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A LAND BEFORE

TIME
Chapter 3
TUBBATAHA REEFS NATURAL PARK
The Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is a protected area in the Sulu Sea,
Philippines, which covers 130 028 hectares. It is unique example of an
atoll reef with at very high density of marine species. It is home to a
great diversity of marine species, which include whales, dolphins,
sharks, turtles, and Napoleon wrasse. The reef ecosystems support over
350 coral species, 11 shark and whale species, and almost 500 fish
species. The natural reserve also protects one of the few remaining
colonies of breeding seabirds in the region.
In 1988, under Proclamation No. 306 and under Presidential Decree No.
705 or the Forestry Reform Code, the Tubbataha Reefs was inscribed on
the World Heritage List in 1993.
In the past, corals were used in constructing buildings and houses.
LESSON 3.1
One guiding principle in the study of Earth history is
uniformitarianism. It states that the present is the key to
the past, which is based on the principle that natural
laws have remained the same throughout time.
Therefore, it could be said that the same natural laws
that impact the Earth today had the same impact
millions of years ago.
Using the idea of uniformitarianism as an overarching
principle of the history of Earth, it can be deduced that
the order of geologic events that created landforms such
as mountains or plateaus. This order of events can be
shown using cross-sections of landform showing the
layers which form it.
Relative dating is used to determine whether an object
or event is older or younger that other objects or
events.
Sedimentary rocks are useful in relative dating
because:
They are formed from fragments of other types of rocks.
New sedimentary rock layers are almost always flat.
Fossils are deposited in the sedimentary layers of rocks.
To deduce the geologic history of Earth,
there are certain ideas or laws that need
to be considered. The first idea is the law
of original horizontality. This means
that sedimentary rocks are originally
formed in horizontal layers. This can be
seen in any river or lake where sediment
will settle to the bottom in layers. Hence,
if the layers of rock are inclined or tilted at
an angle, the event that caused them to
shift happened after they are deposited.
Horizontality occurs in an area of land
that is forced to bend, usually from forces
inside the Earth pushing on them.
The second key idea is the
law of superposition. It
states that in any
undisturbed sequence of
layers of rock, the oldest
layer would be at the
bottom, and the youngest
would be at the top.
The third key idea is the
principle of crosscutting
relations. This idea states
that any rock or fault that
cuts across other rocks is
younger than those it cuts
across. When layers of rocks
are cut by another event,
maybe a lava flow, the
original rock layers are older
and the intrusion is younger.
The fourth key idea is the idea of unconformities.
Unconformities are surfaces of erosion that separate
younger rocks from older ones.
TYPES OF UNCONFORMITIES:
Absolute dating is the method of measuring the
absolute age of an event or object.
To determine the ages of rock and fossils, scientists
analyze isotopes of radioactive elements.
Isotopes are atoms of the same element that have
similar number of protons but different numbers of
neutrons.
Most isotopes are stable in that they stay in their
original form. Other isotopes are unstable, in that they
break down into stable isotopes or other elements. They
are called radioactive.
When radioactive isotopes break
down in stable ones, heat is energy
is released.
Since radioactive decay occurs at a steady rate,
we can use the relative amounts of stable and
unstable isotopes present in an object to
determine age.
In radioactive decay, an unstable radioactive
isotope breaks down into a stable isotope. The
unstable radioactive isotope is called the parent
isotope while the stable isotope produced by the
radioactive decay of the parent isotope is called
the daughter isotope.
HALF-LIFE OF COMMON ISOTOPES

Parent Isotope Half-Life Stable


Daughter
Uranium-235 704 million years Lead-207
Potassium-40 1.25 billion years Argon-40
Uranium-238 4.5 billion years Lead-206
Thorium-232 14.0 billion years Lead-208
Lutetium-176 35.9 billion years Hafnium-176
Rubidium-87 48.8 billion years Strontium-87
Samarium-147 106 billion years Neodymium-143
The rate of radioactive decay is constant, that is
why comparing the amount of parent material
with the amount of daughter material is
important in dating rocks. Therefore, the more
daughter there is, the older the rock.
Half-life is the time needed for half of a sample
of a radioactive substance to undergo radioactive
decay. After every half-life, the amount of parent
material decreases by one-half.
Radiometric dating is another dating achieved by
determining the absolute age of a sample based on the
ratio of parent to daughter material. Therefore, knowing
the rate of decay for any radioactive element could help
in figuring out the absolute age of the rock.
There are four radiometric-dating methods based
on the estimated age of an object: potassium-
argon, uranium-led, rubidium-strontium, and
carbon-14 methods.
The potassium-argon method uses potassium-
40, which has a half-life of 1.3 billion years
(gigaannum or Ga) and as it decays, it leaves its
daughter material, argon. This method is used
mainly to date rocks, which are older than 100
000 years.
The uranium-lead method uses uranium-28,
which has a half-life of 4.5 Ga. Uranimum-238
decays in a series of steps, which ultimately
becomes lead-206. the uranium-lead method can
be used to date rocks, which are more than 10
million years old.
The rubidium-strontium method uses
rubidium-87, which forms a stable daughter
isotope strontium-87. The half-life of rubidium-87
is 49 Ga. This method is used for rocks which are
older than 10 million years (megaannum or Ma).
The carbon-14 method uses the radioactive isotope
carbon-14, which has a half-life of 5730 years. Living
plants and animals contain a constant carbon-14 to
carbon-12 ratio. Once a plant or animal dies, no new
carbon is taken in. the amount of carbon-14 begins to
decrease as the plant or animal decays, which could
be compared to the amount of carbon-12. The
carbon-14 method or radiometric dating is used
mainly for dating things that lived within the last
50000 years.
THE PHLIPPINE DINOSAUR

Discovered in the Philippines on


August 2014.

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