet. Fragments of
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 To do this they look at meteorites - extraterrestrial objects that have been captured in Earth's gravitational field and have crashed into our planet. Fragments of asteroids Stony meteorites - consist of rocky material Iron meteorites - metallic, contain iron and traces of other elements Stony-Iron meteorites - mixture of both stony and iron Asteroids - large meteorites, small planet like bodies. An asteroid has never struck earth during human history Comets - bodies of dirty ice with rock cores Have struck earth before but melt quickly thereafter Shooting stars are comets being burned as they enter the atmosphere Absolute ages from meteorites indicates that they were formed 4.6 BY ago, 4.56 to be more exact, giving this the age for Earth and our solar system Big Bang - the explosion of all matter causing the formation of our universe approximately 13.7 billion years ago. Scattered all matter in the universe

Radiometric Dating Uses: Putting date on liquid rock solidifying - all rocks were once liquid
Dating volcanic eruptions Dating the seafloor Using igneous rocks to indirectly date sedimentary rocks and fossils Can give us a maximum age for sedimentary rock Becquerel discovered that uranium undergoes spontaneous radioactive decay - atoms changing into atoms of another element. Going from radioactive to stable Led to the discovery that radioactive elements and the products of their decay could be used a geologic clocks to measure the ages of rocks Isotopes - forms of an element with a different number of neurons in the nuclei - different atomic mass Parent isotope - the isotope that undergoes decay - radioactive Daughter isotope - product of the decay - stable Example - carbon 12, 13 are stable isotopes whereas carbon 14 is radioactive 3 types of radioactive decay: 1. Alpha Decay - loss of an alpha particle - 2 protons and 2 neutrons Parent isotope nucleus contains 2 fewer protons 2. Loss of a beta particle - an electron with a negative charge Parent isotope nucleus contains one more proton 3. Capture of a beta particle - turns a proton into a neutron Parent isotope nucleus has one less proton Each radioactive element decays at a constant rate Measured in half-life units - the amount of time for half of the atoms of a parent isotope to decay into daughter atoms Isotopic dating - measuring the amounts of both the radioactive parent isotope and the daughter isotope in a rock in order to calculate the length of time a rock has been decaying Only two measurements are needed: 1. The parent : daughter ratio - measured with a mass spectrometer. 2. The decay constant - measured by a scintillometer. Make sure to select the right radioactive isotope: Isotopes with short half lives are only useful for dating younger rocks Isotopes with long half lives are only useful for dating older rocks Radiocarbon dating Can be used to date biological evidence Dating that makes use of carbon 14. The best known of all isotopic techniques Half life of carbon 14 is 5730 years meaning this method can only be used with materials younger than 70,000 years old

Precambrian World: Hadean Earth - Origin of the Earth, Moon, Oceans, and Atmosphere
Hadean eon- 4.56 Billion years ago - 3.8 billion years

Sun formed from lightest elements - H and He Planets, moons, asteroids, etc. formed from heavier elements - solids, metals, glass Formation of the planets Accretion - to grow by addition Planetary accretion - Little clumps got bigger as chunks of rock collided Impacts during accretion created hot, sticky clumps that attracted more clumps, getting larger and larger The Planets All planets had rocky cores and gaseous outer layers in the beginning Ignition of the sun stripped the inner planets of their gaseous outer layers Earth had 1200x more volume before this Jupiter and Saturn and outer planets weren't affected
impacts of giant bodies contributed to 50-75% of earth's mass Impacts produced great amounts of heat The extreme amount of heat produced a molten planet where the most dense material sank toward the center and the least dense material rose toward the surface Resulted in an iron core and a mantle of dense silicate materials Less dense materials floated toward the surface to form a magma ocean and then later cooled to become a feldspar-rich crust Other heat sources: Gravitational compaction Heat from radioactive decay - steadily decreased as years pass Formation of the moon A body the size of Mars formed the moon by striking earth at a glancing blow about 60 million years after earth's initial accretion Moon is made up almost entirely from the mantle of the impacting body Computer simulation has found 3 features of the moon: 1. Absence of water

