Ch13TV Rev Sprng17

The Geological History of the Earth
Minerals and glasses
Minerals / inorganic substances / ordered atomic structure / stoichiometric

chemical formula.
silicon and oxygen / tetrahedron (SiO4) / like toy blocks, range of configurations /
materials of planetary bodies
if silica tetrahedra isolated / the oxygen atoms,negatively charged/

bind metal cations / cross-link / class of minerals:silicates.
ie.olivines / the tetrahedra cross-linked by Mg2+ or Fe2+.

olivine series from fosterite (Mg2SiO4) to fayalite
(Fe2SiO4) and a variety of compositions in between
depending on how much Mg2+ or Fe2+ there is in the
melt from which the mineral is being formed.
Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
If tetrahedra  single chain, pyroxenes
If tetrahedra  double chained, amphiboles
If chains  2-D sheets, phyllosilicates (clays and micas)
If chains  3-D structures, framework silicates or tectosilicates, feldspar, quartz
diversity of minerals with these basic structures / addition of a wide variety of

cations such as Mg2+, Fe2+, Ca2+, K+ / fit within the cavitiy
ie., aluminosilicates of potassium, sodium, and calcium with Al atoms in different

ratios /diversity of minerals / feldspars

vast diversity of non-silicate minerals / carbonates

(e.g. limestone; CaCO3) /
sulphides (e.g. fool’s gold or pyrite, FeS2) /
important in Earth system processes
rock / solid lump of planetary material /minerals together / individual minerals /

e.g.a basalt rock /olivine, pyroxenes, feldspars
material rapidly quenched / e.g. lava erupting into water / crystals of particular
minerals not formed – no time / homogenous material, a glass
In glass, the silica and cations / evenly distributed / non-ordered, non-crystalline

e.g. obsidian, a silica-rich volcanic glass / used by ancient people for cutting
- glass can be fractured to produce very sharp edges

Basalt, an example of a rock

containing minerals (top).
Obsidian, a silica-rich volcanic

glass (bottom).

Types of rocks
Minerals or glasses come together to form broadly different types of rocks.
three main types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic
Igneous rocks / cooling and solidification of magma

formed beneath the surface of the Earth / intrusive rocks
formed on the surface, they are called extrusive rocks (or volcanic rocks)
700 types of igneous rocks known, all produced at different temperatures and
conditions / hence the type of igneous rock yields information on the magma
from which it was formed and the conditions deep in the Earth.

Types of rocks
Rocks with very high silica: felsic/volcanic glass obsidian and its crystalline
counterpart, rhyolite
intermediate rocks, mafic rocks /volcanic rocks, basalt, silica content of 45-52%
Ultramafic rocks include peridotite from the mantle / silica contents < than 45%
Systematic Characterization
of igneous rocks according
to silica content

Types of rocks
Sedimentary rocks /deposition of material at the surface of the Earth, such as in

water bodies, through the action of wind, rain and glaciers. /~ 8% of rocks in the
crust / the rest: igneous and metamorphic rocks
examples of sedimentary rocks / chalk (calcium carbonate) and mudstones clays

/ type of phyllosilicates / altered weathering products of rocks.
Sedimentary rocks / significance to astrobiologists / form strata (layers) /

information on the age of rocks / environments of their deposition
sediments tend to accumulate organic material and dead organisms / preserve

the biological evidence of past times / from macroscopic features such as
dinosaur bones to microbial microfossils.

Types of rocks
Metamorphic rocks / form at T > ~ 200°C and P > ~ 1000 bars (100 MPa) /
when buried at plate boundaries / e.g. at convergent boundaries where
subduction exposes rocks to intense T and P beneath plate boundaries
Detrimental effects on presevation of organics and biosignatures
different types of metamorphic

rocks showing T and P regimes
at which they are formed.
The separation between the

rock types is gradual, although
shown here as black lines for
clarity.

Types of rocks
rock types can interchange / summary / a rock cycle
The rock cycle represents the origin, destruction, change and reformation of rocks.

