GEOLOGY 101

CLASS 13
SPRING 2014

Geologic Time Scale
Eons, Eras, Periods,
and Epochs
Eras - Paleo, Meso,
Ceno - zoic,
proterozoic, archean
Periods rocks and
places rocks found
Perm, Jura, Cambria
Pennsylvania,
Epochs named by
Charles Lyell
Dr. Lofton declares
beginning of
Cenoconferocene
7/2012
Ending Holocene in
Aggieland
The Geologic Time Scale
Quaternary Latin, fourth 1822
Tertiary Latin, third 1760
Cretaceous Latin creta, chalk 1822
Jurassic Jura Mountains, Switzerland 1795
Triassic Latin, three-fold 1834
Permian Perm, Russia 1841
Carboniferous Carbon-bearing 1822
Devonian Devonshire, England 1840
Silurian Silures, a pre-Roman tribe 1835
Ordovician Ordovices, a pre-Roman tribe 1879
Cambrian Latin Cambria, Wales 1835
Charles Lyell (1797-1875)
Was a champion of Huttons
work in his 1830 book on the
Principles of Geology.
Has been criticized for his
naming methods for the
Periods. He would support
calling the current epoch in
Aggieland the
Cenoconferocene
So we are in Cenoconferocene
Epoch, Quaternary Period,
Cenoziac Era of the
Phanerozoic Eon. The rest of
the world is still in in the
Holocene (Recent) Epoch
Finding a Geologic Clock
Lyell also lacked a Geologic Clock
1896 radioactivity was discovered.
By 1911, concept of a radioactive clock.
A clock provides ABSOLUTE dates as
opposed to RELATIVE dating.
How to we count back?
How many calendars exist in the world?
More than you think. Its 2451 now in
Thailand, for example.
Mayan calendar broken
All dates for radioactive dating relate to
1950 A.D. This date is defined by
international agreement as the present.
So a date of 1500BP is 1500 years
BEFORE 1950.
M&W4 Fig. 3.3; M&W5 Fig. 3.4
The number of protons sets the atomic
number for an element
The number of neutrons in atoms of different
elements can vary.
Atoms of an element having different
numbers of neutrons are referred to as the
isotopes (of that element).
GEOLOGIC DATING
:ABSOLUTE AGE DETERMINATION
What are Radioactive Isotopes?
Nuclei of atoms: Neutrons + Protons
Neutrons no charge, weigh = proton
Protons determine properties
One isotope usually
dominates
Carbon 12 more than
99% of all Carbon.
Unstable isotopes fiss
(fission) to stable ones at log. decay rates

Radioactivity
Nuclei of elements of unstable or
radioactive elements disintegrate
spontaneously!
Carbon 14 (
14
C) decays at precise rate.
By measuring the rate at which beta
particles emitted, we can determine age

14
C emits 15 betas/min/gram (456 g/lb).
Counted in a lead shielded environment.
Half-life is 5,730 years which means half
of the
14
C is gone only 7.5 betas then.

Three major forms
of radioactive
decay
From Tarbuck and Lugens
2008
Showing the Change
M&W4 Fig. 17.24; M&W5 Fig. 17.24
C
14
is an isotope of carbon that
forms from Nitrogen in the
atmosphere.
Living things consume this
radioactive carbon.
Once dead, no new carbon is
absorbed, and C
14
turns back
into Nitrogen.
The Half-Life of C
14
is 5,730
years.
This method works best for
fossils younger than 50,000
years. Why?
CARBON 14 DATING
Half life of Isotopes used in dating rocks and fossils
Radioactive Parent Stable Daughter Half-life
Potassium-40 Argon-40 1.25 billion yrs
Rubidium-87 Strontium-87 48.8 billion yrs
Thorium-232 Lead-208 14 billion years
Uranium-235 Lead-207 704 million years
Uranium-238 Lead-206 4.47 billion years
Carbon-14 Nitrogen-14 5730 years
Levin - http://higheredbcs.wiley.com/legacy/college/levin/0471697435/chap_tut/chaps/chapter03-04.html
Nuclear fusion or radioactive decay = energy release as
unstable atomic nucleui creates new stable ones.
Natural constant rate of decay = exponential
Half-life

Radioactivity Contd.
In dating, you really count beta radiation
released
This declines as with each half-life, only
half as many betas are released

14
C is found in every living thing
After death, no new carbon is added and
the decay process begins.
Complications the amount of carbon 14
produced yearly does vary.
This is good clock for the last 40,000 to
50,000 years.


