Physical Geology

Physical Geology

Steven Earle

BCCAMPUS
VICTORIA, B.C., CANADA
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© 2015 Steven Earle

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geology/

Cover image attribution:

Mount Robson, British Columbia (3954 m, highest peak in the Canadian Rockies), with the Berg
Glacier (left), the Mist Glacier (right) and Berg Lake in the foreground. Mount Robson is almost
entirely made up of Cambrian sedimentary rock (ca. 500 Ma) that was pushed eastward and thrust
upward during the formation of the Rocky Mountains, mostly during the past 100 million years. By
Heather Earle is used under a CC BY 4.0 Licence.

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-989623-71-8

Print ISBN: 978-1-989623-70-1
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Contents

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xii

About BCcampus Open Education xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction to Geology

1.1 What Is Geology? 2

1.2 Why Study Earth? 5
1.3 What Do Geologists Do? 7
1.4 Minerals and Rocks 8
1.5 Fundamentals of Plate Tectonics 11
1.6 Geological Time 14
Chapter 1 Summary 18

Chapter 2 Minerals

2.1 Electrons, Protons, Neutrons, and Atoms 22

2.2 Bonding and Lattices 26
2.3 Mineral Groups 34
2.4 Silicate Minerals 37
2.5 Formation of Minerals 46
2.6 Mineral Properties 47
Chapter 2 Summary 52

Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

3.1 The Rock Cycle 56

3.2 Magma and Magma Formation 59
3.3 Crystallization of Magma 64
3.4 Classification of Igneous Rocks 70
3.5 Intrusive Igneous Bodies 74
Chapter 3 Summary 78
Chapter 4 Volcanism

4.1 Plate Tectonics and Volcanism 82

4.2 Magma Composition and Eruption Style 85
4.3 Types of Volcanoes 88
4.4 Volcanic Hazards 100
4.5 Monitoring Volcanoes and Predicting Eruptions 106
4.6 Volcanoes in British Columbia 110
Chapter 4 Summary 115

Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

5.1 Mechanical Weathering 119

5.2 Chemical Weathering 124
5.3 The Products of Weathering and Erosion 129
5.4 Weathering and the Formation of Soil 133
5.5 The Soils of Canada 139
5.6 Weathering and Climate Change 142
Chapter 5 Summary 144

Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

6.1 Clastic Sedimentary Rocks 148

6.2 Chemical Sedimentary Rocks 157
6.3 Depositional Environments and Sedimentary Basins 164
6.4 Sedimentary Structures and Fossils 167
6.5 Groups, Formations, and Members 172
Chapter 6 Summary 177

Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

7.1 Controls over Metamorphic Processes 181

7.2 Classification of Metamorphic Rocks 185
7.3 Plate Tectonics and Metamorphism 192
7.4 Regional Metamorphism 199
7.5 Contact Metamorphism and Hydrothermal Processes 203
Chapter 7 Summary 207
Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

8.1 The Geological Time Scale 211

8.2 Relative Dating Methods 214
8.3 Dating Rocks Using Fossils 219
8.4 Isotopic Dating Methods 224
8.5 Other Dating Methods 228
8.6 Understanding Geological Time 233
Chapter 8 Summary 235

Chapter 9 Earth’s Interior

9.1 Understanding Earth through Seismology 240

9.2 The Temperature of Earth’s Interior 246
9.3 Earth’s Magnetic Field 249
9.4 Isostasy 252
Chapter 9 Summary 257

Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

10.1 Alfred Wegener — the Father of Plate Tectonics 260

10.2 Global Geological Models of the Early 20th Century 264
10.3 Geological Renaissance of the Mid-20th Century 267
10.4 Plates, Plate Motions, and Plate-Boundary Processes 279
10.5 Mechanisms for Plate Motion 291
Chapter 10 Summary 293

Chapter 11 Earthquakes

11.1 What Is an Earthquake? 298

11.2 Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics 303
11.3 Measuring Earthquakes 309
11.4 The Impacts of Earthquakes 316
11.5 Forecasting Earthquakes and Minimizing Damage and Casualties 324
Chapter 11 Summary 328

Chapter 12 Geological Structures

12.1 Stress and Strain 332

12.2 Folding 335
12.3 Fracturing and Faulting 338
12.4 Measuring Geological Structures 344
Chapter 12 Summary 347

Chapter 13 Streams and Floods

13.1 The Hydrological Cycle 351

13.2 Drainage Basins 355
13.3 Stream Erosion and Deposition 361
13.4 Stream Types 365
13.5 Flooding 370
Chapter 13 Summary 375

