Mantle

Inside Earth The Mantle is the largest layer of the Earth. It is

a rocky layer located under the crust and is
The Earth’s Layers composed of silicon, oxygen, magnesium, iron,
The Earth is made of many different and distinct aluminum, and calcium.
layers. The deeper layers are composed of heavier
materials; they are hotter, denser and under much The middle mantle is composed of very hot
greater pressure than the outer layers. dense rock that flows like asphalt under a heavy
weight. The movement of the middle mantle
Natural forces interact with and affect the earth’s (asthenosphere) is the reason that the crustal
crust, creating the landforms, or natural features, plates of the Earth move. The middle mantle
found on the surface of the earth. "flows" because of convection currents.
Convection currents are caused by the very hot
material at the deepest part of the mantle
rising, then cooling and sinking again repeating
this cycle over and over.

Outer Core
The core of the Earth is like a ball of very hot
metals. The outer core is so hot that the metals
in it are all in liquid state. The outer core is
composed of the melted metals of nickel and
iron.

Crust
The rigid, rocky outer surface of the Earth. Inner Core
The inner core of the Earth has temperatures
It is composed of two rocks: and pressures so great that the metals are
1. The Continental Crust is mostly granite. squeezed together and are not able to move
2. The Oceanic Crust is basalt. about like a liquid but are forced to vibrate in
place like a solid.
Basalt is much denser than the granite.
Therefore, the less dense continents ride on the
denser oceanic plates Continental Drift
The Earth's Crust is like the skin of an apple. It is Theory
very thin in comparison to the other three
layers. It is only about 3-5 miles (8 kilometers) In the early 1900s a German explorer and scientist,
thick under the oceans (oceanic crust) and Alfred Wegener, proposed the continental drift
about 25 miles (32 kilometers) thick under the theory. He proposed that there was once a single
continents (Continental crust). “super continent” called Pangaea. He believed that
the continent floated on the oceanic crust (like an
The crust of the Earth is broken into many iceberg in the ocean). Most scientist rejected his
pieces called plates. The plates "float" on the theory due to lack of evidence.
soft, semi-rigid asthenosphere. The crust and
the upper layer of the mantle together make up
Evidence of Continental
a zone of rigid, brittle rock called the
Lithosphere. Drift Theory
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 1. Continents fit together like a jigsaw puzzle wraps around the globe for more than
Continents look like they could be part of a 65,000 km like the seam of a baseball.
giant jigsaw puzzle.
2. Fossils match across oceans Mid-ocean ridges occur along the kind of
Plant and animal fossils found on the plate boundary where new ocean floor is
coastlines of different continents. created as the plates spread apart. The
3. Rock types and mountain ranges match plates spread apart at rates of 1 cm to 20 cm
across oceans per year. As oceanic plates move apart, rock
Same rock patterns found in South America, melts and wells up from tens of kilometers
India, Africa, Antarctica and Australia. deep. Some of the molten rock ascends all
4. Climate Evidence (Glacial Deposits) the way up to the seafloor, producing
Tropical plant remains (coal deposits) enormous volcanic eruptions of basalt, and
found in Antarctica. Glacial deposits in building the longest chain of volcanoes in
Africa, South America, India, and Australia the world.
during the same time. 2. Evidence from Magnetic Stripes
Rocks that make up the ocean floor lie in a
pattern of magnetized stripes which hold a
record of the reversals in Earth’s magnetic
Seafloor Spreading field.
3. Evidence from Drilling Samples
Core samples from the ocean floor shows
Ocean floor moves like a conveyor belt carrying that older rocks are found farther from the
continents with it. New ocean floor forms along ridge; youngest rocks are in the center of the
cracks in the ocean crust as molten material ridge.
erupts from the mantle spreading out and pushing
older rocks to the sides of the crack. New ocean
floor is continually added by the process of
seafloor spreading. Plate Tectonics
Seafloor Spreading is the process that continually
adds new material to the ocean floor while pushing Most of the changes in the earth’s surface takes
older rocks away from the ridge (Harry Hess, 1960). place so slowly that they are not immediately
noticeable to the human eye. The idea that the

Evidence of Seafloor earth’s landmasses have broken apart, rejoined,

and moved to other parts of the globe forms part
Spreading of the plate tectonic theory.