The composition of the Earth
Once the Earth formed and differentiated / internal structure developed / ~ today
Centre of the Earth / solid (inner) core / surrounded by a liquid (outer) core
generating magnetic field.
The core ~85-90% Fe and Ni / rest: mix of volatiles / T solid core ~ 5,400 °C
Above the core / mantle / split into the upper and lower mantle / a ~ 250 km
transition zone between them.
Upper mantle / primarily peridotite / dense, coarse-grained igneous rock /mostly

olivine and pyroxene /lower mantle / high P Ca, Mg, Fe silicates
Mantle T ~ 600 to 900°C at the interface with the crust / 4000 °C at the interface
with the core.
Above the mantle / the crust / transition between crust and mantle Moho (or
Mohorovičič) discontinuity.
The composition of the Earth
Silicate
crust
Fe
core

The Earth’s crust and upper mantle
Crust of the Earth / biological activity / ~1% V / maximum depth life penetrates ?
assume max T limit for life 122°C / the geothermal gradient ~15°C/km oceanic ,
~ 25°C/km continental / the maximum depth of life is probably ~10 km.
Continental crust / ~ 20-90 km thick / density ~ 2.7 g/cm3 / 10% granite /

sedimentary rocks (~ 8%) / metamorphic and igneous rocks / ancient cores of the
continental crust are called cratons.
Oceanic crust / ~ 5-10 km thick) / a density of 3.0 g/cm3 / basalt, a common

extrusive igneous rock, and gabbro, a group of dark, mafic intrusive igneous rocks
/ oldest ocean crust ~ 180 Ma old , nw Pacific.
The crust is part of the lithosphere (crust and part of the solid upper mantle).
Below the lithosphere is the asthenosphere (part of upper mantle and flows).

The Earth’s crust compared to the whole Earth
The composition of the crust of the Earth compared to the whole Earth showing
evidence of differentiation.

Plate tectonics
The lithosphere / individual plates / plates move over the asthenosphere
The idea the crust might be moving and might be made of plates was a
revolutionary theory / first indirectly suggested by Wegener / proposed the theory
of continental drift in 1912.
A map showing plates

and major plate
boundaries on Earth.
(12 major plates)

Plate tectonics

Plate tectonics

Plate tectonics: Its role in Earth processes
Plate tectonics / relating many seemingly unrelated phenomena and interpreting

Earth history /global scale
Plate tectonics / mountain building / associated igneous and metamorphic rock

formation / influencing geosphere
Plate tectonics/ influences heat transfer in the interior of the Earth /

may therefore influence the dynamo generating the magnetic field /
responsible for protecting the atmosphere from being sputtered away by the solar
wind

Plate tectonics: Its role in Earth processes
Plate tectonics / influences the arrangement of continents / affecting solar heating

and cooling / thus winds and weather systems.
The continental arrangement affects ocean currents / the rate of spreading affects
the volume of mid-oceanic ridges and hence sea level.
The placement of continents / contribute to the onset of ice ages / thus the
hydrosphere is influenced.
The movement of continents creates corridors or barriers to migration / results in

the formation of new ecological niches / the transport of habitats into more or less
favourable climates / thus influencing the biosphere.

Dating Rocks: Uniformitarianism
"The present is the key to the past" / main concept of uniformitarianism: whatever
processes are occurring today (volcanism, mountain building, earthquakes,
sedimentation) also occurred in the past / probably at the same (or very
comparable) rates
We can use an understanding of these processes observed today to investigate

past geological processes and their rates.
Uniformitariansm /J. Hutton, 18th century /term: W. Whewell, 19th cent. /

advanced C Lyell, 19th cent., his book "The principles of geology"

Dating Rocks: Absolute Dating of Rocks
Radioisotopes are trapped in

minerals when they crystallize /
they decay through time forming
stable isotopes / themselves are
trapped within the mineral.
ratio of parent isotope to daughter

product / the number of half-lives
that has elapsed since the mineral
was formed.
Useful for ~ 10 half lives.

Dating Rocks: Absolute Dating of Rocks
common isotopes used to date rocks with their half-lives and decay type
Parent isotope in rock Daughter isotope Half-life Type of decay
Rubidium-87 (87Rb) Strontium-87 (87Sr) 47 Ga beta
Uranium-238 (238U) Lead-206 (206Pb) 4.47 Ga alpha (8), beta (6)
Potassium-40 (40K) Argon-40 (40Ar) 1.25 Ga beta
Uranium-235 (235U) Lead-207 (207Pb) 704 Ma alpha (7), beta (4)
Carbon-14 (14C) Nitrogen-14 (14N) 5730 a beta
Radiometric age dating /A. Holms 20th cent /age of Earth / U-238 to Pb-206

Dating Rocks: Relative dating
Another way to date rocks / comparing them to other rocks of known age /
principles of relative age dating / Nicolas Steno 17th century.
many ways to interpret rocks and examine their interrelationships / often

complicated by multiple episodes of re-working, plate tectonics and so on.
some basic ideas / to make sense of what we see in the rock record
some of the principles which apply to rocks / particularly strata of sedimentary

rocks.

