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This document is about a geology class assignment on the topic of geology and landscape. The assignment requires students to give a 5-minute solo presentation explaining key concepts from the attached reading, using only note cards. The reading discusses how landscapes are dynamic and continually changing due to constructive and destructive geological processes. It provides examples of mountain formation and erosion over geological timescales.
This document is about a geology class assignment on the topic of geology and landscape. The assignment requires students to give a 5-minute solo presentation explaining key concepts from the attached reading, using only note cards. The reading discusses how landscapes are dynamic and continually changing due to constructive and destructive geological processes. It provides examples of mountain formation and erosion over geological timescales.
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Descargue como PDF, TXT o lea en línea desde Scribd
This document is about a geology class assignment on the topic of geology and landscape. The assignment requires students to give a 5-minute solo presentation explaining key concepts from the attached reading, using only note cards. The reading discusses how landscapes are dynamic and continually changing due to constructive and destructive geological processes. It provides examples of mountain formation and erosion over geological timescales.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Formatos disponibles
Descargue como PDF, TXT o lea en línea desde Scribd
Class N: 11 Date: 28/10/2013 Fac: Environmental - UPS
Teacher: Alejandro Parra G Geology Level: 5th
Topic: Geology and Landscape
According the proposal to get the objective of the class, students most do an exposition about the documentation attached, read carefully, extract most important concepts and make only tabs mnemonic devices. The exposition should be alone by student, the full time will be agreed by everyone (about 5min), the total score is about 20points. GEOLOGY AND LANDSCAPE Most people consider the landscape to be unchanging, but Earth is a dynamic body, and its surface is continually altering-slowly on the human time scale, but relatively rapidly when compared to the great age of Earth (about 4,500 billion years). There are two principal influences that shape the terrain: constructive processes such as uplift, which create new landscape features, and destructive forces such as erosion, which gradually wear away exposed landforms. Hills and mountains are often regarded as the epitome of permanence, successfully resisting the destructive forces of nature, but in fact they tend to be relatively short-lived in geological terms. As a general rule, the higher a mountain is, the more recently it was formed; for example, the high mountains of the Himalayas are only about 50 million years old. Lower mountains tend to be older, and are often the eroded relics of much higher mountain chains. About 400 million years ago, when the present-day continents of North America and Europe were joined, the Caledonian mountain chain was the same size as the modern Himalayas. Today, however, the relics of the Caledonian orogeny (mountain- building period) exist as the comparatively low mountains of Greenland, the northern Appalachians in the United States, the Scottish Highlands, and the Norwegian coastal plateau. The Earth's crust is thought to be divided into huge, movable segments, called plates, which float on a soft plastic layer of rock. Some mountains were formed as a result of these plates crashing into each other and forcing up the rock at the plate margins. In this process, sedimentary rocks that originally formed on the seabed may be folded upwards to altitudes of more than 26,000 feet. Other mountains may be raised by earthquakes, which fracture the Earth's crust and can displace enough rock to produce block mountains. A third type of mountain may be formed as a result of volcanic activity which occurs in regions of active fold mountain belts, such as in the Cascade Range of western North America. The Cascades are made up of lavas and volcanic materials. Many of the peaks are extinct volcanoes. Whatever the reason for mountain formation, as soon as land rises above sea level it is subjected to destructive forces. The exposed rocks are attacked by the various weather processes and gradually broken down into fragments, which are then carried away and later deposited as sediments. Thus, any landscape represents only a temporary stage in the continuous battle between the forces of uplift and those of erosion. The weather, in its many forms, is the main agent of erosion. Rain washes away loose soil and penetrates cracks in the rocks. Carbon dioxide in the air reacts with the rainwater, forming a weak acid (carbonic acid) that may chemically attack the rocks. The rain seeps underground and the water may reappear later as springs. These springs are the sources of streams and rivers, which cut through the rocks and carry away debris from the mountains to the lowlands. Under very cold conditions, rocks can be shattered by ice and frost. Glaciers may form in permanently cold areas, and these slowly moving masses of ice cut out valleys, carrying with them huge quantities of eroded rock debris. In dry areas the wind is the principal agent of erosion. It carries fine particles of sand, which bombard exposed rock surfaces, thereby wearing them into yet more sand. Even living things contribute to the formation of landscapes. Tree roots force their way into cracks in rocks and, in so doing, speed their splitting. In contrast, the roots of grasses and other small plants may help to hold loose soil fragments together, thereby helping to prevent erosion by the wind.
