The Earth System

How old is Earth? 4.56 billion years

Earth radius: 6400km

Earths topography is measured with respect to sea level.

Earths layered structure: Inner core, Outer core, Mantle, Crust.

Inner Core: Solid iron-nickel alloy
Outer core: Liquid, metallic region
Mantle: Mesosphere, Asthenosphere
o Asthenosphere: Can bend like plastic
Crust: thinnest layer of the Earth
Lithosphere: includes the crust and upper mantle
o Forms relatively cool, brittle plates of plate tectonics
o
Continental Crust: 35km thick
o Oceanic Crust: 5km thick
o Continental crust is thicker and has a lower density than
oceanic crust CC ride higher

James Hutton- Principle of Uniformitarianism: the present is the

key to the past.
o Sand rolling along a stream bottom shows that the
sediment is moving downstream.

Crustal rocks are less dense than mantle rocks.

Convection in Earths mantle

o Outer Core
o Hot matter from the mantle rises Plates to form and
diverge
Plates convergeCooled plate is dragged under the
neighboring platesinksrepeat

3.8 billion years ago: Liquid water exist

600 million years ago: Earliest land animals
65 million years ago: dinosaurs extinct

Plate tectonics

13 major plates
Singapore located on Eurasian plate
Active mountain belts are most likely to be found along the margins
of continents

Convergent : Subduction
o Deep-sea trenches, earthquake belts, mountain, volcanoes
Divergent
o Volcanic activity, earthquakes at the crest of mid-ocean
ridge
Transform: Sliding
o Linear topography, earthquake activity, offsets in magnetic
anomaly bands

Age of seafloor
o Measure the age by comparing magnetic anomaly bands
mapped on the seafloor with the sequence of magnetic
reversals worked out on land

Convection:
o Whole-mantle convection

Minerals

Minerals
o Naturally occurring, solid crystalline substance, generally
inorganic, with a specific chemical composition

Most common Earth anion: Oxygen

Anions tend to be larger than cations
Polymorphs: Alternative structures formed from the same chemical
compound
o Eg. Graphite and diamond

Minerals group into 7 classes:

1. Native Elements
2. Oxides* and hydroxides

Hematite, Spinel
3. Halides

Halide, table salt NaCl

4. Carbonates*

Calcite, Dolomite
o Acid Test: Calcite fizzes and release CO2
5. Sulfates*

Anhydrite, Gypsum
6. Sulfides*

Pyrite (fools gold)

7. Silicates*

Ferromagnesian/ Felsic : Containing Fe & Mg

o Amphiboles, pyroxenes, biotite mica,
olivine

Non-ferromagnesian/ Mafic
o Feldspars: orthoclase and plagioclase,
quartz, muscovite mica
* 5 most common classes, largest group is silicate minerals

Physical Properties:
1. Hardness

Talc (1) Diamond (10)

2. Cleavage

Tendency of crystal to break along flat planar

surfaces
3. Luster

Reflect light
4. Color

Imparted by light

Impurities produces intense color

5. Streak

Fine deposit of mineral dust left on an abrasive

surface
6. Density
7. Crystal habit
8. Fracture

Muscovite vs Biotite
1. Similarities

Both members of mica family

Have sheet structure excellent cleavage in one

direction
2. Differences

Light color and pearly luster vs shiny black

appearance
Non-ferromagnesian vs Ferromagnesian
Orthoclase vs Plagioclase
1. Similarities

Both members of feldspars family

2. Differences

K ions rich vs Na and Ca ions rich

Light cream to salmon pink vs White to medium

gray

Striations absent vs Striations on cleavage faces

Igneous Rocks

Extrusive pyroclasts
o Form in violent eruptions from lava thrown high in the air
Extrusive Igneous rocks
o Cool rapidly on Earths surface Fine-grained
o Mafic Basalt
o Felsic Rhyolite
Intrusive Igneous rocks
o Cool slowly in Earths interior Large, Coarse-grained
o MaficGabbro
o FelsicGranite
Intrusive Porphyritic
o Beneath Earths surface
o Some crystals grow large, but the remaining melt cools
faster, forming smaller crystals

