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STRATIGRAPHY & GEOLOGIC TIME Sedimentation in
lake or sea
• Stratigraphy:
– Study of the layers of sedimentary rocks
• Unconformities
• Correlation
• Geologic Time
Scale
Stratigraphic Principal of Original
Horizontality
• Sedimentary layers are originally deposited as TIME 1
Beneath the sea,, D
horizontal beds
horizontal beds. C
sediments
accumulated in beds. B
A
• Folded or tilted beds indicates something
happened to them later
Stratigraphic Principal of Principle of Superposition
Superposition
• Sedimentary layers at the bottom of a sequence of Younger
beds are OLDER than the ones on top
Older
• If older beds are on top, then the sequence has been
turned upside down
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Stratigraphic Principal of
Cross-Cutting Relations
Unconformity= surface of
non‐deposition or erosion
Angular Unconformity
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Angular unconformity
• Unconformity where beds below are at an angle to beds
above
Nonconformity
• Unconformity where
beds overlie
metamorphic or
igneous rocks
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Angular unconformity
• Unconformity where beds below are at an angle to beds
above
TIME 2
TIME 1 Tectonic forces D
Beneath the sea, caused uplift,
sediments D C
C
exposing the beds
accumulated in beds. B
to erosion.
B A
A
Uplift
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TIME 3 C
Erosion stripped B TIME 4
away bed D and Subsidence E
A
part of C. allowed a new C
layer, E, to be B
deposited. A
Subsidence
Unconformity
TIME 1
Beneath the sea,
sediments
accumulated in beds.
10 cm
TIME 3
Compression Erosion stripped away
the tops of the folded
TIME 2 layers, leaving
Tectonic forces caused portions of several
uplift, folding, and layers exposed.
deformation.
Uplift
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TIME 4
Subsidence
allowed new
sediments to be
deposited.
Angular
unconformity
Subsidence
1. Deposition
p of red 1. Deposition
p of
siltstone sediment sediment
2. Lithification of 2. Compaction/cement
sediments = sedimentary rock
3. 3. Folding (syncline)
4. 4. Erosion -angular
5. unconformity
5. Deposition of
sediment on top
Stratigraphic Principal of
Faunal Succession
• Fossil species appear and disappear in a
definite sequence through time
definite sequence through time.
• This sequence can be used to CORRELATE beds
Plants grow on this
surface
in one area to another area.
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I I
II II
II II
III III
I I
II II
II II
III III
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I I
II II
Younger rocks
II
III
Older rocks
The Age of the Earth
4,560,000,000 years
or 4.6 billion years
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Geologic Time Scale LIFE ON EARTH
• Precambrian (4.6 Ga to 540 Ma)
3.5 billion year old bacteria
• Paleozoic (540 Ma to 250 Ma)
• Mesozoic (250‐65 Ma)
Mesozoic (250 65 Ma) a d a gae
and algae
– Triassic
– Jurassic
– Cretaceous
• Cenozoic (65 Ma to the present)
Paleozoic Era Trilobites‐Paleozoic arthropods
Cambrian explosion of life:
540 million years ago
another Trilobite Crinoids
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Dimetrodon‐ Permian reptile
First land
animals:
365 Ma
End of the Paleozoic End of the Paleozoic
Mesozoic Era‐Ammonites Mesozoic Era‐Ammonites
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Mesozoic Era‐Triceratops
Mesozoic Era
Cretaceous Period
Tyrannosaurus
Rex
End of the Mesozoic
Major
j extinction event:
85% of all species died.
Cenozoic‐Mammoth
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End of the Cenozoic?
Supervolcano eruption
Supernova
Meteorite impact
p
Nuclear war
Epidemic
Global warming...
Cenozoic‐Sabre tooth tiger
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