Name:_________________________________

Unit E: Planet Earth

Notes:
Section 1
1.1- A Model for Earth (Page 353-356)
 A model is an idea of something that can’t be fully known or seen. Models are
useful when something is too big or small or too complicated to study easily. A
globe is a model of the earth.
 Geologists are scientists who study earth. Earth is complicated and there is more
to it than what you can see on the top layer.
o Inner Core- composed of solid
iron and nickel. It reaches
temperatures as high at 7000°C.
o Outer Core- liquid layer under
lower pressure.
o Mantle- makes up 2/3 of Earth’s
mass.
o Crust- radiates heat into the
atmosphere. The crust is where
all living things are found and is
the thinnest layer.

1.2- Sudden Earth Events (Page 357-

362)
 Earthquakes are trembling’s or
vibrations of the ground. They
are caused by a sudden release of
energy that has slowly been
building up in the Earth’s crust.
Large masses of rock in the crust
move, and sometimes become
stuck and a tremendous force is
released in the form of an
earthquake when they finally
break!
 The first place that rocks break below in an earthquake is called the focus. The
waves released from an earthquake are called seismic waves. Powerful waves can
damage and change the Earth’s surface. Earthquakes are rare in Alberta.
 An epicenter is the point right above the focus and helps officials provide disaster
release.
Notes:  The Richer scale measures the magnitude of an earthquake. The scale starts at 0,
and each increase in 1 represents an increase in 10 times the amount of ground
motion of an earthquake.
 A seismograph is a device that detects the waves of energy that spread through
Earth from the focus of an earthquake. Geologists read the seismogram produced
by the seismograph to determine the strength of an earthquake and its location
 A surveyor’s level is used to detect changes in the grounds slope which can be
evidence for an earthquake.
 A volcano is an opening in Earth’s crust through which solid and molten rock, ash,
and gases escape. Volcano eruptions are easier to predict than earthquakes.

 Geologists use special suits with a metal coating to reflect the intense
temperatures of the volcano.
 Nearly 2000 years ago, a volcanic eruption completely destroyed the city of
Pompeii in Roman Italy.

Science 7 Mrs. Peters

Notes: 1.3- Incremental Changes: Wind, Water and Ice (Page 363-366)
 Weathering refers to the mechanical and chemical process that breaks down
rocks by means of water, glacial ice, wind and waves.
 Erosion occurs when the products of weathering are transported from place to
place.
 Deposition is the process of these materials being laid down or deposited by
winds, water and ice.
 Throughout the weathering/deposition process, material is not gained or loss- it
simply changes form.
 Mechanical weathering happens when rock is broken apart by physical forces,
such as wind or water. In our climate, rock is often broken down by water in
freezing cracks.
 Chemical weathering happens when water and oxygen react with the minerals in
rocks to produce new minerals which can often crumble easily.
 Biological weathering is the wearing away of rocks by living things. Growing
things such as roots can be destructive.
 Rivers and streams are probably the most powerful forces of erosion that alter
the landscape. As rivers flow, they carry a load of silt, sand, mud and gravel,
called sediment.
 Sedimentation the process of sediments being deposited, usually at the bottoms
of oceans, lakes and rivers.
 Landforms that are created by running water are known as fluvial landforms.
Alberta has many examples of fluvial landforms, such as the Badlands of Southern
Alberta.
 Landslides are sudden and fast movements of rocks and soil down a slope.
 A glacier is a moving mass of ice and snow that picks up large rock fragments
when they flow. In doing so, they grind the bedrock (the layer of solid rock
beneath the loose rock fragments). When the glacier melts, it leaves its eroded
rock fragments in the form of small hills called drumlins and moraines, and
snake-like hills called eskers.

Section 2
2.1- What are Rocks and Minerals? (Page 369-376)

 Rocks are made up of tiny little particles called grains. The appearance and
properties of a rock depend on the nature of these many grains and the particular
materials of which they are made.
 The building blocks of rock are pure, naturally occurring solid materials called
minerals. All rocks are made of minerals. The most common minerals are calcite,
quartz, feldspar, mica, and hornblende.
 You can classify rocks by different properties
o Colour

Science 7 Mrs. Peters

Notes: o Lustre- How shiny the minerals are.
o Streak- the colour of powder that it leaves behind when you rub it
across a rough surface.
o Cleavage and fracture- If a mineral splits easily into two smooth
surfaces this can be described as cleavage. In contrast, fracture is a
mineral breakage with rough and uneven surfaces.
o Hardness- how easily it can be scratched on a scale of 1-10.

2.2- Three Classes of Rocks: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic (Page 377-
384)

 Igneous rocks form from hot, molten rock called magma, but by the time you hold
them in your hands, they are hard and cold. Magma may cool deep inside Earth,
or it may reach the surface before it cools. When it flows out onto the surface of
Earth either on land or beneath the ocean, it’s called lava. Examples are pegmatite
and basalt. Rock formed from magma that cooled and hardened beneath the
surface is called intrusive rock. Rock that was formed from lava cooling on the
surface is called extrusive rock.
 Rocks that have layers in them are called sedimentary rocks. They form when
small pieces of rock are carried by water and wind and settle down onto the rocks
below them. The layers can also be salt or organic matter.
 Metamorphic rocks are rocks that have been changed. The intense heat and
pressure deep below Earth’s surface changed their appearance.
 Classifying is the grouping of objects or events that have the same characteristics.
 The following are tools that find mineral ore bodies:
o Remote sensing- mapping of Earth’s surface from aircraft or orbiting
satellites to find possible locations of valuable mineral deposits hidden
below the surface.
o Geophysical prospecting- using sensitive instruments to detect mineral
deposits hidden deep underground.
o Geochemical prospecting- making chemical analysis of samples taken
from the environment.
o Exploration- drilling holes to verify an ore’s body existence.

