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Historical Geology

This textbook is intended for undergraduate courses in Earth history. It was written by Callan Bentley, Karen Layou, Russ Kohrs, Shelley Jaye, Matt Affolter, and Brian Ricketts. It is a work in progress.

Geology Geosciences

Author: Callan Bentley, Karen Layou, Russ Kohrs, Shelley Jaye, Matt Affolter, and Brian Ricketts
Publisher: LibreTexts
Source: LibreTexts
License: CC BY-NC
Language: EN
Category: Basic Sciences

Read online Download PDF (open licence)

Contents· 304 sections

01: What is Historical Geology
1.01: Stories from stone
1.02: Sequences of strata
1.03: Fossil vocabulary
1.04: Magma metamorphism and mountains
1.05: Earth's story is your story
02: A Brief History of Earth
2.01: Origin of the Universe
2.02: Origin of the Solar System - The Nebular Hypothesis
2.03: Hadean Eon
2.04: Archean Eon
2.05: Proterzoic Eon
2.06: Phanerozoic Eon - Paleozoic Era
2.07: Phanerozoic Eon - Mesozoic Era
2.08: Phanerozoic Eon - Cenozoic Era
2.09: References
2.S: Summary
03: Earth as a System
3.01: Introduction
3.02: Earth Systems Overview
3.03: The Symphony of the Spheres
3.04: Earth's Energy Budget
3.05: Earth Systems collide- Events and Interactions
3.06: Scales of Measurement- Geography
3.07: Scales of Measurement - Time
3.08: Ground-based instrumentation and satellite data
3.09: Further Reading
04: Earth Materials - The Rock Forming Minerals
4.01: Introduction
4.02: What is a mineral
4.03: The Building Blocks of Rock
4.04: The Chemistry of Minerals
4.05: Formation of Minerals
4.06: The Silicate Minerals - Nine of The Big Ten
4.07: Other Important Rock Forming Minerals
05: Earth Materials - Rocks
5.01: The Rock Cycle
5.02: Igneous Rock
5.03: Igneous Rock Classification
5.04: Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks
5.05: Classification of Sedimentary Rocks
5.06: Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks
06: Plate Tectonics
6.01: Plates
6.02: Tectonics
6.03: Boundaries
6.04: The historical record of plate interactions
6.05: Geophysical phenomena
6.06: Driving forces
6.07: Wilson Cycles
6.08: References citations and further reading
07: Geologic Time
7.01: Abbreviating geological time
7.02: Geology as a historical science
7.03: Foundational Concepts of Historical Geology
7.04: The Geological Time Scale
7.05: References
7.06: Further Reading
08: Evolution Part I - The Theory
8.01: Evolution - Patterns in the Biosphere
09: Taphonomy - The Science of Death and Decay
9.01: Is This a Fossil
9.02: Death to Fossil Transition
9.03: Modes of Fossil Preservation
9.04: Trace Fossils - Studies in Scurrying Scraping and Slithering
10: Innovations of Life Through Time - Life Finds a Way
10.01: In the Beginning
10.02: Phanerozoic Diversity of Life (According to the Hard Parts)
10.03: Further reading and resources
11: Mass Extinctions
11.01: Adaptation's dark twin
11.02: The Big Five
11.03: Other 'mass' extinctions
11.04: Further reading
11.S: Summary
12: Stratigraphy - The Pages of Earth's Past
12.01: Stratigraphy
12.02: The Story of Basins Past Present and Future
12.03: Basins Sea Level and Accommodation Space
12.04: Basic Principles of Stratigraphy
12.05: Pattern Matching and Stratigraphic Correlation
12.06: Measuring Stratigraphic Sections
12.07: Stratigraphy is not just an Earth Thing...
12.08: Further reading
13: Using Sedimentary Structures to Interpret Ancient Environments
13.01: Preamble
13.02: Tools at a geologist's disposal
13.03: Some common sedimentary structures
14: Facies
14.01: What are facies
14.02: The CTSFAF model
14.03: Putting it all together - facies models
15: Paleoclimatology
15.01: What is Climate
15.02: Paleoclimatology- Historical Climate
15.03: Geological Sources of Important Elements for Life
15.04: Significant Paleoclimatological Events
15.05: Further Reading
16: (Case Study) Nebular theory and the formation of the solar system
16.01: In the beginning...
16.02: Nebular theory
16.03: A star is born
16.04: Age of the solar system
