FUNDAMENTALS OF EARTH SCIENCE I

INTRODUCTION

FALL SEMESTER 2018

• Contact info
MARC HUMBLET

Graduate School of Science
School of Science, Building E
Craig’s Café on 1st floor
Room E516
Graduate School of Environmental Studies
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Phone: 052-789-3037
E-mail: humblet.marc@f.mbox.nagoya-u.ac.jp

http://www.nagoya-u.ac.jp/en/global-info/access-map/higashiyama/Understanding Earth 6th

Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Lecture 3
Lecture 4
Lecture 5
Lecture 6
Lecture 7
Lecture 8
Lecture 9
Lecture 10
Lecture 11
Lecture 12
Lecture 13
Lecture 14Lecture 15

Introduction
The Solar System
Plate Tectonics
Minerals + Test 1 (lectures 1-3)
Rock I: Igneous Rocks
Rock II: Sedimentary Rocks
Lecture + Test 2 (lectures 4-6)
Rock III: Metamorphic Rocks
Lab session
The Age of Rocks
Paleogeography + Test 3 (lectures 8-10)
Origin and Evolution of Life I
Origin and Evolution of Life II
LectureTest 4 (lectures 3 + 11-14)

15/10
22/10
29/10
5/11
12/11
19/11
3/12
10/12
17/12
TBD*
26/12*
27/12*
8/1*
TBD*
14/1

(Chapter 1)
Chapter 9
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Chapter 6
Chapter 8Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 11* Make-up days

Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Lecture 3
Lecture 4
Lecture 5
Lecture 6
Lecture 7
Lecture 8
Lecture 9
Lecture 10
Lecture 11
Lecture 12
Lecture 13
Lecture 14
Lecture 15

Introduction
The Solar System
Plate Tectonics
Lecture + Test 1 (lectures 1-3)
Minerals + intro rocks
Rock I: Igneous Rocks
Rock II: Sedimentary Rocks
Lecture + Test 2 (lectures 4-6)
Rock III: Metamorphic Rocks
Lab session
The Age of Rocks
Paleogeography + Test 3 (lectures 8-10)
Origin and Evolution of Life I
Origin and Evolution of Life II
Test 4 (lectures 3 + 11-14)

15/10
22/10
29/10
5/11
12/11
19/11
3/12
10/12
17/12
TBD*
26/12*
27/12*
8/1*
TBD*
14/1
* Make-up days• Some more information• Test 1 (lectures 1-3)
• Test 2 (lectures 4-6)
• Test 3 (lectures 8-10)• Test 4 (lectures 3 + 11-14)• Tests: 25% each (MCQ + short-answer Q)

SLIDES & NOTES AVAILABLE ONLINE FROM YOUR NUCT ACCOUNTNO ABSENT GRADE AFTER 15th of November.

 Stargazing event (Fall or Spring semester)
https://picsart.com/i/sticker-aestheticaesthetictumblrplanets-freetoedit297330345123211?
hl=ja 2019/10/21

https://www.pond5.com/3dm odels/item/91429923-uranus-planet 2019/10/21©いらすとや 1 day field trip
Mizunami (Gifu Prefecture)

15-20 million years old fossils
Observation of outcrops
Fossil museum
Fossil hunting (depending on weather)
http://www.city.mizunami.lg.jp/docs/2014092922681/

 The scientific method
Finding things out about how nature works through observations and experiments☺ Define a problem (questions)☺ Collect data (through observations and experiments)☺ Analyze data☺ Formulate a hypothesis explaining the problem☺ Confront hypothesis with new data, repeated testing→ reject or keep with or without modifications+ Scientific publication after peer review

⚫ Set of hypotheses explaining some aspect of nature = theory (testable!)e.g. Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection⚫ General principles about how the Universe works = physical lawse.g. Newton’s law of gravity⚫ Precise representation of how a natural systembehaves based on many hypotheses and theories =scientific model
A model simulates and predicts the behavior of anatural system. A model can be for example amechanical device (analogical modeling) or acomputer simulation (numerical modeling).

