Lecture Outline 1

Front 1

Science is the pursuit of what?

Back 1

Knowledge for the sake of sheer curiosity

Front 2

Science seeks to organize what?

Back 2

Observable information into testable and predictive explanations of the relation between cause and effect of phenomena

Front 3

Science insists what?

Back 3

That our world can be understood

Front 4

Science is a body of knowledge about what?

Back 4

The physical world

Front 5

Science is an expression of human curiosity and a desire to know what?

Back 5

The world around us, where we came from, how we got to where we are, and where we might be going in the future

Front 6

What

Back 6

Refers to the "stuff things are made of"

Front 7

Where

Back 7

Refers to spatial nature of a phenomenon
-Relative position or location
-Distribution of the observed phenomenon

Front 8

When

Back 8

Refers to the temporal component of the phenomenon- its history or timing of the phenomenon

Front 9

How

Back 9

Refers to the cause of the phenomenon

Front 10

Why

Back 10

Not included in our discussion of important questions. Scientists believe it implies in the strict sense to "motive or purpose" (higher being)

Front 11

Requirements of Science

Back 11

-Observations and experimentation
-Classification
-Presentation

Front 12

Classification (a Requirement of Science)

Back 12

A number of important scientific discoveries have been made when a new classification scheme is developed

Front 13

Presentation (a Requirement of Science)

Back 13

Data should be presented in a format that maximized information within the data set

Front 14

Scientific Method

Back 14

The process on which science is based on. If the scientific method is not followed, it is not science

Front 15

Scientific method consists of

Back 15

-Collection of facts (data)
-Classification of data
-Formulation of a hypothesis
-Testing of the hypothesis
-Recognition of a theory
-Formulation of a Law or Principle

Front 16

Multiple Working Hypothesis

Back 16

Although there is ultimately only one explanation for a natural phenomenon, frequently when the data is limited; a natural phenomenon may be explained by several equally viable hypotheses (multiple working hypothesis). The goal of the scientist is to eliminate the incorrect hypothesis by making more observations and collecting more data. As additional data is collected, the scientist will be able to recognize and discard the incorrect hypothesis and finally determine which hypothesis is correct.

Front 17

Ockham's Razor or Law of Parsimony

Back 17

In the quest to explain natural phenomena, the simplest explanation fitting the facts is generally the best

Front 18

Degrees of Certainty

Back 18

The degree of certainty attached to any explanation is described by the terminology employed

Front 19

Hypothesis

Back 19

A tentative and speculative explanation advanced for testing and often expressed with numerous qualifiers. Hypotheses are commonly modified or completely discarded with testing.

Front 20

Theory

Back 20

An explanation for a phenomenon, which has been well tested and generally agreed as an accurate statement of our current understanding of phenomena. A theory is also subject to modification or rejection with continued testing.

Front 21

Law or Principle

Back 21

Embodies the highest level of confidence, based on having survived numerous episodes of rigorous testing

Front 22

Nicholas Steno (1638-1687)

Back 22

Recognized the significance of the principles of Similarity and Molding and was the first to apply them to determine the sequence of geologic events

Front 23

Steno's Stratigraphic Principles

Back 23

-Law of Superposition
-Law of Horizontality
-Law of Continuity

Front 24

Abraham Werner (1749-1817)

Back 24

-First classification of rocks
-Proposed the ideas that all rocks were derived from a "Universal Ocean" -Neptunism

Front 25

James Hutton (1726-1797)

Back 25

-"Present is the key to the past"
-Recognized that crystalline rocks were formed by the cooling of magma -Plutonism
-Recognized the importance of "cross-cutting relationships" and "unconformities"
-Immense age of the earth- "A world without a vestige of a beginning or a prospect of an end"
-Geologic cycles
-Cross-cutting relationships
-Unconformity

Front 26

William Smith (1769-1839)

Back 26

-Principle of Faunal Succession
-Principle of Succession
-Geologic correlation
-First geologic map

Front 27

Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

Back 27

-Published the "Principles of Geology" (1830, roman pillars with holes [mollusks], sea level)
-Principle of Uniformitarianism

Front 28

Uniformitarianism (Lyell)

Back 28

-Only geologic processes that we observe today have acted in the past
-Geologic processes act very slowly
-Rates of geologic processes are constant and unchanging
-Did not accept the possibility of global catastrophes in the history of the earth

Front 29

Louis Agassiz (1897-1873)

Back 29

Agassiz's recognition of fast global glaciation caused the first major modification of Lyell's Uniformitarianism which eventually led to the development of the concept of Actualism

Front 30

Actualism (Agassiz)

Back 30

-Past geologic processes can be inferred from modern geologic processes
-Geologic processes may have varied in rates and intensity in the past
-Some geological processes are extremely rate and may not have been observed by geologists
-Certain geologic processes may have operated only during the very early stages of the earth's history

Front 31

Cross-cutting relationships (Hutton)

Back 31

Any geologic structure, such as a fault, dike, or unconformity is by definition younger that the structure it cuts

Front 32

Unconformity (Hutton)

Back 32

A gap in a stratigraphic sequence and indicating a missing interval of time