16.05: The implications of meteorites
16.06: Further reading
16.S: Summary
17: (Case Study) Earth's oldest rocks
17.01: The Hadean
17.02: Events that shaped the Hadean
17.03: Earth's Oldest Rocks
17.04: Earth's oldest fossils
17.05: References and Further Reading
17.S: Summary
18: (Case Study) Greenstone belts - primordial tectonics
18.01: Plate tectonics - what governs Earth's surface dynamics today
18.02: It was different in the Archean
18.03: Rocks found in greenstone belts
18.04: Structure of greenstone belts
18.05: Further reading
19: (Case Study) Starting tectonics and making the first continents
19.01: The Beginning of Plate Tectonics and the Beginning of Continents - How One Caused the Other
19.02: The Chicken and Egg Problem of Making Continents
19.03: A Very Different Archean
19.04: Conclusion
19.05: References
20: (Case Study) Snowball Earth glaciations
20.01: Introduction
20.02: Evidence of glaciation
20.03: Evidence of low-latitude of glacial deposits
20.04: Cap carbonates
20.05: Return of the BIF
20.06: When were the Snowballs
20.07: Starting and stopping a Snowball
20.08: Impact on animal evolution
20.09: Conclusion
20.10: Further reading
21: (Case Study) Endosymbiosis
21.01: Making eukaryotes from prokaryotes
21.02: A history of the idea
21.03: Mitochondria
21.04: Chloroplasts
21.05: Other organelles
21.06: Further reading
22: (Case Study) Discovering plate tectonics
22.01: Antecedents
22.02: Continental drift
22.03: Seafloor spreading
22.04: Hot spot tracks
22.05: Conclusion
22.06: Further reading
23: (Case Study) The Grenville Orogeny and the rifting of Rodinia
23.01: The Grenville Orogeny and the rifting of Rodinia
24: (Case Study) Tippecanoe Sequence - A sequence stratigraphic view
24.01: Sequences of strata in ancient Eastern North America
24.02: The Tippecanoe Sequence - Transgressing Seas Taconian Mountains
24.03: Final Thoughts
24.04: References
25: (Case Study) The Taconian Orogeny
25.01: Introduction
25.02: Tectonic context
25.03: The roots of the mountains
25.04: The sedimentary signature
25.05: Conclusion
25.06: What's in a name
26: (Case Study) Californias Coast Ranges - a Mesozoic accretionary wedge complex
26.01: Modern physiography suggests an ancient subduction zone
26.02: Rocks and structures associated with the subduction of oceanic crust
26.03: The hard rocks - mantle and crust
26.04: The sedimentary journey
26.05: Deformation of these rocks into geological structures
26.06: The end of subduction
27: (Case Study) The mixed-up quartzites of Cape Agulhas
27.01: The mixed-up quartzites of Cape Agulhas
28: (Case Study) Palimpsest outcrops
28.01: Palimpsest outcrops
29: (Case Study) Extremadura - interpreting a geological cross-section
29.01: Extremadura - interpreting a geological cross-section
30: (Case Study) Diversity in the marine fossil record
30.01: Diversity vs. abundance
30.02: Counting diversity in shells and bones
30.03: Marine cohorts - the evolutionary faunas
31: (Case Study) Reptile radiation
31.01: Reptile Radiation - Tetrapods Branch Out
32: (Case Study) Dinosaur classification
32.01: Saurischians
32.02: Ornithischians
32.03: Final Thoughts
33: (Case Study) Dino Debates - dinosaur ecological controversies
33.01: Dinobook or Saurogram - Dinosaur Social Behavior
33.02: A Dinosaur by Any Other Name - Species controversies
33.03: To Feather or Not To Feather - Dinosaur Body
33.04: Movement and thermoregulation - Get that blood flowing
33.05: Further Reading
34: (Case Study) Western Mesozoic orogenies
34.01: Western Mesozoic Orogenies
35: (Case Study) San Andreas Fault and the Basin and Range
35.01: The History of the San Andreas Fault and the Basin and Range
36: (Case Study) The Parallel Roads of Glen Roy
36.01: The Parallel Roads of Glen Roy
37: (Case Study) The Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington
37.01: Uniformitarianism vs. Catastrophism
37.02: J Harlen Bretz
37.03: Channeled Scablands geomorphology
37.04: Bretz floats his hypothesis
37.05: Glacial Lake Missoula
