GEO 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: James Hutton, Mining Engineering, Civil Engineering
21 Feb 2018
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Lecture 1+2 Queen Bee
What is Science?
• Science is the human effort to understand the natural world and
hoe it works by observing physical evidence
• Science is done through observation of natural phenomena and/or
through experimentation that tries to simulate natural processes
under controlled conditions
What is Earth Science?
• Study of the Earth, focusing on its composition, behavior, and
history including these subsystems-
o Atmosphere
o Biosphere
o Hydrosphere- water
o Lithosphere- rock
o Mantle- thickest part
o Core- inner and outer parts
What does a Geologist do?
• Mineral exploration
• Oil and gas industry
o What is the process that makes up the oil? How long does it
take? What does the environment have to be to make oil?
• Environmental (policy, clean up, hydro, coastal)
• Civil engineering
• Research
• Teaching and academia
How does Geology affect our everyday lives?
• Natural events
• Economics and Politics
• Our role as decision makers
o Climate change
• Consumer and citizens
• Sustainable development
Scientific Method- “Red Tide” example
• Natural phenomenon
• Question
• Hypothesis
• Experiment
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• Results of Experiment
• Conclusions- Hypothesis correct or incorrect
What is Geologic Time?
• The time of the physical formation and development of the
earth
Background-
• James Hutton- founder of modern geology
o At this time, earth was thought to be -6000 years old based
on the bible
o Hutton concluded that the processes we see today must
also have been going on in the past
• Sir Charles Lyell
o Published “Principles of Geology”, which popularized
Hutton’s ideas
Relative Time- age of features is described in relation to one another (A is
older than B)
• Principle of Uniformitarianism
o Physical processes occurring today also operated at the
comparable rates in the past- “the present is the key to
the past”
• Principle of Superposition
o Oldest rocks are on bottom and youngest rocks are on top
• Principle of Original Horizontality
o Sediments settle and accumulate on fairly horizontal
surfaces
o Geologic layers with fold or tilts were deformed after
deposition
• Principle of Original Continuity
o Sediment accumulates in continuous layers
o Any breaks are results of erosion or deformation after
deposition
• Principle of Cross-Cutting Relations
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
What is earth science: study of the earth, focusing on its composition, behavior, and history including these subsystems, atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere- water, lithosphere- rock, mantle- thickest part, core- inner and outer parts. What does the environment have to be to make oil: environmental (policy, clean up, hydro, coastal, civil engineering, research, teaching and academia. How does geology affect our everyday lives: natural events, economics and politics, our role as decision makers, climate change, consumer and citizens, sustainable development. Scientific method- red tide example: natural phenomenon, question, hypothesis, experiment, results of experiment, conclusions- hypothesis correct or incorrect. What is geologic time: the time of the physical formation and development of the earth. Absolute time- age of features is reported by numerical values (number of years) Geologic time scale: earth is 4. 6 billion years old. Absolute age- the age of the formations is given in years: the method geologist use is isotopic dating.
