1.

2 GEOLOGICAL
PROCESSES

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 1.2.1 PLATE TECTONICS
According to the plate tectonics model, the uppermost mantle,
along with the overlying crust, behave as a strong, rigid layer,
known as lithosphere (lithos = stone, sphere = a ball)
which is broken into pieces called plates.

The lithosphere overlies a weaker region in the mantle

known as the asthenosphere (asthenos = weak, sphere = a ball).

The lithosphere is broken into numerous segments called plates,

that are in motion with respect to one another and
are continually changing in shape and size.

There are intermediate-sized plates include the Caribbean, Nazca

Philippine, Arabian, Cocos, Scotia, and Juan de Fuca plates.

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 7 MAJOR LITOSPHERIC PLATES

NORTH AMERICAN PLATE

SOUTH AMERICAN PLATE

7 MAJOR PACIFIC PLATE

LITHOSPHERIC
AFRICAN PLATE
PLATES
EURASIAN PLATE

AUSTRALIAN-INDIAN PLATE

ANTARTIC PLATE

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CONT..
Lithospheric plates move relative to each other at a very slow
but continuous rate that averages about 5 centimeters
(2 inches) per year.

This movement is ultimately driven by the unequal distribution of

heat within Earth.

Plate are bounded by three distinct types of boundaries,

which are differentiated by the type of movement they exhibit.

These boundaries are:

1. Divergent boundaries
2. Convergent boundaries
3. Transform fault boundaries

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Cont….

Each plate is bounded by a combination

of these three types of plate margins.

For example, the Juan de Fuca plate has a divergent zone on the west,
a convergent boundary on the east, and numerous transform faults,
which offset segments of the oceanic ridge.

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 DIVERGENCE BOUNDARIES (CONSTRUCTIVE
MARGINS)
Most divergent (di = apart, vergere = to move) boundaries
are located along the crest of oceanic ridges and
can be thought of as constructive plate margins
since this is where new oceanic lithosphere is generated.

Divergent boundaries are also called spreading centers,

because seafloor spreading occurs at these boundaries.

As the plates move away from the ridge axis, the fractures that
form are filled with molten rock that wells up from the hot mantle below.

This magma cools gradually to produce new seafloor.

Adjacent plates spread apart and new oceanic lithosphere forms between them.
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HISTORY OF DIVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARY

Rising magma beneath a continent

pushes the crust up, producing
numerous fractures, faults, rift valleys,
and volcanic activity

As the crust is stretched and thinned,

rift valleys develop and lava flows onto
the valley floors, such as seen today in
the East African Rift Valley
Continued spreading further
separates the continent until it splits
apart and a narrow seaway develops.

As spreading continues, an
oceanic ridge system forms,
and an ocean basin develop
and grow.
EAST AFRICAN RIFT VALLEY
A RIFT VALLEY NEAR QUILOTOA,
ECUADOR
 CONVERGENCE BOUNDARIES
(DESTRUCTIVE MARGINS)
To balance the addition of newly created lithosphere,
older portions of oceanic lithosphere descend into the mantle along convergent
(con = together, verger = to move) boundaries.

Because lithosphere is “destroyed” at convergent boundaries,

they are also called destructive plate margins.

Convergent plate margins occur where two plates move toward

each other and the motion is accommodated by one
plate sliding beneath the other.

Also called subduction zones, because they are sites where lithosphere
is descending (being subducted) into the asthenosphere.
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 3 TYPES OF CONVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARIES

OCEANIC-OCEANIC PLATE
BOUNDARY

CONTINENTAL-
CONTINENTAL PLATE
BOUNDARY

OCEANIC-CONTINENTAL
PLATE BOUNDARY

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TYPES OF CONVERGENCE PLATE BOUNDARIES

Oceanic-oceanic plate boundary: An oceanic trench forms

where one oceanic plate is subducted beneath another. A volcanic
island form from the rising magma generated from the subducting
plate
Oceanic-Continental plate boundary: An andesitic volcanic
mountain range is form on the continental plate from the rising
magma generated from the subducting plate
Continental-Continental plate boundary: As the two continental
plates collide, a mountain range is formed in the interior of a new
and larger continent
 TRANSFORM FAULT BOUNDARIES
(CONSERVATIVE MARGINS)
The transform (trans = across, forma = form)
fault mostly occur along fractures in the seafloor, where plates slide horizontally
past one another without the production or destruction of lithosphere.

Although lithosphere is neither created nor destroyed along

a transform boundary, the movement between plates results in a zone of
intensely shattered rock and numerous shallow-depth earthquakes.

Transform faults change one type of motion

between plates into another type of motion.

Most commonly, transform faults connect two oceanic ridge segments,

but they can also connect ridges to trenches and trenches to trenches.
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Most transform faults connect two oceanic ridge segments
A transform faults can connect a ridge and a trench
A transform faults can also link two trenches
5 MINUTES BREAK 
1.2.2 PROCESS OF GRADATION
2 PROCESS
DEGRADATION
- the erosion results from
weathering of rock by
water, air and ice.
AGGRADATION
-deposition result in
accumulation of
sediment and ultimate
building up of rock strata.
DEGRADATION AND AGGRADATION PROCESS
 1.2.3 PROCESS OF VOLCANISM

Volcanism begins when magma created by the melting of pre-existing

rock in the Earth’s interior reaches the surface of the Earth.

