MAKALAH

GEOLOGI SEJARAH
Diajukan untuk memenuhi tugas ujian akhir semester mata kuliah Geologi Sejarah

DISUSUN OLEH :
HASBI FIKRU SYABI
270110140101
E

FAKULTAS TEKNIK GEOLOGI

UNIVERSITAS PADJADJARAN
TAHUN AJARAN 2015/2016

CONTENTS 1
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
A. Time..

B. Geologic Event Record.

A. Fundamental Principles of Gelogy.

B. Unconformity..

5
9

CHAPTER II GEOLOGICAL TIME

A.
B.
C.
D.

Earths Age..
Radiometric Dating..
Geological Time Scale.
Catatrophism and Uniformitarianism ...

13
15
18
20

CHAPTER III PALEONTOLOGY

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
H.
I.
J.

Fossils
Invertebrates Fossils.
Fossil Preservation
Fossil and Evolution
The Law of Faunal Succession..
Natural Selection..
Evolution..
Darwins Laws..
Dinosaurs Extinction...
KT-Boundary.

23
24
25
26
28
29
31
32
33
35

CHAPTER IV PLATE TECTONIC AND GEOSINCLIN

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.

Geosyncline Theory Development..

Plate Tectonic Theory Development
Plate Movement.
Basin and Plate Tetonic
Mid Oceanic Ridge
Seismic Zone..

39
40
42
45
49
51

CHAPTER V THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

The Origin of The Universe..

The Solar System..
Earth Crust Composition..
Geosyncline...
Plate Tectonic

52
53
59
60
62
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F. Plume Theory
G. Big Bang Theory

64
66

CHAPTER VI PRECAMBRIAN
A. General Information..
B. Division Precambrian
C. Evidence and Fossil Record in Cambrian...
CHAPTER VII PALEOZOIC
A. Cambrian
B. Ordovician.
C. Silurian
D. Devonian
E. Carboniferous
F. Permian..

75
76
80
82
85
89
93
96
99

CHAPTER VIII
Mesozoic
A. Triassic......
B. Jurassic..
C. Cretaceous.............................................

102
106
107

CHAPTER IX CENOZOIC (TERSIER)

A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.

Definition.
Division...
Tektonic and Paleoclimate.....
Biota Evolution
Hominoid Development in Cenozoic
Quarter Human Development

111
112
116
117
119
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
A. TIME
Time is a measure in which events can be ordered from the past through the
present into the future, and also the measure of durations of events and the intervals
between them. Time is often referred to as the fourth dimension, along with the three
spatial dimensions.
Two contrasting viewpoints on time divide many prominent philosophers.
One view is that time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe a dimension
independent of events, in which events occur in sequence. Sir Isaac Newton
subscribed to this realist view, and hence it is sometimes referred to as Newtonian
time. The opposing view is that time does not refer to any kind of "container" that
events and objects "move through", nor to any entity that "flows", but that it is instead
part of a fundamental intellectual structure (together with space and number) within
which humans sequence and compare events. This second view, in the tradition of
Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant, holds that time is neither an event nor a thing,
and thus is not itself measurable nor can it be travelled.
Time is one of the seven fundamental physical quantities in both the
International System of Units and International System of Quantities. Time is used to
define other quantities such as velocity so defining time in terms of such quantities
would result in circularity of definition. An operational definition of time, wherein
one says that observing a certain number of repetitions of one or another standard
cyclical event (such as the passage of a free-swinging pendulum) constitutes one
standard unit such as the second, is highly useful in the conduct of both advanced
experiments and everyday affairs of life. The operational definition leaves aside the
question whether there is something called time, apart from the counting activity just
mentioned, that flows and that can be measured. Investigations of a single continuum
called spacetime bring questions about space into questions about time, questions that
have their roots in the works of early students of natural philosophy.
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B. GEOLOGIC EVENT RECORD

The geologic record event in stratigraphy, paleontology and other natural
sciences refers to the entirety of the layers of rock strata deposits laid down by
volcanism or by deposition of sediment derived from weathering detritus (clays,
sands etc.) including all its fossil content and the information it yields about the
history of the Earth: its past climate, geography, geology and the evolution of life on
its surface. According to the law of superposition, sedimentary and volcanic rock
layers are deposited on top of each other. They harden over time to become a
solidified (competent) rock column, that may be intruded by igneous rocks and
disrupted by tectonic events.
Most of what we know about our planet's history is based on studies of the
stratigraphic recordrock layers and fossil remains embedded in them. These rock
records can provide insights into questions such as how geological formations were
created and exposed, what role was played by living organisms, and how the
compositions of oceans and the atmosphere have changed through geologic time.
Scientists use stratigraphic records to determine two kinds of time scales.
Relative time refers to sequenceswhether one incident occurred before, after, or at
the same time as another. The geologic time scale shown in Figure 4 reads upwards
because it is based on observations from sedimentary rocks, which accrete from the
bottom up (wind and water lay down sediments, which are then compacted and
buried). However, the sedimentary record is discontinuous and incomplete because
plate tectonics are constantly reshaping Earth's crust. As the large plates on our
planet's surface move about, they split apart at some points and collide or grind
horizontally past each other at others. These movements leave physical marks:
volcanic rocks intrude upward into sediment beds, plate collisions cause folding and
faulting, and erosion cuts the tops off of formations thrust up to the surface.
Our understanding of Earth's history and the emergence of life draws on other
scientific fields along with geology and paleontology. Biologists trace genealogical
relationships among organisms and the expansion of biological diversity. And climate
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scientists analyze changes in Earth's atmosphere, temperature patterns, and

geochemical cycles to determine why events such as ice ages and rapid warming
events occurred. All of these perspectives are relevant because, as we will see in the
following sections, organisms and the physical environment on Earth have developed
together and influenced each other's evolution in many ways.
C. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF GELOGY
Traditional Stratigraphic Laws are basic principles that use in deciphering the
spatial and temporal relationships of rock layers. These laws were developed in the
17th to 19th centuries based upon the work of Nicolas Steno, James Hutton and
William Smith, among others. Stratigraphic laws include the following:
1. The Principle of Superposition

Fig. 1. Bedding are superposotion

In undisturbed strata, the oldest layer lies at the bottom and the
youngest layer lies at the top.
Steno (1669) states that : "At the time when any given stratum was
being formed, all the matter resting upon it was fluid, and, therefore, at the
time when the lower stratum was being formed, none of the upper strata
existed."
Law of superposition explained that in a layering of rock, most under
the age of rocks is always older than the rocks above. This happens because
the most rock bottom sediment first, and then formed into the stone, followed
by a layer thereon.
In fact the field, this law does not explain how if a rock has
experienced very strong folds, or experiencing a reversal.

After a rock
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experienced a reversal, it would violate the concept of superposition because

the upper age of rocks older than the rock beneath it. If this happens then we
can conclude that the law of superposition applies only to rocks that have not
been deformed.
2. The Principle of Horizontaliy

Fig. 2. Horizontality
Horizontality is a law that states all sedimentary rocks are originally
deposited horizontally. Sedimentary rocks that are no longer horizontal have
been tilted from their original position.
This law was developed by Steno (1669), he states that :
"Strata either perpendicular to the horizon or inclined to the horizon
were at one time parallel to the horizon." Steno, 1669.
In most situations where sedimentary layers are deposited ( for
example, on the floor of the ocean or a lake or on the floodplaom of a stream),
the layers are horizontal or close to horizontal. This observation is expressed
as the law of original horizontality.
Steno reasoned that strongly tilted rocks did not start that way, but
were affected by later events, either upheaval by volcanic disturbances or
collapse from beneath by cave-ins.

3. The Principle of Original Continuity

Fig. 3. Original Continuity

Horizontal strata extend laterally until the thin to zero thickness (pinch
out) at the edge of their basin of deposition.
This law was developed by Steno (1669), he states that : "Material
forming any stratum were continuous over the surface of the Earth unless
some other solid bodies stood in the way." Steno, 1669.
The law of original continuity explained that on a rock layering, layers
are continuously sustained even if the parts of the layer has been eroded or
experiencing tectonic intrusion or experience. This bedding sustained not only
in the scale of a few meters, but sustained until the end of the basin boundary.
4. Srata Identified by Fossil (William "Strata" Smith, 1816)

Fig. 4. Strata Identified by Fossil

This law explains that, in each layering of rock would contain the
fossils themselves and will vary with other bedding. this is because of the time

difference deposition, which may have occurred several extinction of a

species.
5. The Principle of Cross-cutting Relationships

Fig. 5. Cross-cutting Relationship

This law was developed by Charle Lyell (1797-1875), he states that :
"If a body or discontinuity cuts across a stratum, it must have formed
after that stratum." Charle Lyell (1797-1875)
An event that cuts across existing rock is younger that that disturbed
rock.
This principle is essential in studying all kinds of rocks, not just
sedimentary ones. With it we can untangle intricate sequences of geologic
events such as faulting, folding, deformation, and emplacement of dikes and
veins.
This law of explains that the case of cutting either in the form of
intrusion or other, these rocks cut will always be older than the rocks are cut
off. this happens because if a rock intruded by other rocks, the rocks are
definitive formed first, otherwise it can not be a rock that intruded.

D. UNCONFORMITY
Concept unconformity first proposed by James Hutton (1785), in his ideas
about the geological cycle (gelogical cycles). Unconformity is uncontinue vertically
evidence of sedimentation, caused by tectonic symptoms (such as: folding,
kemudiann followed by removal / orogenesa) or symptoms of tectonic lifting and tilt
or solely appointment only / epirogenesa.)
The term unconformity later develop into various types, such as:
1. Angular Unconformity

Fig. 6. Angular Unconformity

An angular unconformity is a type of unconformity in which younger
sediments rest upon the eroded surface of tilted or folded older rocks, that is
the older rocks dip at a different, commonly steeper, angle than do the
younger rocks. The unconformity surface may be essentially planar or
markedly irregular. Angular unconformities may be confined to limited
geographic areas (local unconformities). By or may extend for tens or even
hundreds of kilometers (regional unconfo ties). Some angular unconformities
are visible in a single outcrop. By contras, regional unconformities between
stratigraphic units of very low dip may not be apparent in a single outcrop and
may require detailed mapping area before they can be identified.

2. Disconformity

Fig. 7. Disconformity
Disconformity An unconformity surface above and below which the
bedding planes are essen-tially parallel and in which the contact between
younger and older beds is marked by a visible, irregular or uneven erosional
surface is a disconformity Disconformities are most easily recognized by this
erosional surface, which may be channeled and which may have relief ranging
to tens of meters. Disconformity surfaces, as well as angular unconformity
surfaces, may be marked also by "fossil" soil zones (paleosols) or may include
lag-gravel deposits that lie immediately above the unconformable surface and
that contain pebbles of the same lithology as the lithology of the underlying
unit. Disconformities are presumed to form as a result of a significant period
of erosion throughout which older rocks remained essentially horizontal
during nearly vertical uplift and sub-sequent downwarping.
3. Paraconformity

Fig. 8. Paraconformity
Paraconformity A paraconformity is an obscure unconformity
characterized by beds above and below the unconformity contact that are
parallel and in which no erosional surface or other physical evidence of

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unconformity is discernible. The uncon-formity contact may even appear to be

a simple bedding plane. Paraconformities are not easily recognized and must
be identified on the basis of a gap in the rock record (because of
nondeposition or erosion) as determined from paleontologic evidence such as
absence of faunal zones or abrupt faunal changes; In other words, rocks of a
particular age are missing, as determined by fossils or other evidence.
4. Nonconformity

Fig. 9. Nonconformity
An unconformity developed between sedimentary rock and older
igneous or massive metamorphic rock that has been exposed to erosion prior
to being covered by sediments is a nonconformity. Nonconformity surfaces
probably represent an ectemded period od erosion.

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CHAPTER II
GEOLOGICAL TIME
A. EARTHS AGE
The age of our Earth is about 4.54 billion years. This dating is based on
evidence from radiometric age dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the
radiometric ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples.
Ancient rocks exceeding 3.5 billion years in age are found on all of
Earth's continents. The oldest rocks on Earth found so far are the Acasta Gneisses in
northwestern Canada near Great Slave Lake (4.03 Ga) and the Isua Supracrustal rocks
in West Greenland (3.7 to 3.8 Ga), but well-studied rocks nearly as old are also found
in the Minnesota River Valley and northern Michigan (3.5-3.7 billion years), in
Swaziland (3.4-3.5 billion years), and in Western Australia (3.4-3.6 billion years).
These ancient rocks have been dated by a number of radiometric dating methods and
the consistency of the results give scientists confidence that the ages are correct to
within a few percent. An interesting feature of these ancient rocks is that they are not
from any sort of "primordial crust" but are lava flows and sediments deposited in
shallow water, an indication that Earth history began well before these rocks were
deposited. In Western Australia, single zircon crystals found in younger sedimentary
rocks have radiometric ages of as much as 4.3 billion years, making these tiny
crystals the oldest materials to be found on Earth so far. The source rocks for these
zircon crystals have not yet been found.
The ages measured for Earth's oldest rocks and oldest crystals show that
the Earth is at least 4.3 billion years in age but do not reveal the exact age of Earth's
formation. The best age for the Earth (4.54 Ga) is based on old, presumed singlestage leads coupled with the Pb ratios in troilite from iron meteorites, specifically the
Canyon Diablo meteorite. In addition, mineral grains (zircon) with U-Pb ages of 4.4
Ga have recently been reported from sedimentary rocks in west-central Australia. The
Moon is a more primitive planet than Earth because it has not been disturbed by plate
tectonics; thus, some of its more ancient rocks are more plentiful. Only a small
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number of rocks were returned to Earth by the six Apollo and three Luna missions.
These rocks vary greatly in age, a reflection of their different ages of formation and
their subsequent histories. The oldest dated moon rocks, however, have ages between
4.4 and 4.5 billion years and provide a minimum age for the formation of our nearest
planetary neighbor. Thousands of meteorites, which are fragments of asteroids that
fall to Earth, have been recovered. These primitive objects provide the best ages for
the time of formation of the Solar System. There are more than 70 meteorites, of
different types, whose ages have been measured using radiometric dating techniques.
The results show that the meteorites, and therefore the Solar System, formed between
4.53 and 4.58 billion years ago.
The best age for the Earth comes not from dating individual rocks but by
considering the Earth and meteorites as part of the same evolving system in which the
isotopic composition of lead, specifically the ratio of lead-207 to lead-206 changes
over time owing to the decay of radioactive uranium-235 and uranium-238,
respectively. Scientists have used this approach to determine the time required for the
isotopes in the Earth's oldest lead ores, of which there are only a few, to evolve from
its primordial composition, as measured in uranium-free phases of iron meteorites, to
its compositions at the time these lead ores separated from their mantle reservoirs.
These calculations result in an age for the Earth and meteorites, and hence the Solar
System, of 4.54 billion years with an uncertainty of less than 1 percent. To be precise,
this age represents the last time that lead isotopes were homogeneous througout the
inner Solar System and the time that lead and uranium was incorporated into the solid
bodies of the Solar System. The age of 4.54 billion years found for the Solar System
and Earth is consistent with current calculations of 11 to 13 billion years for the age
of the Milky Way Galaxy (based on the stage of evolution of globular cluster stars)
and the age of 10 to 15 billion years for the age of the Universe (based on the
recession of distant galaxies).

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B. RADIOMETRIC DATING
Radiometric dating (often called radioactive dating) is a technique used to
date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were
selectively incorporated when they formed. The method compares the abundance of a
naturally occurring radioactive isotope within the material and the abundance of its
decay products, which form at a known constant rate of decay. The use of radiometric
dating was first published in 1907 by Bertram Boltwood and is now the principal
source of information about the absolute age of rocks and other geological features,
including the age of the Earth itself, and can be used to date a wide range of natural
and man-made materials.
Together with stratigraphic principles, radiometric dating methods are
used in geochronology to establish the geological time scale. Among the best-known
techniques are radiocarbon dating, potassium-argon dating and uranium-lead dating.
By allowing the establishment of geological timescales, it provides a significant
source of information about the ages of fossils and the deduced rates of evolutionary
change. Radiometric dating is also used to date archaeological materials, including
ancient artifacts.
Different methods of radiometric dating vary in the timescale over which
they are accurate and the materials to which they can be applied. That is :

Uranium-lead dating method

The uranium-lead radiometric dating scheme has been refined to the point
that the error margin in dates of rocks can be as low as less than two million
years in two-and-a-half billion years. An error margin of 25% has been
achieved on younger Mesozoic rocks.
Uranium-lead dating is often performed on the mineral zircon (ZrSiO4),
though it can be used on other materials, such as baddeleyite. Zircon and
baddeleyite incorporate uranium atoms into their crystalline structure as
substitutes for zirconium, but strongly reject lead. Zircon has a very high
closure temperature, is resistant to mechanical weathering and is very

14

chemically inert. Zircon also forms multiple crystal layers during

metamorphic events, which each may record an isotopic age of the event. In
situ micro-beam analysis can be achieved via laser ICP-MS or SIMS
techniques.
One of its great advantages is that any sample provides two clocks, one
based on uranium-235's decay to lead-207 with a half-life of about 700
million years, and one based on uranium-238's decay to lead-206 with a halflife of about 4.5 billion years, providing a built-in crosscheck that allows
accurate determination of the age of the sample even if some of the lead has
been lost. This can be seen in the concordia diagram, where the samples plot
along an errorchron (straight line) which intersects the concordia curve at the

age of the sample.

Potassium-argon dating method
This involves electron capture or positron decay of potassium-40 to argon40. Potassium-40 has a half-life of 1.3 billion years, and so this method is
applicable to the oldest rocks. Radioactive potassium-40 is common in micas,
feldspars, and hornblendes, though the closure temperature is fairly low in

these materials, about 350 C (mica) to 500 C (hornblende).

Uranium-thorium dating method
A relatively short-range dating technique is based on the decay of
uranium-234 into thorium-230, a substance with a half-life of about 80,000
years. It is accompanied by a sister process, in which uranium-235 decays into
protactinium-231, which has a half-life of 34,300 years.
While uranium is water-soluble, thorium and protactinium are not, and so
they are selectively precipitated into ocean-floor sediments, from which their
ratios are measured. The scheme has a range of several hundred thousand
years. A related method is ionium-thorium dating, which measures the ratio of

ionium (thorium-230) to thorium-232 in ocean sediment.

Radiocarbon dating method
Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon, with a half-life of 5,730
years, which is very short compared with the above isotopes. In other

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radiometric dating methods, the heavy parent isotopes were produced by

nucleosynthesis in supernovas, meaning that any parent isotope with a short
half-life should be extinct by now. Carbon-14, though, is continuously created
through collisions of neutrons generated by cosmic rays with nitrogen in the
upper atmosphere and thus remains at a near-constant level on Earth. The
carbon-14 ends up as a trace component in atmospheric carbon dioxide
(CO2).
An organism acquires carbon during its lifetime. Plants acquire it through
photosynthesis, and animals acquire it from consumption of plants and other
animals. When an organism dies, it ceases to take in new carbon-14, and the
existing isotope decays with a characteristic half-life (5730 years). The
proportion of carbon-14 left when the remains of the organism are examined
provides an indication of the time elapsed since its death. The carbon-14
dating limit lies around 58,000 to 62,000 years.
The rate of creation of carbon-14 appears to be roughly constant, as crosschecks of carbon-14 dating with other dating methods show it gives consistent
results. However, local eruptions of volcanoes or other events that give off
large amounts of carbon dioxide can reduce local concentrations of carbon-14
and give inaccurate dates. The releases of carbon dioxide into the biosphere as
a consequence of industrialization have also depressed the proportion of
carbon-14 by a few percent; conversely, the amount of carbon-14 was
increased by above-ground nuclear bomb tests that were conducted into the
early 1960s. Also, an increase in the solar wind or the Earth's magnetic field
above the current value would depress the amount of carbon-14 created in the
atmosphere. These effects are corrected for by the calibration of the
radiocarbon dating scale.
C. GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE

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The geological time scale (GTS) is a system of chronological

measurement that relates stratigraphy to time, and is used by geologists,
paleontologists, and other Earth scientists to describe the timing and relationships
between events that have occurred throughout Earths history. The table of geologic
time spans presented here agrees with the nomenclature, dates and standard color
codes set forth by the International Commission on Stratigraphy.
Evidence from radiometric dating indicates that Earth is about 4.54 billion
years old. The geology or deep time of Earths past has been organized into various
units according to events which took place in each period. Different spans of time on
the GTS are usually delimited by changes in the composition of strata which
correspond to them, indicating major geological or paleontological events, such as
mass extinctions. For example, the boundary between the Cretaceous period and the
Paleogene period is defined by the CretaceousPaleogene extinction event, which
marked the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs and many other groups of life. Older
time spans which predate the reliable fossil record (before the Proterozoic Eon) are
defined by the absolute age.
Geologists have divided Earth's history into a series of time intervals.
These time intervals are not equal in length like the hours in a day. Instead the time
intervals are variable in length. This is because geologic time is divided using
significant events in the history of the Earth.