Geological landscapes of the Death Valley region B Marli Bryant Miller Department of Geological Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1272, United States Keywords: Death Valley; landforms; history; stratigraphy; photographs 1. Introduction Death Valleys location and climate make it one of the most dramatic geological landscapes on Earth. The region lies near the western edge of cratonic North America, and so it contains a record of plate boundary effects that date back to the Proterozoic. These effects include rifting and the development of the passive margin during the Late Proterozoic, crustal shortening and Sierra Nevada magmatism largely during the Mesozoic, and crustal extension and magmatism during the Late Cenozoic. Because crustal extension continues today, the region also showcases spectacular landforms that relate to active mountain-building. When combined with this geology, Death Valleys harsh climate makes it unique. As the hottest and driest area in North America, both its geological record and landforms are unusually visible to geolo- gists and non-geologists alike. It is for this reason that the national park overflows with geology field trips during the spring months, and many visitors gain a deeper understanding of Earth processes. The authors of this volume represent several hun- dred years of collective experience working on the geology of the Death Valley region. Lauren Wright and Bennie Troxel alone have logged more than one hundred years. It is easy to see why so many geolo- gists keep coming back: traveling through this land- scape is like walking through a beautifully illustrated geology textbook, only better. The following photo- graphs attempt to portray some pages of that textbook, but like all photographs, they fall well short of an actual visit. Each photograph is keyed to a number on the accompanying geologic map (Miller and Wright, 2004) (Fig. 1). An arrow adjacent to a number indi- cates the direction of view. Those photographs that portray crustal extension or modern landforms appear in the first section. Those that illustrate the older geologic history appear in the second section. 0012-8252/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.07.010 B All illustrations (figures and photographs) n Marli Bryant Miller. E-mail address: millerm@uoregon.edu. Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx www.elsevier.com/locate/earscirev EARTH-01387; No of Pages 14 DTD 5 v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v Mv Mv Mv v + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Qal Qal Qal Qal Qal Qs Qal Qal Quaternary Alluvium Qs Qs Qs Qs Qs Sand Dunes Qp Qp Modern playas and salt pans. PQal PQal PQal PQal Pliocene-to-Quaternary Alluvium Ts Ts Ts Ts Tertiary sedimentary rocks Pz Pz Pz Pz Pz Pz Pz Pz Pz Pz Pz Paleozoic and Late Proterozoic sedimentary rocks pCp Late Precambrian Pahrump Group Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks Igneous Rocks Tv v v v v Volcanic rocks, predominantly late Tertiary Mv Mesozoic volcanic rocks Ti Ti + + + + + + + + Tertiary intrusive rocks Mzi Mzi Mesozoic intrusive rocks Metamorphic Rocks pC pC Precambrian gneiss pC pC pC Mzi Mzi Mzi Ti km 0 20 N pCp pCp pCp pCp pCp Ts 50 5 60 20 20 20 30 40 40 25 25 20 20 N e v a d a
1 2 4 5 6 8 9 11 14 16 12 7 13 15 10 3 CA NV SF SN LA DV F G C P O B R N L Fig. 1. Geologic map of Death Valley area, compiled by Miller and Wright (2004). Numbers and arrows depict corresponding photo location and direction of view. Abbreviations for mountain ranges are as follows: B: Black Mountains; C: Cottonwood Mountains; F: Funeral Mountains; G: Grapevine Mountains; L: Last Chance Range; N: Nopah Range; O: Owlshead Mountains; P: Panamint Mountains; R: Resting Spring Range. Abbreviations on location map of California are as follows: CA: California; DV: Death Valley National Park; LA: Los Angeles; NV: Nevada; SF: San Francisco; SN: Sierra Nevada Mountains. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 2 2. Modern landforms and crustal extension Photo 1. View northward along west side of Black Mountains. The Black Mountains consist predominantly of late Tertiary plutonic, volcanic, and sedimentary rock and a basement of Late Proterozoic metamorphic rock. They rise above the floor of Death Valley along the Black Mountains fault zone. The alluvial fans that spill out of each canyon tend to be relatively small because the valley floor tilts gently eastward. The Grapevine Mountains, in the far background, are approximately 80 km away. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 3 Photo 2. Photo 3. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 4 Photo 2. Bajada at Hanaupah Canyon (see preceding page). In contrast to the small, well-shaped fans on the east side of Death Valley, those on the west side coalesce into a gigantic bajada at the mountain front. Jayko (2005this volume) characterizes rates of erosion for the Panamint Mountains. A fault scarp cuts diagonally across the bajada in the bottom half of the photo. Vegetation marks locations of springs at the lowest reaches of the bajada. Photo 3. Black Mountains fault zone (see preceding page). The Black Mountains fault zone displays all the characteristics of active faults, including an extremely abrupt and linear range front, faceted spurs, and wineglass canyons. Photo 4. Salt pan at Badwater, view southward. Much of the valley floor of Death Valley is covered by salt that is broken into large polygons. This view to the south also shows the abrupt western edge of the Black Mountains. Messina et al. (2005this volume) characterize polygon morphology in northern Panamint and Eureka valleys. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 5 Photo 5. Copper Canyon turtleback. There are three turtlebacks in the Black Mountains, named because their broadly convex-upwards geometries resemble turtle shells (Curry, 1938). Each turtleback exposes a core of metamorphosed sedimentary and basement rock separated from an upper plate of sedimentary or volcanic rock by a fault zone. This photograph shows green-colored metamorphic rock faulted against red- and tan-colored sedimentary rock just south of Copper Canyon. Miller and Pavlis (2005this volume) describe the structural evolution of the three turtlebacks and their implications for crustal extension in the region. Cemen et al. (2005 this volume) describe similar features in Turkey. Photo 6. Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes (see next page). The Death Valley region hosts numerous sand dune fields, each of which exists in a setting that is partially protected from the wind. These dunes on Mesquite Flat lie at the northern foot of Tucki Mountain, off to the side from the main part of Death Valley. They contain both crescentic and star dunes. Photo 7. Kit Fox Hills and Northern Death Valley fault zone (see next page). The Kit Fox Hills consist of folded and faulted Late Tertiary and Quaternary sediments. The hills end abruptly at the northern Death Valley fault zone, shown here cutting diagonally across the photo. This view to the northwest also shows much of northern Death Valley, with the Cottonwood Mountains on the left and the Grapevine Mountains on right. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 6 Photo 6. Photo 7. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 7 Photo 8. Photo 9. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 8 Photo 8. Little Hebe Craters (see preceding page). This cluster of small phreatic explosion craters exists on the shoulder of the much larger Ubehebe Crater in northern Death Valley. A total of 13 explosions produced the entire field (Crowe and Fisher, 1973). Photo 9. Sliding rock at Racetrack Playa (see preceding page). At an elevation of 4000 ft and a long stretch of valley to funnel the wind, Racetrack Playa hosts rocks that occasionally slide across the playa surface. No one has actually seen them move, so the actual cause has been long debated. The rock in this photo is approximately 30 cm across. 3 . Geologic history Photo 10. Diabase sill and basement unconformity, view southward. The Crystal Spring Formation, which is the lower part of the Pahrump Group, rests depositionally on basement rocks. It is intruded by green-colored diabase sills that yielded an age of 1.08 Ga (Heaman and Grotzinger, 1992). Metamorphic reactions between the diabase and dolomite of the Crystal Spring Formation produced large deposits of talc, which have been mined throughout the Death Valley region. To the south, this photograph shows the western edge of the southern Black Mountains, and in the distant background, the Avawatz Mountains. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 9 Photo 11. Cliffs of Paleozoic rock, Cottonwood Mountains. With the exception of the Black Mountains, every range in the Death Valley region is underlain by Late Proterozoic through Paleozoic marine sedimentary rocks. These rocks attain thicknesses of 10 km and were deposited on a long-lived passive margin, similar in many ways to the present-day eastern seaboard of North America. Photo 12. Hunter Mountain Batholith and Paleozoic rock at Racetrack Playa (see next page). The Hunter Mountain Batholith, part of which is shown here as the dark-colored rock, is a Middle Jurassic pluton that reflects activity during early stages of the Sierran magmatic arc. Here it intrudes folded and thrust faulted Paleozoic rock (tan) to establish a pre-Middle Jurassic age for those structures. Stevens and Stone (2005this volume) review these compressional structures. Saline Valley lies in the background; the Sierra Nevada lies in the far background, about 70 km away. Photo 13. Folded rock in Grapevine Mountains (see next page). The Grapevine Mountains, mapped in detail by Reynolds (1969) and Niemi (2002), contain thick sequences of Paleozoic rock that was deformed into large-scale folds and faults during crustal shortening. Overlying these rocks are less deformed Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rock. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 10 Photo 12. Photo 13. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 11 Photo 14. Smith Mountain, Black Mountains. Smith Mountain, on the right side of this photograph, is underlain by the Smith Mountain pluton, one of several mid-Miocene plutons that intrude the Black Mountains. It consists largely of granite and locally contains distinctive rapakivi textures, described in detail by Calzia and Ramo (2005this volume). Wingate Wash, a site of transtensional deformation described by Luckow et al. (2005this volume) lies in the background. Photo 15. Furnace Creek Formation at Zabriskie Point (see next page). The Furnace Creek Formation consists primarily of alluvial fan and playa deposits, shown here in the foreground and middle ground respectively. It was deposited from about 64 Ma, in the Furnace Creek Basin, an extensional basin that formed along the Furnace Creek fault zone prior to opening of modern Death Valley. Photo 16. Angular unconformity at Ryan Mesa (see next page). This photograph shows undeformed 4 Ma basalt overlying Artist Drive Formation (left) faulted against tilted Furnace Creek Formation (right). This unconfor- mity marks the end of active extension in the Furnace Creek Basin and the approximate onset of crustal extension in modern Death Valley. Knott et al. (2005this volume) reconstruct the stratigraphy during this transition period. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 12 Photo 15. Photo 16. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 13 References Calzia, J.P., Ramo , O.T., 2005this volume. Miocene rapaviki granites in the southern Death Valley region, California, USA. Earth-Science Reviews 73. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.07.006. Cemen, I., Tekeli, O., Seyitoglu, G., Isik, V., 2005this volume. Are turtleback fault surfaces common structural elements of highly extended terrains? Earth-Science Reviews 73. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.07.001. Crowe, B.M., Fisher, R.V., 1973. Sedimentary structures in base-surge deposits with special reference to cross bedding, Ubehebe Crater, Death Valley, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 84, 663682. Curry, H.D., 1938. bTurtlebackQ fault surfaces in Death Valley, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 49, 1875. Heaman, L.M., Grotzinger, J., 1992. 1.08 Ga diabase sills in the Pahrump Group, California: implications for development of the Cordilleran Miogeocline. Geology 20, 637640. Jayko, A.S., 2005this volume. Late Quaternary denudation, Death and Panamint Valleys, Eastern California. Earth-Science Reviews 73. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.04.009. Knott, J.R., Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., Machette, M.N., Klinger, R.E., 2005this volume. Upper Neogene stratigraphy and tectonics of Death ValleyA review. Earth-Science Reviews 73. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.07.004. Luckow, H.G., Pavlis, T.L., Serpa, L.F., Guest, Bernard, Wagner, D.L., Snee, Lawrence, Hensley, T.M., Korjenkov, Andrey, 2005this volume. Late Cenozoic sedimentation and volcanism during transtensional deformation in Wingate Wash and the Owlshead Mountains, Death Valley. Earth-Science Reviews 73. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.07.013. Messina, P., Soffer, P.W., Smith, W.C., 2005this volume. Macropolygon morphology, development, and classification on North Panamint and Eureka Playas, Death Valley National Park, CA. Earth-Science Reviews 73. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.04.011. Miller, M.B., Wright, L.A., 2004. Geology of Death Valley National Park, 2nd ed. Kendall-Hunt Publishing, Dubuque, Iowa (123 pp.). Miller, M.B., Pavlis, T.L., 2005this volume. The Black Mountains turtlebacks: Rosetta stones of the Death Valley tectonics. Earth-Science Reviews 73. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.04.007. Niemi, N.A., 2002. Extensional tectonics in the Basin and Range Province and the geology of the Grapevine Mountains, Death Valley Region, California and Nevada. PhD thesis, Pasadena, California Institute of Technology, 344 pp. Reynolds, M.W., 1969. Stratigraphy and structural geology of the Titus and Titanothere Canyons area, Death Valley, California. PhD thesis, Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley, 310 pp. Stevens, C.H., Stone, P., 2005this volume. Structure and regional significance of the Late Permian(?) Sierra NevadaDeath Valley thrust system, East-Central California. Earth-Science Reviews 63. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2005.04.005. M.B. Miller / Earth-Science Reviews xx (2005) xxxxxx 14