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1. Absence of water 2. Small metallic core 3. Feldspar rich outer layer The glancing blow explains why earth rotates faster than it should - it knocked the earth into a faster rate of spin and tilted its axis Also explains why there are 4.6 BY old rocks on earth - they solidified after moon formation After this the core, mantle, and crust came about through heat loss Earth's atmosphere formed when it was in a liquid state, when gases could easily escape to the surface but were then retained to form our atmosphere Less oxygen would have been present during the early Achaean atmosphere and would have been inhospitable to most forms of modern life Earth continued to be impacted by objects for about 800 million years after accretion Jupiter has provided defense against further meteor impacts - its power field of gravity has deflected many asteroids. Without it we would have suffered about 1000 times more impacts Despite this, one large meteor did strike the earth 65 million years ago and ended the dinosaurs Oceans Most abundant escaping item from earth is water Trapped by gravity Early ocean was freshwater Salts were added to the oceans by the weathering of rocks Formed after planetary accretion would have been expelled by collisions Early Earth was too hot for liquids and gasses The Earths present size gives it enough gravity to hold the atmosphere/oceans

Precambrian World: Evolution of the Continents

Total rate of heat production was twice as much in Archean times than today Oldest materials discovered within earths crust and not from outer space- Zircon Oldest grains dated 4.38 billion years old in Jack Hills, Western Australia Sand grains are older than the rock itself The earth's crust: Oceanic crust - mafic (basaltic) composition Continental crust - felsic (granitic) composition How does continental crust Form? Today - COOL Subduction: Fluids cause melting, magmas rise. During the rise magmas become more felsic The early earth was hotter causing more subduction zones The plates were much smaller and more abundant During Hadean-Archean (HOT) Subduction - Subducted slab melts The slab would have melted in phases: Felsic minerals melt 1st Continental crust was sweated out of the oceanic crust Protocontinents - small continents formed by felsic bodies of rock during Archean time Formed rapidly because seafloor spreading was 3-4x faster than today Appeared as early as 250 million years after Earth's origin High amounts of heat prevented these from coalescing into larger continents and also kept them very thin Continental crust grew to its present volume by the end of the Archean time. Since then destruction of crust has balanced with additions of material to it. Shield - Region where Archean rocks are exposed. Platform - Archean rocks covered by sedimentary rocks Craton - The stable core of a continent Terrane -geologically distinctive region of Earth's crust that has behaved as a coherent crustal block. Greenstone Belts All of the stuff caught between the protocontinents Squished oceanic crust Squished sediments on the seafloor Squished volcanic material Metamorphic Greenschist - makes greenstone belts green Separate protocontinents Around 2.7 and 3.3 billion years ago it was finally possible for large continents to form because Earth's interior was generating less heat than before and rifting zones areas that tear apart continental crust - were less extensive Even near the close of Precambrian time, large continents were different than today in one main respect: they were barren of advanced forms of life

Origins of Life
Where did life originate? 1. Darwin speculated it arose in a "warm little pond" Did provide heat and all elements necessary for life Problem is that it would have required an atmosphere lacking free oxygen UV radiation would have destroyed organic compounds Traces of O2 can destroy organism life 2. Mid Ocean Ridges Heat source from earth's mantle near mid-ocean ridges Contains elements form volcanic gases Water dissolves and carries compounds from rocks Compounds react with cooler sea water and give off energy Enormous size offers a wide range of temperatures Waters would have been anoxic - protecting life-essential compounds that are destroyed by oxygen Protection from sun's UV rays Offer abundance of phosphorous, metals, and clays - things all organisms require Provide simple-organisms with the opportunity to harness a variety of chemical reactions that release energy
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 Provide simple-organisms with the opportunity to harness a variety of chemical reactions that release energy Archaea & Bacteria - the most primitive forms of life Living archaea are all anaerobic (without oxygen) and they can tolerate extremes of heat and chemistry. Living bacteria are both aerobic & anaerobic and some forms can tolerate similar conditions as archaea. Prokaryotes Single-celled organisms Unorganized cell interior Eukaryotes Eukaryotes are single-celled (protists) or multi-celled (plants and animals). Strictly aerobic.