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Fig. 10. Geological Time Scale

1. Eons
Eons are the largest intervals of geologic time and are hundreds of
millions of years in duration. In the time scale above you can see the
Phanerozoic Eon is the most recent eon and began more than 500 million
years ago.
2. Eras
Eons are divided into smaller time intervals known as eras. In the time
scale above you can see that the Phanerozoic is divided into three eras:
Cenozoic, Mesozoic and Paleozoic. Very significant events in Earth's history
are used to determine the boundaries of the eras.
3. Periods
Eras are subdivided into periods. The events that bound the periods are
wide-spread in their extent but are not as significant as those which bound the
eras. In the time scale above you can see that the Paleozoic is subdivided into

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the Permian, Pennsylvanian, Mississippian, Devonian, Silurian, Ordovician

and Cambrian periods.
4. Epochs
Finer subdivisions of time are possible and the periods of the Cenozoic
are frequently subdivided into epochs. Subdivision of periods into epochs can
be done only for the most recent portion of the geologic time scale. This is
because older rocks have been buried deeply, intensely deformed and severely
modified by long-term earth processes. As a result, the history contained
within these rocks can not be as clearly interpreted.
D. CATATROPHISM AND UNIFORMITARIANISM
1. The Theory of Catastrophism
Catastrophism is the theory that the Earth has been affected in the past
by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. This was
in contrast to uniformitarianism (sometimes described as gradualism), in
which slow incremental changes, such as erosion, created all the Earth's
geological features. Uniformitarianism held that the present is the key to the
past, and that all things continued as they were from the indefinite past. Since
the early disputes, a more inclusive and integrated view of geologic events has
developed, in which the scientific consensus accepts that there were some
catastrophic events in the geologic past, but these were explicable as extreme
examples of natural processes which can occur.
Catastrophism held that geological epochs had ended with violent and
sudden natural catastrophes such as great floods and the rapid formation of
major mountain chains. Plants and animals living in the parts of the world
where such events occurred were killed off, being replaced abruptly by the
new forms whose fossils defined the geological strata. Some catastrophists
attempted to relate at least one such change to the Biblical account of Noah's
flood.
The leading scientific proponent of catastrophism in the early
nineteenth century was the French anatomist and paleontologist Georges

19

Cuvier. His motivation was to explain the patterns of extinction and faunal
succession that he and others were observing in the fossil record. While he did
speculate that the catastrophe responsible for the most recent extinctions in
Eurasia might have been the result of the inundation of low-lying areas by the
sea, he did not make any reference to Noah's flood. Nor did he ever make any
reference to divine creation as the mechanism by which repopulation occurred
following the extinction event. In fact Cuvier, influenced by the ideas of the
Enlightenment and the intellectual climate of the French revolution, avoided
religious or metaphysical speculation in his scientific writings. Cuvier also
believed that the stratigraphic record indicated that there had been several of
these revolutions, which he viewed as recurring natural events, amid long
intervals of stability during the history of life on earth. This led him to believe
the Earth was several million years old.
2. The Theory of Uniformitarianism
Uniformitarianism is one of the most important unifying concepts in
the geosciences. This concept developed in the late 1700s, suggests that
catastrophic processes were not responsible for the landforms that existed on
the Earth's surface. This idea was diametrically opposed to the ideas of that
time period which were based on a biblical interpretation of the history of the
Earth. Instead, the theory of uniformitarianism suggested that the landscape
developed over long periods of time through a variety of slow geologic and
geomorphic processes.
The term uniformitarianism was first used in 1832 by William
Whewell, a University of Cambridge scholar, to present an alternative
explanation for the origin of the Earth. The prevailing view at that time was
that the Earth was created through supernatural means and had been affected
by a series of catastrophic events such as the biblical Flood. This theory is
called catastrophism.
The ideas behind uniformitarianism originated with the work of
Scottish geologist James Hutton. In 1785, Hutton presented at the meetings of
20

the Royal Society of Edinburgh that the Earth had a long history and that this
history could be interpreted in terms of processes currently observed. For
example, he suggested that deep soil profiles were formed by the weathering
of bedrock over thousands of years. He also suggested that supernatural
theories were not needed to explain the geologic history of the Earth.

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CHAPTER III
PALEONTOLOGY
A. FOSSILS
Fossils ") are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other
organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and
undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous rock formations and sedimentary
layers is known as the fossil record.
The study of fossils across geological time, how they were formed, and the
evolutionary relationships between taxa (phylogeny) are some of the most important
functions of the science of paleontology. Such a preserved specimen is called a
"fossil" if it is older than some minimum age, most often the arbitrary date of 10,000
years. Hence, fossils range in age from the youngest at the start of the Holocene
Epoch to the oldest, chemical fossils from the Archaean Eon, up to 3.48 billion years
old, or even older, 4.1 billion years old, according to a 2015 study. The observation
that certain fossils were associated with certain rock strata led early geologists to
recognize a geological timescale in the 19th century. The development of radiometric
dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed geologists to determine the
numerical or "absolute" age of the various strata and thereby the included fossils.
Like extant organisms, fossils vary in size from microscopic, even single
bacterial cells one micrometer in diameter, to gigantic, such as dinosaurs and trees
many meters long and weighing many tons. A fossil normally preserves only a
portion of the deceased organism, usually that portion that was partially mineralized
during life, such as the bones and teeth of vertebrates, or the chitinous or calcareous
exoskeletons of invertebrates. Fossils may also consist of the marks left behind by the
organism while it was alive, such as animal tracks or feces (coprolites). These types
of fossil are called trace fossils (or ichnofossils), as opposed to body fossils. Finally,
past life leaves some markers that cannot be seen but can be detected in the form of
biochemical signals; these are known as chemofossils or biosignatures.
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B. INVERTEBRATES FOSSILS
Invertebrates are the multicellular animals without backbone. There are
species of Crustaceans, Mollusca, Brachiopods, and etc. Invertebrates animals is live
in almost all environment from the terrestrial to deep water.
When it comes to the fossil record, soft-bodied and minuscule invertebrates
such as hydras, jellies, flatworms, hairworms, nematodes, ribbon worms, rotifers and
roundworms -- are infrequently fossilized. As a result, paleontologists and other fossil
hunters must often rely on trace fossils, microfossils, or chemofossil residue when
scouting for these prehistoric creatures.
Hard-bodied and large invertebrates are much-more commonly preserved;
typically as sizeable macrofossils. These invertebrates are more frequently preserved
because their hard partsfor example, shell, armor, plates, tests, exoskeleton, jaws or
teeth -- are composed of silica (silicon dioxide), calcite or aragonite (both forms of
calcium carbonate), chitin (a protein often infused with tricalcium phosphate), or
keratin (an even-more complex protein), rather than the vertebrate bone
(hydroxyapatite) or cartilage of fishes and land-dwelling tetrapods.
The chitinous jaws of annelids (such as the marine scolecodonts) are
sometimes preserved as fossils; while many arthropods and inarticulate brachiopods
have easily fossilized hard parts of calcite, chitin, or keratin. The most common and
often-found macrofossils are the very hard calcareous shells of articulate brachiopods
(that is, the everyday "lampshells") and of mollusks (such as the omnipresent clams,
snails, mussels and oysters). On the other hand, non-shelly slugs and non-tubiferous
worms (for instance, earthworms) have only occasionally been preserved due to their
lack of hard parts.

23

C. FOSSIL PRESERVATION
1. Unaltered remains
This does not mean the organism is unchanged, but that the original
material of the organism has not been changed to another substance. The
fossil may have lost water, or color, or the proteins of the soft tissue may
have degraded.
a. Unaltered

hard

and

soft

parts:

mummification,

freezing,

encasement in amber (fossilized tree sap). Very very rare, usually

only very young fossils.
b. Unaltered hard parts: teeth and very recent shells, bone or shell
encased in petroleum or in petroleum-containing sediments.
2. Altered remains
a. Permineralization: pore spaces within the fossil are filled with
mineral, usually silica. Petrified wood, bone.
b. Recrystallization: original mineral has recrystallized, either to
different crystal system (aragonite to calcite) or by crystals
growing. The original fine structure of the fossil is lost.
c. Replacement: original mineral has been dissolved away and
replaced by a different mineral. Usually the original mineral was
aragonite or calcite, and it has been replaced by silica (in oxidizing
and acidic conditions) or pyrite (in reducing conditions, in the
absence of oxygen). Under some conditions, replacement happens
on an atom-by-atom basis, and the fine structure of the fossil is
preserved in the new mineral. Recognizing replacement requires
that you first be able to recognize what mineral you are looking at,
and then that you know what the original skeletal material was.
See "Skeletal Materials" below.
d. Carbonization: the soft parts of the organism were compressed and
heated, driving off all the volatiles (H, N, O). A carbon film is left
behind. Most common in plants, soft-bodied organisms, organisms
with phosphate skeletons, organisms with chitin skeletons, and
sometimes fish (under the right environmental conditions).
24

3. Impressions
Sometimes an organism will leave an imprint in sediment. If that
imprint is either rapidly buried or left undisturbed during slow burial, it
can be lithified and become a fossil. We call shallow imprints impressions
(common for leaves and flat shells). Deeper imprints are called molds. If a
mold later fills with sediment or minerals, it will form a copy of the
original fossil called a cast.
4. Traces
Trace fossils are other kinds of evidence that an organism existed.
Trace fossils include tracks, trails and footprints; burrows and other
dwellings; tools; coprolites (fossilized excrement); and chemical fossils,
which is chemical evidence of the existence of an organism. One of the
most common but least useful kinds of trace fossils is bioturbation,
evidence that organisms have churned through sediment. Bioturbation is
recognized by the complete lack of sedimentary structures such as
laminations and cross-beds, or by chaotic structures within the sediment.
Unfortunately, it is usually impossible to tie bioturbation to any specific
organism.
D. FOSSIL AND EVOLUTION
Fossils provide a unique view into the history of life by showing the forms
and features of life in the past. Fossils tell us how species have changed across long
periods of the Earths history. For instance, in 1998, scientists found a fossil showing
an animal at the transition from sea creature to land creature. This tetrapod had a
hand-like fin, confirming a prediction of evolutionary biology. Though the fossil
record does not include every plant and animal that ever lived, it provides substantial
evidence for the common descent of life via evolution.

The fossil record is a

remarkable gift for the study of nature.

1. Evidence of Gradual Change
Organisms have changed significantly over time. In rocks more than 1
billion years old, only fossils of single-celled organisms are found.
25

Moving to rocks that are about 550 million years old, fossils of simple,
multicellular animals can be found. At 500 million years ago, ancient fish
without jawbones surface; and at 400 million years ago, fish with jaws are
found. Gradually, new animals appear: amphibians at 350 million years
ago, reptiles at 300 million years ago, mammals at 230 million years ago,
and birds at 150 million years ago.1 As the rocks become more and more
recent, the fossils look increasingly like the animals we observe today.
2. The Transition to Land: Sea Creatures to Land Animals
Fossils of land animals, or tetrapods, first appear in rocks that are
about 370 million years old. In older rocks, only sea creatures are found.
But in 1998, scientists found a fossilized fin, 370 million years old, with
eight digits similar to the five fingers humans have on their hands.
3. From Reptiles to Mammals
Mammals first appeared in the fossil record about 230 million years
ago, nearly 70 million years after reptiles first appeared. One group of
reptiles, the cynodonts, first appeared about 260 million years ago and
became increasingly mammal-like in more recent fossilscirca 245
million years ago.
Scientists found a species of cynodonts, dating to just before the
emergence of mammals, that had a double jaw hinge like that of a
mammal. A pair of bones found in even earlier cynodont fossils seems to
have transitioned slowly into the ear. No other fossils have been found that
share a similar structure to the transitional cynodonts and date back before
the time of mammals. Likewise, soon after mammals appeared, these
cynodonts became extinct. This timing implies that the cynodont fossils
record the transition from reptiles to mammals.
4. Transitional Forms: Few and Far Between
Transitional forms occur just when one might expect to see a change
from one body type to another. However, a common objection is that few
transitional fossils have been discovered; thus many lineages cannot be
traced smoothly.
26

There are several reason for these gaps in the fossil record. First,
fossilization is a very rare event. Plus, transitional species tend to appear
in small populations, where rapid changes in the environment can provide
a stronger evolutionary drive. Finally, because fossilization itself is a rare
event, smaller populations are sure to produce fewer fossils. The fact that
transitional species have been found at all is remarkable, and it offers
further support of gradual, evolutionary change.
E. THE LAW OF FAUNAL SUCCESSION

Fig. 11. Faunal Succession

The principle of faunal succession, also known as the law of faunal
succession, is based on the observation that sedimentary rock strata contain fossilized
flora and fauna, and that these fossils succeed each other vertically in a specific,
reliable order that can be identified over wide horizontal distances. A fossilized
Neanderthal bone will never be found in the same stratum as a fossilized
Megalosaurus, for example, because neanderthals and megalosaurs lived during
different geological periods, separated by many millions of years. This allows for
strata to be identified and dated by the fossils found within.
This principle, which received its name from the English geologist William
Smith, is of great importance in determining the relative age of rocks and strata. The

27

fossil content of rocks together with the law of superposition helps to determine the
time sequence in which sedimentary rocks were laid down.
Evolution explains the observed faunal and floral succession preserved in
rocks. Faunal succession was documented by Smith in England during the first
decade of the 19th century, and concurrently in France by Cuvier (with the assistance
of the mineralogist Alexandre Brongniart). Archaic biological features and organisms
are succeeded in the fossil record by more modern versions. For instance,
paleontologists investigating the evolution of birds predicted that feathers would first
be seen in primitive forms on flightless predecessor organisms such as feathered
dinosaurs. This is precisely what has been discovered in the fossil record: simple
feathers, incapable of supporting flight, are succeeded by increasingly large and
complex feathers.
F. NATURAL SELECTION
Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is a theory of evolution based on natural
selection theory, which was first proposed by Charles Darwin in his book "On the
Origin of Species" or "Origin of Species" published in 1859.
The theory of natural selection has the concept that a species that successfully
adapt well will survive, while that can not adapt will become extinct.
Darwins process of natural selection has four components, that is :

Variation.

Organisms (within populations) exhibit individual variation in

appearance and behavior. These variations may involve body size, hair color,
facial markings, voice properties, or number of offspring. On the other hand,
some traits show little to no variation among individualsfor example,

number of eyes in vertebrates.

Inheritance. Some traits are consistently passed on from parent to offspring.
Such traits are heritable, whereas other traits are strongly influenced by
environmental conditions and show weak heritability.

28

High rate of population growth. Most populations have more offspring each
year than local resources can support leading to a struggle for resources. Each

generation experiences substantial mortality.

Differential survival and reproduction. Individuals possessing traits well
suited for the struggle for local resources will contribute more offspring to the
next generation.
From one generation to the next, the struggle for resources (what Darwin

called the struggle for existence) will favor individuals with some variations over
others and thereby change the frequency of traits within the population. This process
is natural selection. The traits that confer an advantage to those individuals who
leave more offspring are called adaptations.
In order for natural selection to operate on a trait, the trait must possess
heritable variation and must confer an advantage in the competition for resources. If
one of these requirements does not occur, then the trait does not experience natural
selection.

(We now know that such traits may change by other evolutionary

mechanisms that have been discovered since Darwins time.)

Natural selection operates by comparative advantage, not an absolute standard
of design. as natural selection acts by competition for resources, it adapts the
inhabitants of each country only in relation to the degree of perfection of their
associates (Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, 1859).
G. EVOLUTION
Evolution is change in the heritable traits of biological populations over
successive generations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of
biological organisation, including the levels of species, individual organisms, and
molecules.
All life on Earth shares a common ancestor known as the last universal
ancestor, which lived approximately 3.53.8 billion years ago, although a study in
2015 found "remains of biotic life" from 4.1 billion years ago in ancient rocks in

29

Western Australia. According to one of the researchers, "If life arose relatively
quickly on Earth ... then it could be common in the universe."
Repeated formation of new species (speciation), change within species
(anagenesis), and loss of species (extinction) throughout the evolutionary history of
life on Earth are demonstrated by shared sets of morphological and biochemical traits,
including shared DNA sequences. These shared traits are more similar among species
that share a more recent common ancestor, and can be used to reconstruct a biological
"tree of life" based on evolutionary relationships (phylogenetics), using both existing
species and fossils. The fossil record includes a progression from early biogenic
graphite, to microbial mat fossils, to fossilized multicellular organisms. Existing
patterns of biodiversity have been shaped both by speciation and by extinction. More
than 99 percent of all species that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct.
Estimates of Earth's current species range from 10 to 14 million, of which about 1.2
million have been documented.
In the mid-19th century, Charles Darwin formulated the scientific theory of
evolution by natural selection, published in his book On the Origin of Species (1859).
Evolution by natural selection is a process demonstrated by the observation that more
offspring are produced than can possibly survive, along with three facts about
populations:

Traits vary among individuals with respect to morphology, physiology, and

behaviour (phenotypic variation),

Different traits confer different rates of survival and reproduction (differential

fitness), and
Traits can be passed from generation to generation (heritability of fitness).
Thus, in successive generations members of a population are replaced by
progeny of parents better adapted to survive and reproduce in the biophysical
environment in which natural selection takes place. This teleonomy is the
quality whereby the process of natural selection creates and preserves traits
that are seemingly fitted for the functional roles they perform.

Natural

30

selection is the only known cause of adaptation but not the only known cause
of evolution. Other, nonadaptive causes of microevolution include mutation
and genetic drift.
H. DARWINS LAWS
Darwins laws of evolution entails the following fundamental ideas. The first
three ideas were already under discussion among earlier and contemporaneous
naturalists working on the species problem as Darwin began his research. Darwins
original contributions were the mechanism of natural selection and copious amounts
of evidence for evolutionary change from many sources. He also provided thoughtful
explanations of the consequences of evolution for our understanding of the history of
life and modern biological diversity.
1. Species (populations of interbreeding organisms) change over time and
space. The representatives of species living today differ from those that
lived in the recent past, and populations in different geographic regions
today differ slightly in form or behavior. These differences extend into the
fossil record, which provides ample support for this claim.
2. All organisms share common ancestors with other organisms. Over time,
populations may divide into different species, which share a common
ancestral population. Far enough back in time, any pair of organisms
shares a common ancestor.

For example, humans shared a common

ancestor with chimpanzees about eight million years ago, with whales
about 60 million years ago, and with kangaroos over 100 million years
ago.

