The Earth through geological time

Chapter 24, Pgs: 316-328

Introduction:
Through geological time the Earth has undergone a number of changes in the fundamental
controls on sedimentation.
¾ The arrangement and behaviour of crustal plates has created tectonic settings. The
global climate has gone through long- and short-term cycles, affecting sea level and the
distribution of sedimentary environments.
¾ Extraordinary events such as catastrophic meteorite and most importantly, the evolution
of life. The evolution of land plants radically altered the physical and chemical processes of
the land surface, and the development of an oxygenated atmosphere.
¾ Sedimentary rocks and stratigraphy must therefore be considered in terms of dynamic,
evolving environment of the Earth’s surface.

1. Uniformtarianism ‘the present is the key to the past’

At certain levels it is reasonable to expect things to have behaved exactly the same way in
the past as they do today. The basic laws of physics and chemistry must be assumed to be
constant and inviolate, e.g. gravitational attraction, and oxygen. We can therefore
reasonably apply these laws to interpret purely physical and chemical phenomena such as
the movement of boulders downhill and the formation of minerals.
¾ However, geological processes take place in complex settings and do not necessarily
produce uniquely predictable results.
¾ Rivers change their course by avulsion, but it is not possible to predict exactly where and
when the avulsion will occur in a modem river, so the stratigraphy of fluvial sediments will
be chaotic at the level of predicting where channel-fill sandstone bodies are likely to be.
¾ Using observations from modern environments, we can develop general rules and simple
mathematical models.
1.1 Catastrophism
The corollary of uniformitarianism is often catastrophism, the view that extraordinary
events have been instrumental in shaping the surface of the Earth, as the ‘Flood’.
¾ Uniformitarian view of a constancy of physical laws being logical, but with elements of
catastrophism to explain some of the past events. The key to reconciling catastrophism and
uniformitarianism is to consider the magnitude and frequency of events on a geological
time-scale.
1.2 Periodicity of events
In terms of a human life-span Vs geological time- scale high-magnitude phenomena such as
very violent storms, high-energy earthquakes or large volcanic eruptions are considered to
be rare and extraordinary. In considering the likelihood of a certain event, the human time-
frame is too short for us to be good judges of the frequency with which it may occur on a
geological time-scale.
¾ Sometimes these high-magnitude events may last only a very short period of time.
However, short-lived, high-magnitude events leave as much of a mark in the geological
record. The Tuba tuff is a layer of late Pleistocene volcanic ash which can be traced from its
volcanic vein in Sumatra across large areas of the Bay of Bengal and India. The eruption
which produced the Toba tuff may have lasted only a few years, but its mark on the
stratigraphy is considerable over a wide area.
1.3 Magnitude of processes and events in the past
There is a great variability in magnitude of processes and events over nowadys time and we
can conclude that there were even bigger events in the past. Furthermore, the longer the
period of time, the chances of a storm, flood, volcanic eruption or earthquake being bigger
than anything we could imagine occurring today become higher. Volcanic eruptions are a
good example:
The Mount St Helens eruption in North America in the early l980s was a devastating event,
but compared to
The Bishop Tuff eruption 740000 years ago resulted in an ash cloud which deposited
material over 1000km away.
2. Catastrophic events
Meteorite and comet impacts
Collisions of extra-terrestrial bodies with the Earth are frequent events, and an impact on
the Earth of a large meteorite or comet several kilometres across would be a catastrophe in
every sense of the word.
Global wildfires, tsunami affecting all coastlines and the expulsion of huge quantities of
particulate matter into the atmosphere, precipitating a darkening of the skies in a ‘nuclear
winter are important impacts. It is unlikely that all life on Earth would be extinguished but
the devastation would be immense.
Thdre is a growing body of evidence to suggest that large meteorites have struck the Earth
on numerous occasions in the last billion years. The most important of impacts is the one
which implicated in the mass extinctions at the Cretaceous—Tertiary boundary. Many
different types of organism became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, including
amanonites and dinosaurs.
Evidence that a meteorite impact played a role in the demise of these animals comes from
high levels of the heavy metal element iridium in sediments deposited at that time (iridium
is rare on the Earth’s surface but is relatively abundant in meteorites) and the presence of
quartz grains which show signs of a massive impact. A similar-meteorite or comet has been
suggested for the Permian—Triassic boundary. Some geologists consider that these impact
events have played a major role in the evolution of life on Earth.
3. ‘Catastrophic’ events in sedimentation
Catastrophic events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and storms fires important in
sedimentological terms. Deposits in almost all environments may result from these events.
These events occur at a frequency of hundreds to thousands of years so in terms of a
geological time-scale they can simply be considered to be episodic processes of
sedimentation.
3.1 Earthquakes
The direct evidence of earthquakes is the presence of faults in rocks. The shock also
affect unconsolidated sediment, producing convolute bedding, slumps and dewatering
structures. Triggered by earthquakes, continental environments may include landslides
and rock falls adjacent to steep slopes and debris flows on alluvial fans. Reworking of