Igneous rocks are classified based on:

o Texture : size, shape and arrangement of the crystals

Affected greatly by rate of cooling

o Mineral composition

Phaneritic Texture
o Coarse-grained
o Individual minerals can be identified with unaided eye
o Inter-grown crystals are roughly equal in size
o Large masses of magma solidify at depth
o Eg. Felsic: Graphite Quartz, Hornblende, Feldspar
Aphanitic Texture
o Fine-grained
o Formed at the surface, or within the upper crust
o Grains too small to be identified by unaided eye
Vesicular Texture
o Contain voids left by gas bubbles that escape as lava
solidifies
o Form near the surface of lava flows
o Eg. Scoria
Porphyritic Texture
o Large crystalsphenocrysts, embedded in a matrix of
smaller crystalsgroundmass
o Coarse grained formed first, followed by smaller

Bowens reaction series

o Shows the sequence in which minerals crystallize from a
magma
o Provides a model of fractional crystallization
o Explains the composition of basaltic intrusion that forms
the palisades
o Olivine crystalize early
o The last minerals to crystallize on Bowen's Reaction Series
are those found in igneous rocks with a felsic composition.

Intrusive igneous bodies:

o Plutons

Largest: Batholiths thick horizontal masses

extending from a funnel-shaped central region

Smaller: Stocks
o Sills

Parallel to the layers of bedded country rocks

o Dikes

Cut through country rocks

o Veins

Form where water is abundant

Either in magma or in surrounding country rocks

Sedimentary Rocks

Major process that forms sedimentary rocks:

o Weathering breaks down rocks physically and chemically
o Erosion carries away particles
o Transportation via water, glaciers, wind

Abrasion reduces the size and angularity of clastic

particles Particles more rounded and slightly
smaller
o Deposition occurs when particles settle out or dissolved
minerals precipitate
o Burial occurs as layers of sediment accumulate and
compact previous layers
o Diagenesis involves pressure, heat and chemical reaction,
lithifies (compact & cementation) the sediment to make
sedimentary rocks

Sedimentary basins are formed by plate separation

o Earths primary sources of oil and natural gas

Major types of sediments and sedimentary rocks

o Siliciclastic sediments (detrital)

Form from fragmentation of parent rock by physical

and chemical weathering and are transported to
sedimentary basins by water, wind or ice
o Chemical and biological sediments

Originate from minerals dissolved in and

transported by water

Through chemical and biological reactions, there

minerals are precipitated from solution to form
sediments
Clastic Sediments and Sedimentary rocks classified by:
o Particle size

Factors interact to create sedimentary environments

Mineral composition

Metamorphic Rocks

Metamorphism takes place when preexisting rock is changed when

subjected to temperatures and pressures unlike those which it was
formed.
Subjected to differential stress, some minerals will recrystallize with
a preferred orientation

Regional metamorphism
o Rocks over large areas are metamorphosed by high
temperature and pressures generated during mountain
building
o Changes rock texture
Contact metamorphism
o Country rock close to an igneous intrusion is transformed
by the heat of the intruding magma
o Source of heat: heat from nearby magma body
Seafloor metamorphism
o Hot fluids percolate through and metamorphose oceanic
crust
Burial metamorphism
o Deeply buried sedimentary rocks are altered by pressures
and temperatures higher than those that result in
diagenesis

High-pressure and ultra-high-pressure metamorphism

o At great depts., as when sediments are subducted
Shock metamorphism
o Meteorite impacts

Degree of metamorphism is reflected on rocks texture and/or

mineral composition
o Low-grade

More compact more dense

Soft sedimentary rock hard, compact
metamorphic rock
o More extreme

Recrystallize to form large crystals

Microscopic clay minerals tiny mica larger mica

Classification of metamorphic rocks by Texture

o
Foliated rocks, Granoblastic (non-foliated) rocks
Foliated rocks
o Any planar arrangement of platy and elongated mineral
grains or structural features within a rock
o Classified by metamorphic grade, grain size, type of
foliation, banding
o Common foliated metamorphic rocks include:
(In increasing grain size order)

Slate
- Low-grade metamorphic rock
- Forms from shale and mudstone
- Rock cleavage is common
- Sedimentary features may be visible

Phyllite
- Fine-grained
- Formed from mudstone and shale

Schists
- Formed at the highest grade of regional
metamorphism

Gneiss
o Distinguished by:

Slaty cleavage
- Parallel arrangement of fine-grained
metamorphic minerals
- Consists of closely spaced planar surfaces
along which rocks split into thin, tabular
slabs when hit with hammer
Schistocity
- Coarser-grained metamorphic rocks
- Parallel arrangement of platy minerals such
as micas
Gneissic texture
- Dark and light silicate minerals have
separated banded appearance

Hornfels forms by contact metamorphism of mudstones and

shales
Marble non foliated metamorphic rock consisting mostly of
calcite.