Science 7 Mrs. Peters

 2.3- The Rock Cycle (Page 385-390)
Notes:
 Any rock that is heated may melt into magma and later form igneous rock. Any
rock that is exposed on Earth’s surface may be broken down into sediments and
later become sedimentary rock. If the environment changes, the rocks may
eventually change into different kinds of rocks.
 Rocks can be changed so much that they change classification. Geologists call this
process of change in rocks the rock cycle.
 It takes nearly 1000 years for just 5 mm of soil to form. Soil is composed of rock
and decaying organic matter.
 The oldest layer of soil, the Precambrian Shield, is at the bottom. 87% of Alberta’s
landscape lies over the Interior Plain. It is made up of various layers of
sedimentary rock that are between 544 million and 1.5 million years old.

Science 7 Mrs. Peters

Notes: Section 3
3.1- Continental Drift (Page 393-394)

 German Scientist Alfred

Wegener notices that
continents looked as though
they could fit together and
hypothesized that they were
once a single piece of land
called “Pangea.”
Continental drift is the idea
that continents are slowly
drifting apart.
 Fossil and rock evidence
suggests that some tropical
continents had previously
existed in Polar Regions.

3.2- Plate Tectonics (Page 395-401)

 Scientists use seismographs to study the structure of the crust and mantle, which
has led to the development of a new theory to explain many of the major features
on Earth’s surface. Scientists noticed that volcanoes and earthquakes tended to
occur in the same areas around the world. They noticed distinctive deep valleys,
called trenches, under the oceans, usually near the edge of continents. They also
noticed long underwater mountain ranges called ridges.
 The mountain range in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was an important piece of
evidence in the development of the new theory to explain Earth’s surface
structures. This mountain range is called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The rock at its
top was younger than the rock surrounding the ocean floor.
 The theory of plate tectonics was based on strong evidence:
o Most earthquakes and volcanoes are concentrated in specific areas.
o There are large areas on Earth where few or no earthquakes and
volcanoes occur.
o The ocean floor is spreading away from mid-ocean ridges.
o The ocean floor is moving down into deep trenches on or near the edges
of continents.
 According to the theory, the lithosphere is broken up into large areas much like a
cracked eggshell. These areas are called plates. The plates usually carry both
continental and oceanic crust. All these plates are moving very slowly on a semi-
solid layer of crust. A boundary is the edge where plates meet.
 A diverging boundary is one where two if Earth’s plates are moving apart. At
this type of boundary, lava flows from the ridge to form new oceanic crust.

Science 7 Mrs. Peters

Notes:

 At converging boundaries, plates are moving toward each other. We can feel
earthquakes and see mountains that grow up at or near these boundaries.
There are two types of converging boundaries. One kind happens where a
trench is formed in a process called subduction (collision between the oceanic
and continental plates where the dense, heavy ocean plate slides below the
lighter continental plate). The second kind happens where two plates with
continental crust move up against each other. They crush to form huge
mountain ranges.
 The third type of boundary is called a transform boundary. Plates slide
sideways past each other, but the sliding does not take place smoothly. The
rocks catch and cause earthquakes.

3.3- Mountain Building (Page 402-408)

 A mountain is part of Earth’s surface that is much higher than the land around it.
A mountain range is a series of mountains. Mountain building is the process of
creating mountains. They form from plates colliding.
 Read Building the Mountains: An Alberta Story (Page 403- 404)
 The collision of plates caused sedimentary rocks to bend and break causing folds.
Faults occur wherever the rocks on either side of the crack moved. Most
mountains are created by a combination of folding and faulting.
 There are two kinds of folds found in rocks:
o an anticline or an upfold in the rock
o a syncline or a downfold in the rock

Science 7 Mrs. Peters

Notes: Section 4
4.1- Tracing Evidence of Geologic Change Using Fossils (Page 411-414)

 Fossils are traces of once living things that are preserved in rocks. They form when
animals or plants die and sink to the bottom of a body of water. There, they are
buried by layers of sediments. This means fossils are the same age as the
sedimentary rock in which they are found.
 Paleontologists are scientists who study early life forms by interpreting animal
and plant fossils. Often, the fossils that are found are not complete, consisting of
only parts of skeletons, shells or other animal traces.
 How living things become fossils:
o First, sediments quickly have to bury the original plant of animal remains
so that scavengers and decomposers do no break them down.
o A cavity is created as the original organic form decays which is then filled
by other sediments which harden into rock.
o In other cases, a fossil can be formed when the original organism is slowly
replaced by mineral crystals.
 A trace fossil is a cavity or track left behind by an organism. Another type of fossil
is a cast. Casts are the filled-in cavities left by the original organic bodies.
 Fossilization is a process that can take thousands of years and only happen under
certain circumstances.
 The layers of sediment that have formed over millions of years are called strata.

4.2- Methods Used to Interpret Fossils (Page 415-418)

 The fossil records show a sequence of different life forms appearing through time.
The ability to reconstruct fossils based on knowledge of current living things is an
important part of understanding the history of life on Earth. Much of what science
knows about fossils comes from educated guesses, or inferences.

Science 7 Mrs. Peters

Notes:  Fossil Beds have preserved the soft tissue of many species, allowing scientists to
study these specimens in detail.

4.3- Geologic Time (Page 419-424)

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  Fossils are the only evidence scientists have of early life forms. Because fossils are
Notes:
rare, paleontologists cannot always make general statements about what life
forms existed millions of years ago.

Science 7 Mrs. Peters