1. Evidence from Molten Material Along the mid-ocean ridge the seafloor is pulling
Rocks shaped like pillows (rock pillows) apart and the two parts are moving in opposite
shows that molten material has erupted directions, carrying along the continents and
again and again from cracks along the mid- oceans that rest on top of them. These pieces of
ocean ridge and cooled quickly. Earth’s top layer are called tectonic plates. They
are moving very slowly, but constantly. Currently
Mid-Ocean Ridge Earth’s surface layers are divided into nine very
The mid-ocean ridge system is the most large plates and several smaller ones.
extensive chain of mountains on earth, but
more than 90% of this mountain range lies in
the deep ocean. The mid-ocean ridge According to the theory of plate tectonics, the
earth’s outer shell is not one solid piece of rock.
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Instead, the earth’s crust is broken into a number of called a trench. Often an island group forms
moving plates. The plates vary in size and at this boundary.
thickness. These plates are not anchored in place 3. Continent to Continent
but slide over a hot and bendable layer of the A continental plate colliding with another
mantle. continental plate. The plates push against
each other, creating mountain ranges.

Divergent Boundaries Earth’s highest mountain range,

Himalayas, was formed millions of years
the

The boundary between two plates that are moving

ago when the Indo-Australian Plate crashed
apart or rifting. Rifting causes seafloor spreading.
into the Eurasian Plate. Even today, the
When plates pull away from one another they form
Indo-Australian Plate continues to push
a diverging plate boundary or spreading zone.
against the Eurasian Plate at a rate of about
 →
5 cm a year.

Features of Divergent Boundaries:

1. Mid-Ocean Ridges Transform Boundaries
2. Rift valleys The boundary between two plates that are sliding
3. Fissure Volcanoes past each other. An earthquake along faults. The
San Andreas Fault lies on the boundary between

Convergent Boundaries two tectonic plates, the north American Plate, and
the Pacific Plate. The two plates are sliding past
The boundary between two plates that are
each other at a rate of 5 to 6 centimeters each
colliding.
→  year. This fault frequently plagues California with
earthquakes. These areas are likely to have a rift
1. Ocean to Continent valley, earthquake, and volcanic action.
The ocean plate collides with a less dense →

continental plate. Subduction is a process
by which the ocean floor sinks beneath a
deep-ocean trench and back into the
mantle; allows part of the ocean floor to sink
Dating The Earth
back into the mantle. Subduction Zone is
where the denser plate slides under the less
dense plate. Volcanoes and deep-ocean
trench occur at subduction zones. Deep Relative Dating
underwater canyons form where oceanic The process of determining whether an object or
crust bends downward. event is older or younger than other objects or
events. It does not give the age of a rock or fossil in
years; it only allows scientists to find out what
rock/fossil is older or younger.

Law of Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy is a branch of geology that studies
rock layers; structure includes the faults and
folds that result from regional & local forces
acting on the area. (Proposed by Nicolas
2. Ocean to Ocean
Steno).
The ocean plate collides with another ocean
plate. The denser plate slides under the less
dense plate creating a subduction zone

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1. Law of Superposition however, there is a gap in the ages between
States that at the time when any given the rock units. It represents a period of non-
stratum was being formed, all the matter deposition.
resting upon it was fluid, and, therefore, at
the time when the lower stratum was being
formed none of the upper strata existed.
Absolute Dating
Another term for radiometric dating that
2. Law of Lateral Continuity
determines the specific age of a fossil. It looks at
States that material forming any stratum
chemical properties. The most important methods
were continuous over the surface of the
of absolute dating are based on the decay of
Earth unless some other solid bodies stood
naturally occurring radioactive elements.
in the way.
3. Law of Cross-Cutting Relationships
States that if a body or discontinuity cuts
Half Life
The time needed for half of a sample of a
across a stratum, it must have formed after
radioactive substance to undergo radioactive
that stratum.
decay. After every half-life, the amount of
parent material decreases by one-half.
Unconformity
Parent Half-Life Stable
It is a surface of non-deposition or erosion.
Isotope Daughter
Uranium-235 704 million Lead-207
years
Potassium- 1.25 billion Argon-40
40 years
Uranium-238 4.5 billion Lead-206
years
Thorium-232 14.0 billion Lead-208
years
Lutetium-176 35.9 billion Hafnium-176
years
Rubidium-87 48.8 billion Strontium-87
years
Samarium- 106 billion Neodymium-
1. Angular Unconformity 147 years 143

The attitude of beds above and below the

surface of erosion or unconformity are not Radiometric Dating Methods
the same (beds are not parallel to each Potassium-Argon method
other). Potassium-40 decays to argon-40 with a half-
2. Nonconformity life of 1.25 billion years. With its half-life, the
The layer below the erosional surface is technique is used to date rocks from 100,000
either a metamorphic rock or an igneous years to over a billion years old.
rock. The layer above the erosional surface
is a sedimentary rock. Uranium-Lead method
3. Disconformity Two uranium isotopes are used for radiometric
Sedimentary rock strata above and below dating: Uranium-238 decays to lead-206 with a
the surface of erosion are parallel to each half-life of 4.5 billion years, Uranium-235
other. decays to form lead-207 with a half-life of 704
4. Paraconformity million years. It is used to date rocks more than
The strata or beds are parallel to each other. 10 million years old.
There is no discernable erosional surface;

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 Rubidium-Strontium method
Uses rubidium-87, which forms a stable
daughter isotope, strontium-87. The half-life of
rubidium-87 is 48.8 billion years. It is used to
date rocks older than 10 million years old.