Chapter 14 Groundwater

14.1 Groundwater and Aquifers 379

14.2 Groundwater Flow 383
14.3 Groundwater Extraction 388
14.4 Groundwater Quality 394
Chapter 14 Summary 405

Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

15.1 Factors That Control Slope Stability 409

15.2 Classification of Mass Wasting 414
15.3 Preventing, Delaying, Monitoring, and Mitigating Mass Wasting 424
Chapter 15 Summary 430

Chapter 16 Glaciation

16.1 Glacial Periods in Earth’s History 434

16.2 How Glaciers Work 440
16.3 Glacial Erosion 448
16.4 Glacial Deposition 454
Chapter 16 Summary 459
Chapter 17 Shorelines

17.1 Waves 463

17.2 Landforms of Coastal Erosion 471
17.3 Landforms of Coastal Deposition 475
17.4 Sea-Level Change 481
17.5 Human Interference with Shorelines 484
Chapter 17 Summary 487

Chapter 18 Geology of the Oceans

18.1 The Topography of the Sea Floor 491

18.2 The Geology of the Oceanic Crust 495
18.3 Sea-Floor Sediments 498
18.4 Ocean Water 501
Chapter 18 Summary 507

Chapter 19 Climate Change

19.1 What Makes the Climate Change? 511

19.2 Anthropogenic Climate Change 521
19.3 Implications of Climate Change 525
Chapter 19 Summary 532

Chapter 20 Geological Resources

20.1 Metal Deposits 537

20.2 Industrial Minerals 549
20.3 Fossil Fuels 552
20.4 Diamonds 558
Chapter 20 Summary 559

Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

21.1 Geological History of Canada 564

21.2 Western Canada during the Precambrian 568
21.3 Western Canada during the Paleozoic 574
21.4 Western Canada during the Mesozoic 578
21.5 Western Canada during the Cenozoic 587
Chapter 21 Summary 593

Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System 597

Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan
22.1 Starting with a Big Bang 598
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan
22.2 Forming Planets from the Remnants of Exploding Stars 603
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan
22.3 How to Build a Solar System 604
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan
22.4 Earth’s First 2 Billion Years 613
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan
22.5 Are There Other Earths? 616
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan
Chapter 22 Summary 620
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan

Glossary 622
About the Author 653
Appendix 1 List of Geologically Important elements and the Periodic Table 654
Appendix 2 Answers to Review Questions 657
Appendix 3 Answers to Exercises 682
Versioning History 717
Preface

Note: A new edition of this book was published September 2019. You can find the new edition here:
Physical Geology – 2nd Edition

This book was born out of a 2014 meeting of earth science educators representing most of the
universities and colleges in British Columbia, and nurtured by a widely shared frustration that many
students are not thriving in our courses because textbooks have become too expensive for them to buy.
But the real inspiration comes from a fascination for the spectacular geology of western Canada and the
many decades that I have spent exploring this region along with colleagues, students, family, and friends.
My goal has been to provide an accessible and comprehensive guide to the important topics of geology,
richly illustrated with examples from western Canada. Although this text is intended to complement a
typical first-year course in physical geology, its contents could be applied to numerous other related
courses.

As a teacher for many years, and as someone who is constantly striving to discover new things, I am
well aware of that people learn in myriad ways, and that for most, simply reading the contents of a book
is not one of the most effective ones. For that reason, this book includes numerous embedded exercises
and activities that are designed to encourage readers to engage with the concepts presented, and to make
meaning of the material under consideration. It is strongly recommended that you try the exercises as
you progress through each chapter. You should also find it useful, whether or not assigned by your
instructor, to complete the questions at the end of each chapter.

Over many years of teaching earth science I have received a lot of feedback from students. What gives
me the most pleasure is to hear that someone, having completed my course, now sees Earth with new
eyes, and has discovered both the thrill and the value of an enhanced understanding of how our planet
works. I sincerely hope that this textbook will help you see Earth in a new way.

Steven Earle, Gabriola Island, 2015

xi
Acknowledgments

I am grateful to the members of the BC Earth Science Articulation Committee for their encouragement
and support during this project, and to the following colleagues from institutions around BC and
elsewhere for acting as subject matter experts and chapter reviewers: Sandra Johnstone, Kathleen Jagger,
Tim Stokes, Cathie Hickson, Michelle Lamberson, Casey Brant, Alan Gilchrist, Deirdre Hopkins, Todd
Redding, Duncan Johansen, Craig Nicol, John Martin, Mark Smith, Jeff Lewis, and Russel Hartlaub. I
am also grateful to Karla Panchuk of the University of Saskatchewan for conceiving and writing Chapter
22, The Origin of the Earth and the Solar System.