Shared ancestry explains the similarities of organisms that are

classified together: their similarities reflect the inheritance of traits from a

common ancestor.
3. Evolutionary change is gradual and slow in Darwins view. This claim
was supported by the long episodes of gradual change in organisms in the
fossil record and the fact that no naturalist had observed the sudden

31

appearance of a new species in Darwins time. Since then, biologists and

paleontologists have documented a broad spectrum of slow to rapid rates
of evolutionary change within lineages.
I. DINOSAURS EXTINCTION
Perhaps the most notable event of the Cretaceous was its conclusion. About 65
million years ago the second greatest mass extinction in Earth history occurred,
resulting in the loss of the dinosaurs as well as nearly 50% of all the worlds species.
Though not nearly as severe as the end-Permian mass extinction, the end-Cretaceous
extinction is the most famous mass extinction in Earth history. Other great animals
also went extinct at that time, including flying reptiles (pterosaurs) and the last
mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. Many mollusks, including rudistid and inoceramid clams,
ammonites, and belemnites, also became extinct, as did many species of microscopic
marine plankton. Terrestrial plants also suffered a major extinction at this time; in
some regions up to 60% of latest Cretaceous plant species were absent in the
subsequent Paleocene. Terrestrial insects also suffered a high level of extinction,
especially those that were highly specialized to feed on one or a few types of plants.
In fact, the level of insect herbivoryboth generalized and specializeddid not
recover to latest Cretaceous levels until the Paleocene-Eocene boundary,
approximately 9 million years later. In spite of the severity of extinctions at the end of
the Cretaceous, many types of animals and plants survived and gave rise to new
groups of organisms in the Paleocene.
The asteroid would have hit with the force of 100,000 billion tons of TNT.
This would have generated an earthquake one thousand times greater than the largest
ever recorded, with winds of over 400 kph. A massive fireball would have boiled
nearby seas, destroying everything for thousands of kilometers. Forests throughout
most of North America and some of South America would have been flattened by the
shock wave. Evidence of a giant tsunami has been found around the Gulf of Mexico

32

and Caribbean, as well as in Spain and Brazil. It may have had an effect as far away
as New Zealand. Map showing asteroid impact in Gulf of Mexico
Despite the enormity of the destruction from the initial impact, the dinosaurs
and their contemporaries might have survived and eventually recovered, but the
subsequent long-term effects of the blast were even more deadly. Ninety thousand
cubic kilometers of debris would have been blasted into the atmosphere, some
reaching into space only to re-enter at high speeds. This could have heated the
atmosphere sufficiently to ignite global forest fires. While the heavier pieces of ejecta
settled back down on Earth, fine dust particles would have remained in the
atmosphere and significantly blocked sunlight, causing an effect called an impact
winter. There is much debate about the duration and severity of the impact winter
following the K/T impact, but the darkness and cold temperatures might have reduced
photosynthesis and collapsed food chains globally.
The amount of carbon and sulfur contained in the rock at the impact site
would have aggravated these devastating effects. As much as 100 billion tons of
sulfur and 10 trillion tons of carbon would have been vaporized by the impact and
blown into the atmosphere. The resulting sulfate aerosols would have stayed in the
atmosphere for several years; the resulting carbon dioxide would have stayed airborne
for several hundred years. Initially the sulfate aerosols would have contributed to
global cooling by blocking out the sun, before precipitating as acid rain. After the
dust and sulfates settled out and ended the cooling, global warming would have
begun. The carbon dioxide levels, being two to three times normal, would have
caused extreme greenhouse conditions, raising global temperatures by as much as
10C. Although some life forms may have survived the years of darkness and
freezing temperatures, many surely died out in the subsequent centuries of heat.
Regardless of what caused the disappearance of the dinosaurs, the mass extinction at
the end of the Cretaceous led the way for the rapid rise to dominance of new groups
of organisms during the following time period, the Paleocene. In particular, Paleocene

33

mammals would spread and evolve into the many ecological niches left open by the
extinction of the dinosaurs.
J. KT- BOUNDARY
CretaceousTertiary (KT) boundary, is a geological signature, usually a
thin band. It defines the end of the Mesozoic Era, and is usually estimated at around
66 Ma (million years ago), with more specific radioisotope dating yielding an age of
66.043 0.011 Ma. K is the traditional abbreviation for the Cretaceous Period, and
Pg is the abbreviation for the Paleogene Period. The boundary marks the end of the
Cretaceous Period, the last period of the Mesozoic Era, and marks the beginning of
the Paleogene Period of the Cenozoic Era. The boundary is associated with the
CretaceousPaleogene extinction event, a mass extinction which is considered to be
the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in addition to a majority of the world's
Mesozoic species.
1. The common ground
a. There was global climatic change; the environment changed from a
warm, mild one in the Mesozoic to a cooler, more varied one in the
Cenozoic. The cause of this climate change, and the speed at which it
proceeded, are the major concerns of both schools of thought.
b. As well as a permanent global climatic change, there is evidence that
there were less lasting changes at the end of the Cretaceous period.
These changes may have been the result of a massive terrestrial
disturbance, which threw up soot into the air, causing short term acid
rain, emission of poisonous gases, and cooling (similar to a nuclear
winter). Long term consequences would have been a global
greenhouse effect (warming and reduced sunlight).
c. Many organisms; both marine and terrestrial, vertebrate and
invertebrate; went extinct. The reason for this extinction was probably
this climate change.

34

d. At or near the K-T boundary in several places around the globe, we

have a thin layer of clay with an unusually high iridium (a rare metal
similar to platinum) content. This may be evidence for the dust cloud
in above.
2. The "intrinsic gradualists"
Those scientists falling into this category believe that the ultimate
cause of the K-T extinction was intrinsic; meaning of an Earthly nature; and
gradual, taking some time to occur (several million years). Two main
hypotheses exist today:
a. Volcanism: We are quite certain that the end of the Cretaceous period
that there was increased volcanic activity. Over a period of several
million years, this increased volcanism could have created enough dust
and soot to block out sunlight; producing the climatic change. In India
during the Late Cretaceous, huge volcanic eruptions were spewing
forth floods of lava which can be seen today at the K-T boundary
(these ruptures in the Earth's surface are called the Deccan traps). The
chemical composition of the lava rocks in India shows that they
originated in the Earth's mantle, which is also relatively rich in
iridium. This richness would explain the iridium layer.
b. Plate Tectonics: Major changes in the organization of the continental
plates (continental drift) were occurring at the K-T boundary. The
oceans (especially the Interior Seaway in North America) were
experiencing a regression; they were receding from the land. A less
mild climate would have been the result, and this would have taken a
long time. Large scale tectonic events did occur in the Mesozoic
several times, and no extinction events have been conclusively
associated with them yet.
3. The "extrinsic catastrophists"
This side of the controversy holds that the ultimate cause of the K-T
extinction was extrinsic, meaning of an extraterrestrial nature, and
catastrophic, meaning fairly sudden and punctuated. The main hypothesis was
35

proposed in 1980 by (among others) Luis and Walter Alvarez of the

University of California at Berkeley.
4. The Alvarez HypothesisT
The original hypothesis is the basis for several subsequent variations
on the theme that a large extraterrestrial object collided with the Earth, its
impact throwing up enough dust to cause the climatic change. The iridium
layer is what prompted the Alvarez team to blame an asteroid impact for the
extinction asteroids and similar extraterrestrial bodies are higher in iridium
content than the Earth's crust, so they figured that the iridium layer must be
composed of the dust from the vaporized meteor. No crater was found, but it
was assumed that one existed that was about 65 million years old and 100
kilometers (about 65 miles) in diameter.
Later research found a likely candidate for the crater at Chicxulub, on
the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Other evidence was also reported: the
presence of shocked quartz in the rocks of the K-T boundary (indicating the
passage of a shock wave so powerful that it actually rearranged the crystal
structure of quartz grains), glassy spheres that looked like impact ejecta
(molten rock that solidified into droplets when cooled), and a soot layer was
found in many areas (evidence for widespread forest fires). The likelihood
that massive hurricanes and firestorms would have raged across the Earth was
also hypothesized, adding to the destructive power of the catastrophe.
To reconcile the hypothesis with gradual data, it was suggested that
rather than one impact, several impacts (of comets or meteors) could have
occurred over a period of many years. Some evidence supported this a hint
of periodicity of mass extinctions in the fossil record was reported; mass
extinctions seemed to occur roughly every 26 million years. Astronomers
theorized that the Oort cloud of comets could cross the path of our solar
system every 26 million years, and would possibly rain comets on our planet
for a few million years. The existence of a tenth, as-yet unseen planet or
Nemesis, the twin star to our sun both with large orbits were also
36

contemplated. To date, no reliable evidence for periodicity or Nemesis-type

celestial bodies has been found, but this does not render the hypothesis
obsolete; it is accepted that any large extraterrestrial body impacting the
Earth's surface could and would produce climatic changes similar to those
thought to have occurred around the K-T boundary.

37

CHAPTER IV
PLATE TECTONIC AND GEOSINCLIN
A. GEOSYNCLINE THEORY DEVELOPMENT
The development of Geosyncline theory is began of the theory of Hall:
sedimentation very dense then led to subsidence, and the axis of the trough will be a
range of mountains. The existence of subsidence is then produces the folded layers,
but the multiplicity is not the cause of the increase in the thickness of sediment into
the mountains. In addition, the sediment thickness above the trough / deepest basin
resulted in the movement of materials subcrustal under the trough. The material
moves laterally beneath sedimentary basins and foreland - his, so that the region rose.
Naming Geosyncline introduced by Dana (1873), which is the process in which
sediment accumulates a decline crust (Geosynclinal). In essence, the theory advanced
by the Dana added a theory introduced by Hall.
During the collapse of a large folding Geosyncline driven by lateral pressure,
will form a series of large folding (synclinorium). Geosyncline decline to a depth of
35000 or 40000 feet, which means a mobile rock mass (thick or plastic), 7 mi and a
maximum depth of more than 100 miles laterally, pushed aside. After that, the main
part of moving to the east, and caused a trail bordered by the sea on the east side,
which is then raised as a geantyclinal parallel with the subsidence troughs.
Geantyclinal arc height may depend on how far the plastic rocks can move eastward.
Then the floor Geosyncline become weaker due to isogeotherms, and this leads to
weakening of sediment folding Geosyncline and childbirth mountain ranges.
Theory Dana - Hall stating that mountain range is the birth Geosyncline based on two
main opinions:
1. Determination of the location of the mountain ranges that will be formed
based on the accumulation of sediment in a Geosyncline.
2. Mountains become vulnerable in the process is relatively short, for bedding
folded and faulted.
38

According to L. De Launay (1921), Geosyncline is an important long zone

where deposits bathyal continuously deposited up to a thickness, which run
simultaneously deepening the accumulation.
In the process, there are a few additions to the theory Hall Dana :
1. Volcanism and intrusion during growth Geosyncline parent
2. Isostatic control for folding due to appression sediment Geosyncline
3. Metamorphism resulting from conditions Geosyncline and the events that
followed the folding
4. Tthe intrusion of batholiths, syntectonic and epitectonic, and the relationship
between intrusion batolith and folding succession of events that consists of a
large-scale orogenesa revolution
5. Metal deposition is a result of successive cycles of volcanic activity during the
revolution orogenesa.
B. PLATE TECTONIC THEORY DEVELOPMENT
In 1912 Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) noticed the same thing and proposed
that the continents were once compressed into a single protocontinent which he called
Pangaea (meaning "all lands"), and over time they have drifted apart into their current
distribution. He believed that Pangaea was intact until the late Carboniferous period,
about 300 million years ago, when it began to break up and drift apart. However,
Wegener's hypothesis lacked a geological mechanism to explain how the continents
could drift across the earths surface as he proposed.
Searching for evidence to further develop his theory of continental drift,
Wegener came across a paleontological paper suggesting that a land bridge had once
connected Africa with Brazil. This proposed land bridge was an attempt to explain the
well known paleontological observation that the same fossilized plants and animals
from the same time period were found in South America and Africa. The same was
true for fossils found in Europe and North America, and Madagascar and India.
Many of these organisms could not have traveled across the vast oceans that currently
exist. Wegener's drift theory seemed more plausible than land bridges connecting all
39

of the continents. But that in itself was not enough to support his idea. Another
observation favoring continental drift was the presence of evidence for continental
glaciation in the Pensylvanian period. Striae left by the scraping of glaciers over the
land surface indicated that Africa and South America had been close together at the
time of this ancient ice age. The same scraping patterns can be found along the coasts
of South America and South Africa.
Wegener eventually proposed a mechanism for continental drift that focused
on his assertion that the rotation of the earth created a centrifugal force towards the
equator.

He believed that Pangaea originated near the south pole and that the

centrifugal force of the planet caused the protocontinent to break apart and the
resultant continents to drift towards the equator. He called this the "pole-fleeing
force". This idea was quickly rejected by the scientific community primarily because
the actual forces generated by the rotation of the earth were calculated to be
insufficient to move continents. Wegener also tried to explain the westward drift of
the Americas by invoking the gravitational forces of the sun and the moon, this idea
was also quickly rejected. Wegener's inability to provide an adequate explanation of
the forces responsible for continental drift and the prevailing belief that the earth was
solid and immovable resulted in the scientific dismissal of his theories.
Not until the 1960's did Holmes' idea receive any attention. Greater
understanding of the ocean floor and the discoveries of features like mid-oceanic
ridges, geomagnetic anomalies parallel to the mid-oceanic ridges, and the association
of island arcs and oceanic trenches occurring together and near the continental
margins, suggested convection might indeed be at work. These discoveries and more
led Harry Hess (1962) and R.Deitz (1961) to publish similar hypotheses based on
mantle convection currents, now known as "sea floor spreading". This idea was
basically the same as that proposed by Holmes over 30 years earlier, but now there
was much more evidence to further develop and support the idea. To learn more about
the current theories which describe the mechanisms behind continental drift go to the
"Plate Tectonics: The Mechanism" page.
40

C. PLATE MOVEMENT

Fig. 12. Plate Movement

The tectonic plates of the earth is not stationary, but moves relative with the
speed of 1 to 10 cm per year. The movement of the earth's crustal plates that collide
with each other will form the subduction zone and cause the forces acting both
horizontally and vertically, which will form the folds of the mountains, volcanoes
track or magmatic, fracturing the rock, and the lines of tectonic earthquakes and the
formation of a particular region. Moreover, that will also form various types of
deposition of sedimentary basins such as trench, fore arc basin, back arc basin, and
basin between the mountains.
It is generally accepted that tectonic plates are able to move because of the
relative density of oceanic lithosphere and the relative weakness of the asthenosphere.
Dissipation of heat from the mantle is acknowledged to be the original source of the
energy required to drive plate tectonics through convection or large scale upwelling
and doming. The current view, though still a matter of some debate, asserts that as a
consequence, a powerful source of plate motion is generated due to the excess density
of the oceanic lithosphere sinking in subduction zones. When the new crust forms at

41

mid-ocean ridges, this oceanic lithosphere is initially less dense than the underlying
asthenosphere, but it becomes denser with age as it conductively cools and thickens.
The greater density of old lithosphere relative to the underlying asthenosphere allows
it to sink into the deep mantle at subduction zones, providing most of the driving
force for plate movement. The weakness of the asthenosphere allows the tectonic
plates to move easily towards a subduction zone. Although subduction is thought to
be the strongest force driving plate motions, it cannot be the only force since there are
plates such as the North American Plate which are moving, yet are nowhere being
subducted. The same is true for the enormous Eurasian Plate. The sources of plate
motion are a matter of intensive research and discussion among scientists. One of the
main points is that the kinematic pattern of the movement itself should be separated
clearly from the possible geodynamic mechanism that is invoked as the driving force
of the observed movement, as some patterns may be explained by more than one
mechanism. In short, the driving forces advocated at the moment can be divided into
three categories based on the relationship to the movement: mantle dynamics related,
gravity related (mostly secondary forces).
Three types of plate boundaries exist, with a fourth, mixed type, characterized
by the way the plates move relative to each other. They are associated with different
types of surface phenomena. The different types of plate boundaries are:
1. Transform boundaries (Conservative) occur where two lithospheric plates
slide, or perhaps more accurately, grind past each other along transform
faults, where plates are neither created nor destroyed. The relative motion of
the two plates is either sinistral (left side toward the observer) or dextral
(right side toward the observer). Transform faults occur across a spreading
center. Strong earthquakes can occur along a fault. The San Andreas Fault in
California is an example of a transform boundary exhibiting dextral motion.
2. Divergent boundaries (Constructive) occur where two plates slide apart from
each other. At zones of ocean-to-ocean rifting, divergent boundaries form by
seafloor spreading, allowing for the formation of new ocean basin. As the
42

continent splits, the ridge forms at the spreading center, the ocean basin
expands, and finally, the plate area increases causing many small volcanoes
and/or shallow earthquakes. At zones of continent-to-continent rifting,
divergent boundaries may cause new ocean basin to form as the continent
splits, spreads, the central rift collapses, and ocean fills the basin. Active
zones of Mid-ocean ridges (e.g., Mid-Atlantic Ridge and East Pacific Rise),
and continent-to-continent rifting (such as Africa's East African Rift and
Valley, Red Sea) are examples of divergent boundaries.
3. Convergent boundaries (Destructive) (or active margins) occur where two
plates slide toward each other to form either a subduction zone (one plate
moving underneath the other) or a continental collision. At zones of ocean-tocontinent subduction (e.g. the Andes mountain range in South America, and
the Cascade Mountains in Western United States), the dense oceanic
lithosphere plunges beneath the less dense continent. Earthquakes then trace
the path of the downward-moving plate as it descends into asthenosphere, a
trench forms, and as the subducted plate partially melts, magma rises to form
continental volcanoes. At zones of ocean-to-ocean subduction (e.g. Aleutian
islands, Mariana islands, and the Japanese island arc), older, cooler, denser
crust slips beneath less dense crust. This causes earthquakes and a deep
trench to form in an arc shape. The upper mantle of the subducted plate then
heats and magma rises to form curving chains of volcanic islands. Deep
marine trenches are typically associated with subduction zones, and the
basins that develop along the active boundary are often called "foreland
basins". The subducting slab contains many hydrous minerals which release
their water on heating. This water then causes the mantle to melt, producing
volcanism. Closure of ocean basins can occur at continent-to-continent
boundaries (e.g., Himalayas and Alps): collision between masses of granitic
continental lithosphere; neither mass is subducted; plate edges are
compressed, folded, uplifted.
43

4. Plate boundary zones occur where the effects of the interactions are unclear,
and the boundaries, usually occurring along a broad belt, are not well defined
and may show various types of movements in different episodes.

Fig. 13. Plate Movement Type

D. BASIN AND PLATE TETONIC
1. Plate Interactions
In plate tectonic theory, composite continents are assembled by crustal
collisions that occur when the consumption of oceanic lithosphere beneath
arc-trench systems results in the closure of an oceanic basin. The arrival of
a continental block at a subduction zone where the intervening oceanic
lithosphere was consumed, will thus throttle subduction, and the position
of the previous subduction zone will be taken by a crustal suture belt
marking the line of tectonic juxtaposition of the two continental blocks
involved in the crustal collision.
All plate interactions that involve construction of new lithosphere or
consumption of old lithosphere as a result of large horizontal motions of
plates, involve significant vertical motions of the lithosphere. There are
three basic causes of subsidence or uplift as a result of plate interactions:
Changes in crustal thickness
Thermal expansion or contraction of the lithosphere
Broad flexure of plates of the lithosphere in response to local
tectonic or sedimentary loading.

44

From a kinetic point of view, there are three kinds of plate junctures,
analogous to the three classes of faults as defined by relative
displacements:
a. Divergent plate junctures (analogous to normal faults)
A separation of two plates (sea-floor spreading) occurs and
causes rupture of the intact old lithosphere, which in turn results in
intercontinental rifting when an incipient rift crosses a continental
block. The rate of spreading may average several centimeters per
year and might produce over geologic time the continental drift
that represents the separation of Africa and South America and the
associated growth of the Atlantic Ocean.
The plates diverge or move relatively apart and result in seafloor spreading, in which magmatic material from the underlying
lithosphere wells up in between to form linear lava ridges parallel,
linear mid-ocean ridges which are found in the Atlantic, Pacific,
and Indian Oceans.
b. Transform plate junctures (analogous to strike-dip faults)
One plate slides laterally past the other along a transform or
deep fault, without accretion or consumption. However, hybrid
plate boundaries also occur in some areas, as in obliqueslip faults,
where some component of extensional or contractional motion
occurs along a transform, and hence the two terms transtension and
transpression are used to describe the interaction.
In accordance with the transform movements of the plates, the
mid-ocean ridges in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which run
roughly north/south, are broken into a series of segments, each
about 200 miles long, together with their related offsets, at the
points of which are transform fault zones, formed roughly at
right angles to the mid-ocean ridges, and projecting above the deep
ocean floors; these become earthquake and volcano zones.
c. Convergent plate junctures (analogous to thrust faults)
45

When two oceanic plates collide, one plate is thrust at an angle

beneath the other, and dives down into the mantle where it is
partially destroyed by heat. Convergent junctures are sites of plate
consumption where oceanic lithosphere formed previously at a
divergent plate juncture, descends into the mantle. Part of the slab
continues to sink to a depth of about 700 km, where it comes to
rest; the part which rises to merge with the upper plate is converted
to low-density magma.
Hobson (1975) discussed the convergence of plates according to a
different approach, depending on whether oceanic- or continentaltype plates are involved.
A coastal mountain range is formed along the leading edge
of the continental plate, when it is advancing towards and

overriding a relatively stationary oceanic plate.

Island arcs and subduction zone trenches are formed when
an oceanic plate is advancing and passing beneath a

relatively stationary continental plate.

Major mountain ranges are formed when two continentaltype plates slowly converge, as a result of the squeezing of
the sediments carried on the underthrust plate (e.g., the
Himalayas in India).

