Transcript File - Vagabond Geology

Senior University Georgetown
Winter 2013
Session 2
Creating Pathways for Ancient Peoples
Some interesting Information sources
Out of the East African Rift & Tropics
nd into the
country of South Africa
Some interesting Information sources
Geology in the News
From the New York Times, Jan. 28
An American team drilled through
one half mile of ice in Antarctica &
recovered water samples from
Lake Williams that may have life
from 195 million years ago!
Why the international interest in Antarctica?
Its natural resources
Argentina
Australia
South Africa
How big is Antarctica?
Now the Continental Drift of Antarctica
last 195 million years
Continental Drift of Antarctica
last 195 million years
Today
18,000 years ago
195 million years ago
94 million years ago
From Nature magazine, Jan. 24
From Nature magazine, Jan. 24
The World Until Yesterday, Jared Diamond
Book review
Sustainable bio-energy production from
marginal lands in the US Midwest
Stable creeping fault segments can become
destructive as a result of dynamic weakening
Check
Books
the Sun
youCity
might
library
wantfor
to read
Nature
Books you might want to read
Prithviraj R, 2008; 19,000 Years of World History
The Times, Complete History of the World, Overy Richard
Illustrated Atlas of Exploration, 2011, Metro Books
Atlas of Human Migration, Russell King, 2007
Now a quick review of last week
A quick review of last week
Oh, by the way, did anyone get
any pictures of our sunsets
this past week?
Now a quick review of last week
If you did and would like to share them
with the class, send then to me
[email protected]
Remember from last week
The Tropics Climate Zones; Eastern Hemisphere
No world power or empire or religion has ever been created in the tropics
Why do we post the tropics?
Back to why I postulate that deposits of copper,
tin, iron, coal, and oil have shaped human history
We looked at how archeologists divide human history
Archeologists’ Division of Historic Time
Based on Artifacts: their age & composition
Iron, Coal,
Oil
Iron-Coal
Iron, Coal, Petroleum, & Uranium Age
Iron, Coal, & Oil Age
Iron & Coal: Industrial Age
Iron & Coal: Renaissance
1950 to Present
1900 to 1950 AD
1700 to 1830 AD
1450 to 1700 AD
IronGoogle
& Coal:
Ages
What did
Earth
add to our knowledge?
MyMiddle
conclusion:
470 to 1450 AD
Iron Age 2 Romeview the same time
to 470 AD
How do Historians
Iron
750 BCE
division of human history?
Iron Age 1 Greece
1400 to 750 BCE
th
Bronze Age
3300 to 1400 BCE
Copper & tin
Great nations (aka world powers) must
have had iron & coal
and in the 20 century oil
Copper
Flint & Obsidian
Copper Age
3300 to 3000 BCE
Stone Age (end of Ice Age) 70,000 to 3300 BCE
Historians’ Division of Human History
Silicon Age
Modern Age
Steam Age
Industrial Age
Renaissance
Middle Ages
Roman Age
1950 to Present
1900 to 1950
1830 to 1950
1700 to 1830
1450 to 1700
470 to 1450
to 470
Where were these farming empires750and why?
Large scale farming
First world empires
Hunting & Gathering
Iron Age
Bronze Age
1400 to 750
3300 to 1400
Copper Age
3300 to 3000
Stone Age (end of Ice Age) 10,000 to 3000
Where Were the First Empires and Why?
Mountains from Spain to China
Northern
Temperate Climate
Zone
Focus onThethe
Six farming
Empires
Note:
1. Six empires based on large scale farming
The Tropic
climate
zonesTemperate Zone
2. Located
in the
Northern
3. South of a discontinuous mountain chain
(shielded from the melting glacier)
The Six Earliest Major Civilizations:
Located in the Six Major River Flood Plains of Eurasia
Located in the southern half of the
Northern Temperate Climate Zone
Tigris
Euphrates
Yellow
Yangtze
Indus
Ganges
Northern Temperate Climate Zone
Nile Nile
From: Hammond Atlas, 1972
Focus on the river flood plains that
humans might have migrated to as
they moved out of Africa
Focus: River flood plains where early human might have
settled when they migrated out of Africa
Tigris
Euphrates
Indus
Nile
Possible migration Routs to India & China
Along major rivers &
From: Hammond Atlas, 19
the coast lines!
