Earth History:
-application of plate tectonic theory to the ancient past
-reconstructing past continent/ocean configurations
-pale environmental reconstruction and pale biology (fossil organism)
-search for mineral resources
-environmental issues
-canal boom in geology => the layers
=> father of geology => William Smith
Challenges of environmental Changes
-urban sprawl
-hardening of watersheds -> water flows to growth and become contaminated =>
flood
-waste disposal
-groundwater contamination => salt
-remediation of contaminated cities
-radon gas
-earthquakes: land slides and tsunamis
-climate warming and severe weather
-water shortage - southern Alberta 6L water = 1L oil
-mineral resources => grannite
-acid mine drainage => waste material from mining
-tailing => subury's nickel mine contains sulfi
-greenfield => farmland
*all required and understanding of geology
How planet earth works and the plate tectonic "revolution"
Key concepts to remember:
-continental drift: 1912 (Wegener) "pangea"
-seafloor spreading 1960 (Hess)
-polar wander paths for continents 1965
-magnetic reversals and stripes 1965 (Vine)
-mid-ocean ridges and hot spots (Wilson 1965) => Paradygm (new idea)
-plate tectonic: 1967 (Wilson)
-oceanic vs continental plates => crust thin surface
-collisional (obducting and subducting) margins and divergent (rifted) plate margins
-moving away from opposition plate
-collide plate => Himalayas
How did our solar system form?
-universe: 1520 billion years ago
-oldest known rock are 4.6 billion years old (meteorites)
-oldest rocks on earth are 4.03 billion years old and occur in Canada found near
Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories
-rock cycle => being attacked, broken up and recycled, sucked up by plate, melted,
become magma
-igneious rock -born of fire, rock make up of parts of older rocks