material as a result of the shock may occur in many submarine environments, including
delta fronts and continental slopes.
Other events associated with earthquakes are tsunami which may travel across oceans
before hitting coasts. Tsunami have low amplitudes in deep water but may increase to
tens of metres high in shallow Water. They cause extensive coastal flooding and redeposit
shoreline sediments far inland.
3.2 Volcanoes
most of the eruptions are relatively small. Periodically there are more violent eruptions
which eject many cubic kilometers of ash and volcanic gases and more widespread deposits
of volcanic ash sometimes occurring in depositional environments many hundreds of
kilometers from the site of the eruption. These are very useful marker horizons as
distinctive beds. The effects of a single large volcanic eruption may be felt all over the
world. Airborne ash and aerosols from an eruption can affect the penetration of radiation
from the Sun which result in temporary global cooling. Eruptions in Yellowstone in the
Quaternary are thought to have produced up to 2500 km3 of ash.
3.3 Exceptional storms
Tropical stormsand hurricanes occur every year in certain parts of the world. Every few
years there is one of exceptional violence which causes devastation in the areas affected:
storm surges cause coastal flooding, strong winds destroy vegetation and high rainfall raises
water levels in rivers and lakes, leading to inland flooding and erosion. Evidence of such
storms in the stratigraphic record will be layers of sand within over- bank mudstone beds in
fluvial deposits. Storm deposits are widespread in shallow sea successions.
3.4 Jökulhlaups and dam bursts
The sudden release of water from within a glacier as a jokulhlaup or from behind a
temporarily dammed lake result in catastrophic flooding downstream. Water mass may
sweep away vegetation and sediment in its path and carry large amounts of sediment,
depositing a thick layer of material much coarser than the normal sedimentation in the
area. In areas peripheral to the Pleistocene ice sheets there are signs of flood events which
carried coarse material hundreds of kilometres down river valleys and across floodplains.
Thus, such events may be recognized in continental strata by distinctly coarser character.
3.5 Submarine slumps
Bathymetric mapping and sonar images of the ocean floor have revealed the existence of
very large-scale slumps. Slump scars may indicate that slumping events have occurred
involving several cubic kilometers of rock. Mass movements on this scale would generate
huge tsunami around the edges of the ocean. Evidence for tsunami include deposits of
marine debris, such as coral and other distinctively marine material, occurring kilometers
inland from the shoreline.
3.6 Fires
There is very little documented evidence of the effects of fires in the pre-Quaternary
geological record. Enhanced surface erosion occurs in the aftermaih of a major fire
resulting in more sediment entering drainage systems, so there is evidence of a link between
wildfire events and sedimentation.
4. Life (biosphere) through time
Plants and animals in some cases control and provide the source for the deposits. It follows
that some types of deposit can only have formed during the time that the relevant
organisms existed. Two examples below, from marine and continental environments
respectively, are the more obvious cases of the effects of the evolution of particular groups
of organisms on depositional environments.
4.1 Carbonate depositional environments through time
The earliest biogenic carbonate deposits on Earth are stromatolites suggested to be formed
by cyanobacteria and found in rocks up to 3500 million years old with maximum diversity
about 1000 Ma and then started to decline due to the development of metazoans
(multicellular organisms) in the late Precambrian (Figure 1).
¾ The microbial mats of cyanobacteria
were the foodstuff of creatures such as
molluscs, arthropods and others, leading to
their suppression. The evolution of complex
organisms in the Palaeozoic included reef-
building organisms which made it possible
for carbonate reef structures to develop for
the first time. The structure of reefs on
carbonate platforms has varied through the
Phanerozoic according to the dominance of
different reef-forming organisms.
¾ The nature of pelagic deposits in the
oceans has also changed considerably as
different planktonic organisms evolved.
Coccoliths above the calcite compensation
depth did not become common until the
middle Jurassic when these algae evolved.
Fig. 1 The type and abundance of carbonate reefs
Foraminifera, the other main component of has varied through the Phanerozoic.
modern calcareous oozes, did not develop a
planktonic lifestyle until the Cretaceous,
although they had been in existence as
benthic forms for a long time. Mesozoic and
Palaeozoic pelagic rocks are dominated by
siliceous radiolaria which form chert.
4.2 Vegetation through time
Plants contribute to soil-forming processes, physical and chemical weathering, and
influence air flow and overland flow of water and thus reduces erosion. Plant root systems
also have a binding effect on soils. Four stages in the development of land plants are
significant in terms of sedimentological processes (Fig. 2).
1- Pre-Silurian: there was no land vegetation at this time
and surface run-off erosion was more effective and
lateral migration of rivers more rapid in this period.
2- Silurian to mid-Cretaceous: the main plant groups with
relatively simple root patterns.
3- Mid-Cretaceous to mid-Tertiary: flowering plants
became important in many climatic belts and were more
effective at binding the soil and providing a dense
vegetation cover.
4- Mid-Tertiary to present: a widespread plant type
covered large areas of land surface with a dense fibrous
Fig. 2 Changes in vegetation types
root system which is very effective at binding soil. through the Phanerozoic.

