Geology 101

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Geology 101

• Course Themes and
• Introduction to Geology

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Feedback / Questions

• Read the announcements
• Questions in warmups are not necessarily in any
  particular order, relative to the chapter.
• Feedback I agree that the way Blackboard doesnt
  let you out and back in is a pain.

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Announcements

• Field Trip
• info posted on Supplemental Web Site
• Date May 4
• Activity Discussing coastal processes while
  kayaking
• Pre-course assessment
• Due Monday in lecture

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The Core

• 6.50 in the hall
• Checks to
• WWU Geology
• After class
• Or in my lab (ES 110)
• By 4 p.m. today
• Question sheets here for pickup if youre going
  to see it on your own.
• Arrive by 630 p.m.,Tuesday
• Carpool meetings after lecture outside

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Geology 101 Course Themes

• Cycles
• Plate Tectonics
• Deep Time
• Earth Hazards
• Earth Resources

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Theme Cycles

• Rock
• Water
• Carbon
• Nitrogen
• Others?

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Theme Cycles

• What drives the cycle?
• Internal heat
• External heat

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Theme Plate Tectonics
Compositional layering
Mechanical layering
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Lithospheric Plates

• Oceanic parts are thin
• Continental parts are thicker

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Lithospheric Plates

• Why is the ocean filled with water?
• Thicker Higher because of isostasy

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Theme Theory of Plate Tectonics

• Aside What is a theory?
• Three ways plates interact at boundaries
• Diverge (move apart)
• Magma comes in and fills the space between
• Converge
• One plate goes under the other, usually
• Slide Past

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Juan de Fuca Plate
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Juan de Fuca Plate
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Your Answers to the Plate Speed Question

• Most (93) recognized that tectonic plates move
  at speeds between 1 and 10 centimeters per year
• A useful analogy your fingernails

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What drives plate motion?

• Internal heat

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Theme Deep Time Activity

• Get in pairs
• Ask your neighbor his/her name
• Ask your neighbor how old he/she is

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Deep Time Activity
Your neighbors lifetime
???
Now
18-40(?) yrs ago
Human Civ.
4.5 billion yrs ago
Now
77000 yrs
The earths lifetime
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Deep Time Activity
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Your Answers to the Uniformitarianism Question

• 83 recognized that geologists generally believe
  that we can interpret the geologic past by
  applying what we know we about how Earth operates
  today.
• Exceptions / Caveats?

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Your answers to theHazards question

• In western Washington, we face the hazards of
  floods, volcanic eruptions, coastal erosion, and
  the risks of earthquakes
• Eruption, flood, pyroclastic flow, Tsunami, Earth
  Quake, Ash, Land Slide
• volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, floods...
  we're all doomed
• What about worldwide hazards?

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Your answers to theResource Usage question

• I would guess that each American uses around
  1000lbs of Earth resources per year, the most
  predominate one being perhaps iron or steel.
• I am guessing that minerals make up most of the
  weight. I have no clue how many pounds each
  american uses, but I would guess about 10950 lbs.
  a year. (I thought about 30 lbs. a day)
• 200 pounds, mostly metals like aluminum

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Your answers to theResource Usage question

• I feel that the resource that we use the most of
  is rock. I fell this because it is everywhere
  around us in the cement we walk on under the
  ground we walk and play and build on rock is
  everywhere.

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Gravel and Sand!

• Of the 10,000 kg of solid earth resources we each
  use each year, 93 is non-metals (sand, gravel,
  crushed stone, cement)

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Gravel and Sand!
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If time permits
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The Geology 101 QuestionHow do you know ?

• the Earth is round (spheroid)?

• how big is the Earth ball?

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How do you know Earth is round (a spheroid)?
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How do you know Earth is round (a spheroid)?