I thank the staff of BCcampus, especially Amanda Coolidge for her excellent guidance and devotion to
this project, and also Clint Lalonde and Lauri Aesoph.

And finally, I thank my family for inspiration and help, especially Justine and Kate, and also Isaac,
Rosie, Heather, and Tim.

xii
 About BCcampus Open Education

Physical Geology by Steven Earle was created as part of the B.C. Open Textbook Project.

BCcampus Open Education began in 2012 as the B.C. Open Textbook Project with the goal of making
post-secondary education in British Columbia more accessible by reducing student costs through the
use of openly licensed textbooks and other OER. BCcampus supports the post-secondary institutions
of British Columbia as they adapt and evolve their teaching and learning practices to enable powerful
learning opportunities for the students of B.C. BCcampus Open Education is funded by the British
Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills & Training, and the Hewlett Foundation.

Open textbooks are open educational resources (OER) created and shared in ways so that more people
have access to them. This is a different model than traditionally copyrighted materials. OER are defined
as teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released
1
under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Our open
textbooks are openly licensed using a Creative Commons licence, and are offered in various e-book
formats free of charge, or as printed books that are available at cost. For more information about
open education in British Columbia, please visit the BCcampus Open Education website. If you are an
instructor who is using this book for a course, please fill out our Adoption of an Open Textbook form.

1. "Open Educational Resources," Hewlett Foundation, https://hewlett.org/strategy/open-educational-resources/ (accessed September 27,

2018).

xiii
Chapter 1 Introduction to Geology

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Explain what geology is, how it incorporates the other sciences, and how it is different from the
other sciences
• Discuss why we study Earth and what type of work geologists do
• Define some of the properties of a mineral and explain the differences between minerals and
rocks
• Describe the nature of Earth’s interior and some of the processes that take place deep beneath our
feet
• Explain how those processes are related to plate tectonics and describe a few of the features that
are characteristic of plate boundaries
• Use the notation for geological time, gain an appreciation for the vastness of geological time, and
describe how very slow geological processes can have enormous impacts over time

1
1.1 What Is Geology?

In its broadest sense, geology is the study of Earth — its interior and its exterior surface, the rocks and
other materials that are around us, the processes that have resulted in the formation of those materials,
the water that flows over the surface and lies underground, the changes that have taken place over
the vastness of geological time, and the changes that we can anticipate will take place in the near
future. Geology is a science, meaning that we use deductive reasoning and scientific methods (see
Box 1.1) to understand geological problems. It is, arguably, the most integrated of all of the sciences
because it involves the understanding and application of all of the other sciences: physics, chemistry,
biology, mathematics, astronomy, and others. But unlike most of the other sciences, geology has an extra
dimension, that of time — deep time — billions of years of it. Geologists study the evidence that they
see around them, but in most cases, they are observing the results of processes that happened thousands,
millions, and even billions of years in the past. Those were processes that took place at incredibly slow
rates — millimetres per year to centimetres per year — but because of the amount of time available, they
produced massive results.

Geology is displayed on a grand scale in mountainous regions, perhaps nowhere better than the Rocky
Mountains in Canada (Figure 1.1). The peak on the right is Rearguard Mountain, which is a few
kilometres northeast of Mount Robson, the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies (3,954 m). The large
glacier in the middle of the photo is the Robson Glacier. The river flowing from Robson Glacier drains
into Berg Lake in the bottom right. There are many geological features portrayed here. The sedimentary
rock that these mountains are made of formed in ocean water over 500 million years ago. A few hundred
million years later, these beds were pushed east for tens to hundreds of kilometres by tectonic plate
convergence and also pushed up to thousands of metres above sea level. Over the past two million years
this area — like most of the rest of Canada — has been repeatedly glaciated, and the erosional effects
of those glaciations are obvious. The Robson Glacier is now only a small remnant of its size during the
Little Ice Age of the 15th to 18th centuries, as shown by the distinctive line on the slope on the left. Like
almost all other glaciers in the world, it is now receding even more rapidly because of human-caused
climate change.

2
3 Chapter 1 Introduction to Geology

Figure 1.1 Rearguard Mountain and Robson Glacier

in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia [SE]

Geology is also about understanding the evolution of life on Earth; about discovering resources such as
metals and energy; about recognizing and minimizing the environmental implications of our use of those
resources; and about learning how to mitigate the hazards related to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and
slope failures. All of these aspects of geology, and many more, are covered in this textbook.

