Download Geology - Lone Star College

GEOL 1403
Physical Geology 1
Instructor: Dr. Michelle McMahon
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course explores the theory of geologic
processes, including a study of physical forces that
shape the Earth and all its landforms. Special
emphasis is given to the origins of minerals and
rocks, volcanoes, earthquakes, structures,
landforms, plate tectonics, and other geologic
processes. Assignments outside the classroom
help students explore and discover links
between classroom discussions and life
experiences.
COURSE PURPOSE
The primary purpose of this course is for you
to gain an understanding and appreciation
of past, present, and future geologic
processes that shape the face of the Earth
and cause geological events that could
directly impact you. The course will
provide you with opportunities to solve
geology-related problems using geological
tools, and observation of geologic
processes.
COURSE OUTCOMES
In completing this course, you will:
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be able to classify some rocks and minerals common
to the earth’s surface
be able to recognize various types of landforms
common to the earth and how they were formed
Be familiar with the geologic time scale
be able to recognize various geologic hazards and be
able to make educated land-use decisions
understand the origin of some mineral and energy
resources, and have an appreciation for the
environmental impact caused by their extraction
REQUIRED MATERIALS
• Lecture Text
– C.C. Plummer, D. McGeary and D. Carlson, 20__.
Physical Geology, editions 12- 13, McGraw-Hill.
• Laboratory Book
– N. W. Jones and C Jones, 20__, Laboratory Manual
for Physical Geology, edition 5 - 7 McGraw-Hill
(some copies are available to be used during the lab
period)
• Internet Access - textbook resources, internet
assignments and GoogleEarth
Recommended Materials
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ruler in inches and centimeters
hand lens
colored pencils
calculator
ATTENDANCE EXPECTATIONS
• Classroom attendance is critical. If you miss a
class meeting, you are encouraged to obtain
notes taken by others and to contact the
instructor for assistance.
• Lecture notes and PowerPoint presentations are
available online.
• Lecture tests will be given to students only on
the dates indicated. Lecture test make-ups are
given only in the case of emergency or illness
and only when the instructor has been
contacted prior to the exam.
Exams and Grading
• Chapter Tests: 4 - each worth 10% of final
grade
• Lab Tests: 3 - each worth 10% of final grade
• Average of Internet Assignments: 10 % of
final grade
• Campus Mapping Project: 10% of final grade
• Final Exam: 10% of final grade (cumulative)
Internet Assignments
• Internet Assignments will be assigned
throughout the term, relating to the topics
studied.
• Internet Assignments will generally be due 1-2
weeks after they are assigned.
• Late Internet Assignments will be accepted for
and additional week after the due date with 80%
being the highest attainable grade.
• The average of the Internet Assignments =
10% of the final grade
Laboratory Exercises
• The lab exercises are designed to support the
material presented in lecture and in the textbook
Labs are not exams. You are not expected to
know the answers immediately!
• It is critical for success on the lab exams, and
the mapping exercise, that all lab work be
completed.
• Lab work will not be graded but will be
corrected and students will be tested over the
material.
• There are three lab exams and extra credit
questions on the lecture test will commonly
cover lab work.
Extra Credit Opportunities
• Extra credit opportunities are offered
throughout the term.
• 10 points of extra credit raises your final grade 1 point.
• Maximum 50 points of extra credit
– Extra credit opportunities include:
- Textbook review questions
• link to textbook online resources
- Independent field trip to Houston Museum of Natural
Science
- LSC-North Harris field trip to Jesse Jones Park
- Hill County field trip
- Bolivar –Galveston field trip
OUTSIDE READING
• You are encouraged to bring to class and
share any pertinent newspaper or
periodical article.
• Links to web-based articles can be posted
on the discussion board.
Expectation for the Students Taking
Physical Geology 1
Geol 1403
• I expect students to come to both lecture and lab.
• I expect students to be on time for lecture and lab.
• I expect students to have read the chapter before the lecture.
• I expect student s to stay for the entire class period.
• I expect students to devote time outside of class to studying and
preparing for this class and the class exams.
• I expect students to work hard.
• I expect students to treat each other with respect.
