Chapter 1

Front 1

Geology
Geo - logos

Back 1

geo=earth
logos=discourse

Front 2

Physical geography examines

Back 2

materials composing earth, and the processes operating beneath and upon surface

Front 3

Historical geography examines

Back 3

the origins of earth and development through time.
Chronological arrangement of changes in past.

Front 4

James Ussher, Anglican Archbishop, mid-1600s

Back 4

Published major work calculating creation or birth of earth at 4004 BCE. Printed in bibles.

Front 5

catastrophism

Back 5

Belief that earth's landscapes shaped primarily by great catastrophes. (Suddenly, all at once, unknown causes.) Meant to explain young age of earth & geologic processes.

Front 6

James Hutton, 1795

Back 6

Published "The Theory of earth".
A founder of modern geology.

Fundamental principle: uniformitarianism

and theory of small changes over a very long time to produce big changes.

Front 7

uniformitarianism

Back 7

"the physical, chemical, and biological laws that operate today also operated in the geologic past" (earth is old, still doing it's thing - understand present, understand past)

EARTH IS OLD

Front 8

Quote from James Hutton, 1788 paper

Back 8

"The result, therefore, of our present enquiry is, that we find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end."

Front 9

1896

Back 9

radioactivity is discovered. First use for dating in 1905

Front 10

relative dating

Back 10

events are placed in their proper order or sequence without knowing their age in years

(apply laws of superposition)

Front 11

law of superposition

Back 11

in layers of sedimentary rocks or lava flows, the youngest layer is at top, oldest on bottom (if stable position over time)

Front 12

fossils

Back 12

remains or traces of prehistoric life

Front 13

principle of fossil succession

Back 13

states that fossil organisms succeed one another in a definitie and determinable order, and therefore any time period can be recognized by its fossil content.

After established, geol. could identify rocks of same age in separate locations. helped build geologic time scale

Front 14

divisions of geologic time scale

Back 14

eons, eras, periods, epochs

Front 15

eons

Back 15

Precambrian eons: 1) Archean 4500-2500 m.y.
2) Proterozoic 2500-542m.y.

3) Phanerozoic 542 m.y.-present

Front 16

eras

Back 16

Paleozoic 542-251m.y.
Mesozoic 251-65.5m.y.
Cenozoic 65.5-pres

Front 17

periods

Back 17

subgroups within the Phanerozoic eon's eras.

Front 18

epochs

Back 18

subgroups within the cenozoic era's periods. (page 8 text diagram)

Front 19

precambrian era accounts for % of geologic time

Back 19

88

Front 20

hypothesis or model

Back 20

tentative explanation to be tested. goal to be able to use to make predictions.

Front 21

theory

Back 21

a hypothesis that has been well-tested & widely accepted in scientific community

Front 22

paradigms

Back 22

theories held with high confidence

Front 23

the scientific method

Back 23

1-gather facts through observation and measurement
2-develop one or more working hypotheses to explain facts
3-test hypotheses through experiment
4-accept, modify, or reject hypothesis based on extensive testing

Front 24

hydrosphere

Back 24

water. ocean, water vapor, rainfall, groundwater, bodies of water, streams, glaciers

Front 25

atmosphere

Back 25

gas, shallow layer/envelope around solid earth. air to breath, insulation from sun, originates weather/climate. protects life

Front 26

biosphere

Back 26

all life on earth. plants, organisms. most near earth's surface

Front 27

geosphere

Back 27

solid earth. surface to core. comprised of, formed by/with elements of other spheres

Front 28

the four spheres

Back 28

hydrosphere
atmosphere
biosphere
geosphere

Front 29

earth system science

Back 29

attempts to combine many different fields of science to understand the workings of the whole - global environmental processes

Front 30

system

Back 30

any size group with interacting parts that form a complex whole

Front 31

closed system

Back 31

self-contained system (car)

Front 32

open systems

Back 32

energy and matter flow into and out of system. most natural systems are open

Front 33

negative feedback mechanism

Back 33

work to maintain system. status quo. (perspire to cool)

Front 34

positive feedback mechanism

Back 34

enhances or drives change

Front 35

interface

Back 35

when elements from different spheres interact / cross paths / become part of the processes

Front 36

why the core is hot

Back 36

heat is continuously generated by decay of radioactive elements