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Midterm Review
Handout!
Evidence, Theories,
ParadigmsScientific Knowledge
Evidence facts collected by
observation and measurement which
serve as a springboard for
development of theories
Hypothesis: Is a tentative or untested
explanation to explain how or why
things happen in an observed
manner.
Theory: A well tested and widely
accepted view that explains certain
STSE
Remember:
Universe Vs. Solar System
The Universe: incorporates several solar
systems.
A solar system: is represented by planets
orbiting stars.
Habitable Zone (Goldilocks zone)
This zone in a solar system is where liquid water
can exist on the surface and not too far from the
star it is orbiting (too cold) or too close to the
start it is orbiting (too hot). Just right!
STSE
If you can find planets orbiting stars (other than
the sun), then you have found a solar system.
There have been 1500 solar systems found to
date.
Five Methods for Finding Solar Systems
1. Radial Velocity Method
2. Transit Photometry Method
3. Astrometry Method
4. Microlensing Method
5. Direct Imaging
STSE
STSE
The Solar Nebula Hypothesis infers that a solar
system should have rocky inner planets and
larger gaseous planets much further out.
Many solar systems found do not fit the pattern
described above.
Maybe gravity and friction has caused the larger
planets to move.
Alone, the Solar Nebula Hypothesis seems too
simplistic. Maybe it just represents the formation
and configuration of early planets.
Sources:
1. Radioactive Decay
Related
3. Residual Heat
to
density
This process is often referred to as differentiation
or
2. Particle Collisions
segregation.
*still occurring today (smaller scale)
Crust
Lithosphere
Asthenosphere
(upper mantle)
Mantle
State: Mainly solid, very strong but can flow (like silly putty or
an eatmore bar)
*Is 2900 km thick The thickest layer!
Outer Core
State: liquid
Composition: iron and a small amount of nickel
* 2270 km thick
- convection currents exist within and contributes to origin of
magnetic field
Inner Core
Biosphere
Geosphere
Hydrosphere
Atmosphere
Order of development
Geosphere hydrosphere
atmosphere biosphere
Hydrosphere and atmosphere formed
from early outgassing, where
molten material cooled and released
dissolved gases into the atmosphere
(N2, H2O vapor, CO2, Ar)
All 4 Spheres
Shoreline
Catastrophism
Is a concept popular in the 1700-1800s
which states that earths landscapes had
been shaped primarily by great
disasters or catastrophes
(floods, storms, earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions etc.)
James Hutton
Scottish Geologist after years of
studying landforms and rocks
the present is the key to the past
and
that, the physical, chemical,
biological laws that operate
today to shape Earth also
operated in the past.
Uniformitarianism
two key concepts;
1) the geologic processes at work
today were also active in the past.
2) the present physical features of
Earth were formed by these same
processes, at work
over long periods of time.
Absolute time
Identifies the actual date of an
event, & pinpoints the exact time in
history when something took place.
For example, the extinction of the
dinosaurs about 66 million years
ago and the age of
Earth is approximately 4.6 Billion
years.
. Relative time
Attempts to place events in a
sequence of formation, but does
not identify their actual date of
occurrence.
Comparing events to each other
often does this.
Cant tell us how long ago something
happened; only that it followed one
event and preceded another.
relative dating
6 Major Types:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Superposition
Horizontality
Cross-cutting relations
Inclusions
Unconformities
Fossils
1. Law of Superposition
Book and cylinder demos
In an undeformed sequence of
sedimentary rock, each bed is older
than the one above and younger
than the one below.
2. Principal of original
Horizontality
Cross-cutting relations
Book demo
An igneous rock is younger than the
rock strata (or beds or layers) that it
cuts across.
A geological feature such as a fault is
younger than the rock strata (or beds
or layers) that it cuts across.
Contact Metamorphism
When molten rock comes into
contact with older rock
the heat causes a kind of baking that
changes the original rock.
Often represented as xs on diagrams
5. Unconformities
A surface between successive
strata (layers) representing a
missing interval in the
geologic record of time
3 types:
1.Angular Unconformity,
2.Disconformities and
3. Nonconformity
6. Fossils - Correlation
Hand out fossils
Fossils are used to match up rock
layers between widely separated
areas or between continents
any time period can be recognized
by its fossil content.
the matching up of
rock layers from one
area to another.
