GEOL 11040 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Plate Tectonics, Mesozoic, Himalayas

• School: Kent State University
• Department: Geology
• Course: GEOL 11040
• Professor: Elizabeth Herndon

Document Summary

Meteorite brings perpetual winter and end to cretaceous and the dinosaurs. Formation of today"s mountain chains like the himalayas. Himalayas- formed from india and eurasia colliding. Theory: the brittle outer layer of earth (lithosphere) consists of rigid plates that move relative to each other across the surface driven by earth"s heat. The continents have moved across earth"s surface over time. Magnetic signatures recorded in rocks that give info on location of plates. Scrates and grooves created in rock by moving glaciers. A climate that existed in a particular region at a particular time. Earth acts as a giant bar magnet. Earth generates magnetic field due to concentrated liquid iron in outer core. Declination- difference between magnetic north pole and the geographic north pole. Inclination- angle between where the magner points and the earth"s surface. Magnetic minerals in rocks point to the north pole. Magnetic minerals in igneous rocks (volcanic) align themselves to earth"s magnetic field at the time they form.