Magma will erupt if it flows upward rapidly enough

the surface before it can cool and solidify.

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A volcano is a vent in the earth’s crust through which molten rock
materials within the earth, lavas, ashes steam and gas are ejected
and responsible for the formation of plutonic rocks, one solidified
at great depth. Majority of volcanoes are located along the
margins of tectonic plates.
VOLCANO
ERUPTION

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 5 MAJOR TYPES OF VOLCANO

CINDER CONE SHIELD VOLCANO

STRATOVOLCANO / LAVA DOME /

COMPOSITE VOLCANO VOLCANIC DOME

CALDERA

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1) CINDER CONE

•Accumulation of largely cinder-sized materials around the vent

•Materials pile steeply and are not well cemented together
•Not usually taller than 1000 feet

CROSS SECTION OF CINDER CONE

PARICUTIN CINDER CONE
VOLCANO IN MEXICO

Large, bowl shaped crater

at the summit of cinder cone
2) SHIELD VOLCANO

•Huge collections of basaltic lavas associated with

mid-plate hot spots
• Lava is low viscosity and flows well leaving volcano with low,
broad profile
Mauna Loa on Hawaii is an active shield volcano
that has erupted 33 times since 1843
 3)STRATOVOLCANO / COMPOSITE VOLCANO

• Associates with sub-duction zones

i) Steep sided, symmetrical cones of

large dimension built of alternating layers
of lava, volcanic ash, cinders,
blocks and bombs

ii) may rise as much as 8000 feet

above their base
 Cross section of
stratovolcano

Mayon volcano in Philippines.

Erupted 13 times during 1900s
4) LAVA DOME / VOLCANIC DOME
• Steep-sided, bulbous masses of viscous magma

• Composed of felsic magma and occasionally intermediate magma that

was forced upward under great pressure but was too viscous to flow

• Dangerous because they erupt explosively

Lava domes are bulbous

masses of magma that are
emplaced in craters of
composite volcano or stand
alone as irregularly shaped
mountains flanked
Figure : Types of volcano in different height
5 MINUTES BREAK 
1.3 GEOLOGICAL
TIME SCALE
 1.3 GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE

The geologic time scale is a hierarchical scale in which the 4.6 billion
year history of Earth is divided into time units of varying duration.

The geologic time scale subdivides geologic time into a hierarchy of

increasingly shorter time intervals: each time subdivision has a specific name.

The geologic time scale organizes all of Earth history into

blocks of time during which the planet’s major events occurred.

Geologists think about time in both relative and numerical terms.

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TIME SCALE…
2 TERMS
RELATIVE DATING
•Various rocks exposed within a
rock outcrop asks and answer
the questions
“Which rocks are older?”
“Which rocks are younger?”
•Younger rocks overlie older rocks
quite logically the older rocks had
to be there first for the younger
rocks to be laid on top of them.
NUMERICAL / ABSOLUTE
DATING
Rocks answer the question
“How old?”
•Rock dating techniques devel
oped during the twentieth
century, based on the constant
decay of radioactive elements.
The geologist can specify the
numerical ages of some rocks.
 1) RELATIVE DATING METHOD (6 FUNDAMENTAL GEOLOGIC
PRINCIPLE)
superposition: in an undisturbed sequence of sedimentary rocks, the
oldest rocks are on the bottom and the youngest rocks are on the top.

original horizontality: sediments are originally deposited horizontally

under the influence of gravity.

lateral continuity: a layer of sediment extends laterally in all directions until it thins
and pinches out or terminates against the edge of the depositional basin.

cross-cutting relationship: an igneous intrusion or a fault must be

younger than the rock it intrudes into or displaces.

inclusions: inclusions or the fragments of one rock contained within a layer of

another, are older than the rock layer itself.

fossil succession: fossil assemblages succeed one another through

time in a regular and predictable order.

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 An unconformity is a surface of erosion, non-deposition, or both
separating younger rocks from older rocks. These surfaces encompass
long periods of geologic time for which we have no geologic record at
that location.

3 TYPESOF UNCONFORMITIES

disconformity: a surface of erosion or

Non-deposition separating younger from angular unconformity: an erosional

older rocks, both of which are parallel surface on tilted or folded strata over

with one another which younger rocks were deposited

nonconformity: an erosional surface cut into metamorphic or

igneous rocks that is covered by younger sedimentary rocks

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 2) NUMERICAL / ABSOLUTE METHOD

Although most of the isotopes of the 92 naturally occurring elements are stable,
some are radioactive and spontaneously decay to other more stable isotopes
of elements, releasing energy in the process.

By discovery of radioactivity, geologist had a tool to accurately date geologic

events, and show that Earth was indeed very old.

Radioactivity produces heat, Earth’s internal heat that did not rely
on residual cooling from a molten magma can be explain.

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