These vegetation changes mean that the uniformitarian approach to the study of fluvial and
aeolian sediments needs to be modified. Climatic regimes which have relatively stable river
channels today may have had much less stable ones in the past because of the absence of
vegetation to bind the soil.
A second consequence of vegetation changes is the effect on rates and patterns of
weathering and erosion. the denudation rates were generally higher in the past.
5. The atmosphere and air circulation
The composition and behavior of the Earth’s atmosphere is fundamental to most life on the
planet and important to both physical and chemical surface processes. These changes have
influenced chemical processessuch as the oxidation of iron compounds, the capacity of the
wind to transport sediment and the colonization by plants and animals of both continental
and mariu environments.
5.1 Evolution of atmospheric composition
The early atmosphere of the Earth was dominated by gases which were the products of
volcanism, principally nitrogen and carbon dioxide with little if any oxygen. The oxygen
content did not exceed a trace amount until around 2000 Ma when photosynthetic
organisms started to influence the atmospheric composition by taking in carbon dioxide
and releasing oxygen. Archaean and Early Proterozoic ironstones are typically thin-bedded
strata known as banded iron formations, consisting of alternations of iron-rich and iron-
poor chert beds. Ferrous iron in solution would have precipitated if the water came into
contact with oxidizing conditions due to blooms of algae or periodic changes in Water
circulation. There are no banded iron formations less than 2000 inillion years old, and
primary ironstones deposited since then are mostly red beds formed in oxidizing
continental conditions.
The huge amounts of vegetation represented by Carboniferous coals around the world has
led to suggestions that the level of oxygen in the atmosphere may have been higher than the
present-day value of 21%. There is, however, a theoretical upper limit of just over 30%
would make vegetation so susceptible to combustion. Carbon dioxide levels makes up only
0.03% of today’s atmosphere, changes in concentration are critical because it is a
greenhouse gas which strongly influences global climate.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may have been between Fig. 3 Changes in atmospheric
composition through time.
four and 10 times current levels during the mid-
Cretaceous, resulting in a significantly warmer climate
during that time (Fig. 3).