2. Development of Sedimentary Basins

Plate tectonics theory is generally related to lateral and vertical
motions of plates that form sedimentary basins. A sedimentary basin
develops as an accumulated prism of strata, resulting either from
subsidence of the basin floor, or from uplift of confining basin margins.
Each basin has its own unique history connected to a particular sequence
and combination of plate interactions and depositional conditions. During

46

basin evolution, the stratigraphic fill of the basin took place because of the
activity of the depositional systems. Folded and faulted structures within
the basin were formed because of either tectonic or sedimentary evolution.
Extensional deformation usually produces normal faults and tilted blocks,
whereas contractional deformation produces folds and thrust faults.
Plate movements have lately been considered to result from the
presence of hot spots, which represent a number of thermal centers, and
are fixed in the upper mantle, from which plumes of hot material rise
intermittently to burn holes in the overlying crust. Consequently, the
continental plates are pushed away from these hot spots by the creation
of new ocean floor; and when the movement of the lithosphere above the
plume occurs by the process of sea-floor spreading, a plume scar is left
on the crust in the form of a line of volcanic cones.

47

E. MID OCEANIC RIDGE

Mid-Ocean Ridge is an underwater mountain system formed by plate
tectonics. It consists of various mountains linked in chains, typically having a valley
known as a rift running along its spine. This type of oceanic mountain ridge is
characteristic of what is known as an oceanic spreading center, which is responsible
for seafloor spreading. The production of new seafloor results from mantle upwelling
in response to plate spreading; this isentropic upwelling solid mantle material
eventually exceeds the solidus and melts. The buoyant melt rises as magma at a linear
weakness in the oceanic crust, and emerges as lava, creating new crust upon cooling.
A mid-ocean ridge demarcates the boundary between two tectonic plates, and
consequently is termed a divergent plate boundary.

Fig. 14. Mid Oceanic Ridge

Mid-ocean ridges are geologically active, with new magma constantly
emerging onto the ocean floor and into the crust at and near rifts along the ridge axes.
The crystallized magma forms new crust of basalt (known as MORB for mid-ocean
ridge basalt) and gabbro.
The rocks making up the crust below the seafloor are youngest at the axis of
the ridge and age with increasing distance from that axis. New magma of basalt

48

composition emerges at and near the axis because of decompression melting in the
underlying Earth's mantle.
The oceanic crust is made up of rocks much younger than the Earth itself.
Most oceanic crust in the ocean basins is less than 200 million years old. The crust is
in a constant state of "renewal" at the ocean ridges. Moving away from the mid-ocean
ridge, ocean depth progressively increases; the greatest depths are in ocean trenches.
As the oceanic crust moves away from the ridge axis, the peridotite in the underlying
mantle cools and becomes more rigid. The crust and the relatively rigid peridotite
below it make up the oceanic lithosphere.
Slow spreading ridges like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) generally have
large, wide rift valleys, sometimes as wide as 1020 km (6.212.4 mi), and very
rugged terrain at the ridge crest that can have relief of up to a 1,000 m (3,300 ft). By
contrast, fast spreading ridges like the East Pacific Rise (EPR) are narrow, sharp
incisions surrounded by generally flat topography that slopes away from the ridge
over many hundreds of miles.
The overall shape of ridges results from Pratt isostacy: close to the ridge axis
there is hot, low-density mantle supporting the oceanic crust. As the oceanic plates
cool, away from the ridge axes, the oceanic mantle lithosphere (the colder, denser part
of the mantle that, together with the crust, comprises the oceanic plates) thickens and
the density increases. Thus older seafloor is underlain by denser material and 'sits'
lower. The width of the ridge is hence a function of spreading rate - slow ridges like
the MAR have spread much less far than faster ridges like the EPR for the same
amount of cooling and consequent bathymetric drop-off.
There are two processes, ridge-push and slab pull, thought to be responsible
for the spreading seen at mid-ocean ridges, and there is some uncertainty as to which
is dominant. Ridge-push occurs when the growing bulk of the ridge pushes the rest of
the tectonic plate away from the ridge, often towards a subduction zone. At the
subduction zone, "slab-pull" comes into effect. This is simply the weight of the

49

tectonic plate being subducted (pulled) below the overlying plate dragging the rest of
the plate along behind it.
F. SEISMIC ZONE
A seismic zone is a region in which the rate of seismic activity remains fairly
consistent. This may mean that seismic activity is incredibly rare, or that it is
extremely common. Some people often use the term seismic zone to talk about an
area with an increased risk of seismic activity, while others prefer to talk about
seismic hazard zones when discussing areas where seismic activity is more
frequent.
There are studies that show that much of the damage done in earthquakes is,
perhaps, due rather to the velocity of the back and forth movements of the earth,
rather than to the ground acceleration. However, the mean and peak ground
accelerations do have much to do with the intensity of damage a building may have to
withstand. Consequently, engineers and designers rely a great deal on the measure of
the peak ground acceleration, as compared to gravity, to determine how strong an
earthquake force a new building may have to withstand.
Instruments called accelerographs measure ground acceleration against the
value of gravity (acceleration in g/10). These values are gathered from all parts of the
nation to create a seismic-risk map, which is used by engineers and builders when
designing earthquake-resistant structures for different parts of the country.
Attenuation is another important detail that is factored into plotting a seismicrisk map. Attenuation is, basically, how far earthquakes waves are felt, and what is
the duration of the earthquakes. This is very different in various parts of the nation.
Example, in the values on the seismic-risk map are that in seismic zone 4, we
have a one in ten chance that an earthquake with an active peak acceleration level of
0.4g (4/10 the acceleration of gravity) will occur within the next fifty years.

50

CHAPTER V
THE ORIGIN OF THE EARTH
A. THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE
Big Bang model, widely held theory of the evolution of the universe. Its
essential feature is the emergence of the universe from a state of extremely high
temperature and densitythe so-called big bang that occurred 13.8 billion years ago.
Although this type of universe was proposed by Russian mathematician Aleksandr
Friedmann and Belgian astronomer Georges Lematre in the 1920s, the modern
version was developed by Russian-born American physicist George Gamow and
colleagues in the 1940s.
The big-bang model is based on two assumptions. The first is that Albert
Einsteins general theory of relativity correctly describes the gravitational interaction
of all matter. The second assumption, called the cosmological principle, states that an
observers view of the universe depends neither on the direction in which he looks
nor on his location. This principle applies only to the large-scale properties of the
universe, but it does imply that the universe has no edge, so that the big-bang origin
occurred not at a particular point in space but rather throughout space at the same
time. These two assumptions make it possible to calculate the history of the cosmos
after a certain epoch called the Planck time. Scientists have yet to determine what
prevailed before Planck time.
According to the big-bang model, the universe expanded rapidly from a
highly compressed primordial state, which resulted in a significant decrease in
density and temperature. Soon afterward, the dominance of matter over antimatter (as
observed today) may have been established by processes that also predict proton
decay. During this stage many types of elementary particles may have been present.
After a few seconds, the universe cooled enough to allow the formation of certain
nuclei. The theory predicts that definite amounts of hydrogen, helium, and lithium
were produced. Their abundances agree with what is observed today. About one
51

million years later the universe was sufficiently cool for atoms to form. The radiation
that also filled the universe was then free to travel through space. This remnant of the
early universe is the cosmic microwave background radiationthe three degree
(actually 2.728 K) background radiation discovered in 1965 by American physicists
Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson.
In addition to accounting for the presence of ordinary matter and radiation,
the model predicts that the present universe should also be filled with neutrinos,
fundamental particles with no mass or electric charge. The possibility exists that other
relics from the early universe may eventually be discovered.
B. THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Fig. 15. The Solar System

The Solar System comprises the Sun and the planetary system that orbits
it, either directly or indirectly. Of those objects that orbit the Sun directly, the largest
eight are the planets, with the remainder being significantly smaller objects, such as
dwarf planets and small Solar System bodies such as comets and asteroids. Of those
that orbit the Sun indirectly, the moons, two are larger than the smallest planet,
Mercury.
The Solar System formed 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational
collapse of a giant interstellar molecular cloud. The vast majority of the system's
mass is in the Sun, with most of the remaining mass contained in Jupiter. The four
smaller inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, are terrestrial planets, being
primarily composed of rock and metal. The four outer planets are giant planets, being
substantially more massive than the terrestrials. The two largest, Jupiter and Saturn,

52

are gas giants, being composed mainly of hydrogen and helium; the two outermost
planets, Uranus and Neptune, are ice giants, being composed mostly of substances
with relatively high melting points compared with hydrogen and helium, called ices,
such as water, ammonia and methane. All planets have almost circular orbits that lie
within a nearly flat disc called the ecliptic.
The Solar System also contains smaller objects. The asteroid belt, which
lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, mostly contains objects composed, like
the terrestrial planets, of rock and metal. Beyond Neptune's orbit lie the Kuiper belt
and scattered disc, which are populations of trans-Neptunian objects composed
mostly of ices, and beyond them a newly discovered population of sednoids. Within
these populations are several dozen to possibly tens of thousands of objects large
enough to have been rounded by their own gravity. Such objects are categorized as
dwarf planets. Identified dwarf planets include the asteroid Ceres and the transNeptunian objects Pluto and Eris. In addition to these two regions, various other
small-body populations, including comets, centaurs and interplanetary dust, freely
travel between regions. Six of the planets, at least three of the dwarf planets, and
many of the smaller bodies are orbited by natural satellites, usually termed "moons"
after the Moon. Each of the outer planets is encircled by planetary rings of dust and
other small objects.
The solar wind, a stream of charged particles flowing outwards from the
Sun, creates a bubble-like region in the interstellar medium known as the heliosphere.
The heliopause is the point at which pressure from the solar wind is equal to the
opposing pressure of interstellar wind; it extends out to the edge of the scattered disc.
The Oort cloud, which is believed to be the source for long-period comets, may also
exist at a distance roughly a thousand times further than the heliosphere. The Solar
System is located in the Orion Arm, 26,000 light-years from the center of the Milky
Way.

53

The following is the member of solar system :

1. Sun
The Sun is the Solar System's star and by far its most massive
component. Its large mass (332,900 Earth masses) produces temperatures
and densities in its core high enough to sustain nuclear fusion of hydrogen
into helium, making it a main-sequence star. This releases an enormous
amount of energy, mostly radiated into space as electromagnetic radiation
peaking in visible light.
The Sun is a G2-type main-sequence star. Hotter main-sequence stars
are more luminous. The Sun's temperature is intermediate between that of
the hottest stars and that of the coolest stars. Stars brighter and hotter than
the Sun are rare, whereas substantially dimmer and cooler stars, known as
red dwarfs, make up 85% of the stars in the Milky Way.
The Sun is a population I star; it has a higher abundance of elements
heavier than hydrogen and helium ("metals" in astronomical parlance)
than the older population II stars. Elements heavier than hydrogen and
helium were formed in the cores of ancient and exploding stars, so the first
generation of stars had to die before the Universe could be enriched with
these atoms. The oldest stars contain few metals, whereas stars born later
have more. This high metallicity is thought to have been crucial to the
Sun's development of a planetary system because the planets form from
the accretion of "metals".
2. Mercury
Mercury (0.4 AU from the Sun) is the closest planet to the Sun and the
smallest planet in the Solar System (0.055 Earth masses). Mercury has no
natural satellites; besides impact craters, its only known geological
features are lobed ridges or rupes that were probably produced by a period
of contraction early in its history. Mercury's very tenuous atmosphere
consists of atoms blasted off its surface by the solar wind. Its relatively
large iron core and thin mantle have not yet been adequately explained.

54

Hypotheses include that its outer layers were stripped off by a giant
impact; or, that it was prevented from fully accreting by the young Sun's
energy.
3. Venus
Venus (0.7 AU from the Sun) is close in size to Earth (0.815 Earth
masses) and, like Earth, has a thick silicate mantle around an iron core, a
substantial atmosphere, and evidence of internal geological activity. It is
much drier than Earth, and its atmosphere is ninety times as dense. Venus
has no natural satellites. It is the hottest planet, with surface temperatures
over 400 C (752F), most likely due to the amount of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere. No definitive evidence of current geological activity has
been detected on Venus, but it has no magnetic field that would prevent
depletion of its substantial atmosphere, which suggests that its atmosphere
is being replenished by volcanic eruptions.
4. Earth
Earth (1 AU from the Sun) is the largest and densest of the inner
planets, the only one known to have current geological activity, and the
only place where life is known to exist. Its liquid hydrosphere is unique
among the terrestrial planets, and it is the only planet where plate tectonics
has been observed. Earth's atmosphere is radically different from those of
the other planets, having been altered by the presence of life to contain
21% free oxygen. It has one natural satellite, the Moon, the only large
satellite of a terrestrial planet in the Solar System.
5. Mars
Mars (1.5 AU from the Sun) is smaller than Earth and Venus (0.107
Earth masses). It possesses an atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide with a
surface pressure of 6.1 millibars (roughly 0.6% of that of Earth). Its
surface, peppered with vast volcanoes, such as Olympus Mons, and rift
valleys, such as Valles Marineris, shows geological activity that may have
persisted until as recently as 2 million years ago Its red colour comes from

55

iron oxide (rust) in its soil. Mars has two tiny natural satellites (Deimos
and Phobos) thought to be captured asteroids.
6. Asteroids
Asteroids except for the largest, Ceres, are classified as small Solar
System bodies and are composed mainly of refractory rocky and metallic
minerals, with some ice. They range from a few metres to hundreds of
kilometres in size. Asteroids smaller than one meter are usually called
meteoroids and micrometeoroids (grain-sized), depending on different,
somewhat arbitrary definitions.
The asteroid belt occupies the orbit between Mars and Jupiter, between
2.3 and 3.3 AU from the Sun. It is thought to be remnants from the Solar
System's formation that failed to coalesce because of the gravitational
interference of Jupiter. The asteroid belt contains tens of thousands,
possibly millions, of objects over one kilometre in diameter. Despite this,
the total mass of the asteroid belt is unlikely to be more than a thousandth
of that of Earth. The asteroid belt is very sparsely populated; spacecraft
routinely pass through without incident.
7. Jupiter
Jupiter (5.2 AU), at 318 Earth masses, is 2.5 times the mass of all the
other planets put together. It is composed largely of hydrogen and helium.
Jupiter's strong internal heat creates semi-permanent features in its
atmosphere, such as cloud bands and the Great Red Spot. Jupiter has 67
known satellites. The four largest, Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa,
show similarities to the terrestrial planets, such as volcanism and internal
heating. Ganymede, the largest satellite in the Solar System, is larger than
Mercury.
8. Saturn
Saturn (9.5 AU), distinguished by its extensive ring system, has
several similarities to Jupiter, such as its atmospheric composition and
magnetosphere. Although Saturn has 60% of Jupiter's volume, it is less

56

than a third as massive, at 95 Earth masses, making it the least dense

planet in the Solar System. The rings of Saturn are made up of small ice
and rock particles. Saturn has 62 confirmed satellites; two of which, Titan
and Enceladus, show signs of geological activity, though they are largely
made of ice. Titan, the second-largest moon in the Solar System, is larger
than Mercury and the only satellite in the Solar System with a substantial
atmosphere.
9. Uranus
Uranus (19.2 AU), at 14 Earth masses, is the lightest of the outer
planets. Uniquely among the planets, it orbits the Sun on its side; its axial
tilt is over ninety degrees to the ecliptic. It has a much colder core than the
other giant planets and radiates very little heat into space. Uranus has 27
known satellites, the largest ones being Titania, Oberon, Umbriel, Ariel,
and Miranda.
10. Neptune
Neptune (30.1 AU), though slightly smaller than Uranus, is more
massive (equivalent to 17 Earths) and hence more dense. It radiates more
internal heat, but not as much as Jupiter or Saturn. Neptune has 14 known
satellites. The largest, Triton, is geologically active, with geysers of liquid
nitrogen. Triton is the only large satellite with a retrograde orbit. Neptune
is accompanied in its orbit by several minor planets, termed Neptune
trojans, that are in 1:1 resonance with it.

57

C. EARTH CRUST COMPOSITION

The crust of the Earth is composed of a great variety of igneous, metamorphic,
and sedimentary rocks. The crust is underlain by the mantle. The upper part of the
mantle is composed mostly of peridotite, a rock denser than rocks common in the
overlying crust. The boundary between the crust and mantle is conventionally placed
at the Mohorovii discontinuity, a boundary defined by a contrast in seismic
velocity. The crust occupies less than 1% of Earth's volume.
The oceanic crust of the sheet is different from its continental crust.

The oceanic crust is 5 km (3 mi) to 10 km (6 mi) thick and is composed

primarily of basalt, diabase, and gabbro.

The continental crust is typically from 30 km (20 mi) to 50 km (30 mi) thick
and is mostly composed of slightly less dense rocks than those of the oceanic
crust. Some of these less dense rocks, such as granite, are common in the
continental crust but rare to absent in the oceanic crust.
Both the continental and oceanic crust "float" on the mantle. Because the

continental crust is thicker, it extends both to greater elevations and greater depth than
the oceanic crust. The slightly lower density of felsic continental rock compared to
basaltic oceanic rock contributes to the higher relative elevation of the top of the
continental crust. As the top of the continental crust reaches elevations higher than
that of the oceanic, water runs off the continents and collects above the oceanic crust.
Because of the change in velocity of seismic waves it is believed that beneath
continents at a certain depth continental crust (sial) becomes close in its physical
properties to oceanic crust (sima), and the transition zone is referred to as the Conrad
discontinuity.
The temperature of the crust increases with depth, reaching values typically in
the range from about 200 C (392 F) to 400 C (752 F) at the boundary with the
underlying mantle. The crust and underlying relatively rigid uppermost mantle make
up the lithosphere. Because of convection in the underlying plastic (although non58

molten) upper mantle and asthenosphere, the lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates
that move. The temperature increases by as much as 30 C (about 50 F) for every
kilometer locally in the upper part of the crust, but the geothermal gradient is smaller
in deeper crust.
The continental crust has an average composition similar to that of andesite.
Continental crust is enriched in incompatible elements compared to the basaltic ocean
crust and much enriched compared to the underlying mantle. Although the continental
crust comprises only about 0.6 weight percent of the silicate on Earth, it contains 20%
to 70% of the incompatible elements. The following is diagram about the abundant
element and mineral in the earth crust :

Fig. 16. The abundant element and mineral diagram

D. GEOSYNCLINE
Geosyncline, linear trough of subsidence of the Earths crust within which
vast amounts of sediment accumulate. The filling of a geosyncline with thousands or
tens of thousands of feet of sediment is accompanied in the late stages of deposition
by folding, crumpling, and faulting of the deposits. Intrusion of crystalline igneous
rock and regional uplift along the axis of the trough generally complete the history of
a particular geosyncline, which is thus transformed to a belt of folded mountains. The
concept of the geosyncline was introduced by the American geologist James Hall in

59

1859. Most modern geologists regard the concept as obsolete and largely explain the
development of linear troughs in terms of plate tectonics; the term geosyncline,
however, remains in use.

Fig. 17. Geosyncline

Geosynclines are divided into miogeosynclines and eugeosynclines,
depending on the types of discernible rock strata of the mountain system.

A miogeosyncline develops along a passive margin of a continent and is

composed of sediments with limestones, sandstones and shales. The
occurrences of limestones and well-sorted quartz sandstones indicate a

shallow-water formation.
A eugeosyncline consists of rocks from deep marine environments.
Eugeosynclinal rocks include thick sequences of greywackes, cherts, slates,
tuffs and submarine lavas. The eugeosynclinal deposits are typically more
deformed, metamorphosed, and intruded by small to large igneous plutons.
Eugeosynclines often contain flysch typical of a continental-continental
convergent boundary..
Aside from the parts or segments of a geosyncline, several types of mobile

zones have been recognized and named. Among the more common of these are the
taphrogeosyncline, a depressed block of the Earths crust that is bounded by one or
more high-angle faults and that serves as a site of sediment accumulation, and the
paraliageosyncline, a deep geosyncline that passes into coastal plains along
continental margins.
E. PLATE TECTONIC

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Plate Tectonic is a theory that describes about Earth's lithosphere in the large
scale. This theory has been built on the concept of continental drift.
Lithosphere is the outermost layer of the earth, the lithosphere is divided into
several sections which are often called plate tectonics. The Earth's lithosphere is
composed of seven or eight major plates and many minor plates. Where the plates
meet, their relative motion determines the type of boundary that is convergent,
divergent, or transform. Tectonic plates are composed of oceanic lithosphere and
continental lithosphere. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and
oceanic trench formation occur along these plate boundaries.
The following is an explanation of plate tectonics :
1. The Drift of the Continents

Fig. 18. Continental Drift

The Earth surface looked very different 200 million years ago from its
present appearance. In particular, the continents have changed because they sit
on blocks of the lithosphere that are in horizontal motion with respect to each
other, and indeed they continue to change because the horizontal motion
continues.

