The planet we live on: The beginnings of the Earth Sciences

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Figure 5.21: A dinosaur excavation.129
Figure 5.22: A dinosaur reconstruction showing how they might have <strong>live</strong>d.<strong>The</strong>re was more excitement a few years later when footprints of Australopithecus <strong>we</strong>refound in a bed of 3.6 million year old volcanic ash in Tanzania, Africa. Since igneousrocks like volcanic ash contain radioactive elements, <strong>we</strong> can date them quite preciselyusing radiometric techniques. <strong>The</strong> footprints are of three individual hominids, who hadwalked across the layer of ash in the same direction. <strong>The</strong>y show that the Australopithecineswalked upright (unlike chimpanzees) and computer simulations show that they<strong>we</strong>re walking along at about 3.5 kilometres per hour, strolling speed.Even though detailed evidence of hominid evolution like this is very rarely found, nowadaysgeoscientists have been able to build up a good picture of how humans have evolved.We can also use evidence from the DNA of modern primate groups to support the evolutionarystory and to build an even more complete picture of how Homo sapiens evolvedto be like <strong>we</strong> are today.<strong>The</strong> more <strong>we</strong> study the rocks of the Earth’s surface, the more fossil evidence <strong>we</strong> find oflife in the past and how it contributed to the evolving environments on Earth. As morefossils are found and reported in the media in the future, more detail will be added to thejigsaw picture of life on Earth.5.4 Planning, quarrying and landfill<strong>The</strong> most commonly reported geoscience-related issues in local newspapers and newsreports are usually about quarrying and landfill, and the planning related to them.130
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Basic Books in ScienceBook 6<strong
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BASIC BOOKS IN SCIENCE- a Series of
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BASIC BOOKS IN SCIENCE- a Series of
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Looking ahead - If you came across
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3.2 Plate tectonics (20th Century)
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1.30 Coal seams in an opencast coal
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3.4 Alfred Wegener, the polar explo
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5.14 A GPS remote volcano monitorin
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Figure 1.2:minerals.A sandstone roc
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Even diamond can have different col
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Figure 1.8: A red garnet crystal in
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Figure 1.12: Crystals of minerals i
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Hematite, Fe 2 O 3 - earthy red, me
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Figure 1.17: Sedimentary rocks show
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Figure 1.20: A close up view of a p
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Figure 1.26: Ancient wave ripple ma
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Figure 1.30: Coal seams in an openc
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Figure 1.32: Close up view of a pie
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Figure 1.35: A fossil colonial cora
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Figure 1.38: Fossil ammonites, indi
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Figure 1.39: ‘Massive’ igneous
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Figure 1.41: A close up view of a p
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Figure 1.44: A basalt flow that coo
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Figure 1.47: Deposit of volcanic as
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Figure 1.49: An old slate quarry, s
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Figure 1.51: Slate, a low-grade met
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Figure 1.53: Schist, a medium-grade
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Figure 1.56: Metaquartzite, produce
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Figure 1.58: A region of folded roc
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Figure 1.61: A normal fault. This s
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Figure 1.64: An unconformity. Older
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proper geological maps. Fossils hav
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Cephalopods are not extinct, but th
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Figure 1.68: A shelled cephalopod f
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You can try the rock sequencing pri
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Chapter 2Reading landscapes: how la
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Figure 2.3: Rock fragments loosened
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Figure 2.6: The jo
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Figure 2.10: The m
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are forming them. Similarly the sha
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Figure 2.19: This photo was taken f
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Figure 2.25: Dinosaur tracks conser
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• On coastal sections, whenever p
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found evidence that the Earth was a
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Figure 3.3: James Hutton, the ‘Fo
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Figure 3.5: A page of Wegener’s 1
Page 93 and 94: Figure 3.7: The st
Page 95 and 96: Figure 3.10: The r
Page 97 and 98: Figure 3.13: The m
Page 99 and 100: Figure 3.15: The S
Page 101 and 102: Figure 3.19: An ocean versus contin
Page 103 and 104: Figure 3.23: Map of the major tecto
Page 105 and 106: Figure 3.26: Global temperature cha
Page 107 and 108: Figure 3.29: A computer generated p
Page 109 and 110: Figure 3.31: The
Page 111 and 112: planet extended th
Page 113 and 114: Figure 4.1: William Smith’s geolo
Page 115 and 116: Millionsof yearsago (Ma)01000Some M
Page 117 and 118: ocks whilst the first definite plan
Page 119 and 120: Figure 4.9: The ch
Page 121 and 122: Figure 4.12: The 4
Page 123 and 124: Millionsof years Some Major Earth E
Page 125 and 126: Figure 5.2: Strike-slip movement (r
Page 127 and 128: Figure 5.4: The So
Page 129 and 130: Figure 5.6: An ash eruption rising
Page 131 and 132: Figure 5.10: A hazard zone map of t
Page 133 and 134: isk to humans. The
Page 135 and 136: Figure 5.14: A GPS (global satellit
Page 137 and 138: None of these methods has yet prove
Page 139 and 140: Figure 5.17: A windfarm in Ireland.
Page 141 and 142: Figure 5.19: A beautifully preserve
Page 143: Another ‘missing link’ find has
Page 147 and 148: Figure 5.25: A working aggregate-pr
Page 149 and 150: Figure 5.26: The E
Page 151 and 152: Chapter 6Understanding what geologi
Page 153 and 154: Figure 6.2: A drilling rig used for
Page 155 and 156: When an oil/gas field has been foun
Page 157 and 158: Figure 6.6: Groundwater flowing out
Page 159 and 160: Dam disaster in Italy, when the wav
Page 161 and 162: Figure 6.10: A slab foundation, bui
Page 163 and 164: An example of this is investigation
Page 165 and 166: GlossaryAbsolute age The</s
Page 167 and 168: Carbon capture The
Page 169 and 170: Crustal shortening This results of
Page 171 and 172: Evaporite deposits (or evaporites)
Page 173 and 174: Geophysical survey Using the method
Page 175 and 176: “Integrated waste management” <
Page 177 and 178: Metamorphism The r
Page 179 and 180: Pore spaces (or pores) Gaps bet<str
Page 181 and 182: Saltation Sediment movement by flui
Page 183 and 184: Suspension Sediment movement by flu
Page 185 and 186: AcknowledgementsPermission to repri
Page 187 and 188: Figure 2.3 A scree slope. Photo ID:
Page 189 and 190: Figure 1.15a Hematite.Figure 1.15b
Page 191 and 192: Figure 1.28 Dune cross bedding in s
Page 193 and 194: Figure 3.18 An island arc volcano,
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Figure 5.21 Excavations at the dino
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