Earth is also a very dynamic planet! It is constantly changing.

Many
changes are very slow and difficult to observe, while others are rapid
and dramatic.
There are two different heat engines (energy sources) driving these
changes.
The first heat engine is the internal heat
trapped within Earth. This heat is
responsible for building up the land via
volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and
mountain building.

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The second heat engine is external. It is the sun! It drives the water
cycle. The water attacks rocks and minerals breaking them down and
ultimately eroding them from the continents. Whereas the internal heat
of the earth tends to build the land up, energy from the sun tends to
wear the land down.

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For example, the Grand Canyon has largely been carved out of the
rocks by the erosive forces of the Colorado River, and the river is
the result of rain and snow melt which came from water vapor
created by evaporation powered by the sun.

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Uniformitarianism is a concept that helps us to understand how the

earth has evolved through time. If we understand how Earth operates
today, we can infer it has been operating under the same basic forces
and processes in the past. This inference allows us to explain how things
have evolved, even though we were not there to see it happening. For
example, if we can watch wind blowing sand into dunes today, we can
assume this process has been going on in ages past, and this knowledge
can be used to explain how vast deposits of sand have accumulated to
form many sandstone formations we see today. Uniformitarianism
generally requires a large amount of time to produce the results we see
today, and therefore it is imperative that we study Earth from the aspect
of its great age.

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Scientific evidence
suggests Earth is very
old. The numbers in
this diagram are in
millions of years! (e.g.
the 4500 at the bottom
of this image is 4500
million years, or 4.5
billion years! That is
how old we believe
Earth to be. The
Geologic Time Scale
is what we use to
separate Earths history
into units of time. For
example, the
Phanerozoic Eon is
broken down into three
eras of time, the
Paleozoic, Mesozoic, an
Cenozoic. These eras
are broken down into
periods of time, and
periods may be broken

A portion of what we will be studying in this course

is Earth materials such as rocks. Most rocks are
comprised of minerals. The mineral below is quartz.

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Where do ROCKS come

from?

Not
these
Rocks.
These
rocks!

The Rock Cycle

explains where rocks
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come from.

This is the
complete
Rock Cycle,
but lets
break it
down in the
following
slides.

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Magma is molten rock within Earth. Lava is when it flows out. Whether
the molten rock cools and solidifies (also called crystallization) as magma
within Earth, or as lava on Earths surface, it forms an igneous rock.
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When rocks break down (a

process called weathering)
the smaller particles are
transported and eventually
deposited as sediment
(e.g. the sand on a beach is
sediment produced by
weathering).

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Sediment can become lithified (turned into stone) generally by

compaction and cementation of the grains. For example, sand grains
can be cemented together into a sandstone rock. This new hardened
stone is called a sedimentary rock.

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If rocks are subjected to

high pressures (generally
from burial) and/or high
temperatures (but not to the
point of melting), the rock
can be changed enough to
justify giving it a new name.
These rocks are called
metamorphic rocks. The
process is called
metamorphism.

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If additional heat is added to metamorphic rock, they may melt to

produce magma, and thus the cycle is completed.

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Once again,
this is the
complete rock
cycle. Please
note the light
blue arrows
showing other
paths possible
for earth
materials to
be
transformed.

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Testing 1, 2, 3

(click mouse for answers)

10. The two main forces affecting earth today include the earths
internal heat and:
a. the moon.
b. the sun.
c. the
atmosphere.
11. What force is mainly responsible for building up the land via
earthquakes and volcanoes?
a. internal heat
b. the sun
12. What force tends to wear the land down by causing weathering
and erosion?
a. internal Heat
b. the sun
13. To understand earths past we need to understand how it operates
in the present. We can assume it has operated similarly in the
past. The clich The present is the key to the past suggests this
idea termed:
a. Unconformitism b. Uniformitarianism c. Universalism
14. Most geologists believe the earth is approximately 4.5 _______
years old.
a. Thousand
b. Million
c. Billion
d.

Testing 1, 2, 3

(click mouse for answers)

16. What do you call a rock formed from the cooling and solidification of
molten material?
a. Igneous
b. Sedimentary
c.
Metamorphic
17. What do you call a rock formed from lithification of weathered
particles?
a. Igneous
b. Sedimentary
c.
Metamorphic
18. What do you call a rock that has been transformed by being
subjected to high pressures and/or temperatures?
a. Igneous
b. Sedimentary
c. Metamorphic
19. What do you call a deposit of loose, unconsolidated weathered
pieces of rock?
a. Igneous debris
b. Sediment
c. rock frags
20. What type of rocks can be broken down into sediment?