Class “Rules”
• No inappropriate language
• No cell phones
• “Test anxiety” is not allowed in class
• No cheating
• Show respect to all other students
• No food or drinks
What you can expect from
me
• Class will start on time
• I will work hard to make geology interesting and
applicable to everyday life.
• I will be available to help you before and during
class as well as online
• E-mails and discussion topics will be addresses
within 24-48 hours
• Exams and internet problem grades will be
available one week after the due date
GEOL 1403
Physical Geology
Introduction and
Semester Review
The Earth as a System
• A System: An interactive set of components
that behave in an orderly way according to
the laws of nature.
• The Earth System is divided into four (5?)
subsystems:
– Hydrosphere- water
• Cryosphere – ice and frozen ground
– Geosphere- rocks
– Atmosphere- gas, liquid and solids
– Biosphere – plants and organisms
Biogeochemical Cycles
• Biogeochemical cycle: the “pathways” along which
energy is transferred between Earth’s subsystems.
• Include:
– Hydrologic Cycle
– Rock Cycle
– Carbon Cycle
– Oxygen Cycle
– Nitrogen Cycle
• Earth system is closed
• The law of conservation of matter and the law of
energy conservation (first law of thermal dynamics)
apply
• Residence time
Why Study Geology?
– Avoid Geologic Hazards
– Supply Things We Need
– Protecting the Environment
– Understanding Our Surrounding
Definitions
• Geology: the scientific study of the solid
part of the earth
• Physical Geology: the division of geology
concerned with the earth’s materials,
changes of the surface and interior of the
earth, and forces that cause those
changes
Other Disciplines of Geology
– Historical
– Geophysics
– Sedimentology
– Petrography/Crystallography
– Glacial Geology
– Geomorphology
– Paleontology
Geologist use the Scientific Method to
understand how the earth works.
• 1) A question is asked
• 2) Information pertinent to the question or
problem is analyzed. Facts (data) are collected.
• 3) Data is analyzed and an explanation
(hypothesis) is proposed that explains the data.
• 4) Predictions are made
• 5) Predictions are tested
• 6) Hypothesis that passes the tests become
theory that are then subjected to further testing
and refinement.
My goal in this course is simple:
I will completely
change you
perspective on life !!!
We will be looking at:
–How Rocks are Formed
–Time
–The Ground Below Your Feet Is
Moving!
–How Topographic Features are
Formed
–Earth’s Resources
This course is divided into six
units five main topics
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Introduction (1)
Material Of the Earth (2)
Geologic Time (3)
Earth’s Internal Processes (4)
Earth’s External Processes (5)
Geologic Resources (6)
Earth’s Materials
Minerals and Rocks
• We will learn to identify
the most common
minerals that make up the
rocks found on earth.
• We will learn how to
distinguish between the
three groups of rocks
Igneous, Sedimentary
and Metamorphic
• Podcast: The Rock Cycle
Geologic Time
The Earth is 4.6 Billion Years
Old
That is: 4,600,000,000 yrs
Geologic processes take hundred,
thousands and millions of years to
happen and occur on local, regional
and global scales
Times Scales of Geologic
Processes
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Formation of a gem quality
diamond- 5-10 million years ( high
pressure and temp)
Erosion of a coastline associated
with a tsunami or hurricanehours-days
Ice Ages: glacial/interglacial cycle
every 100,000 yrs/ 20 in the last 2
million-3 million yrs
Extinctions: hundreds, thousands,
hundreds of thousands?
Formation of a volcanic conehundreds of years: destruction of
a volcanic cone-minutes
(Mt St Helens,1980)
Erosion of a mountain range –
hundreds of thousands of yearsmillion of years
Formation of the Texas “Coastal
Plain”- 65 million years
2005 Tsunami, Indonesia
(before and after images)
Spatial Scale of Geologic
Processes
Local to Regional Scale- hurricanes, floods,
tsunamis, individual earthquakes, small scale
volcanic eruptions, river erosion.
Global Scale – plate tectonics, mountain building,
large scale volcanic eruptions producing global
climate change, large meteorites strikes
producing global climate change, Ice ages.