5.2 Global air circulation patterns

Air circulation patterns around the globe are driven by the
differences in temperature between the cold polar regions
and the hot equatorial belt. Coastal areas where the wind is
predominantly onshore receive high rainfall as the winds
have gathered moisture whilst passing over an area of sea.
Rainfall is particularly high in mountain areas close to
these shores. These wind patterns exert a strong control on
the distribution of desert regions. In modem deserts sand
blown by the wind is rarely greater than 1 mm in diameter.
We might therefore conclude that aeolian sands can never
be coarser than 1mm, but this would not be true if the
velocity of winds in the past was higher.

It has been suggested that the Pleistocene giant draa structures appear to need stronger
winds than currently occur in the sub-tropical belt in which the Sahara lies. Global wind
patterns are controlled by belts of high and low pressure between the hotter equatorial
regions and the colder poles. When there is a large ice cap on one or both of the poles.
Large pressure gradients result, giving rise to strong winds.
6. Plate tectonics through time
Evidence from the Moon suggests that intense meteorite bombardment continued until
about 3.8 Ga, and these impacts must have dominated the appearance. of the early Earth. It
is generally thought that the early crust was basaltic in composition and that continental
crust formed as a result of differentiation of material at subduction zones.

6.1 Global changes hi topography and bathymetry

The shape of the continents and oceans and every
part of the surface of the globe has gone through
many changes in time.
During the Late Cretaceous the topography on the
continents was generally subdued and there were
large areas of shallow marine sedimentation with
broad shelf areas and extensive epicontinental seas.
The amount of terrigenous supplyto the seas was
much reduced and in the shallow seas there was
deposition of carbonate facies. This also coincided
with a period of raised global temperatures (Fig. 4)
enhancing carbonate productivity in the shallow
seas. Ocean circulation, at.mospheric circulation
and sediment flux into the oceans would have all
been quite different from the present-day situation.
6.2 Changes in ocean circulation
ocean currents distribute cold, nutrient-rich waters from high to low latitudes, affecting
biogenic productivity and oceanic and shelf environments. Two tectonic events in the mid-
Tertiary fundamentally changed the circulation pathways of cold, deep water: the opening
of the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula allowed a
current to be set up circling the Antarctic continent; and the convergence between
Europe/Asia and the continental masses of Africa, Arabia and India closed the direct
connection between the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
7. Climate through time
Climate forcing factors, are principally the amount of solar radiation which reaches the
Earth, the proportion of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the physiography of the
Earth’s surface.
7.1 Plate tectonics and palaeoclimates
Chemical weathering processes involve reactions between silicate minerals in rocks and
carbon dioxide, and if there are large surface areas of bedrock exposed to weathering the
effect is to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It is estimated that 17% of the
present-day land area was covered by shallow seas in the Cretaceous and the general
continental topography was very subdued with the consequence that more carbon dioxide
was free in the atmosphere instead of being taken up by weathering reactions.
Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau to its present position of 4700 m above sea level occurred
during the mid- to late Miocene. One consequence of the formation of a large area at a high
altitude is an increase in the total amount of weathering that result in a reduction in carbon
dioxide levels in the atmosphere. A further consequence of the Tibetan Plateau is the
disruption of global atmospheric circulation by interrupting air flow across the continent.
7.2 Global climate cycles
The global temperature has generally been falling since the mid-Cretaceous when it may
have been at least 5°C - 10°C warmer than it is today.
Icehouse conditions existed towards the end of the Paleozoic when the Gondwana
supercontinent, centered over the south pole, experienced extensive glaciation. Late
Carboniferous and Permian strata from many parts of Gondwanaland include glacial tills,
particularly in the Karoo basins of southern Africa. The Gondwana glaciation came at the
end of a long period of globally warm conditions apart from a brief period in late
Ordovician to early Silurian times when there was apparently quite widespread glaciation
and the deposition of glacial facies. Before that episode the previous icehouse period had
been in the late Proterozoic from 950 to 615 Ma.
9. Gaps n the record
The stratigraphic record provides only a few clues with which to build up a history of the
Earth and the record is incomplete on all scales.
9.1 Time represented by bedding planes
There are few situations where sedimentation is a continuous process. Pelagic deposition in
the deep oceans is relatively constant but this slow. A bed deposited by a single turbidity
current may be decimeter or even meters thick but takes only a matter of hours to form.
This episodic character of sedimentation is also apparent in storm deposits on the shelf and
in floodplain deposits on land. Even deposition within the channel of a river, delta or
estuary is not continuous.
This episodic character of sedimentation means that in almost all elastic sedimentary
environments more time is represented by the surfaces between beds, the bedding planes,
than the beds themselves.
In carbonate environments formed by organisms such as corals, deposition can be
considered to be more continuous and subaqueous evaporite deposition in lakes and lagoons
cootmues provided that the conditions remain the same. Fluctuations in the environmental
conditions mean that even chemical and biogenic sedimentation may occur at very variable
rates.

