Important Notes on Geology 
Geology Notes: 9/5/2013
SI SESSIONS held in Old main or State
Monday: 945-1045
Tuesday: 1015-1115
Thursday: 4-5
Melissa Allen (email is on syllabus)
Notes are on geology webpage faculty and staff -> Dr. van Hees -> course notes
LECTURE:
Plate Tectonics Chap.2
-Until ~1915 people thought continents were stuck were they are and they didn’t move.
Why did ideas change?
-Wegener’s proposed the theory of Continental Drift
It proposed that all continents move and that at one time they had all been fused together in a supercontinent called Pangaea.
-What evidence did Wegener use to support Continental Drift?
-Distribution of:
-Mtn. Belts/ Rock types/ Structures Ex: Appalachian Mountains one large continuous mtn. belt US->Canada-> N. Europe
-Tillites: sedimentary material dumped by a glacier turned into a rock
Dinosaurs:
- Mesosaurs (similar)/ Mammals (different)
-Glossopteris flora (similar)
Glaciation:
-Can move at a rate up to 6 ft. a yr.
-Striations- pebbles in bottom of glaciers scraping/polishing/marking rocks the pass
How did Wegner propose the continents moved?
-He suggested that the continents plowed through the ocean floor at a rate of 30-meters/ year.
-The movements of the continents were caused by the tidal effect induced by the moon or the sun.
Problems with theory
1) No evidence that the continents lowing through the ocean floor
2) Continents moving at a 30-meters/ year should have been measurable
3) The size of the tidal forces needed to move the continents would cause the earth to stop spinning in a few years
New Evidence:
-Paleomagnetism
*Polar Wandering-Magnetism recorded in cooling lava or igneous bodies
-Paleomagnetism
*Polar Wandering- (strong evidence that continents move)
*Geomagnetic Reversals- (north and south pole switch magnetic forces)
-Paleomagnetism
*Sea Floor Spreading
-Proposed after plate boundaries were recognized and the Asthenosphere was discovered.
SI SESSIONS held in Old main or State
Monday: 945-1045
Tuesday: 1015-1115
Thursday: 4-5
Melissa Allen (email is on syllabus)
Notes are on geology webpage faculty and staff -> Dr. van Hees -> course notes
LECTURE:
Plate Tectonics Chap.2
-Until ~1915 people thought continents were stuck were they are and they didn’t move.
Why did ideas change?
-Wegener’s proposed the theory of Continental Drift
It proposed that all continents move and that at one time they had all been fused together in a supercontinent called Pangaea.
-What evidence did Wegener use to support Continental Drift?
-Distribution of:
-Mtn. Belts/ Rock types/ Structures Ex: Appalachian Mountains one large continuous mtn. belt US->Canada-> N. Europe
-Tillites: sedimentary material dumped by a glacier turned into a rock
Dinosaurs:
- Mesosaurs (similar)/ Mammals (different)
-Glossopteris flora (similar)
Glaciation:
-Can move at a rate up to 6 ft. a yr.
-Striations- pebbles in bottom of glaciers scraping/polishing/marking rocks the pass
How did Wegner propose the continents moved?
-He suggested that the continents plowed through the ocean floor at a rate of 30-meters/ year.
-The movements of the continents were caused by the tidal effect induced by the moon or the sun.
Problems with theory
1) No evidence that the continents lowing through the ocean floor
2) Continents moving at a 30-meters/ year should have been measurable
3) The size of the tidal forces needed to move the continents would cause the earth to stop spinning in a few years
New Evidence:
-Paleomagnetism
*Polar Wandering-Magnetism recorded in cooling lava or igneous bodies
-Paleomagnetism
*Polar Wandering- (strong evidence that continents move)
*Geomagnetic Reversals- (north and south pole switch magnetic forces)
-Paleomagnetism
*Sea Floor Spreading
-Proposed after plate boundaries were recognized and the Asthenosphere was discovered.