“Evolution” of Earth
• Big Bang
• Planets and Sun forming from a nebular cloud 5 billion
years ago
• the Earths surface was molten- no atmosphere –no
oceans- no life
(Oldest rocks on earth 4.6 billion years ago)
• Oceans and atmosphere formed from out-gassing of
volcanic eruption at the surface (meteorites and life)
– ½ of earth’s atmosphere is within 5.6 km (3.5 miles) from the
surface, 90% of the atmosphere within 100 km (62 miles)
• First life- single celled bacteria: Precambrian
• First multi-celled organism: Cambrian (540-480 mya)
Geologic
Time
Scale
Geologic Time
• Early 1800’s: James
Hutton- Father of
Modern Geology
presented the
Principle of:
UNIFORMITARIANISM
or (Actualism)
“ The present is the
key to the past”
Geologists are Interested in Both
Relative Age and Absolute Age
Determining and dividing rock units:
• Contact: surface that separates two different
rock types or rocks of different ages.
• Formation: bodies of rocks of considerable
thickness with recognizable characteristics that
make each distinguishable from adjacent rocks.
For Relative Age Geologist Use the
Steno Principles (Nicolas Steno)
• Original Horizontality: the beds of
sediment deposited in water form
horizontal or nearly horizontal layers
• Superposition: The oldest layers of rock
are at the bottom of a sequence and get
younger from the bottom of a sequence to
the top
The Grand Canyon
• How many formations
are identifiable in this
image?
• Where is the
• oldest formation?
• Where is the
youngest formation?
• What Steno principle
did you use to
determine this?
The Grand Canyon
San Francisco/Golden Gate
Bridge
Earth’s Internal
Processes
Earth’s Internal Processes
Geologists divided the earth’s interior into three
compositional layers:
• Core
• Mantle
• Crust
Mantle Convection and Tectonic
Forces
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The interior of the Earth
moves !
The core of the earth is hot
and heats the mantle
When hot mantle material
pushes upward it “uplifts” the
lithosphere.
Where the lithosphere is cool
and dense it sinks downward
into the deeper mantle.
Tectonic Forces cause
deformation of rocks as well as
vertical and horizontal
movement of portions of the
earth’s crust.
Model for Mantle Convections
(figure 19.37)
Plate Tectonics (A Theory)
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The lithosphere is broken into
plates that are in motion. Much of
the evidence for this is found
through studies of the plate
boundaries.
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the three types of plate boundaries
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Convergent boundary: Plates
converging- they move towards
each other or come together. If
one plate is oceanic crust (denser)
and the continental crust (less
dense) the continental plate will
override the oceanic plate.
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Divergent boundary: when the
plates are moving apart- new
continental crust is being formed
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convergent plate boundary (figure 9,32)
the formation of a divergent plate
boundary
Transform boundary: occurs
when two plates slide past each
other.
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transform fault plate boundary (map
view)
The Plate Tectonics Theory
• The geologic
evidence for the plate
tectonics theory
include:
– Earthquakes patterns
– Topography of the sea
floor
– The distribution of
mountains and
volcanoes
breaking up of pangaea (figure 19.2)
Mantle Convection –
Lithosphere Plate Tectonics
The West Coast of the United States is a Plate
Tectonics Laboratory (California Oregon,
Washington)
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Earthquakes
Geologic Structures
Mountain Building
Igneous ActivityVolcanoes
• Texas –mountains
and igneous activity
throughout geologic
time
Earth’s External
Processes
Landforms - Topographic Features
• We will study weathering, erosional and
depositional processed, and how they
create our landscape.
• We will learn about erosion and
deposition by:
– Water
– Wind
– Ice ( Glaciers)
– Gravity ( Mass Wasting)
Important Terms
• Weathering: The mechanical or chemical
breakdown of rock material
• Erosion: the physical removal of rock material
by mobile agents (water, wind, gravity or ice)
• Deposition: the physical “dumping” of rock
materials by mobile agents (water, wind, gravity
or ice)
• Mass Wasting: the transfer of rock or soil
downslope under the influence of gravity
Mass Wasting (Gravity) :Southern
California January 2005
Texas Geology
• Gulf of Mexico - Passive Continental
Margin
• We live on the - Texas Coastal Plain
• Austin and San Antonio - Edwards Plateau
• West Texas - Permian Basin
– West Texas Mountains
• Davis Mountains
• Guadalupe
• USGS America’s Volcanic Past - Texas