Possible Migration Routs to India & China
Yellow
Yangtze
Indus
Ganges
What do all the earliest civilizations
have in common? Major Rivers!!!!
Without exception the 6 first human civilizations
Back
to the Historians’
Division
of Human
History
“preferred”
the 6 river
flood plains
of Eurasia!!!
Historians’ Division of Human History
Silicon Age
Modern Age
Steam Age
Industrial Age
Renaissance
Middle Ages
Floodplain empires
conquered by Iron
rich areas
Large scale farming
First world empires
1950 to Present
1900 to 1950
1830 to 1950
1700 to 1830
1450 to 1700
470 to 1450
Age 2 Rome
750BC to 470AD
Iron Age 1 Greece
Bronze Age
1400 to 750BC
3300 to 1400
Let’s focus on Greece and Rome
Hunting & Gathering
Copper Age
3300 to 3000
Stone Age (end of Ice Age) 10,000 to 3000
The Greek Empire: Alexander the Great
The greatest concentration
of farmland, iron and coal
in the world!!!!
Now the Roman Empire
Iron & Coal
Major River
Flood plain
The Roman Empire
Iron & Coal
Back toMajor
the River
Historians’ Divisions of Human History
Flood plain
Historians’ Division of Human History
Based on how humans lived
Iron, Coal, Petroleum, & Uranium Age
Iron-Coal -Oil
Competing Nations
Industrial age
Iron-Coal Age
Competing
Nations
Internal Combustion
is King
Iron,
engine Coal, & OilOil
Age
Coal is King
Iron
&Engine
Coal: Industrial
Age
Steam
Iron & Coal: Reformation
Iron & Coal: Middle Ages
1950 to Present
1900 to 1950 AD
1700 to 1900 AD
1450 to 1700 AD
470 to 1450 AD
Conclusions: World powers had or have:
1. “Owned “ or acquired farmland to feed
Iron Age
2 Rome
to 470 AD
their
people.
Iron Age
750 BCE
City
state
empires
2. landsWhat
lacking
farmland
or Fe andofCoal,
Finally:
is Age
the
thetohistory
Iron
1fossil
Greeceevidence
1400
750 BCE
them
by military
acquisition
of scale
theacquire
human
race:
where, when,
andtowhy?
Large
farming
Bronze
Agei.e.
3300
1400 BCE
First empires (6)
3300 to 3000 BCE
Hunting & gathering Copper Age
Stone Age (end of Ice Age) 70,000 to 3300 BCE
Clans & tribes
What is the fossil evidence of the history
of the human race:
i.e. where, when, and why?
Oldest fossil record of pre-humans and
the advent of Homo-sapiens
In Tanzania, Kenya,
Ethiopia, & Sudan
In the East African Rift
Why in the Rift?
Earliest
humans
Significance:
Unique geologic environments
lead to the advent of human species
Let’s look at a Cartoon of the fossil
evidence of earliest human history
Earliest
humans
Significance:
Unique geologic environments
lead to the advent of human species
Large Ape Habitat Today
Homo sapiens
Homo
Neander
thalensis
Homo
rhodesiensis
What can we read from this cartoon?
Homo
Antecessor/
mauritanicus
Homo
erectus
Pre-human bipeds
Homo
ergaster
Rift
Fossil evidence, last 2 million years
of the beginning of Human History
Homo sapiens
Extinctions
Homo
Neander
thalensis
Homo
rhodesiensis
Extinction
What could cause these
extinctions?
Homo
Extinction
Homo
Antecessor/
mauritanicus
Homo
ergaster
Rift
erectus
Oldest pre-human bipeds
become extinct, about
1.4 million years ago
Oldest pre-human bipeds
migrate out of Africa to Europe
1.65 million years ago
Oldest pre-human fossils
1.9 million years ago
Continental Glaciation
Focus on Homo sapiens
Time of
World History
Uniquely human characteristics
1. Reason: language
2. Conscience (right & wrong)
3. Adapt to any climate
Focus on Homo sapiens
Last ice age
Sapiens into Europe & Asia
70,000 years ago
Sapiens in Americas
33,000 years ago
Conclusions,
Back
to lastHumans
week: are:
Remember Tanzania
Fossil sapiens,
in East African Rift
150,000 years ago
Missing Link?