For Billions of Years

238
U (uranium) decays to
206
Pb (lead) with
a half-life of 4.5 x 10
9
years or
4,500,000,000. Hence, we have a clock
that will go back to the beginning of Earth.
Potassium (The Big K) 40 Argon 40
method very useful for dating igneous and
metamorphic minerals. Calculate K to Ar
ratio to determine age. 1.25 billion year
half-life
Objectives Chapter 7
Explain the principles of:
Original Horizontality
Superposition
Cross cutting relationships
Inclusions
Lateral continuity
Use these to relatively date rock strata
Define angular unconformities,
disconformities, and nonconformities and
what they represent
Explain the methods used to absolutely
date rocks.
What type of minerals and
rocks make up the magma
in both the mantle and in
the core?
The magma is composed of rocks that
are melted in the area around the heat
source. The core is thought to be
made of solid metal on the inside
(inner core) and also liquid around that
solid inner core.

MAGMA
INGNORANCE
How does
magma
actually
come up to
the surface
specifically?
Thanks to Chris Hoffman, Juanita Yanez, Forrest
Norton, Chelsea Allen-McDaniel, Brad Bevilacqua
Objectives Chapter 7
Explain the principles of:
Original Horizontality
Superposition
Cross cutting relationships
Inclusions
Lateral continuity
Use these to relatively date rock strata
Define angular unconformities,
disconformities, and nonconformities and
what they represent
Explain the methods used to absolutely
date rocks.
Objectives - Chapter 8
Explain how scientists use earthquake
energy to learn about the interior of the
earth.
Describe the characteristics of the five
major layers of the Earths interior.
Explain the origins of the heat that keeps
the Earth warm.
Describe why a heat generating Earth is
different from a cold planet
Fatso Earth
How do we learn about Earths Interior structure?
An answer:Seismic Wave reflection and refraction
What are Seismic Waves?
Seismic waves are the vibrations from
earthquakes (or other transmissions of
energy) that travel through the Earth

They are the waves of energy suddenly
created by rock fracture within the earth or
an explosion.

They are the energy that travels through the
earth and is recorded on seismographs

Seismic Waves
Most of the damage and the shaking
people feel during an earthquake is
from the seismic waves.

Earthquake vibrations or seismic
waves are of two kinds: body waves
and surface waves.

Body waves travel through Earth

Surface waves travel along or just
below the surface, like ocean
waves.
Seismic Waves
Body waves

Body waves are divisible into two types:

P-waves are compressional waves
and travel faster than S-waves.
P for pressure

S-waves are shear
waves that cannot
travel through
liquids
S for shear.
Fig. 8.7, p. 196
P-Wave(Body Wave)
Primary or compressional (P) waves

The first kind of body wave is the P wave or primary
wave. This is the fastest kind of seismic wave.

The P wave can move through solid rock and fluids, like
water or the liquid layers of the earth.

It pushes and pulls the rock it moves through just like
sound waves push and pull the air.

Highest velocity (6 km/sec in the crust)
Secondary Wave (S Wave)
Secondary or shear (S) waves

The second type of body wave is the S wave or
secondary wave, which is the second wave you
feel in an earthquake.

An S wave is slower than a P wave and can only
move through solid rock. (3.6 km/sec in the crust)

This wave moves rock up and down, or side-to-
side.
Fig. 8-7, p. 196
Undisturbed material
Focus
Surface
Primary wave (P-wave)
Undisturbed
material
Direction of wave movement
Stepped Art
Secondary wave (S-wave)
Wavelength
Seismic
Waves
Surface waves

Surface waves are divisible into two types,
Rayleigh and Love waves.
Fig. 8.8, p. 197
L-Wave
Love Waves
The first kind of surface wave is called a
Love wave, named after A.E.H. Love, a
British mathematician who worked out the
mathematical model for this kind of wave
in 1911.

It's the fastest surface wave and moves
the ground from side-to-side.

L-Wave
Particle
motion
Particle motion consists of alternating transverse motions. Particle
motion is horizontal and perpendicular to the direction of propagation
(transverse). Particle motion is purely horizontal, focus on the Y axis
(black lines) as the wave propagates through it. Amplitude decreases
with depth (yellow lines). Material returns to its original shape after
wave passes.
Deformation
propagates
Rayleigh Waves
Named for John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh, who
mathematically predicted the existence of this kind
of wave in 1885.
A Rayleigh wave rolls along the ground just like a
wave rolls across a lake or an ocean.
Rolls the ground, moving it up and down, and
side-to-side in the direction of wave travel moving.
Cause of most of the shaking felt from an
earthquake
Often larger than other waves.

Locating an Earthquake
First measure the
amplitude on the
seismograph.


Then plot on a time-
distance graph the
arrival times of the P-
and S-waves.
Fig. 8.9a-b, p. 198
Locating an Earthquake
Finally plot the distance from
each receiving station.
Three
seismograph
stations are
required.
They will intersect
at the epicenter
of the
earthquake.