Darwin’s evolutionary tree of Life

Analogue modeling(geology)
Example: fold and fault formation

Numerical modeling→ Computer models
Example: weather forecast

http://www.hko.gov.hk/aviat/amt_e/nwp_e.htm
Félice M.J. Naus-Thijssen (Uni. of Maine) Earth Science: a multidisciplinary field Geology: study of the solid Earth (rocks) - history, composition, internal structure, andsurface features
Paleontology: study of past life based on fossils
Geophysics: study of geological processes using tools and principles of physics
Geochemistry: study of geological processes using tools and principles of chemistry
Geologic record: information preserved in rocks formed at various times
Data gathering: field observations, mapping, sampling, lab analysis (e.g. dating) Other branches of Earth Science (or geoscience):
Oceanography: study of the oceans
Meteorology: study of the atmosphere
Geobiology: Study of the interactions between biosphere,
lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere(paleontology, micro-biology, sedimentology…)
 Planetary science: Study of planetary systems (planets,moons…)
Ancient streambed gravels on MarsNASAA classification of scientific disciplines
Historical

Partially historicalNon-historical

Paleontology
Cosmology

Geology
Evolutionary Biology

Physics
Chemistry

Systematicobservations used toconstruct and verify
hypotheses about past
eventsHighly accurate
theoreticalpredictions that canbe verified in thelab

OBSERVATIONSEXPERIMENTS

Data acquired by experiments or observations(empirical data) used to construct andverify/test hypotheses
Based on “Nonsense on stilt: How to tell science from bunk” by Massimo Pigliucci (2010)

A brief history of geology Ancient Greek philosophers
Fossils of marine organisms (e.g. seashells) found well above sea level

Erastosthenes* (3rd century BC)
Hypothesis: sea level fall caused by the opening of
the Strait of Gibraltar* First person to calculate the circumference of the EarthStrabo (ca. 63 BC – ca. AD 24)
Hypothesis: events like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,landslides caused sea level variations

 Ancient Greek philosophers
The peripatetics (Aristotle, 4th century BC)
The Earth is eternal. Processes of destruction arebalanced by processes of regeneration so that astate of equilibrium is maintained.
The stoics (Zeno, 4th/3rd century BC)
The Earth is destroyed and periodically restored
to its previous identical state with the same
events happening again.

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/ 2019/10/21

The epicureans (Epicurus, 4th/3rd century BC)
The Earth is destroyed and periodically restored but the same
events do not necessarily happen again.
Plato (5th/4th century BC)
The Earth is not eternal because it has been created. The Worlditself is not destroyed periodically but all living creatures are by
natural disasters of exceptional intensity. These destructions
are divine acts carried out in order to purify the Earth.

 The World according to a 17th-century philosopher
René Descartes (1596-1650)
The Universe is filled with three types of particles. The stars are made of one type (matter oflight). Terrestrial bodies are made of another. The sky is made of yet another type of matter.
Stars evolve into planets by formation of a solid crust around a central fire.
Descartes’ model of Earth formationFormation of mountains and ocean
basins by collapse of external crust

Gohau (1990) The first geologists
Nicolas Steno (1638-1686)
First evidence of the organic origin of fossils based on
the close resemblance between the fossil Glossopetrae
and modern shark teeth.
First to realize the possibility to distinguish continental
and marine sedimentary rocks based on their fossil
contents: marine organisms vs. terrestrial plants.
Berkeley

WATER
YOUNGERSEDIMENTS
OLDER

First to formulate the principles of horizontality
and superposition: sediments are originallydeposited flat with older layers at the bottom
and younger layers at the top.