Precambrian Life: Archean Life

Archean eon- 3.8 to 2.5 BY ago Earth is the only planet in our solar system that is well suited for life Why: Its size is right - our gravitational pull is just strong enough to let in sunlight and retain oxygen Temperature is right - water is able to be in a liquid form - one that is essential for life Venus - too hot for water to stay liquid Mars - cooler surface, atmosphere so thin that water would evaporate immediately Life could not have been possible for at least 100 million years after Earth's existence due to heat and asteroid impacts Chemoautotrophs - make their food and power their life functions from chemicals (chemosynthesis) Hydrogen oxidation: Hydrogen + Oxygen water + energy Sulfur reduction Sulfur + Hydrogen Hydrogen Sulfide + energy Methane Production Carbon dioxide + hydrogen methane + water + energy Indirect Evidence of Early Life 3.8 BY ago: Chemical evidence of life: C12 concentrations in sedimentary rocks. Evidence of photosynthesis? Anaerobic Photosynthesis - sunlight converted to energy, but without producing O2 Direct Fossil evidence 3.5 BY ago - oldest undisputed, identifiable fossils Cyanobacteria - thread like organisms with divisions Aerobic photosynthesizers Reason why we have O2 on earth Stromatolites - suggest that photosynthesis was occurring on Archean Seafloors by about 3.5 billion years ago Layered shallow water organisms Cyanobacteria played a major role in the production of these layered structures By late in the Archean they formed reefs on the sea floor Dominant organisms of the planet at their time Ranged from 3.5 BY ago to 2 BY ago Released O2 into the ocean which then: 1. Combined with iron 2. Dissolved into oceans 3. Dissolved into the atmosphere Effectively producing eukaryotes 2.1 BY ago Banded Iron Formations Sedimentary rocks that formed at earth's surface Also lasted from 3.5 to 2 BY ago Iron rich sedimentary rocks Iron layers that alternate with chert layers Iron in today's atmosphere rusts - the oxidation of iron leaving rust powder - how did BIFs not rust? There was no O2 in the early earth to make them rust Stromatolites produced O2 which was released into the ocean, and combined with Iron already in the water to make iron oxide (FeO2)and BIFs Worlds primary source of iron ore Stromatolite - BIF connection Red layers and grey layers in BIFs indicate different amounts of O2 at different times Grey layers - indicate more O2 - summer Red layers indicate winter Once all the iron was oxidized, BIFs no longer formed BIFs do not appear in rocks earlier than 1.9 BY ago Oldest known fossil cells - individual prokaryotic cells (primitive, non-nucleic cells) found in 3.5 billion year old pillow lavas from South Africa Archean rocks contain no fossils of eukaryotic cells - ones that contain chromosomes and nuclei Steranes - organic compounds formed only by eukaryotes were found, leading us to believe that eukaryote ancestors were present in Archean time. What is life? A series of chemical reactions Internal chemical activity providing growth, repair, and energy Ability to reproduce Ability to respond to outside stimuli Simple 2 essential attributes of life: 1. Self-replication - ability to reproduce 2. Self-regulation - ability to sustain orderly internal chemical reactions Requires energy - provided by respiration
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 Requires energy - provided by respiration 3 theories of life origin: 1. Supernatural thinking (Intelligent Design) - can't be tested by science 2. Extraterrestrial Hitchhikers Idea that life was brought to earth from other planets Components of life have been found in comets and meteorites Problem is - life still had to come from somewhere 3. Abiotic Synthesis - series of chemical steps of the early earth 5 components of life: 1. Water 2. Carbohydrates - starch & sugar for energy 3. Fats - for energy storage 4. Proteins - make up structures (tissues, organs) 5. Nucleic acids for reproduction 6 dominant elements within the components of life: 1. Carbon 2. Hydrogen 3. Oxygen 4. Nitrogen 5. Sulfur 6. Phosphorus Proteins - required by life for self-replication and self-regulation Building blocks are amino acids- compounds of carbon hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen Miller and Urey's Experiment Produced all amino acids found in proteins Created an atmosphere of hydrogen, water vapor, methane, and ammonia in a closed vessel above a pool of boiling water Triggered chemical reactions by continuously discharging a spark through the atmosphere (similar to lightening on earth). Assumed that early earth atmosphere contained no oxygen but nonetheless: Chemical reactions soon formed numerous amino acids Variations of the experiment have been run that have produced carbs, fats, simple proteins and nucleic acids. Still have yet to create the self-contained "machinery of life" No one has been able to create life in the lab Scientists have only had around 50 years of experience whereas nature has had hundreds of millions Nucleic Acids Compounds essential to life as we know it DNA Carries genetic code of an organism, providing information for its growth and regulation. Replicated itself in order to pass it down to future generations RNA Messenger - carries genetic message of DNA to areas that form proteins Transfer - ferries appropriate amino acids to sites where they are assembled into these proteins Also replicates itself Acts as a catalyst enabling certain kinds of proteins to form RNA was established first and after evolution and natural selection, DNA came about.

