EES 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Continental Drift, Radioactive Decay, Oceanic Crust

• School: University of Kentucky
• Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Course: EES 150
• Professor: rebeccal.freeman

Document Summary

Alfred wegener, continental drift & pangea - was the first guy to propose continental drift. Continental change - earth is an energetic planet. The tectonic system is plates moving on earth"s surface. Primarily sources of energy: internal radioactive decay. Usgs animation of the break-up of the of pangaea approximate supercontinent ely 250 million years ago. An isotope is a version of an element with a certain number of neutrons. The half-life is the time required for half of the life isotopes to decay (how long does it take to decay) In geology this helps determine how old a certain rock is. Half-lives range from seconds to billions of year. The bigger the planet, the more energy remains after a certain number of half- lives (see slides to clarify understanding) bate lives (see slides to clarify understanding) Mars is smaller than earth so it has less internal heat, and no currently active tectonic system. Earth"s outermost layers are the best understood.