Geologic Time

The Concept of Geological Time

James Hutton’s (1726-1797) principle of uniformitarianism

“The present is the key to the past.”

 Processes seen today are the same as those of the past

 Modern processes help us understand ancient events

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The Concept of Geological Time
There are two ways of dating geological materials

 Relative age  Numerical age

The age of a feature The age of a feature
with respect to another given in years

Relative vs. Absolute

 Relative ages
assign order to
events.
 Numerical ages
assign exact
dates to events.

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Logical tools for defining Relative age
1. The principle of uniformitarianism
Physical processes we observe today also operated in the past
at roughly comparable rates

The physical processes

that formed the mud
cracks today…

…also formed the ancient

mud cracks preserved on the
surface of a siltstone bed

Logical tools for defining Relative age

2. The principle of superposition
In an undeformed sequence of layered rocks…
 Each bed is older than the one above and…
 Younger than the one below.

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 Logical tools for defining Relative age
3. The principle of original horizontality and continuity
A sequence of sedimentary rock layers that is steeply inclined from
the horizontal, must have tilted after deposition and lithification

These layers were

deposited horizontally
but have been tilted
since their formation

Limestones and shales of the

Green River formation in Utah.

Logical tools for defining Relative age

3. The principle of original horizontality and continuity

If layers do not become

deformed, they can remain
horizontal for hundreds of
millions of years

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Logical tools for defining Relative age
3. The principle of original horizontality and continuity
A layer of sediment extends laterally in horizontal sheets...
...until it thins and pinches out or terminates
against the edge of the depositional basin

If layers are cut by a …you can

canyon… assume that the
layer once
spanned the
canyon but was
later eroded

Logical tools for defining Relative age

4. The principle of cross-cutting relations

 Younger features truncate (cut across) older features

 Faults, dikes, erosion, etc., must be younger than the
material that is faulted, intruded, or eroded
 A volcano cannot intrude rocks that aren’t there yet

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Logical tools for defining Relative age
5. The principle of inclusions
Inclusions - rock fragment within another rock
 Igneous xenoliths – Country rock that fell into magma.
 Weathering rubble – Debris from pre-existing rocks

…the inclusion is older than

the material enclosing it

Logical tools for defining Relative age

6. The principle of inclusions
Inclusions - rock fragment within another
 Igneous xenoliths – Country rock that fell into
magma.
 Weathering rubble – Debris from pre-existing rocks

Granite inclusions in the

sandstone indicate that the
batholith was the source of
the sandstone and therefore
is older

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Logical tools for defining Relative age
6. The principle of baked contacts
An igneous rock metamorphoses or “bakes” surrounding rock

Logical tools for defining Relative age

6. The principle of baked contacts
An igneous rock metamorphoses or “bakes” surrounding rock

The rock that has been

baked must be older than the
intrusion

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 Relative Age
Determining relative ages empowers geologists to easily unravel
complicated geologic histories

Geologic History
Deposition of horizontal strata below sea level in order 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, and 8 (oldest to youngest).

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 Geologic History

Igneous intrusion of a sill

Geologic History

 Tectonic compression and folding

 Beds had to be present to be folded

 Uplift above sea level and erosion

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 Geologic History

Intrusion of a granitic igneous pluton

Geologic History

Extensional normal faulting

Faulting cross-cuts the older granitic pluton

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 Geologic History
Intrusion of a dike
Dike cross-cuts the normal fault

Geologic History

Erosion to present landscape configuration

Erosion removed the volcano and cross-cuts the dike

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 Geologic History
 Relative ages help to unravel a complicated history
 Simple rules permit one to decipher this diagram

Fossil Succession
 Fossil remnants, or traces of once living organisms, are often
preserved in sedimentary rocks
 Fossil are useful for relative age determination
 Several types of fossils will occur as an assemblage
 Fossils are time markers

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 Fossil Succession
 Species evolve, exist for a time, and then go extinct
 First appearance, range, and extinction dates rocks
 Fossils succeed one another in a known order
 A time period is recognized by its fossil content

