1 Introduction To Geology
1 Introduction To Geology
1 Introduction To Geology
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Chapter 1
Introduction
© NASA
What is geology?
Geology
(Greek γῆ, gê, "earth" and λόγος, logos, "study")
, ,
hazards; environmental issues and problems;
climate change; geotechnical engineering;
academic discipline; hobby
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology
N. Ramos | Geology 11 Principles of Geology Lecture Notes: Introduction
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Branches of geology
Physical geology
examines Earth’s composition and processes occurring on
and beneath its surface
Historical geology
, ,
Earth and life through time; deals with the layered rock
record and fossils
What does a geologist do?
What does
What does a geologist do?
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Rockhound
Armageddon (1998)
What does a geologist do?
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(1031-1095, China) Shen Kua - land formation: erosion of the mountains and by deposition of silt.
(1494-1555) Georg Agricola (De re metallica libri XII, 1556) - first systematic treatise about mining and
(1700s) Jean-Etienne Guettard and Nicolas Desmarest - geological maps; first observation of the volcanic
origins of parts of France.
(1769-1839) William Smith - ordering rock strata (layers) by examining the fossils contained in them.
(1811) Georges Cuvier and Alexandre Brongniart - stratigraphic succession of earth layers
CATASTROPHISM
the Earth has been affected in the past by sudden, short-lived, violent
events, possibly worldwide in scope
Biblical events such as the Noachian Flood
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UNIFORMITARIANISM
assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the
universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply
everywhere in the universe: “The present is the key to the past.”