37.06: Catastrophes aren't against the rules
37.07: Further reading
38: (Case Study) The interplay of carbon and oxygen cycles in Earth history
38.01: Photosynthesis and respiration
38.02: Carbon burial
38.03: Impacts on the cryosphere and biosphere
38.04: Isotopes
38.05: Fossil fuels
38.06: Anthropogenic climate change
38.07: Further reading
39: (Case Study) Quaternary Quandaries - defining the geologic now and explorations of the Anthropocene
39.01: A Quaternary Quandary
39.02: The Anthropocene
39.03: Concluding Thoughts
39.04: Further Reading
40: (Case Study) Human Evolution
40.01: Humans as a species
40.02: Paleoanthropology
40.03: Highlights of our family tree - Australopithecina and Homo
40.04: Further Reading
41: (Case Study) Big Bang (coming soon)
42: (Case Study) Crust formation and evolution and differentiation (coming soon)
43: (Case Study) Moon forming impact (coming soon)
44: (Case Study) Ocean formation and evolution (coming soon)
45: (Case Study) Atmosphere formation and evolution oxygenation (coming soon)
46: (Case Study) Origin of life (coming soon)
47: (Case Study) A history of fossil plants (coming soon)
48: (Case Study) Sauk early Paleozoic transgression (coming soon)
49: (Case Study) The Acadian Orogeny (coming soon)
50: (Case Study) The Alleghanian Orogeny (coming soon)
51: (Case Study) Large igneous provinces Flood basalts (coming soon)
52: (Case Study) Pleistocene Ice Ages (coming soon)
53: (Case Study) Epicontinental seas - Pz Mz Cz (coming soon)
54: (Case Study) Carboniferous coal and natural gas - cyclothems (coming soon)
55: (Case Study) PETM (coming soon)
56: (Tools of the Trade) Earth Materials - Mineral identification
56.01: Mineral Properties and Identification
57: (Tools of the Trade) Evolution Part II - Paleontological applications
57.01: Changing Perspectives on Fossils - Evolutions Silent Sentinels
57.02: Mass Extinctions of The Past and Possible Causes
57.03: The Fossil Record - Making Sense of Evolutions Past
57.04: Further Reading
58: (Tools of the Trade) Sequence stratigraphy
58.01: An Introduction to Sequence Stratigraphy
59: (Tools of the Trade) Geologic structures
59.01: Tectonic Movement
59.02: Types of Stress
59.03: Deformation - folding
59.04: Deformation - Faults
60: (Tools of the Trade) Geologic maps
60.01: Introduction
60.02: History of geologic maps
60.03: Elements of a geologic map
60.04: Orientation of structures
60.05: Folds and faults
60.06: The map's explanation
60.07: Examples to help train your eye
60.08: Practice
60.09: Conclusion
61: (Tools of the Trade) Way-up structures
61.01: Introduction
61.02: Sedimentary way-up structures
61.03: Igneous way-up structures
61.04: Conclusion
62: Virtual Field Experiences (VFEs)
62.01: Fossil correlation
62.02: Fossil identification and use in correlation part 2
62.03: Glaciers glaciated landscapes and glacial sediments
62.04: Glacier National Park Montana
62.05: Glacier National Park Montana - Stratigraphy
62.06: Glacier National Park Montana - Structural Geology
62.07: Glacier National Park Montana - Glacial geomorphology
62.08: Glacier National Park Montana - Quiz
62.09: The Geodetic Hills Fossil Forests - Unraveling a Paleoclimate Puzzle
62.10: Massanutten Synclinorium Virginia
62.11: The Moho (crust mantle boundary)
62.12: A Plate Boundary Odyssey
62.13: Siccar Point Scotland
62.14: Wind River Canyon Wyoming
62.15: Stromatolite diversity in the Belcher Islands
62.16: Modern and ancient microbialites in Western Australia
62.17: Corridor H West Virginia
63: Visual Sample Sets (VSSs)
63.01: Minerals
63.02: 3D mineral samples set 1
63.03: Igneous rocks
63.04: Igneous supplementary set
63.05: Sedimentary rocks
63.06: Metamorphic rocks
63.07: 3D rock samples set 1
63.08: Primary sedimentary structures
63.09: 63.9 Sediment samples
63.10: 63.10 Relative dating
63.11: 63.11 Relative dating collection 1
63.12: Relative dating collection 2
63.13: Relative dating collection 3
63.14: Relative dating collection 4
63.15: Tectonic structures
63.16: Fossils (coming soon)