Radiocarbon Dating
This method uses three forms of carbon:
1. Carbon-12
2. Carbon-13
3. (radioactive isotope) Carbon-14
Living plants and animals contains a constant
ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12. The half-life of
carbon is 5730 years. This is used to find the age
of once living materials between 100-and
50,000-year-old. It is usually used to determine
ages of human fossils and habitation sites.

Geological Time Scale

The geologic time scale is a system of

chronological dating that relates geological strata The intervals are usually delimited by changes in
to time. It is used by geologists, paleontologists, the composition of the strata which correspond to
and other Earth scientists to describe the timing them, indicating major geological or
and relationships of events that have occurred paleontological events such as first appearances
during Earth's history. and mass extinctions. Time intervals in the
stratigraphic record are represented by a unique
TIME SPANS set of index fossils and fossil assemblages.
Eon Half a billion years or more
Era Several hundred million years Index fossils is a fossil that is useful for dating and
Period One hundred million years
correlating the strata in which it is found. Fossils
Epoch Ten of millions of years
are the remnant of any ancient animals or plant
Age Millions of years
that has been preserved I rocks. It is often the
remains of the shell or bones in which minerals
have been crystalized. The age of fossils is equal to
the age of rock on which it is found.

Properties in Index Fossils

1. It must have had hard parts which favors
fossilization.
2. It must have lived over a short period of time
before it evolved into a different creature.
3. It must have a good distribution and lived all
over the planet.

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If two rocks anywhere on the planet contains the preservable hard parts). Subdivided into three
same index fossil, it can be concluded that those eras:
rocks are of the same age. Examples are 1. Paleozoic (540 – 245 Ma)
Ammonites, Brachiopods, Graptolites, Trilobites. • Age of “ancient life”
The relative dating of events, fossil assemblage • Separated into six periods:
and radiometric dates are then combined to 1. Cambrian
produce a calibrated geological time scale. 2. Ordovician
3. Silurian
4. Devonian
5. Carboniferous
History of the Earth 6. Permian
• Rapid diversification of life as
represented by the Cambrian fauna
(Cambrian explosion)
Precambrian • Dominance of marine invertebrates
Starting with the formation of Earth 4.54 Gya up
• Plants colonize land by 480 Ma
until 570 Mya. Subdivided into three eons:
• Animals colonize land by 450 Ma
1. Hadean (4.56 - 3.8 Ga)
• Oxygen level in the atmosphere
• From “Hades”, Greek god of the
approaches present day concentration
underworld
• Massive extinction at the end (end of
• Chaotic time because of several
Permian extinction)
meteorite bombardment
2. Mesozoic (245 – 65 Ma)
• Atmosphere reduction (methane,
• Age of reptiles
ammonia, carbon dioxide)
• Dominance of reptiles and dinosaurs
• Start of the hydrologic cycle and the
• Pangaea starts to break-apart by 200
formation of the world oceans
MA
• Life emerged in this “hostile”
• Early mammals (220 Ma)
environment
• First birds (150 Ma)
2. Archean (3.8 - 2.5 Ga)
• First flowering plants (130 Ma)
• Anaerobic (lack of oxygen)
• Mass extinction at the end of the
• No ozone
Cretaceous (65 Ma)
• Photosynthetic prokaryotes (blue green
3. Cenozoic (65 Ma - Present)
algae) emerged and started releasing
• Age of mammals
oxygen to the atmosphere.
• Age of Recent Life
• Life forms are still limited to single-celled
• Two Periods:
organisms without nuclei (prokaryotes)
1. Tertiary
until 2.7 Ga when Eukaryotes emerged
2. Quaternary
3. Proterozoic (2.5 Ga - 540 Ma)
• Radiation of modern birds
• Oxygen level reaches ~3% of the
• Early primates (60 Ma)
atmosphere
• Continents near present-day positions
• Rise of multicellular organisms
(40 Ma)
represented by the “Vendian biota” or
• First hominids (5.2 Ma)
“Ediacaran fauna”
• Modern humans (0.2 Ma)
• Formation of the protective ozone layer
• Global ice ages begin (2 Ma)

Phanerozoic Eon (540 Ma - present)

The eon of “visible life”. Diversification of life. Many
life forms are represented in fossil records (with