Fig. 8.9b, p. 198
Fig. 8.10, p. 199
History
Seismology - the Study of Earthquakes and
Seismic Waves

Dates back almost 2000 years




Earthquake Effects - Ground
Shaking
Kobe, Japan 1995
Earth's Mantle
The Mantles Structure, Density and
Composition
Peridotite is thought to represent the main
composition in the mantle.
Experiments indicate that peridotite has the
physical properties and density to account for
seismic wave velocity in the mantle.
Peridotite makes up the lower parts of
ophiolite sequences that represent oceanic
crust and upper mantle.
Peridotite is also found as inclusions in
kimberlite pipes that came from depths of 100
to 300 km.

What is Earths Interior Like?
The concentric layers of Earth, from its
surface to interior, are :


Oceanic / Continental crust
Rocky mantle
Iron-rich core
liquid outer core
solid inner core
Fig. 8.21, p. 214
What is Earths Interior Like?
Geologists study the bending or refraction and
reflection of P- and S-waves to help
understand Earth's interior.

This indicates
boundaries
between layers of
different densities
called discontinuities.
Fig. 8.22 c, p. 214
Anatomy of Earth
Layering based on different
criteria
1. Density (crust, mantle, core)
2. Chemical composition
(consistent with density)
3. Mechanical behavior of
materials (lithosphere,
asthenosphere, mantle, core)
Physiology of solid Earth driving
mechanism for plate tectonics
Plate Tectonics is the surface
expression of the mechanism by which
heat escapes the Earths interior
Origin of heat in the Earths interior
1. radioactive decay
2. residual heat from Earths formation, mostly in
mantle, higher % in crust and to a lesser extent, heat
contribution from the growth of the inner core which
drives the convection in the outer core
The Core
The P- and S-waves both refract and
reflect as they cross discontinuities.



This results in shadow zones.
These shadow zones reveal the
presence of concentric layers
within the Earth, recognized by
changes in seismic wave
velocities at discontinuities.

P-wave discontinuities indicate a
decrease in P-wave velocity at the
core-mantle boundary at about
2900 km.

S-wave blocked from passing thru
liquids, thus indicating that the
outer core is liquid.
Fig. 8.24, p. 215
The Core
Density and Composition of the Core

The density and composition
of the concentric layers have
been determined by the
behavior of P-waves and S-
waves.
Compositionally, the inner
core is thought to be iron and
nickel, the outer core iron
with 10 to 20% other, lighter
substances, and
The mantle probably
peridotite.


Fig. 8.23, p. 215
Earths Mantle
The boundary between the crust and mantle
is known as the Mohorovii Discontinuity.

It was discovered when it was noticed that
seismic stations received two sets of P- and
S-waves. This meant that the set below the
discontinuity traveled deeper but more
quickly than the shallower waves.

Fig. 8.25, p. 216
Earth's Mantle
The Mantles Structure, Density and
Composition - Several discontinuities exist within the
mantle.



The velocity of P- and S-waves
decrease markedly from 100 to
250km depth, which corresponds to
the upper asthenosphere.
The asthenosphere is an important
zone in the mantle because this is
where magma is generated.
Decreased elasticity accounts for
decreased seismic wave velocity in
the low-velocity asthenosphere.
This decreased elasticity allows the
asthenosphere to flow plastically.
Fig. 8.26, p. 217
Seismic Tomography
Tomography - a technique for developing better
models of the Earths interior.

Similar to a CAT-scan for producing 3-D images,
tomography uses seismic waves to map out changes
in velocity within the mantle.
Earth's Mantle Structure,
Density and Composition



Peridotite is thought to represent the main
composition in the mantle.
Experiments indicate that peridotite has
the physical properties and density to
account for seismic wave velocity in the
mantle.
Peridotite makes up the lower parts of
sequences that represent oceanic crust
and upper mantle.
Peridotite is also found as inclusions in
that came from depths of 100 to 300 km.

Exposed section of Mantle in Oman
Earth's Internal Heat
Geothermal gradient measures the increase in temperature
with depth in the earth. Most of Earth's internal heat is generated
by radioactive isotope decay in the mantle.

The upper-most crust has a high geothermal gradient of
25 C/km.
This must be much less in the mantle and core, probably
about 1 C/km.
The center of the inner core has a temperature estimated at
6,500 C.
Earth's Crust
Continental crust is mostly granitic
and low in density

It has an average density of 2.7
gm/cm
3
and a velocity of about 6.75
km/sec
It averages about 35 kilometers
thick, being much thicker beneath
the shields and mountain ranges of
the continents.
Objectives - Chapter 8
Explain how scientists use earthquake
energy to learn about the interior of the
earth.
Describe the characteristics of the five
major layers of the Earths interior.
Explain the origins of the heat that keeps
the Earth warm.
Describe why a heat generating Earth is
different from a cold planet