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The present continents separated from two supercontinents called

Laurasia and Gondwanaland through this process of plate tectonics. The two
supercontinents may have once been united in a single supercontinent called
Pangaea, though this is less certain.
2. The Origin of Plate Tectonics

Fig. 19. The origin of plate tectonics

The continents drift slowly but that they drift at all is remarkable. The
following figure illustrates the structure of the first 100-200 kilometers of the
Earth's interior, and provides an answer to this question.
The crust is thin, varying from a few tens of kilometers thick beneath
the continents to to less than 10 km thick beneath the many of the oceans. The
crust and upper mantle together constitute the lithosphere, which is typically
50-100 km thick and is broken into large plates.
The aesthenosphere is kept plastic largely through heat generated by
radioactive decay. The material that is decaying is primarily radioactive
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isotopes of light elements like aluminum and magnesium. This heat source is
small on an absolute scale. Nevertheless, because of the insulating properties
of the Earth's rocks this is sufficient to keep the aesthenosphere plastic in
consistency.
3. Convection Currents

Fig. 20. Convection Currents

Very slow convection currents flow in this plastic layer, and these
currents provide horizontal forces on the plates of the lithosphere much as
convection in a pan of boiling water causes a piece of cork on the surface of
the water to be pushed sideways.
The differentiation is crucial to plate tectonics on the Earth, because it
is responsible for producing an interior that can support tectonic motion.

F. PLUME THEORY
In 1971, geophysicist W. Jason Morgan proposed the hypothesis of mantle
plumes. In this hypothesis, convection in the mantle transports heat from the core to
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the Earth's surface in thermal diapirs. In this concept, two largely independent
convective processes occur in the mantle: the broad convective flow associated with
plate tectonics, which is driven primarily by the sinking of cold plates of lithosphere
back into the mantle asthenosphere, and mantle plumes, which carry heat upward in
narrow, rising columns, driven by heat exchange across the core-mantle boundary.
The latter type of convection is postulated to be independent of plate motions.
The sizes and occurrence of mushroom mantle plumes can be predicted easily
by transient instability theory developed by Tan and Thorpe. The theory predicts
mushroom mantle plumes of about 2000 km diameter with a critical time of about
830 Myr for a core mantle heat flux of 20 mW/m2, while the cycle time is about 2
Gyr. The number of mantle plumes is predicted to be about 17.
The narrow vertical pipe, or conduit, postulated to connect the plume head to
the core-mantle boundary, is viewed as providing a continuous supply of magma to a
fixed location, often referred to as a "hot spot". As the overlying tectonic plate
(lithosphere) moves over this "hot spot", the eruption of magma from the fixed
conduit onto the surface is expected to form a chain of volcanoes that parallels plate
motion. The Hawaiian Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean is the type example.
Interestingly, it has recently been discovered that the volcanic locus of this chain has
not been fixed over time, and it thus joined the club of the many type examples that
do not exhibit the key characteristic originally proposed.
The chemical and isotopic composition of basalts found at "hot spots" differs
subtly from mid-ocean-ridge basalts. This geochemical signature arises from the
mixing of near-surface materials such as subducted slabs and continental sediments,
in the mantle source. There are two competing interpretations for this. In the context
of mantle plumes, the near-surface material is postulated to have been transported
down to the core-mantle boundary by subducting slabs, and to have been transported
back up to the surface by plumes. In the context of the Plate hypothesis, subducted
material is mostly re-circulated in the shallow mantle and tapped from there by
volcanoes.
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The processing of oceanic crust, lithosphere, and sediment through a

subduction zone decouples the water-soluble trace elements (e.g., K, Rb, Th) from the
immobile trace elements (e.g., Ti, Nb, Ta), concentrating the immobile elements in
the oceanic slab (the water-soluble elements are added to the crust in island arc
volcanoes). Seismic tomography shows that subducted oceanic slabs sink as far as the
bottom of the mantle transition zone at 650 km depth. Subduction to greater depths is
less certain, but there is evidence that they may sink to mid-lower-mantle depths at
about 1,500 km depth.
The source of mantle plumes, is postulated to be the core-mantle boundary at
3,000 km depth. Because there is little material transport across the core-mantle
boundary, heat transfer must occur by conduction, with adiabatic gradients above and
below this boundary. The core-mantle boundary is a strong thermal (temperature)
discontinuity. The temperature of the core is approximately 1,000 degrees Celsius
higher than that of the overlying mantle. Plumes are postulated to rise as the base of
the mantle becomes hotter and more buoyant.
Plumes are postulated to rise through the mantle and begin to partially melt on
reaching shallow depths in the asthenosphere by decompression melting. This would
create large volumes of magma. The plume hypothesis postulates that this melt rises
to the surface and erupts to form "hot spots".
G. BIG BANG THEORY
1. History and Development Big Bang Theory
English astronomer Fred Hoyle is credited with coining the term "Big
Bang" during a 1949 BBC radio broadcast. It is popularly reported that
Hoyle, who favored an alternative "steady state" cosmological model,
intended this to be pejorative, but Hoyle explicitly denied this and said it
was just a striking image meant to highlight the difference between the
two models.
The Big Bang theory developed from observations of the structure of
the universe and from theoretical considerations. In 1912 Vesto Slipher
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measured the first Doppler shift of a "spiral nebula" (spiral nebula is the
obsolete term for spiral galaxies), and soon discovered that almost all such
nebulae were receding from Earth. He did not grasp the cosmological
implications of this fact, and indeed at the time it was highly controversial
whether or not these nebulae were "island universes" outside our Milky
Way. Ten years later, Alexander Friedmann, a Russian cosmologist and
mathematician, derived the Friedmann equations from Albert Einstein's
equations of general relativity, showing that the universe might be
expanding in contrast to the static universe model advocated by Einstein at
that time. In 1924 Edwin Hubble's measurement of the great distance to
the nearest spiral nebulae showed that these systems were indeed other
galaxies. Independently deriving Friedmann's equations in 1927, Georges
Lematre, a Belgian physicist and Roman Catholic priest, proposed that
the inferred recession of the nebulae was due to the expansion of the
universe.
Significant progress in Big Bang cosmology have been made since the
late 1990s as a result of advances in telescope technology as well as the
analysis of data from satellites such as COBE, the Hubble Space
Telescope and WMAP. Cosmologists now have fairly precise and accurate
measurements of many of the parameters of the Big Bang model, and have
made the unexpected discovery that the expansion of the universe appears
to be accelerating.
2. Big Bang Theory

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Fig. 21 Big Bang

The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model for the
universe from the earliest known periods through its subsequent largescale evolution. The model accounts for the fact that the universe
expanded from a very high density and high temperature state, and offers a
comprehensive explanation for a broad range of phenomena, including the
abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background, large
scale structure and Hubble's Law. If the known laws of physics are
extrapolated beyond where they are valid, there is a singularity. Modern
measurements place this moment at approximately 13.8 billion years ago,
which is thus considered the age of the universe. After the initial
expansion, the universe cooled sufficiently to allow the formation of
subatomic particles, and later simple atoms. Giant clouds of these
primordial elements later coalesced through gravity to form stars and
galaxies.
Since Georges Lematre first noted, in 1927, that an expanding
universe might be traced back in time to an originating single point,
scientists have built on his idea of cosmic expansion. While the scientific
community was once divided between supporters of two different
expanding universe theories, the Big Bang and the Steady State theory,
accumulated empirical evidence provides strong support for the former. In
1929, from analysis of galactic redshifts, Edwin Hubble concluded that
galaxies are drifting apart, important observational evidence consistent
with the hypothesis of an expanding universe. In 1965, the cosmic
microwave background radiation was discovered, which was crucial
evidence in favor of the Big Bang model, since that theory predicted the
existence of background radiation throughout the universe before it was
discovered. More recently, measurements of the redshifts of supernovae
indicate that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, an observation

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attributed to dark energy's existence. The known physical laws of nature

can be used to calculate the characteristics of the universe in detail back in
time to an initial state of extreme density and temperature.
Hubble observed that the distances to faraway galaxies were strongly
correlated with their redshifts. This was interpreted to mean that all distant
galaxies and clusters are receding away from our vantage point with an
apparent velocity proportional to their distance: that is, the farther they
are, the faster they move away from us, regardless of direction. Assuming
the Copernican principle (that the Earth is not the center of the universe),
the only remaining interpretation is that all observable regions of the
universe are receding from all others. Since we know that the distance
between galaxies increases today, it must mean that in the past galaxies
were closer together. The continuous expansion of the universe implies
that the universe was denser and hotter in the past.
Large particle accelerators can replicate the conditions that prevailed
after the early moments of the universe, resulting in confirmation and
refinement of the details of the Big Bang model. However, these
accelerators can only probe so far into high energy regimes. Consequently,
the state of the universe in the earliest instants of the Big Bang expansion
is still poorly understood and an area of open investigation and indeed,
speculation.
The first subatomic particles included protons, neutrons, and electrons.
Though simple atomic nuclei formed within the first three minutes after
the Big Bang, thousands of years passed before the first electrically
neutral atoms formed. The majority of atoms produced by the Big Bang
were hydrogen, along with helium and traces of lithium. Giant clouds of
these primordial elements later coalesced through gravity to form stars and
galaxies, and the heavier elements were synthesized either within stars or
during supernovae.

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The Big Bang theory offers a comprehensive explanation for a broad

range of observed phenomena, including the abundance of light elements,
the cosmic microwave background, large scale structure, and Hubble's
Law. The framework for the Big Bang model relies on Albert Einstein's
theory of general relativity and on simplifying assumptions such as
homogeneity and isotropy of space. The governing equations were
formulated by Alexander Friedmann, and similar solutions were worked
on by Willem de Sitter. Since then, astrophysicists have incorporated
observational and theoretical additions into the Big Bang model, and its
parametrization as the Lambda-CDM model serves as the framework for
current investigations of theoretical cosmology. The Lambda-CDM model
is the standard model of Big Bang cosmology, the simplest model that
provides a reasonably good account of various observations about the
universe.
3. Chronology of Events Big Bang
a. Singularity
Extrapolation of the expansion of the universe backwards in
time using general relativity yields an infinite density and temperature
at a finite time in the past. This singularity signals the breakdown of
general relativity and thus, all the laws of physics. How closely this
can be extrapolated toward the singularity is debatedcertainly no
closer than the end of the Planck epoch. This singularity is sometimes
called "the Big Bang", but the term can also refer to the early hot,
dense phase itself, which can be considered the "birth" of our universe.
Based on measurements of the expansion using Type Ia supernovae
and measurements of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic
microwave background, the universe has an estimated age of 13.799
0.021 billion years. The agreement of these three independent
measurements strongly supports the CDM model that describes in
detail the contents of the universe.
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b. Inflation and baryogenesis

The earliest phases of the Big Bang are subject to much
speculation. In the most common models the universe was filled
homogeneously and isotropically with a very high energy density and
huge temperatures and pressures and was very rapidly expanding and
cooling. Approximately 1037 seconds into the expansion, a phase
transition caused a cosmic inflation, during which the universe grew
exponentially. After inflation stopped, the universe consisted of a
quarkgluon plasma, as well as all other elementary particles.
Temperatures were so high that the random motions of particles were
at relativistic speeds, and particleantiparticle pairs of all kinds were
being continuously created and destroyed in collisions. At some point
an unknown reaction called baryogenesis violated the conservation of
baryon number, leading to a very small excess of quarks and leptons
over antiquarks and antileptonsof the order of one part in 30 million.
This resulted in the predominance of matter over antimatter in the
present universe.
c. Cooling
The universe continued to decrease in density and fall in
temperature, hence the typical energy of each particle was decreasing.
Symmetry breaking phase transitions put the fundamental forces of
physics and the parameters of elementary particles into their present
form. After about 1011 seconds, the picture becomes less speculative,
since particle energies drop to values that can be attained in particle
physics experiments. At about 106 seconds, quarks and gluons
combined to form baryons such as protons and neutrons. The small
excess of quarks over antiquarks led to a small excess of baryons over
antibaryons. The temperature was now no longer high enough to create
new protonantiproton pairs (similarly for neutronsantineutrons), so a
mass annihilation immediately followed, leaving just one in 1010 of
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the original protons and neutrons, and none of their antiparticles. A

similar process happened at about 1 second for electrons and positrons.
After these annihilations, the remaining protons, neutrons and
electrons were no longer moving relativistically and the energy density
of the universe was dominated by photons (with a minor contribution
from neutrinos).
A few minutes into the expansion, when the temperature was
about a billion (one thousand million; 109; SI prefix giga-) kelvin and
the density was about that of air, neutrons combined with protons to
form the universe's deuterium and helium nuclei in a process called
Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Most protons remained uncombined as
hydrogen nuclei. As the universe cooled, the rest mass energy density
of matter came to gravitationally dominate that of the photon radiation.
After about 379,000 years the electrons and nuclei combined into
atoms (mostly hydrogen); hence the radiation decoupled from matter
and continued through space largely unimpeded. This relic radiation is
known as the cosmic microwave background radiation. The chemistry
of life may have begun shortly after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years
ago, during a habitable epoch when the universe was only 1017
million years old.
d. Structure formation
Over a long period of time, the slightly denser regions of the
nearly uniformly distributed matter gravitationally attracted nearby
matter and thus grew even denser, forming gas clouds, stars, galaxies,
and the other astronomical structures observable today. The details of
this process depend on the amount and type of matter in the universe.
The four possible types of matter are known as cold dark matter, warm
dark matter, hot dark matter, and baryonic matter. The best
measurements available (from WMAP) show that the data is well-fit
by a Lambda-CDM model in which dark matter is assumed to be cold
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(warm dark matter is ruled out by early reionization), and is estimated

to make up about 23% of the matter/energy of the universe, while
baryonic matter makes up about 4.6%. In an "extended model" which
includes hot dark matter in the form of neutrinos, then if the "physical
baryon density" bh2 is estimated at about 0.023 (this is different
from the 'baryon density' b expressed as a fraction of the total
matter/energy density, which as noted above is about 0.046), and the
corresponding cold dark matter density ch2 is about 0.11, the
corresponding neutrino density vh2 is estimated to be less than
0.0062.
e. Cosmic acceleration
Independent lines of evidence from Type Ia supernovae and the
CMB imply that the universe today is dominated by a mysterious form
of energy known as dark energy, which apparently permeates all of
space. The observations suggest 73% of the total energy density of
today's universe is in this form. When the universe was very young, it
was likely infused with dark energy, but with less space and
everything closer together, gravity predominated, and it was slowly
braking the expansion. But eventually, after numerous billion years of
expansion, the growing abundance of dark energy caused the
expansion of the universe to slowly begin to accelerate. Dark energy in
its simplest formulation takes the form of the cosmological constant
term in Einstein's field equations of general relativity, but its
composition and mechanism are unknown and, more generally, the
details of its equation of state and relationship with the Standard
Model of particle physics continue to be investigated both
observationally and theoretically.
All of this cosmic evolution after the inflationary epoch can be
rigorously described and modelled by the CDM model of cosmology,
which uses the independent frameworks of quantum mechanics and
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Einstein's General Relativity. There is no well-supported model

describing the action prior to 1015 seconds or so. Apparently a new
unified theory of quantum gravitation is needed to break this barrier.
Understanding this earliest of eras in the history of the universe is
currently one of the greatest unsolved problems in physics.

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CHAPTER VI
PRECAMBRIAN
A. GENERAL INFORMATION
Precambrian was a time before the Cambrian. Precambrian is the longest
period in the geological time scale in which this period starts from the first time that
the Earth was formed about 4.6 billion years ago to 542 million years ago.
Relatively little is known about the Precambrian, despite it making up roughly
seven-eighths of the Earth's history, and what is known has largely been discovered
from the 1960s onwards. The Precambrian fossil record is poorer than that of the
succeeding Phanerozoic, and those fossils present (e.g. stromatolites) are of limited
biostratigraphic use. This is because many Precambrian rocks have been heavily
metamorphosed, obscuring their origins, while others have been destroyed by erosion,
or remain deeply buried beneath Phanerozoic strata.
It is thought that the Earth itself coalesced from material in orbit around the
Sun roughly 4500 Ma, or 4.5 billion years ago (Ga), and may have been struck by a
very large (Mars-sized) planetesimal shortly after it formed, splitting off material that
formed the Moon (see Giant impact hypothesis). A stable crust was apparently in
place by 4400 Ma, since zircon crystals from Western Australia have been dated at
4404 Ma.
The term Precambrian is recognized by the International Commission on
Stratigraphy as a general term including the Archean and Proterozoic eons. It is still
used by geologists and paleontologists for general discussions not requiring the more
specific eon names. It was briefly also called the Cryptozoic eon.

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B. DIVISION PRECAMBRIAN

Fig 22. Precambrian Timeline

1. Hadean
Hadean Era began with the formation of the earth from dust and gas
orbiting the Sun about 4.6 billion years ago. During this era the surface of the
Earth was like popular visions about Hades: oceans of liquid rock, boiling
sulfur, and impact craters everywhere! Volcanoes blast off all over the place,
and the rain of rocks and asteroids from space never ends. It's hard to take a
step without falling in a pool of lava or getting hit by a meteor! The air is hot,
thick, steamy, and full of dust and crud. But you can't breathe it anyway: it's
made of nothing but carbon dioxide and water vapor, with traces of nitrogen
and smelly sulfur compounds! Any rocks that do form from cooling lavas are
quickly buried under new lava flows or blasted to bits by yet another impact.
Some people think that an asteroid as large as the planet Mars hit the Earth
near the beginning of the Hadean era, completely smashing and melting the
Earth and forming the Moon as part of the splash. No one has found any
rocks on earth from this era. Only meteorites from space and moon rocks are
this old. If any life formed on earth during this era, it was probably destroyed.

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Fig. 23. Earth in Hadean

2. Archean
Archean ("Ancient" or "Primitive") Era begins about a billion years
after the formation of the earth, and things have changed a lot. Mostly
everything has cooled down. Most of the water vapor that was in the air has
cooled and condensed to form a global ocean. Even most of the carbon
dioxide is gone, having been chemically changed into limestone and deposited
at the bottom of the ocean. The air is now mostly nitrogen, and the sky is
filled with normal clouds and rain. The lava is also mostly cooled to form the
ocean floor. The interior of the earth is still quite hot and active, as shown by
the many erupting volcanoes. The volcanoes form lots of small islands in long
chains. The islands are the only land surface. The continents have not formed
yet. The islands are carried over the surface of the earth by the movement of
rock deep in the earth's interior. (This movement results from the loss of heat
from the deep interior and is called plate tectonics.) Occasionally the small
islands collide with each other to form larger islands. Eventually these larger
islands will collide to form the cores of the continents we know today. Thank
goodness those pesky asteroids and meteorites are now mostly gone, so
impact craters form only occasionally. Evidence of blue-green algae (actually

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simple bacteria) floating in the ocean. That's all there is! Just single-celled
bacteria in the ocean. There is as yet no life on land. Life began in the ocean
near the beginning of this era. The oldest known fossils - the remains of
different types of bacteria - are in archean rocks about 3.5 billion years old.

Fig. 24. Earth in Archaean

3. Proterozoic
Proterozoic ("Early Life") Era. Well, here we are about 700 million
years ago, near the end of the longest time period in geologic history. It began
about two billion years after the formation of the earth and lasted about
another two billion years! So what has happened in all that time? Hmmmmm.
There is a lot more land to be seen. In fact, there are two supercontinents, one
visible across the equator on this side of the earth and another one on the other
side. These huge masses of land formed by collisions of the many, many
islands made by volcanoes during the Archean and most of the Proterozoic
eras. The earth's interior has cooled some more, and there are fewer volcanoes
than in the Archean. Even though the movements of the earth's surface we call
Plate Tectonics are still very fast and continental collisions are frequent (every
few hundred million years or so!), the centers or cores of the continents are
now quite large and stable. In fact, geologists date the beginning of the
Proterozoic Era by the age of the oldest continental rocks that have not been
reheated or chemically altered. Life has not changed much during the last two

77

billion years, but the few changes are significant. Life is still found only in the
ocean, but somewhere around 1.7 billion years ago, single-celled creatures
appeared that had a real nucleus. Another important change is about to
happen: true multi-celled life is about to appear, some 30 million years before
the end of the Proterozoic. These multi-celled creatures will have no hard
parts like shells or teeth in their bodies, so their fossils will be hard to find.
The atmosphere is about the same, mostly nitrogen, with a little water vapor
and carbon dioxide. But what's this? Free oxygen released by the algae
floating in the oceans is beginning to collect in the air. These single-celled
plants have been producing oxygen for about two billion years, but up until
now the oxygen has been combining chemically with iron and other elements
to form great mineral deposits around the world. Paradoxically, this oxygen,
which we must have to live, is poisonous to most of the life forms living on
the Earth during the Proterozoic, so another great change in the types of life is
about to occur.
The earth at this time is also very cold, with huge, bluish glacial ice
sheets visible across the supercontinent, even in the normally warm equatorial
regions!

