Lecture
This is a very small version of Table 1.2 on page 11 of your textbook. Don’t squint your eyes to try to read this, open up your textbook. (From Keller; Pearson/Prentice Hall).
The biggest mysteries of geology are answered by the geologic time scale and plate tectonics. To make the analogy, Geologic Time is to Geology what the Periodic Table of Elements is to Chemistry. Knowing geologic time and its organization is as basic to understanding Geology just like knowing elements and their organization is necessary to understand chemistry. Plate Tectonics is to Geology what the Theory of Evolution is to Biology, Plate Tectoncis is an all-encompassing explanation that underlies all that we understand about Geology. It is a unifying explanation of Geologic processes just like “descent with modification” is the underlying explanation that drives biological understandings.
Without these two fundamental ideas of Geologic Time and Plate Tectonics, Geology would not make any sense. A strong temporal understanding (and appreciation) of Earth differentiates Earth scientists from physicists, biologists, and chemists.
The most significant problem with geologic time is that it’s very hard for the average person to comprehend. We are used to dealing with hours and years of time, not thousands or millions of years of time. This module will broaden your scope of time and allow you imagine what can happen if slow processes happen over long periods of time.