Formation of Rocks Essay

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Igneous rock that cool quickly have small crystals, but slow cooling allows crystals to grow large. Metamorphic rocks show banding, distorted structures and foliation. (Crystal alignment). Mineral properties depend on the internal atomic arrangement and bonding of atoms. Silicon + oxygen = tetrahedron. (The basic structure of silicates.) Isostasy: Earth's crust in a dynamic equilibrium. The crust floats on denser, lower layers. At the mid-ocean ridges new crust is constantly being created. This is known as sea floor spreading. At the ocean trenches the crust being destroyed. It occurs at Earth’s subduction zones. P-waves travel faster through the Earth than S-waves. P-waves can pass through solids & liquids -- S-waves move though solids only. (Liquids absorb S-waves.) You need at least 3 seismometer stations to find earthquake epicenter. In undisturbed strata, the bottom layer is oldest. Intrusion and faults are younger than the rock in which they are found. An unconformity shows where erosion has occurred and a part of the geologic record is missing. Arid landscape usually have steep slopes with sharp angles. Humid landscape are generally smoother with rounded slopes. When in doubt, see if the Reference Tables will help!! Uranium-235 is used to find the age of (date) very old rocks. Carbon-4 is used to find the age of (date) relatively young rocks that contain organic materials. Convection currents in the mantle move Earth’s tectonic plates.
When a rock is broken into smaller pieces, surface area increases

Conestoga Formation

Conestoga Formation The Conestoga formation, that was visible in the first outcrop, was probably a marine environment of deposition. This is realized due to the presence of shale and limestone in this zone. After the deposition occurred, this rock suffered high compression stresses; this is the result of the different folds that according to table 1 they formed in different directions. Another evidence of highly stresses is the presence of veins along the outcrop. Chickies Formation The Chickies…

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Personal Narrative: My Trip To Shenandoah National Park

Within the cavern itself you can see many different Diamond Cascade formations, Bacon formations, the Rainbow lake, and the Capitol dome. The caverns themselves are apart of the potomatic system, and owe there formation to the Potomac river. The river and the rain move into cracks in the rock and dissolve away the limestone and dolomite overtime, leaving behind a variety of cave systems that are supported by the less soluble rock. The remaining water in the caves form the structures found within.…

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sedimentary rocks Essay

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS 5. SEDIMENTARY ROCKS - examples of types - formation and properties A sedimentary rock is defined and what sedimentary rock formations look like. The formation of the sedimentary rocks sandstone, limestone, chalk, shale, mudstone, coal, salt deposits. The formation of fossils is described and why they mainly occur in sedimentary rocks and their usefulness to geological scientists studying the age of rocks and to biologists and zoologists studying the evolution of plant and…

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Grand Canyon Layers

the world. The main reason is that it shows ages of rock layers from 270 million years old, limestone, to 1.7 billion years old, schist. There are approximately 40 sedimentary rock layers that can be seen in the Grand Canyon. Along with that, there are currently 14 unconformities that have been found. The Grand Canyon can be broken apart into three primary parts to more easily understand it. The first or bottom layer known as Vishnu basement rocks consists of: schists, granites, and elves chasm gneiss…

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Biology: Fossil and Relative Dating Essay

asked / rock ages How Do Geologists Know How Old a Rock Is? by Mark Milligan Geologists generally know the age of a rock by determining the age of the group of rocks, or formation, that it is found in. The age of formations is marked on a geologic calendar known as the geologic time scale. Development of the geologic time scale and dating of formations and rocks relies upon two fundamentally different ways of telling time: relative and absolute. Relative dating places events or rocks in their…

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Summary: The Geologic History Of Colorado Springs

Sea-level changes After the formation of the Pikes Peak Granite, erosion continued throughout the early stages of the Cambrian time period. With this, seas transgressed from both the west and southeast direction, which eventually meet up, forming the Sawatch Sandstone. As the Cambrian period continued, sea level increased causing a shallow sea to intrude the area, where beach sands and other small sediments were deposited along the rising shore. The Lower Sawatch formation is inner bedded, has medium…

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High Energy Coastline Case Study

levels of coastal erosion and rock resistance to wind and water. If a high energy coastline consists of softer rock such as mud or chalk, coastal erosion will be greater. This is because it is less resistant to erosional processes such as pounding, which refers to when wave energy exerts pressure onto soft rock, causing it to weaken further and over a large time-scale of thousands of years can cause the formation of bays and headlands. The bays form where softer rock would have previously been and…

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Physiographic Provinces

represents a different rock type of a given age range, often referred to as a geologic unit. This map is used throughout the presentation so please refer to the key to identify associated rock types or formations within each physiographic province. Atlantic Coastal Plain: The Atlantic Coastal Plain Province is underlain by unconsolidated sediments including gravel, sand, silt, and clay. These sediments lack the carbonates or other cements needed to form sedimentary rock. The sediment bed has been…

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The members Essays

amphitheaters eroded from the pink cliffs, along the edge of the Paunsaugunt plateau. The erosional sculptures developed ion the Tertiary Claron Formation Features: Weathering and erosion of the horizontal beds of Eocene – Claron Formation have produced many interesting shapes in Bryce Canyon. Stratigraphy of Bryce Canyon National Park The Claron Formation is divided into the white limestone and pink limestone members. These include pink, red, white, tan, and orange. Thick and thin bedded limestone…

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Smackover Formation Essay

Smackover Formation was deposited during the Upper Jurassic around 161 to 156 mya, during the Oxfordian Stage and is a part of the Louark Group. The end of the Louann Group is marked by a brief period of regression signifying the end of evaporite formation (Foote et al., 1988). “The Mid-Upper Jurassic is characterized by the graveled sandstones, conglomerates, and evaporite deposits of the Louann Salt and Norphlet Formations (Foote et al., 1988, p.14). These formations act as a base rock for the Smackover…

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