In fact, glaciers invaded Michigan at this time; this glaciation is

referred to as the Gowganda glaciation.

Fig. 25. Earth in Proterozoic

C. EVIDENCE AND FOSSIL RECORD IN CAMBRIAN

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The earliest living organisms were microscopic bacteria, which show up in the
fossil record as early as 3.4 billion years ago. As their numbers multiplied and
supplies of their chemical fuel were eaten up, bacteria sought out an alternative
energy source. New varieties began to harness the power of the sun through a
biochemical process known as photosynthesisa move that would ultimately lead to
simple plants and which opened the planet up to animal life.
Some three billion years ago the Earth's atmosphere was virtually devoid of
oxygen. At about 2.4 billion years ago, oxygen was released from the seas as a
byproduct of photosynthesis by cyanobacteria. Levels of the gas gradually climbed,
reaching about one percent around two billion years ago. About 800 million years
ago, oxygen levels reached about 21 percent and began to breathe life into more
complex organisms. The oxygen-rich ozone layer was also established, shielding the
Earth's surface from harmful solar radiation.
The first multicelled animals appeared in the fossil record almost 600 million
years ago. Known as the Ediacarans, these bizarre creatures bore little resemblance to
modern life-forms. They grew on the seabed and lacked any obvious heads, mouths,
or digestive organs. Fossils of the largest known among them, Dickinsonia, resemble
a ribbed doormat. What happened to the mysterious Ediacarans isn't clear. They could
be the ancestors of later animals, or they may have been completely erased by
extinction.
The earliest multicelled animals that survived the Precambrian fall into three
main categories. The simplest of these soft-bodied creatures were sponges. Lacking
organs or a nervous system, they lived by drawing water through their bodies and
filtering out food particles. The cnidarians, which included sea anemones, corals, and
jellyfish, had sac-like bodies and a simple digestive system with a mouth but no anus.
They caught food using tentacles armed with microscopic stinging cells. The third
group, the annelids, or segmented flatworms, had fluid-filled body cavities and
breathed through their skins.

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It's thought the final stages of Precambrian time were marked by a prolonged
global ice age. This may have led to widespread extinctions, mirroring the bleak
endings to the geologic periods that followed.

Fig. 26. Cambrian Fossil Record

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CHAPTER VII
PALEOZOIC

Fig. 27. Paleozoic Timeline

Paleozoic is the era of the geological time scale in which this era starts
from 542-251 million years ago. This era is divided into the following:
A. CAMBRIAN
The Cambrian Period is the first geological time period of the Paleozoic
Era (the time of ancient life). This period lasted about 53 million years and marked
a dramatic burst of evolutionary changes in life on Earth, known as the "Cambrian
Explosion." Among the animals that evolved during this period were the chordates,
animals with a dorsal nerve cord; hard-bodied brachiopods, which resembled clams;
and arthropods, ancestors of spiders, insects and crustaceans.

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Though there is some scientific debate about what fossil strata should mark the
beginning of the period, the International Geological Congress places the lower
boundary of the period at 543 million years ago with the first appearance in the fossil
record of worms that made horizontal burrows. The end of the Cambrian Period is
marked by evidence in the fossil record of a mass extinction event about 490 million
years ago. The Cambrian Period was followed by the Ordovician Period.
The period gets its name from Cambria, the Roman name for Wales,
where Adam Sedgwick, one of the pioneers of geology, studied rock strata. Charles
Darwin was one of his students. (Sedgwick, however, never accepted Darwin's theory
of evolution and natural selection.)
1. Climate of the Cambrian Period
In the early Cambrian, Earth was generally cold but was gradually
warming as the glaciers of the late Proterozoic Eon receded. Tectonic
evidence suggests that the single supercontinent Rodinia broke apart and
by the early to mid-Cambrian there were two continents. Gondwana, near
the South Pole, was a supercontinent that later formed much of the land
area of modern Africa, Australia, South America, Antarctica and parts of
Asia. Laurentia, nearer the equator, was composed of landmasses that
currently make up much of North America and part of Europe. Increased
coastal area and flooding due to glacial retreat created more shallow sea
environments.
At this point, no life yet existed on land; all life was aquatic. Very
early in the Cambrian the sea floor was covered by a mat of microbial
life above a thick layer of oxygen-free mud. The first multicellular life
forms had evolved in the late Proterozoic to graze on the microbes.
These multicellular organisms were the first to show evidence of a
bilateral body plan. These near-microscopic worms began to burrow,
mixing and oxygenating the mud of the ocean floor. During this time,
dissolved oxygen was increasing in the water because of the presence of

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cyanobacteria. The first animals to develop calcium carbonate

exoskeletons built coral reefs.
The middle of the Cambrian Period began with an extinction event.
Many of the reef-building organisms died out, as well as the most
primitive trilobites. One hypothesis suggests that this was due to a
temporary depletion of oxygen caused by an upwelling of cooler water
from deep ocean areas. This upwelling eventually resulted in a variety of
marine environments ranging from the deep ocean to the shallow coastal
zones. Scientists hypothesize that this increase in available ecological
niches set the stage for the abrupt radiation in life forms commonly called
the Cambrian Explosion.
2. Fossils of the Cambrian Period
Scientists find some of the best specimens for the evolutionary
experiments of the Cambrian Period in the fossil beds of the Sirius Passet
formation in Greenland; Chenjiang, China; and the Burgess Shale of
British Columbia. These formations are remarkable because the conditions
of fossilization led to impressions of both hard and soft body parts and the
most complete records of the varieties of organisms alive in the Cambrian
Period.
The Sirius Passet formation has fossils estimated to be from the early
Cambrian Period. Arthropods are the most abundant, although the groups
are not as diverse as those found in the later Burgess Shale formation.
The Sirius Passet has the first fossil indications of complex predator/prey
relationships. For example, Halkieria were slug-shaped animals with shell
caps at either end. The rest of the body was covered in smaller armor
plates over a soft snail-like foot. It is unclear whether they are more
closely related to the annelids, such as modern-day earthworms and
leeches, or are a primitive mollusk. Some specimens have been found in
curled up defensive postures like modern pill bugs. Predator/prey

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relationships provide intensive selection pressures that lead to rapid

speciation and evolutionary change.
Burgess Shale fossils are from the late Cambrian. Diversity had
increased dramatically. There are at least 12 species of trilobite in the
Burgess Shale; whereas in the Sirius Passet, there are only two. It is clear
that representatives of every animal phylum, excepting only the Bryozoa,
existed by this time.
3. Subdivisions
The Cambrian period follows the Ediacaran and is followed by the
Ordovician period. The Cambrian is divided into four epochs or series and
ten ages or stages. Currently only two series and five stages are named and
have a GSSP.
Because the international stratigraphic subdivision is not yet complete,
many local subdivisions are still widely used. In some of these
subdivisions the Cambrian is divided into three epochs with locally
differing names the Early Cambrian (Caerfai or Waucoban, 541 0.3 to
509 1.7 mya), Middle Cambrian (St Davids or Albertan, 509 0.3 to
497 1.7 mya) and Furongian (497 0.3 to 485.4 1.7 mya; also known
as Late Cambrian, Merioneth or Croixan). Rocks of these epochs are
referred to as belonging to the Lower, Middle, or Upper Cambrian.
B. ORDOVICIAN
The Ordovician Period lasted almost 45 million years, beginning 488.3
million years ago and ending 443.7 million years ago.* During this period, the area
north of the tropics was almost entirely ocean, and most of the world's land was
collected into the southern supercontinent Gondwana. Throughout the Ordovician,
Gondwana shifted towards the South Pole and much of it was submerged underwater.
The Ordovician is best known for its diverse marine invertebrates, including
graptolites, trilobites, brachiopods, and the conodonts (early vertebrates). A typical
marine community consisted of these animals, plus red and green algae, primitive
fish, cephalopods, corals, crinoids, and gastropods. More recently, tetrahedral spores
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that are similar to those of primitive land plants have been found, suggesting that
plants invaded the land at this time.
From the Lower to Middle Ordovician, the Earth experienced a milder climate
the weather was warm and the atmosphere contained a lot of moisture. However,
when Gondwana finally settled on the South Pole during the Upper Ordovician,
massive glaciers formed, causing shallow seas to drain and sea levels to drop. This
likely caused the mass extinctions that characterize the end of the Ordovician in
which 60% of all marine invertebrate genera and 25% of all families went extinct.
1. Life
Ordovician strata are characterized by numerous and diverse trilobites
and conodonts (phosphatic fossils with a tooth-like appearance) found in
sequences of shale, limestone, dolostone, and sandstone. In addition,
blastoids, bryozoans, corals, crinoids, as well as many kinds of brachiopods,
snails, clams, and cephalopods appeared for the first time in the geologic
record in tropical Ordovician environments. Remains of ostracoderms
(jawless, armored fish) from Ordovician rocks comprise some of the oldest
vertebrate fossils.
Despite the appearance of coral fossils during this time, reef
ecosystems continued to be dominated by algae and sponges, and in some
cases by bryozoans. However, there apparently were also periods of complete
reef collapse due to global disturbances.
The major global patterns of life underwent tremendous change during the
Ordovician. Shallow seas covering much of Gondwana became breeding
grounds for new forms of trilobites. Many species of graptolites went extinct
by the close of the period, but the first planktonic graptolites appeared.
In the late Lower Ordovician, the diversity of conodonts decreased in
the North Atlantic Realm, but new lineages appeared in other regions. Seven
major conodont lineages went extinct, but were replaced by nine new lineages
that resulted from a major evolutionary radiation. These lineages included
many new and morphologically different taxa. Sea level transgression
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persisted causing the drowning of almost the entire Gondwana craton. By this
time, conodonts had reached their peak development.
Although fragments of vertebrate bone and even some soft-bodied
vertebrate relatives are now known from the Cambrian, the Ordovician is
marked by the appearance of the oldest complete vertebrate fossils. These
were jawless, armored fish informally called ostracoderms, but more correctly
placed in the taxon Pteraspidomorphi. Typical Ordovician fish had large bony
shields on the head, small, rod-shaped or platelike scales covering the tail, and
a slitlike mouth at the anterior end of the animal. Such fossils come from
nearshore marine strata of Ordovician age in Australia, South America, and
western North America.
Perhaps the most "groundbreaking" occurrence of the Ordovician was
the colonization of the land. Remains of early terrestrial arthropods are known
from this time, as are microfossils of the cells, cuticle, and spores of early land
plants.
2. Stratigraphy
The Ordovician was named by the British geologist Charles Lapworth
in 1879. He took the name from an ancient Celtic tribe, the Ordovices,
renowned for its resistance to Roman domination. For decades, the epochs and
series of the Ordovician each had a type location in Britain, where their
characteristic faunas could be found, but in recent years, the stratigraphy of
the Ordovician has been completely reworked. Graptolites, extinct planktonic
organisms, have been and still are used to correlate Ordovician strata.
Particularly good examples of Ordovician sequences are found in
China (Yangtze Gorge area, Hubei Province), Western Australia (Emanuel
Formation, Canning Basin), Argentina (La Chilca Formation, San Juan
Province), the United States (Bear River Range, Utah), and Canada (Survey
Peak Formation, Alberta). Ordovician rocks over much of these areas are
typified by a considerable thickness of lime and other carbonate rocks that
accumulated in shallow subtidal and intertidal environments. Quartzites are

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also present. Rocks formed from sediments deposited on the margins of

Ordovician shelves are commonly dark, organic-rich mudstones which bear
the remains of graptolites and may have thin seams of iron sulfide.
3. Tectonics and paleoclimate
During the Ordovician, most of the world's land southern Europe,
Africa, South America, Antarctica, and Australia was collected together in
the super-continent Gondwana. Throughout the Ordovician, Gondwana moved
towards the South Pole where it finally came to rest by the end of the period.
In the Lower Ordovician, North America roughly straddled the equator and
almost all of that continent lay underwater. By the Middle Ordovician North
America had shed its seas and a tectonic highland, roughly corresponding to
the later Appalachian Mountains, formed along the eastern margin of the
continent. Also at this time, western and central Europe were separated and
located in the southern tropics; Europe shifted towards North America from
higher to lower latitudes.
During the Middle Ordovician, uplifts took place in most of the areas
that had been under shallow shelf seas. These uplifts are seen as the precursor
to glaciation. Also during the Middle Ordovician, latitudinal plate motions
appear to have taken place, including the northward drift of the Baltoscandian
Plate (northern Europe). Increased sea floor spreading accompanied by
volcanic activity occurred in the early Middle Ordovician. Ocean currents
changed as a result of lateral continental plate motions causing the opening of
the Atlantic Ocean. Sea levels underwent regression and transgression
globally. Because of sea level transgression, flooding of the Gondwana craton
occurred as well as regional drowning which caused carbonate sedimentation
to stop.
During the Upper Ordovician, a major glaciation centered in Africa
occurred resulting in a severe drop in sea level which drained nearly all craton
platforms. This glaciation contributed to ecological disruption and mass
extinctions. Nearly all conodonts disappeared in the North Atlantic Realm
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while only certain lineages became extinct in the Midcontinental Realm.

Some trilobites, echinoderms, brachiopods, bryozoans, graptolites, and
chitinozoans also became extinct. The Atlantic Ocean closed as Europe moved
towards North America. Climatic fluctuations were extreme as glaciation
continued and became more extensive. Cold climates with floating marine ice
developed as the maximum glaciation was reached.
C. SILURIAN
The Silurian (443.7 to 416.0 million years ago)* was a time when the Earth
underwent considerable changes that had important repercussions for the environment
and life within it. One result of these changes was the melting of large glacial
formations. This contributed to a substantial rise in the levels of the major seas. The
Silurian witnessed a relative stabilization of the Earth's general climate, ending the
previous pattern of erratic climatic fluctuations.
Coral reefs made their first appearance during this time, and the Silurian was
also a remarkable time in the evolution of fishes. Not only does this time period mark
the wide and rapid spread of jawless fish, but also the highly significant appearances
of both the first known freshwater fish as well as the first fish with jaws. It is also at
this time that our first good evidence of life on land is preserved, such as relatives of
spiders and centipedes, and also the earliest fossils of vascular plants.
1. Life
The Silurian is a time when many biologically significant events
occurred. In the oceans, there was a widespread radiation of crinoids, a
continued proliferation and expansion of the brachiopods, and the oldest
known fossils of coral reefs. As mentioned earlier, this time period also
marks the wide and rapid spread of jawless fish, along with the important
appearances of both the first known freshwater fish and the appearance of
jawed fish. Other marine fossils commonly found throughout the Silurian
record include trilobites, graptolites, conodonts, corals, stromatoporoids,
and mollusks.
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It is also in the Silurian that we find the first clear evidence of life on
land. While it is possible that plants and animals first moved onto the land
in the Ordovician, fossils of terrestrial life from that period are
fragmentary and difficult to interpret. Silurian strata have provided likely
ascomycete fossils (a group of fungi), as well as remains of the first
arachnids and centipedes.
Perhaps most striking of all biological events in the Silurian was the
evolution of vascular plants, which have been the basis of terrestrial
ecology since their appearance. Most Silurian plant fossils have been
assigned to the genus Cooksonia, a collection of branching-stemmed
plants which produced sporangia at their tips. None of these plants had
leaves, and some appear to have lacked vascular tissue. Also from the
Silurian of Australia comes a controversial fossil of Baragwanathia, a
lycophyte. If such a complex plant with leaves and a fully-developed
vascular system was present by this time, then surely plants must have
been around already by the Ordovician. In any event, the Silurian was a
time for important events in the history of evolution, including many
"firsts," that would prove highly consequential for the future of life on
Earth.
2. Stratigraphy
The Silurian's stratigraphy is subdivided into four epochs (from oldest
to youngest): the Llandovery, Wenlock, Ludlow, and Pridoli. Each epoch
is distinguished from the others by the appearance of new species of
graptolites. Graptolites are a group of extinct colonial, aquatic animals that
put in their first appearance in the Cambrian Period and persisted into the
early Carboniferous. The beginning of the Silurian (and the Llandovery) is
marked by the appearance of Parakidograptus acuminatus, a species of
graptolite.
The Llandovery (443.7-428.2 million years ago*) preserves its fossils
in shale, sandstone, and gray mudstone sediment. Its base (beginning) is
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marked by the appearance of the graptolites Parakidograptus acuminatus

and Akidograptus ascensus. The Llandoverian epoch is subdivided into the
Rhuddanian, Aeronian, and Telychian stages.
At the close of the Telychian stage, the appearance of Cyrtograptus
centrifugus marks the start of the Wenlockian epoch (428.2 to 422.9
million years ago).* The fossils are found in siltstone and mudstone under
limestone. Missing from the fossil record of the Wenlock was the
conodont Pterospathodus amorphognathoides, present in earlier strata.
This is an epoch with excellent preservations of brachiopod, coral,
trilobite, clam, bryozoan, and crinoid fossils. The Wenlock is subdivided
into the Sheinwoodian and Homerian stages.
The Ludlow (422.9 to 418.7 million years ago)* consists of siltstone
and limestone strata, marked by the appearance of Neodiversograptus
nilssoni. There is an abundance of shelly animal fossils. The Gorstian and
Ludfordian stages make up the Ludlow epoch.
Platy limestone strata rich in cephalopods and bivalves characterize
the Pridolian (418.7 to 416.0 million years ago),* the final epoch of the
Silurian. It is marked by the appearance of the index fossil Monograptus
parultimus, and also by two new species of chitinozoans (marine
plankton), Urnochitina urna and Fungochitina kosovensis, which appear at
the base or just above the base of the Pridoli.
3. Tectonics and paleoclimate
Although there were no major periods of volcanism during the
Silurian, the period is marked by major orogenic events in eastern North
America and in northwestern Europe (the Caledonian Orogeny), resulting
in the formation of the mountain chains there. The ocean basins between
the regions known as Laurentia (North America and Greenland), Baltica
(central and northern Europe and Scandinavia) and Avalonia (western
Europe) closed substantially, continuing a geologic trend that had begun
much earlier. The modern Philippine Islands were near the Arctic Circle,

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while Australia and Scandinavia resided in the tropics; South America and
Africa were over the South Pole. While not characterized by dramatic
tectonic activity, the Silurian world experienced gradual continental
changes that would be the basis for greater global consequences in the
future, such as those that created terrestrial ecosystems. A deglaciation and
rise in sea levels created many new marine habitats, providing the
framework for significant biological events in the evolution of life. Coral
reefs, for example, made their first appearance in the fossil record during
this time.
The Silurian Period's condition of low continental elevations with a
high global stand in sea level can be strongly distinguished from the
present-day environment. This is a result of the flood of 65% of the
shallow seas in North America during the Llandovery and Wenlock times.
The shallow seas ranged from tropical to subtropical in climate. Coral
mound reefs with associated carbonate sediments were common in the
shallow seas. Due to reduced circulation during the Ludlow and Pridoli
times, the process of deposition of evaporites (salts) was set in motion.
Some of these deposits are found in northern Europe, Siberia, South China
and Australia.
D. DEVONIAN
During the Devonian, two major animal groups colonized the land. The first
tetrapods land-living vertebrates

appeared during the Devonian, as did the first

terrestrial arthropods, including wingless insects and the earliest arachnids. In the
oceans, brachiopods flourished. Crinoids and other echinoderms, tabulate and rugose
corals, and ammonites were also common. Many new kinds of fish appeared.
During the Devonian, there were three major continental masses: North
America and Europe sat together near the equator, with much of their current area
covered by shallow seas. To the north lay a portion of modern Siberia. A composite

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continent of South America, Africa, Antarctica, India, and Australia dominated the
southern hemisphere.
1. Life
a. The Devonian seas
The Devonian seas were dominated by brachiopods, such as
the spiriferids, and by tabulate and rugose corals, which built large
reefs in shallow waters. Encrusting red algae also contributed to
reef building. In the Lower Devonian, ammonoids appeared,
leaving us large limestone deposits from their shells. Bivalves,
crinoid and blastoid echinoderms, graptolites, and trilobites were
all present, though most groups of trilobites disappeared by the
close of the Devonian.
The Devonian is also notable for the rapid diversification in
fish. Benthic, jawless, armored fish are common by the Lower
Devonian. These early fish include a number of different groups.
By the the Middle Devonian, placoderms, the first jawed fish,
appear. Many of these grew to large sizes and were fearsome
predators. Of the greatest interest to us is the rise of the first
sarcopterygians, the lobe-finned fish, which eventually produced
the first tetrapods just before the end of the Devonian.
b. The Devonian landscape
By the Devonian Period, colonization of the land was well
underway. Before this time, there was no organic accumulation in
the soils, resulting in soils with a reddish color. This is indicative
of the underdeveloped landscape, probably colonized only by
bacterial and algal mats.
By the start of the Devonian, early terrestrial vegetation had
begun to spread. These plants did not have roots or leaves like
most plants today, and many had no vascular tissue at all. They
probably spread vegetatively, rather than by spores or seeds, and
did not grow much more than a few centimeters tall. These plants
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included the now extinct zosterophylls and trimerophytes. The

early fauna living among these plants were primarily arthropods:
mites, trigonotarbids, wingless insects, and myriapods, though
these early faunas are not well known.
By the Late Devonian, lycophytes, sphenophytes, ferns, and
progymnosperms had evolved. Most of these plants have true roots
and leaves, and many grew quite tall. The progymnosperm
Archaeopteris (see photo above) was a large tree with true wood. It
was the oldest known tree until the 2007 identification of Wattieza
in 2007. By the end of the Devonian, the first seed plants had
appeared. This rapid appearance of so many plant groups and
growth forms has been called the "Devonian Explosion." Along
with this diversification in terrestrial vegetation structure, came a
diversification of the arthropods.
2. Tectonics and paleoclimate
Significant changes in the world's geography took place during the
Devonian. During this period, the world's land was collected into two
supercontinents, Gondwana and Euramerica. These vast landmasses lay
relatively near each other in a single hemisphere, while a vast ocean
covered the rest of the globe. These supercontinents were surrounded on
all sides by subduction zones. With the development of the subduction
zone between Gondwana and Euramerica, a major collision was set in
motion that would bring the two together to form the single worldcontinent Pangea in the Permian.
In addition to global patterns of change, many important regional
activities also occurred. The continents of North America and Europe
collided, resulting in massive granite intrusions and the raising of the
Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America. Vigorous erosion of
these newly uplifted mountains yielded great volumes of sediment, which
were deposited in vast lowlands and shallow seas nearby.
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Extensive reef building, producing some of the world's largest reef

complexes, proceeded as stromatoporoids and corals appeared in
increasing numbers. These were built in the equatorial seas between the
continents. Large shallow seas in North America, central Asia, and
Australia became basins in which great quantities of rock salt, gypsum,
and other minerals precipitated.
Near the end of the Devonian, a mass extinction event occurred.
Glaciation and the lowering of the global sea level may have triggered this
crisis, since the evidence suggests warm water marine species were most
affected. Meteorite impacts have also been blamed for the mass extinction,
or changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide. It is even conceivable that it
was the evolution and spread of forests and the first plants with complex
root systems that may have altered the global climate. Whatever the cause,
it was about this time that the first vertebrates moved onto the land.