9.2 Longer time gaps in a stratigraphic succession

Some bedding surfaces show evidence of having been Sites of non-deposition, such as well-
developed palaeosols. In shallow seas a number of features may indicate nondeposition.
Glauconite is an authigenic mineral concentrated on surfaces where elastic and carbonate
sediment accumulation is very slow. Phosphates may also form under the same conditions.
Cementation of the sea bed starts to occur if sedimentation rates are slow. A moderately
cemented sea bed, a ‘firmground’, will preserve the effects of burrowing organisms. The
intensity and type of bioturbation are therefore important indicators of breaks in shallow
marine sedimentation.
The absence of a zone fossil may indicate that there are no deposits which represent the
time period during which that organism existed. A time gap in the record is a hiatus in
sedimentation, also sometimes referred to as a lacuna (plural lacunae). A lacuna ma be a
result of a period of non-deposition or may be due to erosion of sediment. Erosion of the sea
floor can occur as a consequence of a relative sea level fall (a sequence boundary) or during
transgression (a ravinement surface).
9.3 Major gaps in the record
Ocean floors have been repeatedly created and destroyed (the oldest ocean floor is
Mesozoic), mountain belts have formed and then worn down, and the continental margins
have undergone uplift and subsidence. Uplift of strata in an orogenic belt exposes the
bedrock to erosion and the removal of material. Subsequent subsidence and a cover of
younger strata preserve an angular unconformity which may have a time gap of tens- to
hundreds of millions of years across it.
Nowhere is there a complete record of sedimentation since the Palaeozoic without major
time gaps due to unconformities or long periods of non-deposition in the cratonic centers.

10. The sedimentary record

Understanding of present-day sedimentary environments provides the key to interpreting
sedimentary rocks, the uniformitarian approach must be employed with care, bearing in
mind the ‘catastrophic’ events which have undoubtedly been important. Sedimentological
and stratigraphic analysis of the rock record using the material exposed at the surface,
drilled and surveyed in the subsurface, provides us with the means to reconstruct the
history of the surface of the Earth as far as the data allow. However, the information we
have is very fragmentary, with more gaps than hard data, and there will always be room to
improve our knowledge and interpretation of the sedimentary record.