The Principle of Superposition

in general any given rock layer is younger than the ones below it (the oldest on
the bottom and the youngest on the top) / applies to rocks where sediments, lava
or other rocks have been sequentially layered on top of one another over time.
The Principle of Original Horizontality

sediment layers (and igneous rock eruptions such as lavas) settle in a horizontal
form under gravity / If layers are folded / the episode of deformation / after the
rocks formed.
Principle of Crosscutting Relationships

in a series of rock strata / another feature has cut across those strata / event
occurred after the rock strata were laid down.
Such a feature could be a fault or a dyke (an intrusion of magma or sediment into
a rock). Any feature that cuts across rocks is younger than the youngest rock that
is cut.
Principle of Faunal Succession

Organisms have evolved and gone extinct through time / therefore the fossil
content of rocks changes in a systematic way / reflecting evolutionary changes.
Sometimes paraphrased as "Organisms within rock units change with time " /
if we know the evolutionary sequence of organisms (perhaps through studies of
phylogenetic trees or fossil evidence from another locality) we can place the rocks
into the correct chronological sequence using the fossil record.
None of the above principles are mutually exclusive and by applying a number of
them to a given rock stratigraphy, it is possible to ascertain the age of any given
strata of interest.

A : folded rock strata cut by a fault. The fault must have occurred after the rock was folded.
B : a large intrusion of rock cutting through A, which must have occurred after A.
C : erosion cutting off A and B on which rock strata were deposited / happened after A and B
D : a volcanic intrusion cutting through A, B and C, / younger than these units
E : even younger rock strata (overlying C and D)
F – a very recent fault cutting through B, C and E.

Dating Rocks: Unconformities
Mars provides some spectacular examples of unconformities such as the layers

of lava sitting on top of clays and sulfates observed by the Curiosity rover at
Mount Sharp in Gale Crater.
An unconformity on Mars (Mount

Sharp, Gale Crater) is shown by
the white dots in the diagram.
Lava is thought to be above the
white dots and ancient sediments
below.
Unconformity: an erosional surface separates two distinct rocks to show they

were not laid continuously but with a delay between them.

Geological Time Scales
geological processes are in general very slow.
some examples / the rates of change of various types of geological features/

typical distances over which movements occur during one year.
 Cutting of the Grand Canyon - 0.06 cm

 Opening of Atlantic Ocean along the mid-ocean ridge - 2.8 cm
 Movement of the San Andreas Fault - 5 cm
 Uplift of the Alps - 0.05 cm
over millions and billions of years, these changes accumulate / along with
biological changes can be used to define geological time periods

Geological Time Scales
The largest subdivision of geological time is

an Eon. The Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic
and Phanerozoic are the four major eons.
Sometimes the Hadean, Archean and

Proterozoic are lumped together in a
supereon called the Precambrian.
We live in the Holocene Epoch of the

Quaternary Period of the Cenozoic Era of the
Phanerozoic Eon.

Geological Time Scales: The Precambrian
Precambrian time / 88% of Earth’s history / biota exclusively microorganisms.
how and when the various microbial metabolisms emerged ???
all could have arisen very rapidly on the early Archean Earth / spent 2 Ga refining
and evolving, but generally not changing much.
or
Precambrian might have been a long period of continual innovation, in

metabolisms / quorum sensing / microbial communication / other facets of the
microbial world.

Geological Time Scales:
The Phanerozoic: The Rise of Animals and Complexity
The Paleozoic
Paleozoic Era (541-252 Million years ago). Paleozoic / ‘ancient life’.
The Cambrian, the first period / begins with the breakup of the world-continent
Rodinia ends with the formation of a new world continent, Pangaea (Earth's
plates came together once again).
first multicellular organisms visible in the fossil record /575 Ma ago / first
observed in the Ediacaran Hills in Southern Australia / enigmatic / radial, frond-
like and linear worm-like forms / range: few cm to over a m /suggesting the
possibility many symmetrical body plans were being experimented.
The Ediacaran fauna / ~ 20 million years later / the first evidence for organisms
with bilateral body plans.