Precambrian Life: Proterozoic Life Proterozoic - 2.5 BY ago to 543 million years ago. Eukaryotic life No abrupt change marked the Archean-Proterozoic transition Stromatolites were even more abundant in Proterozoic rocks Early Eukaryotes Developed as a result of a symbiotic relationship among prokaryotes Symbiosis - a mutually-beneficial relationship among organisms Arose form the union of 2 prokaryotic cells, one cell residing inside the other Cell living within the other formed a mitochondrion - structure that allows cells to derive energy from their food by means of respiration First plantlike eukaryote evolved when a single celled eukaryote engulfed, but failed to digest, a cyanobacterium, which then became a chloroplast - serves as the
site of photosynthesis

Had to develop cytoskeletons in order to engulf other prokaryotic cells Multicellular algae arose around 2.1 BY ago Multicellular animals first appear 600 MY ago. Why the delay of 1.5 BY? O2 concentration became high enough to support larger multicellular animals at about 600 MY ago Animal life dates around 600 million years ago when unquestioned fossils of multi-cellular animals were found Fossils 580 million years old preserved by phosphate on the sea floor were found in China Found to be bilaterally symmetrical (one line of symmetry) meaning that they had preferential movement in one direction 2 lines of evidence for the first large multicellular animals:
Indirect - Trace Fossils - Evidence of behavior, indicate movement Direct - Body Fossils of animals Ediacara Fauna Members are oldest known undoubted adult animals preserved in the fossil record Named for Ediacara Hills in Australia First members date 570 million years ago, appearing in leaf-shaped forms Members that could move appeared 560 million years ago Reveals that animals began to diversify dramatically around 560 million years ago
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 Reveals that animals began to diversify dramatically around 560 million years ago Ediacaran Fossils: Were very thin for direct absorption of oxygen Had no hard parts - no predators until the end of the Proterozoic Coincided with the disappearance of the Ediacaran animals Impressions by soft bodied animals show that all 3 major groups of bilaterally symmetrical animals were in existence by now:
1. Kimberella - represents an imprint by a snail-like mollusk 2. Spriggina - soft bodied arthropod 3. Tribrachidea - echinoderm - can turn inside out if attacked Trace fossils indicate burrowing animals

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