Fossil Succession
 Fossil range – First and last appearance
 Each fossil has a unique range
 Overlapping ranges provide
distinctive time markers
 Permit correlation of strata
 Locally
 Regionally
 Globally

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 Unconformities
Unconformity – a time gap in the rock record
…a period of nondeposition and possibly erosion

Unconformities
1. Disconformity
Parallel strata bracketing nondeposition

…due to an
interruption in
sedimentation

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 Unconformities
1. Disconformity
Parallel strata bracketing nondeposition

…may be difficult
to recognize

Unconformities
2. Nonconformity
Metamorphic or igneous rocks overlain by sedimentary strata

Crystalline
igneous/metamorphic
rocks were exposed by
erosion

Sediment was deposited

on this eroded surface

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 Unconformities
3. Angular unconformity
Represents a huge gulf in time
 Horizontal marine sediments deformed by orogenesis.
 High mountains are eroded away to below sea level.
 Sediments deposited horizontally on the erosion surface.

Unconformities
3. Angular unconformity

Mountains created

Mountains completely
erased by erosion

New sediment deposition

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 Unconformities
3. Angular unconformity
“Hutton’s Unconformity” on Siccar Point, Scotland, is a common
destination for geologists

Types of
unconformities

Unconformities

 Earth history is
recorded in strata.
 Missing strata =
missing history.
 The Grand Canyon.
 Thick layers of

strata.
 Numerous gaps.

 A partial record of

geological history.

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 Unconformities

 Divided into formations

For ease of reference the

sequence is divided into
recognizable intervals of a
specific rock type

 Formations are
separated by contacts

Unconformities

 If a formation contains
more than one rock
type we use the word
“formation” in the
name e.g. Toroweap
Formation
 If a formation consist
of only one rock type,
we may incorporate
that rock type in the
name e.g. Muav
Limestone

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 Unconformities

 Several related
formations in a
succession may be
lumped together as a
“group”

Stratigraphic Correlation
Stratigraphic columns depict strata in a region

 Drawn to scale to
accurately portray
relative thicknesses.
 Rock types are depicted
by graphical fill patterns.

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 Stratigraphic Correlation
 In 1793, William “Strata” Smith was the first to note that
strata could be matched across distances.
 Similar rock types in a similar order.

 Rock layers contained the same distinctive fossils.

 After years of work, he made the 1st geologic map

Stratigraphic Correlation
 Lithologic correlation is based on rock type
 Sequence – The relative order in which the rocks occur

 Limited to correlation between nearby regions

 Fossil correlation is based on fossils within rocks

 Applicable to much broader areas

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 Stratigraphic Correlation
Example - National parks of Arizona and Utah
 Formations can be traced long distances
 Overlap is seen in the sequences of rock types.
 Overlapping rock columns are used to build a composite.

The Geologic time scale

A composite stratigraphic column exists

 Constructed from incomplete sections across the globe.

 It brackets almost the entirety of Earth history

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 The Geological time scale
It was constructed by determining
the relative ages of stratigraphic
columns for around the world

By correlation the strata in the

columns can be stacked in a
sequence representing most of
geologic time

The Geological Column

The column is divided into
segments, each of which represents
a specific interval of time

The suffix “-zoic” means “life”

Phanerozoic = “visible life”

Proterozoic = “earlier life”

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 The Geological Column
The Phanerozoic is subdivided into
eras:

Cenozoic = “recent life”

Mesozoic = “middle life”

Paleozoic = “ancient life”

The Numerical Age and the Radiometric Clock

Radiometric dating (Geochronology) – the science of dating
geologic events in years

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 Isotopes
Atoms of the same atomic number but different mass

Number of protons Number of

in the nucleus of protons plus
an atom neutrons

Isotopes
Some are “stable” (non-radioactive) – require energy to
change nuclear configuration

Some are “unstable” (radioactive) – spontaneously

disintegrate into stable configurations

Radioactive
decay
Parent isotope – the isotope that undergoes decay
Daughter isotope – radioactive decay product

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