Rodinia at 600Ma
Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell. DOI: 10.1016/j.precamres.2008.08.002
Pangaea

The Paleozoic
The enigmatic creatures and body

plans of the Ediacaran

The Paleozoic
Cambrian explosion ~ 542 Ma ago /

remarkable increase in fossil record
of animal life / partly attributable to
the evolution of skeletons / improved
preservation of these organisms in
rock record.
This expansion in fauna begins with

the Small Shelly Fauna (SSF) / a
variety of small shelled worms and
other organisms / precursor to a large
expansion in the fossil fauna.
An example Cambrian fossil (Ottoia
prolifica), a type of marine invertebrate,
from the Burgess Shale

The Paleozoic
The Cambrian Period / Age of the

Trilobites / these arthropods inhabited
marine environments / at least 15,000
known species in the fossil record.
many other : e.g. echinoderms (sea

urchins and starfish) and sponges.
Also, emergence of our own phylum/

the Chordata / vertebrates (chordates
with backbones) are a sub-phylum.
Trilobites / Ubiquitous marine denizens
Small tadpole-like creatures set the of the Cambrian / species called
stage for the emergence of the wide Paradoxides / lived ~500 Ma ago / 10
diversity of vertebrates. cm long.

Tree of life: Chordata/vertebrate/Tadpoles
Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell. By böhringer friedrich - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5,
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5330961
The Paleozoic
During the Paleozoic, early land plants developed. The earliest of plants /
evolved from algae / Cooksonia, a cylindrical plant / grew from a few millimetres
to a few centimetres tall / appears in the rock record 425 Ma ago.
Rapidly following the plants / the first insects were invading the land masses.
Fossil evidence /suggests a millipede invasion of land ~ 470 Ma ago /
spiders, giant scorpions and centipedes had colonised land by 410 Ma /
the extinct trigonotarbids, eight-legged animals / dominant invertebrate of the
time.
conclusive evidence / insects had taken to the skies,

with fossils of dragonflies and other aerial insects / by ~335 Ma

The Paleozoic
Around 350 Ma ago, Earth was covered in enormous and biologically productive
forests. These Carboniferous (359-299 Ma ago) forests / dominated by mosses,
ferns and horsetails (flowering plants did not emerge until much later, becoming
globally widespread about 120 ma ago) /eventually preserved in shallow water /
coal which drove the Industrial Revolution.
The Carboniferous forests were home to vertebrates

as well / ~370 Ma ago, fossil evidence / the first fish-like amphibians on land.
By ~345 Ma, genuine tetrapods with short tails (1-m-long Pederpes) were
walking on land / an important evolutionary innovation since they were the
precursors of reptiles and mammals.

The Paleozoic
A) An artist impression of one of the earliest plants (Cooksonia),

B) A model of the eight-legged invertebrate trigonotarbids (image: Jason Dunlop),
C) An artist impression of an early tetrapod, Pederpes.

The Mesozoic
The Mesozoic (252-66 Ma ago) / Mesozoic / ‘Middle Life’

beginning of this era /continents joined as Pangaea / began to break up ~225
Ma ago.
Reptiles / most abundant animals / ability to

adapt to the drier climate of the Mesozoic Era.
Skin helped keep body fluids / embryos in eggs

with shells / protected against desiccation.
The earliest reptiles probably emerged in the mid-Carboniferous / e.g.

Hyalonomus, a 30-centimetre-long lizard-like creature that laid eggs.
The evolution of eggs provided a liquid environment enclosing the offspring

within a shell / marked the true independence of animals on land.

The Mesozoic
Diversification of reptiles became so great / Mesozoic is also known as the “Age

of the Dinosaurs”.
The dinosaurs were part of the great lineage of the archosaurs. Today the
archosaurs are represented by crocodiles and birds.
The first small dinosaurs appeared in the Triassic / e.g. Eoraptor, an agile, small
1-m-long dinosaur.
Larger and more abundant dinosaurs / appeared in the Jurassic / dominate into
the Cretaceous. Some of the largest of these were the sauropods such as
Brachiosaurus, which reached lengths of over 20 m.

The Mesozoic
Artist impressions of some of

the reptiles and a mammal of
the Mesozoic.
A) Eoraptor resto
B) Brachiosaurus altithorax
C) Quetzalcoatlus
D) Deinonychus antirrhopus
E) Plesiosaurus dolichodeirus
F) This image shows the dog-

like Thrinaxodon (this was the
Era when the first mammals,
albeit small, emerged

The Mesozoic
Small mammals / e.g. the dog-like Thrinaxodon / warm-blooded animals / hair
covered bodies / living on the edge of ecosystems dominated by reptiles /
differentiated teeth types and ribs only at the front of their thorax (characteristic
of mammals ; unlike reptiles) / progenitors of all modern mammals.
The main plant life / gymnosperms / plants that produce seeds but no flowers,
e.g. Pine Trees.
Flowering plants (angiosperms) / midway through the Era and achieved rapid
increases in diversity.
The Mesozoic Era ended with a mass extinction event 65.5 Ma ago.
Many groups of animals, including the dinosaurs, disappeared suddenly.
This change in the rock record defines the end of the Cretaceous and the end
of the Mesozoic Era.

