Transcript Natural Resources

CHAPTER 1:
An
Introduction
to Geology
Geology is the Scientific Study of Earth
and the Other Planets
• Physical Geology
– Materials composing
planets
– Processes acting on
those materials
– Products formed as a
result
• Historical Geology
– Earth’s history
– History of life on Earth
Excavating
Fossils
Geology is Important in Everyone's Life!
Steven Earle
Steven Earle
Steven Earle
• How are geologists involved in some of the examples shown here?
Earth’s Surface is Actively Evolving!
Interaction between
• Rocks, water, gases,
• sediments and
• living plants & animals
Powered by
• Solar energy, gravity,
• heat from Earth’s interior
• These interactions are
known as Biogeochemical
processes
• The Earth is continually
changing!
Geologists recognize the
importance of:
• Human desire to use
resources
• The critical need to
conserve natural resources
To manage resources
sustainably requires:
• Planning for their depletion
• Planning for their
replacement by lessdamaging alternatives
What are some of the
negative consequences of
using fossil fuels?
Humankind is faced with global challenges.
How will we manage them?
Peak oil – We probably won’t run
completely out of oil. But it is likely to
get very expensive.
Global warming – How quickly will
warming proceed and what are some of
the related consequences?
Soil erosion – It is estimated that 65%
of Earth’s soil has been degraded by
erosion, desertification, and
salinization.
Fresh water – Around the world
drought, pollution, and overuse
threaten water resources.
Economic minerals – Mineral resources
are finite and increased demand can
make some of them unaffordable.
Where does your drinking
water come from, and what
are the threats to its quality
and quantity?
Critical Thinking
• Is the use of reasoning to
explain the world around us.
Any explanation for a process or a
phenomenon must be testable.
• Inductive Reasoning
(observations) used to
formulate an hypothesis
• Principle of Parsimony used to
select the most likely
hypothesis
“The simplest explanation is
often the correct one.”
• Deductive Reasoning
generates testable
predictions, based on the
hypothesis
• These are unified under the
Scientific Method
The Scientific Method
• The Scientific
Method uses
observations and
experiments to
build and refine
hypotheses that
explain
phenomena.
Global challenges will be solved by critical
thinkers with an enduring understanding of Earth
• Geology encompasses a vast range
of time and space.
• Earth materials are recycled over
and over again (Rock Cycle).
• Plate Tectonics controls the geology
of Earth’s surface.
• Geologic systems are the product
of interactions between the solid
Earth, water, the atmosphere, and
living organisms.
• Rocks and sediments are pages in
the book of Earth’s history.
Sedimentary rocks in the Grand Canyon
The Theory of Plate Tectonics Is a Product of
Critical Thinking
• PANGAEA – basis of Alfred Wegener’s Continental Drift Theory
Alfred Wegner’s continental drift hypothesis was never widely accepted
because, although he was correct in observing that the continents had
moved, he had no credible hypothesis for “how” it happened.
• Harry Hess’s Theory of Seafloor Spreading provided a framework
to understand the problem
Theory of Plate Tectonics
Theory of Plate Tectonics
explains:
• Similarity of fossils and rock
types across ocean basins
• Chains of volcanic islands (Hot
Spots)
• Past existence of the
supercontinent Pangaea
Many other geological phenomena are explained by Plate
Tectonics. Can you name a few?
THE MODERN
CONTINENTS EVOLVED
FROM PANGAEA
THROUGH RIFTING AND
PLATE MOVEMENT
Continents Form
Over Time
Rocks
• A Rock is a solid
aggregation of
minerals
• Each mineral in
this rock has a
different colour.
They also have
other distinctive
properties such as
hardness, cleavage
and lustre.
Three families of rock
Igneous
Sedimentary
Metamorphic
Form through geological processes that lead to their recycling
through the rock cycle.
How, for example, can an igneous rock be turned into a sedimentary rock?
Three ways to form rocks
Igneous
Metamorphic
Sedimentary
Geologists study dangerous natural
processes known as Geologic Hazards
• Volcanic Eruptions
• Earthquakes and tsunami
• Mass wasting events (e.g., rock
slides and debris flows)
• Major storms and their effects
Describe a geological hazard that has taken
place in your region in the past year?
Natural Resources
• Natural Resources are materials that occur in nature and are
essential or useful to humans. Most geological resources are
non-renewable.
Principle of Uniformitarianism
• Earth is very old.
• Natural process have
been uniform through
time.
• The study of modern
geologic processes is
useful to our
understanding of past
geologic events
“The present is the key to
the past”
Archaeopteryx is unique to the Jurassic Period,
but the processes that lead to the fossilization of
this individual 150 million years ago are similar
to those happening in lakes today.
The Geologic Time Scale
• The Geologic Time Scale
summarizes Earth’s History
• Time is divided into
progressively shorter
intervals defined by specific
fossils and strata found in
the geological record:
Eons
Eras
Periods
Epochs
The Pleistocene Epoch is part of which Period, which Era and which Eon?
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