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E. CARBONIFEROUS
The Carboniferous Period lasted from about 359.2 to 299 million years ago*
during the late Paleozoic Era. The term "Carboniferous" comes from England, in
reference to the rich deposits of coal that occur there. These deposits of coal occur
throughout northern Europe, Asia, and midwestern and eastern North America. The
term "Carboniferous" is used throughout the world to describe this period, although in
the United States it has been separated into the Mississippian (early Carboniferous)
and the Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous) Subsystems. This division was
established to distinguish the coal-bearing layers of the Pennsylvanian from the
mostly limestone Mississippian, and is a result of differing stratigraphy on the
different continents. The Mississippian and Pennsylvanian, in turn, are subdivided
into a number of internationally recognized stages based on evolutionary successions
of fossil groups . These stages are (from early to late) Tournaisian, Visean, and
Serpukhovian for the Mississippian and Bashkirian, Moscovian, Kasimovian, and
Gzhelian for the Pennsylvanian.
1. Life
The beginning of the Carboniferous generally had a more uniform,
tropical, and humid climate than exists today. Seasons if any were
indistinct. These observations are based on comparisons between fossil
and modern-day plant morphology. The Carboniferous plants resemble
those that live in tropical and mildly temperate areas today. Many of them
lack growth rings, which suggests a uniform climate. This uniformity in
climate may have been the result of the large expanse of ocean that
covered the entire surface of the globe, except for a localized section
where Pangea, the massive supercontinent that existed during the late
Paleozoic and early Triassic, was coming together.
Shallow, warm, marine waters often flooded the continents. Attached
filter feeders such as bryozoans, particularly fenestellids, were abundant in
this environment, and the sea floor was dominated by brachiopods.

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Trilobites were increasingly scarce while foraminifers were abundant. The

heavily armored fish from the Devonian became extinct, being replaced
with more modern-looking fish fauna.
Uplifting near the end of the Mississippian resulted in increased
erosion, with an increase in the number of floodplains and deltas. The
deltaic environment supported fewer corals, crinoids, blastoids, cryozoans,
and bryzoans, which were abundant earlier in the Carboniferous.
Freshwater clams made their first appearance, and there was an increase in
gastropod, bony fish, and shark diversity. As the continents moved closer
to forming Pangea, there was a net decrease in coastline, which in turn
affected the diversity of marine life in those shallow continental waters.
Two large ice sheets at the southern pole locked up large amounts of
water as ice. With so much water taken out of the water cycle, sea levels
dropped, leading to an increase in terrestrial habitat. Increases and
decreases in glaciation during the Pennsylvanian resulted in sea level
fluctuations that can be seen in the rocks as striped patterns of alternating
shale and coal layers.
The uplift of the continents caused a transition to a more terrestrial
environment during the Pennsylvanian Subsystem, although swamp
forests were widespread. In the swamp forests, seedless plants such as
lycopsids flourished and were the primary source of carbon for the coal
that is characteristic of the period. The lycopods underwent a major
extinction event after a drying trend, most likely caused by increased
glaciation, during the Pennsylvanian. Ferns and sphenopsids became more
important later during the Carboniferous, and the earliest relatives of the
conifers appeared. The first land snails appeared and insects with wings
that can't fold back, such as dragonflies and mayflies, flourished and
radiated. These insects, as well as millipedes, scorpions, and spiders
became important in the ecosystem.

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A trend towards aridity and an increase in terrestrial habitat led to the

increasing importance of the amniotic egg for reproduction. The earliest
amniote fossil was the lizard-like Hylonomus, which was lightly built with
deep, strong jaws and slender limbs. The basal tetrapods became more
diverse during the Carboniferous. Predators with long snouts, short
sprawling limbs and flattened heads such as temnospondyls, like
Amphibiamus (above) appeared. Anthracosaurs basal tetrapods and
amniotes with deep skulls and a less sprawling body plan that afforded
greater agility appeared during the Carboniferous and were quickly
followed by diapsids which divided into two groups: (1) the marine
reptiles, lizards, and snakes, and (2) the archosaurs crocodiles,
dinosaurs, and birds. The synapsids also made their first appearance, and
presumably the anapsids did as well, although the oldest fossils for that
group are from the Lower Permian.
2. Stratigraphy
The appearance or disappearance of fauna usually marks the
boundaries between time periods. The Carboniferous is separated from the
earlier Devonian by the appearance of the conodont Siphonodella sulcata
or Siphondella duplicata. Conodonts are fossils that resemble the teeth or
jaws of primitive eel- or hagfish-like fish. The Carboniferous-Permian
boundary is distinguished by the appearance of the fusulinid foram
Sphaeroschwagerina fusiformis in Europe and Pseudoschwagerina beedei
in North America. Fusulinids are giants among protists and could reach a
centimeter in length. They were abundant enough to form sizable deposits
known as "rice rock" because of the resemblance between fusulinids and
rice grains.
The Mississippian Subsystem is differentiated from the Pennsylvanian
by the appearance of the conodont Declinognathodus noduliferus, the
ammonoid genus Homoceras, and the foraminifers Millerella pressa and
Millerella marblensis, though these markers apply only to marine deposits.
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The distinction between the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian subsystems

may also be illustrated by a break in the flora due to transitional changes
from a marine to a more terrestrial environment.
The stratigraphy of the Mississippian is distinguished by shallowwater limestones. Some of these limestones are composed of parts of
organisms, primarily the remains of crinoids that thrived in the shallow
seas. Other limestones include lime mudstones, composed of the carbonate
mud produced by green algae, and oolithic limestones, composed of
calcium carbonate in concentric spheres produced by high wave energy.
Also found in Mississippian strata, though not as common, are sandstones
(sedimentary rock composed of quartz sand and cemented by silica or
calcium carbonate) and siltstones (rock composed of hardened silt).
F. PERMIAN
The Permian period lasted from 299 to 251 million years ago and was the
last period of the Paleozoic Era. The distinction between the Paleozoic and the
Mesozoic is made at the end of the Permian in recognition of the largest mass
extinction recorded in the history of life on Earth. It affected many groups of
organisms in many different environments, but it affected marine communities the
most by far, causing the extinction of most of the marine invertebrates of the time.
Some groups survived the Permian mass extinction in greatly diminished numbers,
but they never again reached the ecological dominance they once had, clearing the
way for another group of sea life. On land, a relatively smaller extinction of diapsids
and synapsids cleared the way for other forms to dominate, and led to what has been
called the "Age of Dinosaurs." Also, the great forests of fern-like plants shifted to
gymnosperms, plants with their offspring enclosed within seeds. Modern conifers, the
most familiar gymnosperms of today, first appear in the fossil record of the Permian.
The Permian was a time of great changes and life on Earth was never the same again.
The global geography of the Permian included massive areas of land and
water. By the beginning of the Permian, the motion of the Earth's crustal plates had
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brought much of the total land together, fused in a supercontinent known as Pangea.
Many of the continents of today in somewhat intact form met in Pangea (only Asia
was broken up at the time), which stretched from the northern to the southern pole.
Most of the rest of the surface area of the Earth was occupied by a corresponding
single ocean, known as Panthalassa, with a smaller sea to the east of Pangea known as
Tethys.
Models indicate that the interior regions of this vast continent were
probably dry, with great seasonal fluctuations due to the lack of a moderating effect
provided by nearby bodies of water. Only portions of this interior region received
rainfall throughout the year. There is little known about the Panthalassic Ocean itself.
There are indications that the climate of the Earth shifted during the Permian, with
decreasing glaciation as the interiors of continents became drier.
Until the later 1990s, there was little consensus on the order of strata in the
late Permian. Since the upper strata of various Permian locations tend to be relatively
fossil deficient, correlation using index fossils has been difficult. Correlation was
attempted using fossils that were in some cases native only to the local regions where
they were found and older work was based on assumptions that have changed in more
recent years.
Older classifications relied on the Ural Mountains stratigraphy. In 1994,
Jin et al. proposed a worldwide stratigraphy of the Permian Period made up of four
series/epochs: the Uralian, the Chihsian, the Guadalupian, and the Lopingian. In the
early 2000s, work by Jin and others resulted in the stratigraphy currently accepted by
the International Commission on Stratigraphy.
The current stratigraphy divides the Permian into three series or epochs:
the Cisuralian (299 to 270.6 mya), Guadalupian (270.6 to 260.4 mya), and Lopingian
(260.4 to 251 mya).* Find out more about how these periods of time are defined.
Permian shales, sandstones, siltstones, limestones, sands, marls, and dolostones were
deposited as a result of sea-level fluctuations. These fluctuation cycles can be seen in
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the rock layers. Relatively few sites lend themselves to direct radioactive dating, so
the age of intermediate strata is often estimated.
Permian fossils that have been used as index fossils include brachiopods,
ammonoids, fusilinids, conodonts, and other marine invertebrates, and some genera
occur within such specific time frames that strata are named for them and permit
stratigraphic identification through the presence or absence of specified fossils.

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CHAPTER VIII
MESOZOIC

Fig. 28. Mesozoic Timeline

A. TRIASSIC
In many ways, the Triassic was a time of transition. It was at this time that
the world-continent of Pangaea existed, altering global climate and ocean circulation.
The Triassic also follows the largest extinction event in the history of life, and so is a
time when the survivors of that event spread and recolonized.
The organisms of the Triassic can be considered to belong to one of three
groups: holdovers from the Permo-Triassic extinction, new groups which flourished
briefly, and new groups which went on to dominate the Mesozoic world. The
holdovers included the lycophytes, glossopterids, and dicynodonts. While those that
went on to dominate the Mesozoic world include modern conifers, cycadeoids, and
the dinosaurs.
The Triassic period was a transition from the Paleozoic Era to the
Mesozoic. It is situated between the end of the Permian period and the beginning of
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the Jurassic, lasting from 254 mya to 206 mya. As with almost any other period of the
Earth's history, the Triassic had a unique climate and biota indigenous to that time.
The paleoclimate was influenced largely by tectonic events that never existed before
or since.
At the beginning of the Triassic period, the land masses of the world were
still bound together into the vast supercontinent known as Pangaea. Pangaea began to
break apart in the mid-Triassic, forming Gondwana (South America, Africa, India,
Antarctica, and Australia) in the south and Laurasia (North America and Eurasia) in
the north. The movement of the two resulting supercontinents was caused by sea floor
spreading at the midocean ridge lying at the bottom of the Tethys Sea, the body of
water between Gondwana and Laurasia. While Pangaea was breaking apart,
mountains were forming on the west coast of North America by subduction of the
ocean plates beneath the continental plates. Throughout the Middle to Late Triassic,
mountain forming continued along the coast extending from Alaska to Chile. As
mountains were forming on the Americas, North Africa was being split from Europe
by the spreading rift. This division of the continents advanced further westward,
eventually splitting eastern North America from North Africa.
1. Tectonic and Paleioclimate of Triassic
The climate of the Triassic era was influenced by Pangaea, its
centralized position stradling the equator, and the geologic activity
associated with its breakup. Generally speaking, the continents were of
high elevation compared to sea level, and the sea level did not change
drastically during the period. Due to the low sea level, flooding of the
continents to form shallow seas did not occur. Much of the inland area was
isolated from the cooling and moist effects of the ocean. The result was a
globally arid and dry climate, though regions near the coast most likely
experienced seasonal monsoons. There were no polar ice caps, and the
temperature gradient in the north-south direction is assumed to have been
more gradual than present day. The sea level rose as the rift grew between
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North Africa and southern Europe, resulting in the flooding of Central and
South Europe; the climates of terrestrial Europe were hot and dry, as in the
Permian. Overall, it appears that the climate included both arid dune
environments and moist river and lake habitats with gymnosperm forests.
Some conclusions can be drawn about more specific regional climates
and species based on experimental research. The presence of coal-rich
sequences in the high northern and southern latitudes, as well as the
presence of large amphibians there, indicates that the paleoclimate was
wetter in those areas. Living species of some Mesozoic ferns (including
the families Osmundacae and Dipteridacae) now live in wet, shady areas
under forest canopies, so it is likely that the paleoclimate their Triassic
ancestors inhabitted were also damp and shaded. The Mesozoic era might
also have had large, open areas with low-growing vegetation, including
savannas or fern prairie with dry, nutrient poor soil populated by
herbaceous plants, such as ferns of the families Matoniaceae and
Gleicheniaceae. Thus, despite the union of the continental landmasses, the
Triassic vegetation was quite provincial, though this decreased as the
Triassic wore on. The northern forests at the beginning of the Triassic
were dominated by conifers, ginkgos, cycads, and bennettitaleans, while
the forests of Gondwana were dominated by Dicroidium and Thinnfeldia.
By the end of the Triassic, both hemispheres gave way to conifer and
cycad vegetation.
The Triassic-Jurassic boundary is similar to the Permo-Triassic
boundary in that the global climate was not radically altered, though a
major extinction of terrestrial vertebrates occurred. With the end of the
Triassic and the beginning of the Jurassic, Pangaea continued to break
apart, inevitably affecting the climate, though not as radically as it had
during the Triassic.
2. The Triassic Life

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The oceans teemed with the coiled-shelled ammonites, mollusks, and

sea urchins that survived the Permian extinction and were quickly
diversifying. The first corals appeared, though other reef-building
organisms were already present. Giant reptiles such as the dolphin-shaped
ichthyosaurs and the long-necked and paddle-finned plesiosaurs preyed on
fish and ancient squid. The bottom rung of the food chain was filled with
microscopic plants called phytoplankton; two of the major groups still in
the oceans today first appeared.
Frogs, salamanders, crocodiles, turtles, and snakes slunk and slithered
on and off the Triassic coast, lakes, and rivers. Pterosaurs, a group of
flying reptiles, took to the air. On firm ground, moss, liverwort, and ferns
carpeted forests of conifers, ginkgoes, and palm-like cycads. Spiders,
scorpions, millipedes, and centipedes thrived. Grasshoppers appeared. But
perhaps the biggest changes came with the evolution of dinosaurs and the
first mammals in the late Triassic, starting around 230 million years ago.
One of the earliest true mammals was the three-foot-long (one-meterlong) Eozostrodon. The shrewlike creature laid eggs but fed its young
mother's milk. Among the first dinosaurs was the two-footed carnivore
Coelophysis, which grew up to 9 feet (2.7 meters) tall, weighed up to a
hundred pounds (45 kilograms), and probably fed on small reptiles and
amphibians. It showed up about 225 million years ago. A few million
years later came the 27.5-foot-long (8-meter-long) herbivore called
Plateosaurus.
The Triassic closed in the same way it began. Somethingperhaps a
volcanic belch or an asteroid collisioncaused another mass extinction.
Dinosaurs, however, survived and went on to dominate the Jurassic.
B. JURASSIC
Great plant-eating dinosaurs roaming the earth, feeding on lush ferns and
palm-like cycads and bennettitaleans smaller but vicious carnivores stalking the
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great herbivores oceans full of fish, squid, and coiled ammonites, plus great
ichthyosaurs and long-necked plesiosaurs vertebrates taking to the air, like the
pterosaurs and the first birds. This was the Jurassic Period, 199.6 to 145.5 million
years ago a 54-million-year chunk of the Mesozoic Era.
Named for the Jura Mountains on the border between France and
Switzerland, where rocks of this age were first studied, the Jurassic has become a
household word with the success of the movie Jurassic Park. Outside of Hollywood,
the Jurassic is still important to us today, both because of its wealth of fossils and
because of its economic importance the oilfields of the North Sea, for instance, are
Jurassic in age.
The largest dinosaurs of the time in fact, the largest land animals of all
time were the gigantic sauropods, such as the famous Diplodocus (top right, above),
Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus. Other herbivorous dinosaurs of the Jurassic included
the plated stegosaurs. Predatory dinosaurs of the Jurassic included fearsome
carnosaurs such as Allosaurus, small, fast coelurosaurs, and ceratosaurs such as
Dilophosaurus. The Jurassic also saw the origination of the first birds, including the
well-known Archaeopteryx, probably from coelurosaurian ancestors.
But there was more to life than dinosaurs! In the seas, the fishlike
ichthyosaurs (top left, above) were at their height, sharing the oceans with the
plesiosaurs, giant marine crocodiles, and modern-looking sharks and rays. Also
prominent in the seas were cephalopods relatives of the squids, nautilus, and
octopi of today. Jurassic cephalopods included the ammonites, with their coiled
external shells (upper left), and the belemnites, close relatives of modern squid but
with heavy, calcified, bullet-shaped, partially internal shells. Among the plankton in
the oceans, the dinoflagellates became numerous and diverse, as did the
coccolithophorids (microscopic single-celled algae with an outer covering of
calcareous plates).
Land plants abounded in the Jurassic, but floras were different from what
we see today. Although Jurassic dinosaurs are sometimes drawn with palm trees,
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there were no palms or any other flowering plants at least as we know them today in
the Jurassic. Instead, ferns, ginkgoes, bennettitaleans or "cycadeoids," and true cycads
like the living cycad pictured above, lower left flourished in the Jurassic. Conifers
were also present, including close relatives of living redwoods, cypresses, pines, and
yews. Creeping about in this foliage, no bigger than rats, were a number of early
mammals.
C. CRETACEOUS
The Cretaceous is usually noted for being the last portion of the "Age of
Dinosaurs", but that does not mean that new kinds of dinosaurs did not appear then. It
is during the Cretaceous that the first ceratopsian and pachycepalosaurid dinosaurs
appeared. Also during this time, we find the first fossils of many insect groups,
modern mammal and bird groups, and the first flowering plants.
The breakup of the world-continent Pangea, which began to disperse
during the Jurassic, continued. This led to increased regional differences in floras and
faunas between the northern and southern continents.
The end of the Cretaceous brought the end of many previously successful
and diverse groups of organisms, such as non-avian dinosaurs and ammonites. This
laid open the stage for those groups which had previously taken secondary roles to
come to the forefront. The Cretaceous was thus the time in which life as it now exists
on Earth came together.
1. Life
No great extinction or burst of diversity separated the Cretaceous from
the Jurassic Period that had preceded it. In some ways, things went on as
they had. Dinosaurs both great and small moved through forests of ferns,
cycads, and conifers. Ammonites, belemnites, other molluscs, and fish
were hunted by great "marine reptiles," and pterosaurs and birds flapped
and soared in the air above. Yet the Cretaceous saw the first appearance of