The Cenozoic
The Mesozoic Era is followed by the Cenozoic Era (66 Myr to the present).
climate / general warm and mild / interspersed in the last few Ma by ice ages.
Marine animals such as whales and dolphins evolved / Mammals increase in

abundance / evolve adaptations / live in many different environments / on the
land, air and the sea /niches vacated by the reptiles.
Grasses increased in diversity and abundance and provided a food source for
grazing animals.
This era is sometimes called the “Age of Mammals”.

The Cenozoic
An image depicting some

mammals / Miocene epoch (23.03
to 5.333 Ma ago) of the Cenozoic
(66 Ma ago to the present)
illustrating a world in which

mammals were dominant after
the fall of the reptiles.
The large animals in the centre

left are the extinct chalicotheres,
a group of herbivorous mammals
related to the horses and camels
(ungulates).

The Cenozoic
The tool building ability of

humans / the changes wrought on
planet Earth through industrial
activity / a new geological epoch
defined: the Anthropocene.
Cenozoic biology. A tool-building ape

emerges capable of calculating orbital
dynamics and leaving the planet on
which it evolved.


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The Geological History of the Earth

Minerals and glasses

Minerals / inorganic substances / ordered atomic structure / stoichiometric

if silica tetrahedra isolated / the oxygen atoms,negatively charged/

ie.olivines / the tetrahedra cross-linked by Mg2+ or Fe2+.

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

If tetrahedra  single chain, pyroxenes

If tetrahedra  double chained, amphiboles

If chains  2-D sheets, phyllosilicates (clays and micas)

If chains  3-D structures, framework silicates or tectosilicates, feldspar, quartz

diversity of minerals with these basic structures / addition of a wide variety of

ie., aluminosilicates of potassium, sodium, and calcium with Al atoms in different

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

vast diversity of non-silicate minerals / carbonates

rock / solid lump of planetary material /minerals together / individual minerals /

In glass, the silica and cations / evenly distributed / non-ordered, non-crystalline

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Basalt, an example of a rock

Obsidian, a silica-rich volcanic

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Minerals or glasses come together to form broadly different types of rocks.

three main types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic

Igneous rocks / cooling and solidification of magma

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Sedimentary rocks /deposition of material at the surface of the Earth, such as in

examples of sedimentary rocks / chalk (calcium carbonate) and mudstones clays

Sedimentary rocks / significance to astrobiologists / form strata (layers) /

sediments tend to accumulate organic material and dead organisms / preserve

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Detrimental effects on presevation of organics and biosignatures

different types of metamorphic

The separation between the

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

rock types can interchange / summary / a rock cycle

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Upper mantle / primarily peridotite / dense, coarse-grained igneous rock /mostly

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Continental crust / ~ 20-90 km thick / density ~ 2.7 g/cm3 / 10% granite /

Oceanic crust / ~ 5-10 km thick) / a density of 3.0 g/cm3 / basalt, a common

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

The lithosphere / individual plates / plates move over the asthenosphere

A map showing plates

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Plate tectonics / relating many seemingly unrelated phenomena and interpreting

Plate tectonics / mountain building / associated igneous and metamorphic rock

Plate tectonics/ influences heat transfer in the interior of the Earth /

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Plate tectonics / influences the arrangement of continents / affecting solar heating

The movement of continents creates corridors or barriers to migration / results in

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

We can use an understanding of these processes observed today to investigate

Uniformitariansm /J. Hutton, 18th century /term: W. Whewell, 19th cent. /

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Radioisotopes are trapped in

ratio of parent isotope to daughter

Useful for ~ 10 half lives.

Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Universe, First Edition. Charles S. Cockell.

Parent isotope in rock Daughter isotope Half-life Type of decay

Rubidium-87 (87Rb) Strontium-87 (87Sr) 47 Ga beta

Uranium-238 (238U) Lead-206 (206Pb) 4.47 Ga alpha (8), beta (6)