Transcript Evidence Card 4 - Contemporary Science Issues

Contemporary Science Issues
Lesson 11: The Earth’s Crust
Evidence cards ( 4 per A4 page)
© 2006 Gatsby Technical Education Projects
Evidence Card 3
Evidence Card 4
Marine limestone has been found at the summit
of Mt. Everest. This is string evidence that the
rocks of Mt. Everest were formed in the ocean,
then lifted up.
Granite contains large mineral crystals –
therefore it must have formed slowly. This can
be simulated in a laboratory.
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Evidence Card 1
There is evidence in rocks around the world that could
show that they formed very quickly. The radioactive
decay products of an element called polonium have
been found trapped in granite rocks. As polonium
decays in a very short amount of time, this means that
the rock must have formed quickly to trap the decay
products.
A vast quantity of water could not be stored
underneath the earth’s molten crust – the
molten rock is considerably more dense than
water and would sink.
Evidence Card 2
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The church was a respected and feared power
in society – most people didn’t even question
what the church said.
According to some interpretations of the Bible,
the entire universe is only about 6000 years old.
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Evidence Card 8
Matter contracts when it cools.
In some places, large fossils such as trees
extend through several strata (layers) in the
rock. This can only occur if the sediment that
later formed the rock formed very quickly.
Evidence Card 9
Rapid burial aids coal and oil formation and
fossilization, otherwise the normal process of
decay can completely disintegrate the
organisms, even the bones.
Evidence Card 10
In 1650, Archbishop James Ussher, Anglican
Archbishop of Armagh placed the date of "The
Deluge" (the Great Flood) when Noah entered
his ark on December as 7th 2349BC and left it
on Wednesday, May 6th the following year.
Evidence Card 11
Massive volcanic eruptions ejected vast
quantities of water into the air. The water
condensed and caused a great flood. Water
vapour has been found in volcanic eruptions
like Mt St Helens.
Evidence Card 12
When the planet’s interior cooled, it contracted
but the crust had already solidified.
Evidence Card 13
If the Earth evolved slowly, the layers of rock
should be teeming with hundreds of millions of
transition forms with combination features of
two or more species. They aren’t
Evidence Card 15
Other planets like the Earth probably formed as
a ball of hot matter which subsequently cooled
down.
Evidence Card 14
There is no river delta at the mouth of the
Colorado River. This suggests that the Grand
Canyon was carved out in a very short period
of time. This probably occurred as a result of a
massive deluge of water.
Evidence Card 16
The surface layer of some clay river beds dries
up and contracts to form large cracks which fill
with water during subsequent flooding. Most of
the surface of the Earth is covered in clay-like
minerals.
Evidence Card 17
Lava plains on the moon are thought to have
formed when magma rushed up through cracks
in the newly formed crust. There are lava
plains on Earth as well
Evidence Card 19
Contractions in the Earth may have caused the
crust to buckle and great areas of land to sink
below the water. Land bridges may once have
allowed animals to travel between continents.
Evidence Card 18
When an apple dries, the skin wrinkles to form
‘hills’ and ‘valleys’.
Evidence Card 20
Madagascar and Africa share very little fossil
remains whereas India and Madagascar do.
Evidence Card 21
Wind, rain and waves erode rock to such an
extent that the Earth would be completely flat
unless new rock replaced it.
Evidence Card 22
According to Genesis, the Earth was formed in
6 days – this is not enough time for any form of
rearrangement of the Earth’s crust – the rock is
simply too rigid.
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Evidence Card 23
Sea creatures could be washed up and buried in
sediment on the top of hills and mountains by a
‘great flood’.
The Earth’s crust is like a sheet floating on water.
Ripples in the water cause the sheet to crumple
and bend. The interior of the Earth is a very
viscous liquid so the movements are too slow for
us to see.
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Evidence Card 26
Rocks that closely match in age and type in
several mountain belts which appear to
terminate at one coastline, only to reappear on
a landmass across the ocean.
Similar animals which lived in separate parts of the
world may have been separated as the ‘land
bridges’ between them sank under the ocean as
the Earth’s interior contracted.
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Evidence Card 29
Most of the coal we mine for in Britain was
formed in the Carboniferous period (between
360 and 285 million years ago). Coal can only
form in temperate swampy conditions – similar
to that found near the equator now.
As the massive ice sheets of the Ice age melted,
the land underneath rose to form high land.
The water flooded the valleys and forms seas
and lakes.
Evidence Card 30
As rock is worn away from mountains,
they rise up (like icebergs) in the mantle.
As the mountains rise, they push the land
masses at either side and cause them to
move apart.
Evidence Card 31
The rock making up much of the sea bed
is made of dense basalt rock.
Surrounding land is made from less
dense granite or granite-like rock. Lots
of mountains are mainly made of these
rocks.
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Evidence Card 33
Spots on the surface of a partially inflated
balloon move away from each other as the
balloon is inflated further.
Hundreds of tonnes of material enters the
Earth’s atmosphere every day from outer
space. We can measure this.
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Evidence Card 34
Companies that lay cables across the Atlantic
ocean have to lay extra cable because the sea
bed is increasing in width.
Some of the Earth’s crust appears to be in
tension – there are also many regions of
compression where blocks of rock have sunk
down relative to the surrounding rocks and have
also caused regions of uplift.
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Evidence Card 37
There is no direct evidence for subduction – no
one has ever seen it happening.
Volcanoes often form in long lines on the Earth’s
crust – as though along a boundary.
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Evidence Card 39
Across the ‘San Andreas fault’ the land seems to
slide sideways along a boundary. Objects on
either side of the fault are displaced
The shapes of Africa and South America seem to
fit together like a jigsaw.
Evidence Card 28
Evidence Card 40
If land bridges existed, fossils of land animals
should be found under the ocean floors. No such
fossils exist.
It is sometimes said hen we observe the surface
of the Earth, we can’t see anything changing.
We can – what about the effects of the
tsunami, large volcanic eruptions, the formation
of large deltas, etc.