Absolute Dating
- pg. 228-235
Varves
Are seasonal deposits of sediment that show
alternating layers of clay and sand.
Dark fine layer is deposited in fall/winter
when lake is frozen and humus settles out of
water. (clay)
Light coarse layer is deposited in
spring/summer due to abundant meltwater
carrying large sediment loads (sand)
1 layer of light and dark (2 sediment layers)
= 1 year
Radiometric Dating
Method of calculating the absolute
age of minerals, rocks and fossils
that contain radioactive isotopes
Radioactive Isotopes
Are unstable isotopes
The nucleus breaks down so the
original isotope called the Parent
Material decays into a new stable
isotope called the Daughter
Product.
The rate at which the nucleus breaks
down is called Half-Life.
# OF HALFLIVES
1
2
3
4
5
6
% OF PARENT
MATERIAL
% OF DAUGHTER
PRODUCT
Ratio of
Parent:daughter
100%
50
25
12.5
6.25
3.12
1.6
100:
1:0
50
75
87.5
93.75
96.75
98.4
1:1
1:3
1:7
1:15
1:31
1:63
Fractions
1/1
1/2
1/4
1/8
1/16
1/32
1/64
Radioactivity Problems
Problem Type #3: Ratio of parent to daughter
A radioactive isotope y has a half life of 20,000 years. If the
ratio of radioactive parent to stable daughter in a rock sample is
1:7, how old is the rock?
Given:
Ratio of Parent to daughter is 1:7 &
Radioactivity Problems
Problem Type #3: Ratio of parent to daughter
A radioactive isotope y has a half life of 20,000 years. If the
ratio of radioactive parent to stable daughter in a rock sample is
1:7, how old is the rock?
Given:
Ratio of Parent to daughter is 1:7 &
Fraction = 1/8
3 half lives
Fossils
What is a fossil?
1.Rapid Burial
2.Presence of Hard Body Parts
3.Low Oxygen Environment
Methods of Fossilization
Fossils are preserved in the rock record in several ways!
1)
2)
Carbonization
3)
Preservation (Intact)
5.
Petrification
Carbonization
Formation:
Formation:
Preservation
The entire organism has been preserved; even the soft parts,
which usually decay and disappear.
Examples:
(1) Woolly
Mammoths preserved in ice in Alaska and Siberia.
(2) Insects preserved in tree sap (amber). Cane in Jurassic
Park.
Trace Fossils
Formation:
Examples include:
Tracks - animal footprints made in soft sediment. The sediment later
turns into sedimentary rock.
Burrows/Tunnels - Animal trails made in soft sediment. The sediment
later turns into sedimentary rock.
Coprolites - Fossil dung (feces).
Gastrolites Stomach stones.
GEOLOGIC TIME
Nicolaus Steno
Principle of Superposition.
Principle of Uniformitarianism
William Smith
MESOZOIC
PROTEROZOIC
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Eras
Smallest
span of
time
MESOZOIC
PROTEROZOIC
P
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EraSubdivision of an eon.
Eras of the Phanerozoic eon include:
Cenozoic (recent life)
Mesozoic (middle life)
Paleozoic (ancient life)
MESOZOIC
PROTEROZOIC
P
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A
N
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O
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C
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Mnemonic device
Mass Extinctions
1) Permian Period Triassic Period Boundary (End of Paleozoic
Era and Beginning of Mesozoic Era)
2) Cretaceous Period Tertiary Period Boundary (End of Mesozoic
Era and Beginning of Cenozoic Era)
Some species flourished as other
species went extinct!
Mass Extinctions
2) Silicon (27.7%)
4) Iron (5.0%)
6) Sodium (2.8%)
8) Magnesium (2.1%)
Mineral Groups
Minerals that form the rocks within Earths crust
belong to seven (7) main mineral groups, which
include:
1) Silicates
2) Carbonates
3) Sulfates
4) Oxides
5) Halides
6) Sulfides
7) Native Elements
silicon-oxygen tetrahedron.
Olivine (Mg,Fe)2SiO4
Barite
BaSO4
Calcite CaCO3
Hematite
Fe2O3
Pyrite
FeS2
Fluorite CaF2
Mineral Groups
1 Silicates
Simatic Silicates
Rich in silicon and
magnesium.
