Introduction to Historical Geology

Historical Geology is the study of changes to Earth and life

in time and space.

I. Time

A. How much time?

• Oldest meteorites and oldest moon rocks are 4.6 billion years old
4,600,000,000 years
• Oldest rocks found so far on Earth are zircon grains from a sandstone in western Australia, dated
at 4.1 to 4.2 bilion years old. Previously, the oldest Earth rocks were 3.96 billion years old, from
the Northwest Territories of Canada.

B. How do we know?
Radioactive materials serve as geologic clocks.
C. What happened on the Earth during this long period of time?
Many natural events:

o meteorite impacts
o volcanic eruptions and lava flows
o mountain building
o earthquakes
o erosion
o slow movement of continents (plate tectonics)
o formation and destruction of ocean basins (plate tectonics)
o glaciations
o climatic changes
o etc.

All of these natural events are still going on today -

We see evidence in the rock record that these events have been occurring for a long time.

Geologists call this uniformitarianism.

The physical laws governing the universe operate uniformly through time.

See Levin, 6th edition, p. 6-7.

James Hutton (1726-1797) believed that "the past history of our globe must be explained by what can be
seen to be happening now."
Some events which occurred in the past, and left a record in the rocks, ARE NOT OCCURRING TODAY,
or have not occurred in the human lifespan:

• Huge meteorite imapcts

• Large glacial ice sheets

Other events occur so slowly that they are difficult to measure:

• Plate Tectonics - sea floor spreading, continental drift

• Erosion of mountain ranges

Still other events are short lived but very catastrophic:

• Volcanic eruptions
• Earthquakes
• Floods
• Mudflows, avalanches, etc (mass wasting)

Evidence of all of these events is preserved in the geologic record.

D. What do you mean by geologic record?

The geologic record consists of rock units, each of which records some event or series of events that
occurred in the past.

1. What are rocks?

1. Rocks are defined as aggregates of one or more minerals.
2. What are minerals?
1. naturally occurring
2. inorganic
3. solids
4. definite chemical composition
5. characteristic internal crystal structure (arrangement of atoms in lattice)

E. How do rocks form?

• By cooling, hardening, and crystallizing from hot, molten lava

o Igneous rocks
• By forming from the compaction and cementation of sediments
o Terrigenous, clastic or detrital sedimentary rocks
• By forming from the precipitation of dissolved chemicals in water
o Chemical and biochemical sedimentary rocks
• By forming from accumulated organic matter
o Organic sedimentary rocks (coals)
• By the alteration of pre-existing igneous or sedimentary rocks by heat and pressure
o Metamorphic rocks

II. Fundamental principles of Geology

Most sedimentary rocks occur in the form of layers called beds or strata.

Each layer is the result of the deposition of sediment during some natural event (such as a flood or storm).

A. Steno's Laws Named for Nicholaus Steno, a Danish physician living in Florence, Italy in the 1600's.

Levin, 6th edition, p. 3-4.

1. Principle of Superposition
1. Oldest rocks on the bottom
2. Younger rocks on top
2. Principle of Original Horizontality
1. Sediments are deposited in flat layers
3. Principle of Original Lateral Continuity
1. Sediments are deposited over a large area in a continuous sheet

B. Other basic principles of Geology which we can use for relative dating (or determining which rocks are
older or younger)

1. Principle of intrusive relationships

The intrusion is younger than the rocks it cuts.

2. Principle of cross-cutting relationships

See Levin, 6th edition, p. 10

The fault is younger than the rocks it cuts.

3. Principle of components or inclusions

See Levin, 6th edition, p. 10-11

 Note the irregular erosional surface. This is an unconformity.

The clasts (in the bed above the unconformity) are derived from the underlying (older) bed.

The gravel clasts are older than the layer which contains them.

The layer containing the gravel must be younger than the layer from which the clasts originate.

The principle of components or inclusions also applies to xenoliths.

A xenolith is a fragment of country rocks which has been broken off during an intrusion, and has
become surrounded by magma. The xenolith is older than the igneous rock which contains it.

Compare illustrations in Levin, 6th edition, p. 11

4. Principle of fossil succession

Fossils occur in a consistent vertical order in sedimentary rocks all over the world.
(William"Strata Bill" Smith, late 1700's, England).

This principle is valid and does not depend on any pre-existing ideas of evolution. (In fact, Charles
Darwin's ideas on evolution did not appear until 50 years later - 1858).

Geologists interpret fossil succession to be the result of evolution - the natural appearance and
disappearance of species through time.

We can use these 7 principles to establish the relative ages of rocks.

Unconformities

Unconformities are buried surfaces of erosion or non-deposition.

See illustrations in Levin, 6th edition, p. 8, 11, 17, 91 and 92

 1. Angular unconformities

Implies tectonic deformation and erosion of underlying strata.

2. Nonconformity

Sedimentary strata overlying igneous or metamorphic rocks (in an erosional - not intrusive-
contact)

3. Disconformity

An irregular surface of erosion betwen two units of parallel strata

4. Paraconformity

A planar surface between two parallel units of sedimentary rock, representing a period of non-
deposition, but no erosion.

Criteria for recognizing unconformities:

1. Sedimentary criteria
1. Basal conglomerate - Many unconformities are overlain by a layer of conglomerate or
gravel. The clasts are commonly fragments eroded from the underlying rock.
2. Buried soil profiles.
3. Layers of phosphatized pebbles, glauconite (greensand), or manganese-rich beds.
2. Paleontological criteria
1. Abrupt changes in fossil assemblages
2. Presence of bone or tooth conglomerates
3. Abrupt change from marine to continental fossils.
3. Structural criteria
1. Discordance of dip above and below a contact (angular unconformity).
2. Irregular or undulatory contact that cuts across bedding planes in the underlying unit.
3. Truncation of dikes or faults at a contact.