Earth Sciences 1022A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: James Hutton, Plate Tectonics, Geologic Time Scale
16 Mar 2015
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Document Summary
Geology (study of earth) is important for energy and natural resources, solving environmental problems, building cities and highways, predicting and protecting against natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, floods. Physical geology the primary focus examines the materials composing earth to gain understanding of many processes that operate both on and beneath its surface. Historical geology to understand the origin of earth and its development through time. Strives to establish an orderly, chronic arrangement of the multitude of physical and biological changes that have in the past. Catastrophism: he determined that earth was only a few thousand yrs old having been created in 4004 bce. Uniformitarianism**: (james hutton) fundamental principle the present is the key to the past . The forces and processes that we observe presently shaping our planet have been at work for a very long time. How long? geologic time is measured in billions of years (4. 5) 19: 2 types of crust: continental and oceanic.
