GEO1111 with Pia Plese midterm one notes PDF

Title	GEO1111 with Pia Plese midterm one notes
Course	Introduction to Earth Systems
Institution	University of Ottawa
Pages	24
File Size	1.1 MB
File Type	PDF
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midterm one notes for the summer 2021 session with pia plese...

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GEO1111 Lecture 1 Why Is Geology Important?  Understanding the planet we stand on is vastly important  Civilizations exist by geological consent  Geological phenomenon are important and destructive sometimes (earthquakes tsunamis) What a Geologist Studies?  Geology is more than just the study of rocks. It is the study of earth systems  Questions geologists ask? o What is our planet made of? o Why are there continents and oceans o Why are some areas more prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions o How old is the earth and how was it formed o How has the earths surface evolved over the past 4.6 billion years o What was primitive life like and how did it come about Geology: science that studies the Earth, its history, evolution, composition, internal and external structure, the processes that operate on it, etc.

Geology differs from other sciences: 1. Deals with LARGE SPATIAL SCALES & COMPLEX SYSTEMS 1. Controlled experiments are difficult and or impossible 2. Observation and description acquire proportionately more importance 2. Deals with TIME SCALES that are immense compared to human life 1. Impossible to observe the entire process directly (only able to view snapshots) 2. Spatial variation can be interpreted as temporal evolution 3. Geologic evidence is FRAGMENTED / INCOMPLETE

1. Conclusions and models may be non-unique and dependant on intuition and experience 2. Art and science of geologizing – geocognition 3. Organize and resolve disparate data sources 4. Chemistry physics biology geography 4. Acquisition of geological vocabulary Principle of Uniformitarianism: geological processes & natural laws that operate today have acted throughout geologic time Old? oldest continental rock: 4.6 billion years old extinction of dinosaurs: 65 million years ago evolution of Homo sapiens: 500 thousand years ago last glacial maximum: 15,000 years ago duration of average earthquake:...