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

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Figure 5.27: A landfill site in Hawaii, USA. <strong>The</strong> base of the old quarry and the slopingsides have been covered with a black plastic landfill liner (membrane) to ensure that fluidsdon’t leak into the surrounding rock; this is then covered by gravel for protection.Since clay is impermeable, abandoned brick pits are important waste disposal sites. Ifquarries in permeable rocks have to be used, then an impermeable plastic landfill membraneis laid across the floor and walls of the site, to contain the fluids produced (Figure5.27). Boreholes are drilled nearby so that the groundwater can be monitored for pollution.<strong>The</strong>se are expensive methods and so permeable sites are only used when impermeableoptions are not available.Even more care has to be taken with the disposal of hazardous waste. Some is carefullyincinerated whilst other types are chemically treated or mixed with cement and buriedin highly impermeable sites. <strong>The</strong>re is still much debate over the disposal of radioactivewaste. Low level radioactive wastes are currently being used as landfill in very carefullychosen and controlled sites. Currently, high level radioactive wastes are being turned intoa form of glass and stored under water, while scientists in most waste-producing countriessearch for solutions to their long term disposal.Since the disposal of waste can produce unpleasant by-products as <strong>we</strong>ll as affecting thelocal environment, it is not surprising that there are often local news reports on wastedisposal plans. Ho<strong>we</strong>ver, the enormous volumes of waste that humans produce, particularlyin more developed countries, have to be disposed of safely somewhere, and soenvironmental debates on waste disposal are likely to continue for ever.135
Chapter 6Understanding what geologists do:how geologists use investigationalskills in their work today6.1 What geologists doIf you <strong>we</strong>re employed as a geologist, what wouldyou do? <strong>The</strong> ans<strong>we</strong>r would probably depend onwhere you <strong>live</strong>. In developing countries, most geologistsare employed in prospecting for and extractingraw materials. <strong>The</strong>se include fuels such as oil, gasand coal, the materials needed for construction andindustry (provided by mining and quarrying), andgroundwater supplies. In more developed countries,the balance is different, and most geologists are employedin environmental protection, helping to clearup environments damaged by the extraction of rawmaterials in the past, while ensuring that extractionand waste disposal today minimise environmentaldamage; environmental geologists also contribute tothe climate change debate. Meanwhile, geologistsare widely employed in geotechnical work, ensuringbuildings have proper foundations and roads andrailways are safely-built.Many countries also have their own governmentrunGeological Surveys, employing geologists tobuild up national databases of geological informationand providing expertise to industries involved Figure 6.1: Geologists at work, examiningcores from a borehole.in geologically-related activity. Geological Surveysacross the world provide maps, geological publications and other data to inform govern-136
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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
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Figure 3.7: The st
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Figure 3.10: The r
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Figure 3.13: The m
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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 and 144: Another ‘missing link’ find has
Page 145 and 146: Figure 5.22: A dinosaur reconstruct
Page 147 and 148: Figure 5.25: A working aggregate-pr
Page 149: Figure 5.26: The E
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,
Page 195 and 196: Figure 5.21 Excavations at the dino
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