Geology as a Discipline

• A science that examines the

earth, its form and composition,
and the changes it has
undergone and is undergoing.
DIVIDED INTO TWO BIG AREAS;
• Physical Geology- the study of the
materials composing the earth and
the processes and phenomena that
operate beneath and upon its surface.
• Historical Geology – deals with the study of
the
evolution of the earth. It continues to establish a
systematic chronological arrangement of the
biological and physical changes that have taken
place in the geologic
past.
 so called Ayers Rock located in Australia
circumference of around 9.4 km and risin
ght of 348 km. One of the largest rock m
orld
 Mt. St. Helens

Located in
southwestern
Portion of
washington.

It erupted last 1980,

With this eruption, the

Mountain’s elevation
Dropped from
 GEOLOGIC PROCESSES
• 1. Endogenic processes-
expansion of oceanic crust and
continual drifting of continental
crust
• Diastrophism is a general term for all crustal
movements produced by endogenic Earth forces
that produce ocean basins, continents, plateaux,
and mountains
 Geotectonic cycle relates these larger
structural features to gross crustal movements
and to the kinds of rocks that form various
stages of their development.

Orogenesis, or
mountain building,
tends to be a localized process
that distorts pre-existing
strata.
Faulting- commonly associated with
plate boundaries

Volcanic eruptions and earthqua

 EXOGENIC PROCESSES
• Any natural medium capable of picking up and moving
earth material is referred to as a geomorphic agent.
• Running water, groundwater,
glaciers, wind, and movements within
bodies of standing water (such as
tide, waves, and currents) are all
primary geomorphic agents.
• Because they originate outside the Earth's crust, these
geological processes are designated as epigene or
exogenic.
4. The action of ice moving over a
land surface is sometimes called
scouring; plucking and gouging are
erosional processes restricted to
glaciers

5. . Aggradation, or the
accumulation of sediments,
contributes to the general
levelling of the Earth's surface
as a result of deposition, which
occurs when the medium
transporting the sediments
loses power.
1.Weathering is a collective name for a
group of processes responsible for the
disintegration and decomposition of rock
in place.

Physical, chemical, or biological

weathering is a prerequisite to erosion.

2.Mass wasting (the gravitative transfer

of material downslope) involves creep
and such actions as earthflow, debris
avalanches, and landslides.

3.Hydraulic action is the

sweeping away of loose
material by running water; the
 monolith; an eroded
Devil Tower-
volcanic pillar
 The land surface
The water surface
The interior structure of the Earth
Magnetosphere
Asthenosphere
 Lithosphere or “the rock
sphere”
• Features such as plains, valleys,
mountains, hills, and plateaus

• Covering the land features in most places

is a layer of loose materials composed of
soil, rock, sand, large boulders, gravel,
and clay.
HYDROSPHERE
The lower portions of the earth’s
surface are filled up with water which
forms the water basin.

It covers 70% of the earth’s surface.

The oceans are great in depth, too.

They are deeper than the highest land
Surface. Mt. Everest is only 8,800 m
High while the Marianas Trench is
11, 034 m. deep.
THE INTERIOR STRUCTURE
OF THE EARTH
• Crust – this is the layer where all
life on earth exist.
The three types of solid rock
– igneous, sedimentary, and metamor
are found there.
- relatively thin but the crust does
not have the same thickness everywh
- it can be studied by drilling into it.
- the only layer that can be seen and
studied directly.
 MANTLE
- is about 2,990 km thick
• In 1909, a Yugoslav scientist, Andriga Mohorovicic,
noted a marked change in the way earthquake waves
travel after they
• reach a depth of 16 km. He was able to show that this is
caused by a zone of difference in density between the
rocks of the crust and those of the mantle below. The
zone is no known as Mohorovicic discontinuity or simply
Moho.
 THE CORE
• INNER CORE – this layer contains iron and nickel.
It is very dense due to in tense pressure at this depth
that pushes the particles of iron and nickel tightly
together.

• OUTER CORE- SURROUNDS THE INNER CORE.

Made up of liquid iron and nickel. It’s temp. reaches
2,200 to 5,000 C.
• This tremendous heat makes the iron and
nickel molten as a hot liquid.
 MAGNETOSPHERE
• Is a magnetic field that surrounds the earth. It is
strongly distorted by the solar wind.

• In 1600, William Gilbert found that the earth is a

giant magnet based from the experimented he
conducted.

• Earth has geomagnetic poles which are the points

on its surface through which the magnetic axis of
the earth passes.

• Scientists think that the magnetic field is due to the

presence of the dense iron in the inner core.
 GLOMAR CHALLENGER
• Deepest drilling was done by this
ship.
explored the great Rift Valley of the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge, south-west of the
Azores. The rift valley is considered by
geologists as the separation between
the Eurasian plate and the North
American plate of the Earth's crust, and
it constitutes one of the many sites in
the ocean bottom where molten rock
oozes forth to form new crust.
ATMOSPHERE – THE LAYER OF AIR
COVERING THE EARTH
• Layers of Atmosphere:

• 1. TROPOSPHERE- lowest layer; most of the

air is found. Ave height of 16-18 km above, it
is where weather phenomena occur and
where winds and clouds are found.
• 2. STRATOSPHERE – extends to a height of
85 km. Ozone layer is located here. Most
meteorites are burned up in this layer.
• 3. IONOSPHERE- extends to a height of 1,000
kms. It can reflect radio messages to earth. A
region of electrically charged particles or
ions.
• 4. EXOSPHERE –” outer space”, there are
very few molecules thinly scattered in space.