 Two opposing theories of the 18-19th century
Neptunism

PlutonismBenoît de Maillet (1656-1738)
Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817)

Lazzaro Moro (1687-1764)
James Hutton (1726-1797)

Major influence of Earth’s internal heat onlandscape (formation of mountains by uplift of
Sea level has been dropping progressively
the land)Rocks formed either by chemical precipitationof minerals or by deposition of sediments in Magmatic origin of granites
Role of heat and pressure in the process ofthe sea
Limited influence of Earth’s internal heat on sediment induration
Primitive Earth completely covered by ocean

landscapeModern landscape results from combined
effects of erosion and deposition

http://m onia2009.centerblog.net/voirphoto?u=http://monia2009.m.o.pic.centerblog.net/ahdbe5xj.jpg 2019/10/21

https://shibamatax.exblog.jp/10755702/ 2019/10/21

 Contractionism: a popular theory of the 19th century
Léonce Élie de Beaumont (1798-1874)
Edward Suess (1831-1914)
Cooling of the Earth causes contraction of the globe and folding and collapse of the crust

https://www.mattid.no/nettbutikk/frukt-/-gront/frukt-/-baer/epler-gule-1kg 2019/10/21
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-aging-skin-image17344544 2019/1021

 Uniformitarianism vs. catastrophism
Uniformitarianism

Catastrophism

Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)

Uniformitarianists held that “the present isthe key to the past”. They believed in theslow, gradual evolution of geologicalfeatures and life, and emphasized the long
duration of geological time.

Catastrophists held that catastrophes are thecause of many of the geological features weobserve today and have caused multiplespecies extinctions. The intensity and/ornature of the former causes have noequivalent in present days.

National Geographic

NASA (artist: Don Davis)

 Continental drift: a turning point in Earth science
Alfred Wegener (1880-1930)
Wegener proposed that continents are slowly drifting based on strong scientific evidence
Congruence of coastline shape on bothsides of the Atlantic
Similarities in geological features ofmountain chains on both sides of theAtlantic (age, nature, and orientation ofgeological structures)

Antonio Snider-Pellegrini’s map (1858)

Same fossils of plants and animals foundin different continents at the end of thePaleozoic
Supporting evidence from paleoclimate data
Question: which mechanism lies behind
continental drift?
USGS The age of the EarthAge based on religious believes
Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656): 6000 yrs, based on a careful study of the Old Testament
Early scientific calculations
Comte de Buffon (1707-1788): 75,000 yrs, based on the time it takes for red-hot cannon balls
to cool down extrapolated to an iron ball the size of the EarthJean Fourier (1768-1830): 100,000,000 yrs, based on a set of mathematical equations taking
into account the insulating effect of the Earth’s crust
Lord Kelvin (1824-1907): between 20,000,000 and 400,000,000 yrs, based on more advanced
calculations in thermodynamics
John Joly (1857-1933): between 80,000,000 and 90,000,000 yrs for the oceans, based on their
sodium content and assuming a constant supply rate by rivers
Radiometric dating and the correct age of the Earth
Henri Becquerel (1852-1908) discovers radioactivity in 1896.
Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) came up with a technique to measure the age of rocks basedon radioactive decay. He was the first to date a mineral and came up with an age of
500,000,000 years.
Clair C. Patterson (1922-1995): 4,550,000,000 yrs, currently accepted age of the Earth basedon the age of meteorites

 Wegener’s continental drift
Arthur Holmes (1890-1965) suggested that convection currents resulting from the heatgenerated by radioactivity could be the driving force of continental drift.

Gohau (1990) Sea floor spreading: a mechanism explaining continental drift
Harry Hess (1906-1969) and Robert Dietz (1914-1995)
Discovery of the mid-Atlantic Ridge in 1872
In the 1950s, other mid-oceanic ridges are discovered
and associated with intense seismic activity
Disparities in the orientation of magnetic minerals inrocks of the same age on different continents support
the theory of continental drift
Symmetry of patterns of magnetic reversals on bothsides of mid-ocean ridges
OCEAN RIDGE

Vine (1966)

New oceanic crust constantly produced by rising magma (linked to convection currents
inside the Earth) at mid-ocean ridges whereas older oceanic crust is recycled at oceanic
trenches where it plunges deep inside the Earth Plate tectonics: the unifying theory of Earth science
Sea floor spreading implies that the earth crust is divided into plates.

Understanding Earth 6th ed.