Examples include:
Quartz
Mica (Muscovite)
Feldspar
Examples include:
Olivine
Pyroxene
Amphibole
of their
Mineral Groups
2 Carbonates
3 Sulfates
compounds consisting of an atomic structure of one
sulfur and four oxygen (SO4).
the rock gypsum
The mineral barite (BaSO4) is mined and used in drilling mud.
Mineral Groups
4 Oxides
5 Halides
compounds consisting of an atomic structure of chlorine (Cl),
bromine (Br) or fluorine (F) with sodium, potassium, or calcium.
Mineral Groups
6 Sulfides
compounds consisting of an atomic structure of one or
more metals combined with sulfur.
pyrite (FeS2), galena (PbS), and sphalerite (ZnS).
7 Native Minerals
elements that occur uncombined in nature.
commonly called native elements.
examples include: gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), and
sulfur (S).
NOTE
Note that an ore mineral is any
mineral that has enough of a
particular element in it to be mined
at a profit.
Cheat sheet
Graphite:
Soft gray material
Used as pencil lead lubricant
Crystal structure: sheets of pure carbon
Diamond:
Forms deep in Earth at high pressures
Pure Carbon
Hardest substance known to humans
Crystal structure: dense and compact
Mineral Properties
The following are a list of physical
properties that minerals could display:
1) Specific Gravity LATER so important its own class
2) Hardness
3) Cleavage Versus Fracture
4) Streak
5) Luster
6) Colour
7) Others
Hardness
Definition: The resistance of a mineral to
scratching.
Hardness is expressed in terms of Mohs
Hardness Scale, which ranks relative
hardness
1 10.
You
could use from
a rhyme
to remember the
hardness scale:
Tonight
Ghosts
Come
From
Africa
On Quads
To
Catch
Dinosaurs
Cleavage
MICA
Fracture
Streak
Luster
Colour
Three reasons:
(not as reliable as
WHY?
3)
Surface Oxidation
Other Properties
These properties can be helpful
to identify minerals that are
similar:
Other Properties
Double Refraction: This is an
optical property. For example,
when a transparent piece of calcite
is placed over printed material, the
letters appear double.
Other Properties
Tenacity:
Mica (muscovite and biotite) will
bend and elastically snap back.
Gold is malleable, which means
that it can be hammered into
sheets.
Other Properties
Crystal Form (Shape):Shape or form
of a crystal can reflect the orderly
internal arrangement of atoms.
Crystal Faces
The smooth flat surfaces on crystals are called faces.
Other Properties
Fluorescence: When light from a
source strikes a mineral and reacts
with the component chemicals,
thereby making the mineral glow.
Example: Gypsum
Specific Gravity
Specific Gravity
2) Weigh the specimen submerged
in water and record the weight.
Volume(mineral)
Mass(mineral)
= Specific
Gravity
Specific Gravity
Given: 1mL = 1cm3 = 1g,
Specific Gravity
Given: 1mL = 1cm3 = 1g,
= 7.5
S.G. = 250
100
= 2.5
Difference between a
mineral and a rock?
Minerals tend to have a
characteristic crystal structure based
on chemical composition,
Rocks have many minerals in them,
so they do not have a definite
structure.
Granite (rock) is made of feldspar, quartz,
amphibole, mica, pyroxene, etc (all minerals).
1)
2)
3)
All three rock types are interrelated through the rock cycle. The three
rock types are classified by their nature of origin (i.e. formation).
Reference:
Tarbuck and Lutgens
Pages 15 - 17
Igneous Rocks
Igneous Rocks
2)
Sedimentary Rocks
Metamorphic Rocks
3 Agents of Metamorphisism:
1.
heat,
2.
pressure, and
3.
Metamorphic Rocks
Examples of metamorphic rocks
include: Quartzite, Marble, Slate,
Slate, Phyllite, Schist, and Gneiss.
Note that there are two types of
metamorphism, which include:
Contact and Regional.
Rock Cycle
Cooling and
Crystallization
(i.e.
solidification)
Igneous
(Volcanic)
(Plutonic)
Melting
Magma/Lav
a
Metamorphic
Heat, Pressure, and Hot
Chemical Fluids
Heat,
Sedimentary
(Clastic)
(Chemical)
(Organic)
Weatherin
g And
Erosion
Melting
Weatherin
g And
Erosion
Pressure,
and Hot
Chemical
Fluids
Weatherin
g And
Erosion
Compaction
And
Cementing
Sediment
Examples include:
sand, silt, and clay
(mud)