Lesson 12.

GEOLOGY & EARTH’S

TREASURE
TREASURE
 GEOLOGY
EARTH STUDY OF
STUDY OF

- Is a branch of science that deals with the study of

the physical and historical aspects of Earth.
- It studies Earth’s composition, structure, and
dynamic processes as well as the organisms that
inhabit it.
- Geology also explores how all these organisms
relate with each other and change throughout
time.
 Below are some of the fields covered by physical geology and the focus of study:

1. Geochemistry
- Chemical composition and changes of
materials that make up Earth.

2. Geophysics
– behavior of Earth in response
to physical forces.
3. Mineralogy
– chemical composition and structure
of minerals.

4. Petrology
– composition and origin of rocks.
 Fields of study under historical geology:

1. Paleontology
– fossils or remains of organisms.

2. Paleography
– geologic maps and location of
land masses that may have
been lost.
3. Stratigraphy
– layers of Earth’s bedrock,
which is essentially that of
soil, sand, pebbles, stones,
and rocks.
• CRUST
• MANTLE
• OUTER CORE
• INNER CORE
 CRUST  OUTER CORE
- 5-70 km - 2266 km thick
- May be continental or
oceanic - 3600°C
- Composed of liquid iron
and nickel

 MANTLE  INNER CORE

- 2890 km thick - 1220 km thick
- 1000°C
- 4200°C
- Made up of magnesium - Composed of solid iron and
and iron silicates. nickel
 CRUST
- Solid rock layer that makes up the outermost portion of the
Earth.
- 5 km thick on the ocean floor, where it is known as the
oceanic crust but 35 km thick on continents, where it is
called as the continental crust.
- Made up of three different types of rocks.
 MANTLE
- Stretches to a depth of about 2890 km before reaching the
core.
- Made up of thick solid rocky substance.
- It makes up the 85% of the total mass of Earth.
- Largest layer of Earth.
 OUTER CORE
- Extends 2266 km

 INNER CORE
- Extends 1220 km
- Consists of molten rock called magma.
- Hottest layer of Earth
• Seismologists use earthquakes to see within Earth.
• When an earthquake occurs, seismic energy radiates from focus as
seismic waves.
• Those that pass through the interior of Earth are called body waves.
• Body waves are classified into PRIMARY or P-WAVES & SECONDARY
or S-WAVES.
• The speed by which these waves travel and reach Earth’s surface
depends on the layer through which they pass and on the layer
boundaries.
• Sudden increase or decrease in the wave speed as detected by
seismographs mark changes in the properties of layers.
 P-WAVES S- WAVES
- Can only pass through solid - Can pass through both solid and
material and thus travel faster liquid layers.
in solid layers than liquid ones.

- Push & pull movement. - Shear waves – move material

perpendicular to wave
movement.
- Cause the first movement you
feel in an earthquake - Slower than P-waves.
Tectonic Plates
• The crust is composed of massive and irregularly shaped slabs of solid
rock called tectonic plates.
• Tectonics plates, which range from a few hundred to thousand of
kilometers wide, are classified into continental and oceanic.
• Oceanic plates are made up of ballistic rocks.
• They have an average thickness of 5 kilometers.
• Continental plates are thicker, lighter, and are made up pf granatic
rocks.
Convergent Boundaries
• Tectonic plates move against or toward each other.
• There are three types of convergent boundaries:
1. Oceanic – continental
2. Oceanic – oceanic
3. Continental - continental
Oceanic – continental convergence
 Oceanic – continental convergence

• An oceanic crust may be consumed and brought

down through subduction below the continental
plate.
Oceanic – oceanic convergence
 Oceanic – oceanic convergence

• One oceanic crust is subducted under another

oceanic to form deep ocean trenches.
Continental – continental convergence
 Continental – continental convergence
• No subduction occurs. Instead, converging
continental plates push land masses upward,
eventually forming mountain range or volcanoes.
Divergent and Transform Boundaries
• Divergent-
- Tectonic plates move away from each other.
• Transform
- Tectonic plates slide horizontally past each other and form faults.
They occur in ocean basins and some continental plates.
• Plate movements are slow but constant, about 2.5 to 15 cm per year.
• At plate boundaries, these movements unleash extreme energy that can
change Earth’s internal and external structure.
• These movements generate earthquakes and help explain how
mountains and valleys took shape and why some areas, which used to be
seabeds, are now mountains and vice versa.
• Plate tectonics drives the different processes that occurs within Earth,
including the formation of various minerals.
• The mines are all within the Earth’s crust.
• The deepest mine, which is found in South Africa, extends only 4km
below the surface.
 ROCKS WITHIN THE CRUST

 Classified into three types based to how they were formed.

 IGNEOUS ROCK
 SEDIMENTARY ROCK
 METAMORPHIC ROCK
 1. IGNEOUS ROCKS
• Are formed out of magma that has cooled down.
• Volcanic/Magmatic rocks
 2. SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
• Consist of previously loose materials, such as sand and soil, which
have settled down and are compacted by the weight of overlying
sediments and water to make them solid.
 3. METAMORPHIC ROCKS
• Are formed when sedimentary rocks or igneous rocks are subjected
to enough heat and pressure to change their mineralogical and
chemical characteristics.
Minerals Of Earth
• Minerals – are naturally occurring chemical compounds that have been
formed by geological processes, also provide chemicals that are essential
for life on Earth.
• Natural.
• Solid.
• Atoms arranged in orderly repeating 3D array: Crystalline
• Not part of the tissue of an organism.
• Composition fixed or varies within defined limits.

• Minerals – are the “building blocks” or rocks.

• These minerals exist either as elements such as calcium or as compound
such as sodium chloride (salt).

• About 99 percent of the crust is made up of eight elements.

• Oxygen – 46.6%
• Silicon – 27.7%
• Aluminum – 8.1%
• Iron – 5.0%
• Calcium – 3.6%
• Sodium – 2.8%
• Potassium –2.6%
• Magnesium –2.1%
•Many of the minerals compounds
are formed while in Aqueous
Solution. This is the case with
sodium, which are found in land in
the us continent very far from the
sea, are mine
• Minerals – are formed through a process called crystallization,
which occurs when conditions allows for ions or molecules to
bond together in a definite and ordered internal structure.
2 Main Mechanisms by which Crystallization takes place.
• The first is the precipitation of minerals from a solution, as in the case of
salt formation from saline seawater. Rapid and continuous evaporation of
water from seawater leaves behind a high concentration of salt ions, which
then link together and form salt minerals.
• The second mechanism of crystallization, considered the most important
process of mineral formation on Earth, occurs during rock formation from
magma. As magma cools and rocks are formed, various minerals are also
formed at different temperatures depending on the mineral’s
crystallization temperature.
• In some areas, magma is extruded through fissures and
later forms igneous rocks. Hydrothermal solutions,
associated with volcanic areas, often carry metallic
minerals such as copper, silver, gold and iron.

• In some areas , weathering and erosion may transform

metallic ores into sand – sized particles. The most
common of which consist of lion. These particles occur as
“black sand” known as magnetite.
• Not all mineral resources are found on the surface; many are
underground.
• Mineral resources can be extracted in two ways:
1) SURFACE MINING/OPEN PIT MINING
By creating a large pit or depression using bulldozers and other heavy
machinery then collect the rocks containing the ore minerals.

2) UNDERGROUND MINING
By burrowing a tunnel where people and machines can collect rock
samples.
THE END.