L3 & L4: Geology

Lithification

Process by which sediment becomes rock

Superposition

Geological layers are emplaced from oldest to youngest

Original horizontality

This law states that when layers of sediment (mud, sand, clay) are deposited, they are laid down flat and horizontal due to the pull of gravity.

Varve

•  an annual layer of sediment deposited at the bottom of a lake. As the seasons change, the lake deposits two distinct bands every year, creating a pattern that looks exactly like the rings of a tree.

• Considered the gold standard for carbon dating calibration in the world

Unconformities

A gap in geological time

Brittle deformation

Failure under stress

Movement along a fault

What are the causes of earthquakes?

Fault

A fracture in the Earth’s crust along which the rocks on either side have slid past each other.

Reverse fault plane

What was the fault in Gobi, Mongolia?

Strike-slip Fault

What was the fault in Piqiang Fault?

UNFORMITARIANISM

It suggests that Earth’s geologic processes acted in the same manner and with essentially the same intensity in the past as they do in the present and that such uniformity is sufficient to account for all geologic change (Britannica). 

Dip-slip

In a _____ fault, the movement occurs parallel to the angle (the dip) of the fault plane—meaning the blocks move up or down vertically relative to each other.

Strike-slip

In a ____ fault, the displacement occurs horizontally, parallel to the strike of the fault trace.

Slickenlines

The text notes that geologists determine the true category of a fault by studying ____ (parallel arrays of scratches, striae, and grooves carved into polished fault surfaces known as ____)