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many lifeforms that would go on to play key roles in the coming Cenozoic
world.
Perhaps the most important of these events, at least for terrestrial life,
was the first appearance of the flowering plants, also called the
angiosperms or Anthophyta. First appearing in the Lower Cretaceous
around 125 million years ago, the flowering plants first radiated in the
middle Cretaceous, about 100 million years ago. Early angiosperms did
not develop shrub- or tree-like morphologies, but by the close of the
Cretaceous, a number of forms had evolved that any modern botanist
would recognize. The angiosperms thrived in a variety of environments
such as areas with damper climates, habitats favored by cycads and
cycadeoids, and riparian zones. High southern latitudes were not invaded
by angiosperms until the end of the Cretaceous. Ferns dominated open,
dry and/or low-nutrient lands. Typical Jurassic vegetation, including
conifers, cycads, and other gymnosperms, continued on into the Lower
Cretaceous without significant changes. At the beginning of this period,
conifer diversity was fairly low in the higher latitudes of the Northern
Hemisphere, but by the middle of the period, species diversification was
increasing exponentially. Swamps were dominated by conifers and
angiosperm dicots.
At about the same time, many modern groups of insects were
beginning to diversify, and we find the oldest known ants and butterflies.
Aphids, grasshoppers, and gall wasps appear in the Cretaceous, as well as
termites and ants in the later part of this period. Another important insect
to evolve was the eusocial bee, which was integral to the ecology and
evolution of flowering plants.
The Cretaceous also saw the first radiation of the diatoms in the
oceans (freshwater diatoms did not appear until the Miocene.
2. The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction

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The most famous of all mass extinctions marks the end of the
Cretaceous Period, about 65 million years ago. As everyone knows, this
was the great extinction in which the dinosaurs died out, except for the
birds, of course. The other lineages of "marine reptiles" the
ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs also were extinct by the end
of the Cretaceous, as were the flying pterosaurs, but some, like the
ichthyosaurs, were probably extinct a little before the end of the
Cretaceous. Many species of foraminiferans went extinct at the end of the
Cretaceous, as did the ammonites. But many groups of organisms, such as
flowering plants, gastropods and pelecypods (snails and clams),
amphibians, lizards and snakes, crocodilians, and mammals "sailed
through" the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, with few or no apparent
extinctions at all.
3. Tectonics and paleoclimate
The Cretaceous is defined as the period between 145.5 and 65.5
million years ago,* the last period of the Mesozoic Era, following the
Jurassic and ending with the extinction of the dinosaurs (except birds). By
the beginning of the Cretaceous, the supercontinent Pangea was already
rifting apart, and by the mid-Cretaceous, it had split into several smaller
continents. This created large-scale geographic isolation, causing a
divergence in evolution of all land-based life for the two new land masses.
The rifting apart also generated extensive new coastlines, and a
corresponding increase in the available near-shore habitat. Additionally,
seasons began to grow more pronounced as the global climate became
cooler. Forests evolved to look similar to present day forests, with oaks,
hickories, and magnolias becoming common in North America by the end
of the Cretaceous.
At the end of the Cretaceous Period, 65 million years ago, an asteroid
hit Earth in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, forming what is today called
the Chicxulub impact crater. It has been estimated that half of the world's
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species went extinct at about this time, but no accurate species count exists
for all groups of organisms. Some have argued that many of the species to
go extinct did so before the impact, perhaps because of environmental
changes occuring at this time. Whatever its cause, this extinction event
marks the end of the Cretaceous Period and of the Mesozoic Era.

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CHAPTER IX
CENOZOIC (TERSIER)
A. DEFINITION
The Cenozoic Era is the most recent of the three major subdivisions of
animal history. The other two are the Mesozoic and Paleozoic Eras. The Cenozoic
spans only about 65 million years, from the end of the Cretaceous Period and the
extinction of non-avian dinosaurs to the present. The Cenozoic is sometimes called
the Age of Mammals, because the largest land animals have been mammals during
that time. This is a misnomer for several reasons. First, the history of mammals began
long before the Cenozoic began. Second, the diversity of life during the Cenozoic is
far wider than mammals. The Cenozoic could have been called the "Age of Flowering
Plants" or the "Age of Insects" or the "Age of Teleost Fish" or the "Age of Birds" just
as accurately.
The Cenozoic (65.5 million years ago to present) is divided into three
periods: the Paleogene (65.5 to 23.03 million years ago), Neogene (23.03 to 2.6
million years ago) and the Quaternary (2.6 million years ago to present). Paleogene
and Neogene are relatively new terms that now replace the deprecated term, Tertiary.
The Paleogene is subdivided into three epochs: the Paleocene (65.5 to 55.8 million
years ago), the Eocene (55.8 to 33.9 million years ago), and the Oligocene (33.9 to
23.03 million years ago). The Neogene is subdivided into two epochs: the Miocene
(23.03 to 5.332 million years ago) and Pliocene (5.332 to 2.588 million years ago).

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B. DIVISION

Fig. 29. Cenozoic Timeline

The Cenozoic is divided into three periods: The Paleogene, Neogene, and
Quaternary; and seven epochs: The Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene,
Pliocene, Pleistocene, and Holocene. The Quaternary Period was officially
recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy in June 2009, and the
former Tertiary Period was officially disused in 2004 because of the necessity to
divide the Cenozoic into periods more like that of the previous Paleozoic and
Mesozoic eras. The common use of epochs during the Cenozoic helps paleontologists
better organize and group the many significant events that occurred during this
comparatively short interval of time. There is also more detailed knowledge of this
era than any other because of the relatively young strata associated with it.

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1. Paleogene
The Paleogene spans from the extinction of the dinosaurs, some 66
million years ago, to the dawn of the Neogene twenty three million years
ago. It features three epochs: the Paleocene, Eocene and Oligocene.
The Paleocene ranged from 65 million to 55 million years ago. The
Paleocene is a transitional point between the devastation that is the K-T
extinction, to the rich jungles environment that is the Early Eocene. The
Early Paleocene saw the recovery of the earth. The continents began to
take their modern shape, but all continents (and India) were separated
from each other. Afro-Eurasia was separated by the Tethys Sea, and the
Americas were separated by the strait of Panama, as the isthmus has not
yet formed. This epoch featured a general warming trend, with jungles
eventually reaching the poles. The oceans were dominated by sharks as
the large reptiles that had once ruled went extinct. Archaic mammals filled
the world such as creodonts and early primates that evolved during the
Mesozoic, and as a result, there was nothing over 10 kilograms. Mammals
were still quite small.
The Eocene Epoch ranged from 55 million years to 33 million years
ago. In the Early-Eocene, life was small and lived in cramped jungles,
much like the Paleocene. There was nothing over the weight of 10
kilograms. Among them were early primates, whales and horses along
with many other early forms of mammals. At the top of the food chains
were huge birds, such as Gastornis. It is the only time in recorded history
that birds ruled the world (excluding their ancestors, the dinosaurs). The
temperature was 30 degrees Celsius with little temperature gradient from
pole to pole. In the Mid-Eocene, the circum-Antarctic current between
Australia and Antarctica formed which disrupted ocean currents
worldwide and as a result caused a global cooling effect, shrinking the
jungles. This allowed mammals to grow to mammoth proportions, such as
whales which, by that time, were almost fully aquatic. Mammals like
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Andrewsarchus were at the top of the food-chain and sharks were replaced
by whales such as Basilosaurus as rulers of the seas. The Late Eocene saw
the rebirth of seasons, which caused the expansion of savanna-like areas,
along with the evolution of grass.
The Oligocene Epoch spans from 33 million to 23 million years ago.
The Oligocene featured the expansion of grass which had led to many new
species to evolve, including the first elephants, cats, dogs, marsupials and
many other species still prevalent today. Many other species of plants
evolved in this period too, such as the evergreen trees. A cooling period
was still in effect and seasonal rains were as well. Mammals still
continued to grow larger and larger. Paraceratherium, the largest land
mammal to ever live evolved during this period, along with many
perissodactyls in an event known as the Grande Coupure.
2. Neogene
The Neogene spans from 23 million to 3 million years ago, and is the
shortest geological period in the Phanerozoic Eon. It features 2 epochs: the
Miocene, and the Pliocene.
The Miocene spans from 23 to 5 million years ago and is a period in
which grass spread further across, effectively dominating a large portion
of the world, diminishing forests in the process. Kelp forests evolved,
leading to new species such as sea otters to evolve. During this time,
perissodactyls thrived, and evolved into many different varieties.
Alongside them were the apes, which evolved into a staggering 30 species.
Overall, arid and mountainous land dominated most of the world, as did
grazers. The Tethys Sea finally closed with the creation of the Arabian
Peninsula and in its wake left the Black, Red, Mediterranean and Caspian
Seas. This only increased aridity. Many new plants evolved, and 95% of
modern seed plants evolved in the mid-Miocene.
The Pliocene lasted from 5 to 2 million years ago. The Pliocene
featured dramatic climactic changes, which ultimately lead to modern

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species and plants. The Mediterranean Sea dried up for several million
years. Along with these major geological events, Australopithecus evolved
in Africa, beginning the human branch. The isthmus of Panama formed,
and animals migrated between North and South America, wreaking havoc
on the local ecology. Climatic changes brought savannas that are still
continuing to spread across the world, Indian monsoons, deserts in East
Asia, and the beginnings of the Sahara desert. The earth's continents and
seas moved into their present shapes. The world map has not changed
much since.
3. Quaternary
The Quaternary spans from 3 million to present day, and features
modern animals, and dramatic changes in the climate. It is divided into
two epochs: the Pleistocene and the Holocene.
The Pleistocene lasted from 3 million to 12,000 years ago. This epoch
was marked by ice ages as a result of the cooling trend that started in the
Mid-Eocene. There were at least four separate glaciation periods marked
by the advance of ice caps as far south as 40 degrees N latitude in
mountainous areas. Meanwhile, Africa experienced a trend of desiccation
which resulted in the creation of the Sahara, Namib, and Kalahari deserts.
Many animals evolved including mammoths, giant ground sloths, dire
wolves, saber-toothed cats, and most famously Homo sapiens. 100,000
years ago marked the end of one of the worst droughts of Africa, and led
to the expansion of primitive man. As the Pleistocene drew to a close, a
major extinction caused wiped out much of the world's megafauna,
including some of the hominid species, such as Neanderthals. All the
continents were affected, but Africa to a lesser extent. The continent
retains many large animals, such as hippos.
The Holocene began 12,000 years ago and lasts until to present day.
Also known as "the Age of Man", the Holocene is marked by the rise of
man on his path to sentience. All recorded history and "the history of the
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world" lies within the boundaries of the Holocene epoch. Human activity
is blamed for a mass extinction that began roughly 10,000 years ago,
though the species becoming extinct have only been recorded since the
Industrial Revolution. This is sometimes referred to as the "Sixth
Extinction". 322 species have become extinct due to human activity since
the Industrial Revolution.
C. TEKTONIC AND PALEOCLIMATE
Geologically, the Cenozoic is the era when the continents moved into their
current positions. Australia-New Guinea, having split from Pangea during the early
Cretaceous, drifted north and, eventually, collided with South-east Asia; Antarctica
moved into its current position over the South Pole; the Atlantic Ocean widened and,
later in the era, South America became attached to North America with the isthmus of
Panama.
India collided with Asia 55 to 45 million years ago creating the
Himalayas; Arabia collided with Eurasia, closing the Tethys ocean and creating the
Zagros Mountains, around 35 million years ago.
The PaleoceneEocene Thermal Maximum of 55.8 million years ago was
a significant global warming event; however, since the Azolla event of 49 million
years ago, the Cenozoic Era has been a period of long-term cooling. After the tectonic
creation of Drake Passage, when South America fully detached from Antarctica
during the Oligocene, the climate cooled significantly due to the advent of the
Antarctic Circumpolar Current which brought cool deep Antarctic water to the
surface. The cooling trend continued in the Miocene, with relatively short warmer
periods. When South America became attached to North America creating the
Isthmus of Panama, the Arctic region cooled due to the strengthening of the
Humboldt and Gulf Stream currents, eventually leading to the glaciations of the
Quaternary ice age, the current interglacial of which is the Holocene Epoch.

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D. BIOTA EVOLUTION
The survivors of the Cretaceous/Tertiary catastrophe included some small,
squirrel-like animals that were to give rise to the dominant life forms of the next era the fur-bearing, warm-blooded mammals that eventually gave rise to the human
species. The period between the extinction of the dinosaurs and the present day is
called the Age of Mammals or Cenozoic.
Mammals appeared on the earth long before the extinction of the
dinosaurs; in fact, dinosaurs and mammals originated within 10 million years of each
other, in the late Triassic about 200 million years ago.
By late Cretaceous small primitive marsupials (mammals that brood their
young in a pouch, like opossums), and insectivores, similar to shrews and hedgehogs,
were quite abundant and widespread. But only after the dinosaurs were gone did the
mammals begin their great diversification and become the dominant land animals.
Then, within 10 million years, there were mammals of all kinds living in many
different habitats on land, in the sea and in the air. There were herbivores, carnivores,
whales, bats. During the Cenozoic there was also tremendous radiation in other
groups including birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, leading gradually up to the peak
of biological diversity that occurred in the recent past.
The geography of the world changed dramatically during the time when
animals and plants were evolving. The major continental land masses were initially
fused together into one giant continent named Pangaea during the Paleozoic era.
In the Mesozoic, Pangaea gradually broke up into the present-day
continents, which have been moving apart from each other, by continental drift, ever
since. This idea of continental drift was first based on the remarkably close fit
between the coastlines of major continents, most notably the west coast of Africa with
the east coast of South America. It is now supported by measurements, which show
that the continents on either side of the Atlantic Ocean are still moving apart from one
another, at the rate of several centimeters per year. Continental drift was actually a
little more complicated, with the North American plate drifting around in the Pacific
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Ocean for quite a long time. A large chunk of the North American plate was recently
found in Argentina, left there after the two continents bumped into each other then
moved apart. Learn more about This Dynamic Earth.
The separation of the great land mass into different continents allowed
biological evolution to take quite different paths in different parts of the world. And
the formation of oceanic islands, often by volcanic activity, produced many more
isolated areas where evolution could experiment with different forms.
Breakdown of this isolation, either by geological changes or by transport
of organisms between the isolated areas, has often led to extinction of the endemic
forms, and so loss of diversity.
During the Cenozoic era (the last 66 million years), there was a gradual
lowering of temperatures as well as the gradual establishment of different climatic
zones of the earth -the tropics, the temperate zones and the cool climates of the higher
latitudes. The culmination of the cooling trend was the Pleistocene epoch, or Great
Ice Age, of the last 1.8 million years. During this time vast expanses of North
America and Eurasia were periodically covered with enormous continental glaciers.
These glaciers advanced during the four ice ages (glacial periods) and retreated
during the three interglacials. We are probably now living in the fourth interglacial
stage. During the glacial periods the sea level became much lower because so much
water was converted to ice. Consequently land bridges, especially the Bering land
bridge across the Bering Sea joining Asia with North America, became available for
animal migrations.
During the Cenozoic the mammals reached their peak of evolution,
producing a tremendous variety of species, many of them very large. The segment of
the fauna containing these large creatures (those weighing more than about 100
pounds) is called the Megafauna. Most of these animals are extinct.
E. HOMINOID DEVELOPMENT IN CENOZOIC
The first hominids (i.e. creatures more closely related to humans than to apes)
lived from 4 to 3 million years ago. These (called Australopithecus) lived in Africa.
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They had a protruding jaw, prominent eyebrow ridges and a small braincase. They
walked upright.
1.8 million years ago, Homo erectus appeared in Africa, with a brain as big as
the smallest modern human brain. H. erectus differed from modern humans by the
prominent brow ridges and receding chin. They made sophisticated stone hand-axes
with sharp edges, possibly made spear points, and probably used fire. They spread
over Africa and Asia and survived until about 400,000 years ago.
F. QUARTER HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
At the start of the Quaternary, the continents were just about where they are
today, slowing inching here and there as the forces of plate tectonics push and tug
them about. But throughout the period, the planet has wobbled on its path around the
sun. The slight shifts cause ice ages to come and go. By 800,000 years ago, a cyclical
pattern had emerged: Ice ages last about 100,000 years followed by warmer
interglacials of 10,000 to 15,000 years each. The last ice age ended about 10,000
years ago. Sea levels rose rapidly, and the continents achieved their present-day
outline.
When the temperatures drop, ice sheets spread from the Poles and cover much
of North America and Europe, parts of Asia and South America, and all of Antarctica.
With so much water locked up as ice, sea levels fall. Land bridges form between the
continents like the currently submerged connector across the Bering Strait between
Asia and North America. The land bridges allow animals and humans to migrate from
one landmass to another.
During warm spells, the ice retreats and exposes reshaped mountains striped
with new rivers draining to giant basins like today's Great Lakes. Plants and animals
that sought warmth and comfort toward the Equator return to the higher latitudes. In
fact, each shift alters global winds and ocean currents that in turn alter patterns of
precipitation and aridity around the world.

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Since the outset of the Quaternary, whales and sharks have ruled the seas,
topping a food chain with otters, seals, dugongs, fish, squid, crustaceans, urchins, and
microscopic plankton filling in the descending rungs.
On land, the chilliest stretches of the Quaternary saw mammals like
mammoths, rhinos, bison, and oxen grow massive and don shaggy coats of hair. They
fed on small shrubs and grasses that grew at the ever moving edges of the ice sheets.
About 10,000 years ago, the climate began to warm, and most of these so-called
megafauna went extinct. Only a handful of smaller, though still impressively large,
representatives remain, such as Africa's elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses.
Scientists are uncertain whether the warming climate is to blame for the extinction at
the end of the last ice age. At the time, modern humans were rapidly spreading around
the globe and some studies link the disappearance of the big mammals with the
arrival of humans and their hunting ways.
In fact, the Quaternary is often considered the "Age of Humans." Homo
erectus appeared in Africa at the start of the period, and as time marched on the
hominid line evolved bigger brains and higher intelligence. The first modern humans
evolved in Africa about 190,000 years ago and dispersed to Europe and Asia and then
on to Australia and the Americas. Along the way the species has altered the
composition of life in the seas, on land, and in the air and now, scientists believe,
we're causing the planet to warm.
Humans are primates. Physical and genetic similarities show that the modern
human species, Homo sapiens, has a very close relationship to another group of
primate species, the apes. Humans and the great apes (large apes) of Africa
chimpanzees (including bonobos, or so-called pygmy chimpanzees) and gorillas
share a common ancestor that lived between 8 and 6 million years ago. Humans first
evolved in Africa, and much of human evolution occurred on that continent. The
fossils of early humans who lived between 6 and 2 million years ago come entirely
from Africa.

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Most scientists currently recognize some 15 to 20 different species of early

humans. Scientists do not all agree, however, about how these species are related or
which ones simply died out. Many early human species -- certainly the majority of
them left no living descendants. Scientists also debate over how to identify and
classify particular species of early humans, and about what factors influenced the
evolution and extinction of each species.
Early humans first migrated out of Africa into Asia probably between 2
million and 1.8 million years ago. They entered Europe somewhat later, between 1.5
million and 1 million years.
The first fossils that are classified in the modern species Homo sapiens date
from about 200,000 years ago (Nat. Geog. , Jan. 1996) and are called neanderthals (a
subspecies of Homo sapiens). The neanderthals still looked primitive, with prominent
brow ridges, low foreheads, and receding chins, but their brains were, on average,
slightly larger than ours. They hunted woolly rhino and cave-bear and disappeared
about 30,000 years ago.
About 30,000 years ago, fully modern humans called Cro-Magnon evolved
from the neanderthal-like forms of the Near East and spread into Asia and Europe,
rapidly replacing the more primitive neanderthals. They had domed heads, smooth
brows, and prominent chins. They made precision tools, including definite
spearheads, and they produced spectacular works of wildlife art on the walls of caves,
which provide some glimpses of how the big game was hunted - with spears and
rocks and probably also traps and fire. One painting shows an eviscerated bison about
to gore a human.

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