& Eve?
very
recent
advent
In the East African Rift (breakingAdam
away from
Africa)
unlike any older species; esp, language
Site of pre-human and Homo sapiens fossils
spread from East African rift through-out world
In the Tropics, no copper, tin, iron, coal, or oil
a people of the last ice age
Not an important land, even for Africa
pioneers in exploration and migration (seeking
newweek
natural resource
riches?) Is this
the
Also, last
we considered
what
early evidence of human selfishness
caused the that
Rifttheand
Biblethe
calls break-up
original sin? of
Remember this slide
the eastern half of the African continent
3-D Schematic View of the Earth
Ocean
Continental Crust
Oceanic Crust
Mantle convection
cells here
Radio-active heat
generated here
Next, the heat convection cells in the mantle
Complex Shape of Mantle Convection Cells
Can you find Africa in the top panel?
Note that the convection cell
is up-lifting eastern Africa
How does this look in cross section?
Mantle Convection Cell under a Continent
Continental Crust
Next, a mantle convection cell
affecting continental crust
Heat Convection Cell Uplifting a Continent
Continental Crust up-lifted &
rifted (pulling apart)
The rifting produced the
long, narrow, deep lakes in Tanzania
Long Narrow Rift Valley Lakes
Tanzania
Rift lakes are the southern extension of
the East African Rift System
Let’s look at the “big picture”
Plate Tectonics: Uplift and Rift Faulting
over a Sub-Crustal Mantle Convection Cell
East Africa:
Mantle convection cell
Tanzania
East Africa:
Triple junction
Rift Valleys formed
& Volcanoes
Why was this event important?
This unique geological event
More detail on the East African
coincided with the advent of
triple junction
the human race!
Another view focused on the East African Rifts
ental
East Africa:
Triple junction
Back to Tanzania:
what natural resources does Tanzania have?
Example: Tanzania, Hammond Atlas
Natural Resources Map
Note: no iron or coal or major river farming flood plain
and Tanzania is in the Tropics
Tropics
gold
diamonds
Tanzania
Why are natural resources of copper, tin, iron, and coal important?
We’ll try to convince you that they are required for a land to become
a major nation. Tanzania apparently doesn’t have the natural resources
to be a major nation
And being in the Tropics argues against large scale farming
What supports the proposition that a world power must have access
to copper, tin, iron and coal?
Let’s apply what we’ve learned as Sandi takes to the country of South Africa
The Tropics Climate Zones; Eastern Hemisphere
Where is the country of South Africa?
Possible migration routes out of the
East African Rift
No world power or empire or religion has ever been created in the tropics
Southern climate Temperate Zone
http://online.sfsu.edu/rapidviz/523_infodesign_
posters/523_human_origins_eugene_wong.pdf
Possible migration routes out of the
East African Rift
Possible migration routes out of the
East African Rift
Tropics
How did early humans get from
Tanzania to South Africa?
We don’t know, but
probably by rivers
Temperate climate
Human Migration out of the East African Rift
Nile River
Tropics
Congo River
Tanzania
What did they find in South Africa?
Zambezi River
Orange River
What did early humans find when they migrated into
the country that is now South Africa?
Tropics
What else does the land of South Africa have?
South Africa
South Africa:
is out of the Tropics!
has a major river, the Orange
What did early humans find when they migrated into
the country that is now South Africa?
Tropics
What are the natural resources of
Thethe
natural
resources that
world Africa?
empires and powers?
country
ofmake
South
What natural resources will we be looking for on these maps?
1. Large areas of farmland
South Africa
2. Deposits of copper and tin
3. Deposits of iron and coal
4. Deposits of oil
Topographic Map; Southern Africa
What route did first humans take to get to South Africa?
What route did first humans take to get
to the country of South Africa?
Stay in the hills where hunting & gathering
will support the large stone age population
The Natural Resources of
the Country of South Africa
Copper
Tin
Iron
Coal
What else do we post on these maps?
The Tropics
Why do we post the tropics?
Farm land
Why have we highlighted copper, tin, iron & coal?
We will try to convince you that these natural resource
shaped & continues to shape human history
South Africa on Google Earth
South Africa
A Random View of Farm Land on Google Earth
What’s going on here, farm land in the hills rather
than in the stream valleys
Tune in next week and we’ll find out and
we’ll follow humans into Europe