Box 1.1 What are scientific methods?

There is no single method of inquiry that is specifically the “scientific method”; furthermore,
scientific inquiry is not necessarily different from serious research in other disciplines. The key
feature of serious inquiry is the creation of a hypothesis (a tentative explanation) that could explain
the observations that have been made, and then the formulation and testing (by experimentation) of
 Physical Geology 4

one or more predictions that follow from that hypothesis. For example, we might observe that most of
the cobbles in a stream bed are well rounded (see photo in this box), and then derive the hypothesis
that the rocks become rounded during transportation along the stream bed. A prediction that follows
from this hypothesis is that cobbles present in a stream will become increasingly rounded over time as
they are transported downstream. An experiment to test this prediction would be to place some
angular cobbles in a stream, label them so that we can be sure to find them again later, and then return
at various time intervals (over a period of months or years) to carefully measure their locations and
roundness. A critical feature of a good hypothesis and any resulting predictions is that they must be
testable. For example, an alternative hypothesis to the one above is that an extraterrestrial
organization creates rounded cobbles and places them in streams when nobody is looking. This may
indeed be the case, but there is no practical way to test this hypothesis. Most importantly, there is no
way to prove that it is false, because if we aren’t able to catch the aliens at work, we still won’t know
if they did it!
1.2 Why Study Earth?

The simple answer to this question is that Earth is our home — our only home for the foreseeable future
— and in order to ensure that it continues to be a great place to live, we need to understand how it works.
Another answer is that some of us can’t help but study it because it’s fascinating. But there is more to it
than that:

• We rely on Earth for valuable resources such as soil, water, metals, industrial minerals, and
energy, and we need to know how to find these resources and exploit them sustainably.
• We can study rocks and the fossils they contain to understand the evolution of our
environment and the life within it.
• We can learn to minimize our risks from earthquakes, volcanoes, slope failures, and
damaging storms.
• We can learn how and why Earth’s climate has changed in the past, and use that knowledge
to understand both natural and human-caused climate change.
• We can recognize how our activities have altered the environment in many ways and the
climate in increasingly serious ways, and how to avoid more severe changes in the future.
• We can use our knowledge of Earth to understand other planets in our solar system, as well as
those around distant stars.

An example of the importance of geological studies for minimizing risks to the public is illustrated in
Figure 1.2. This is a slope failure that took place in January 2005 in the Riverside Drive area of North
Vancouver. The steep bank beneath the house shown gave way, and a slurry of mud and sand flowed
down, destroying another house below and killing one person. This event took place following a heavy
rainfall, which is a common occurrence in southwestern B.C. in the winter.

Figure 1.2 The aftermath of a deadly debris flow in the Riverside

Drive area of North Vancouver in January, 2005 [The Province, used
with permission]

5
 Physical Geology 6

The irony of the 2005 slope failure is that the District of North Vancouver had been warned in a
geological report written in 1980 that this area was prone to slope failure and that steps should be taken
to minimize the risk to residents. Very little was done in the intervening 25 years, and the results were
deadly.
1.3 What Do Geologists Do?

Geologists are involved in a range of widely varying occupations with one thing in common: the
privilege of studying this fascinating planet. In Canada, many geologists work in the resource industries,
including mineral exploration and mining and energy exploration and extraction. Other major areas
where geologists work include hazard assessment and mitigation (e.g., assessment of risks from slope
failures, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions); water supply planning, development, and management;
waste management; and assessment of geological issues on construction projects such as highways,
tunnels, and bridges. Most geologists are employed in the private sector, but many work for government-
funded geological organizations, such as the Geological Survey of Canada or one of the provincial
geological surveys. And of course, many geologists are involved in education at the secondary and the
postsecondary levels.

Some people are attracted to geology because they like to be outdoors, and it is true that many geological
opportunities involve fieldwork in places that are as amazing to see as they are interesting to study.
But a lot of geological work is also done in offices or laboratories. Geological work tends to be varied
and challenging, and for these reasons and many others, geologists are among those who are the most
satisfied with their employment.

Figure 1.3 Geologists examining ash-layer deposits at Kilauea

Volcano, Hawaii [SE photo]

In Canada, most working geologists are required to be registered with an association of professional
geoscientists. This typically involves meeting specific postsecondary educational standards and gaining
several years of relevant professional experience under the supervision of a registered geoscientist.
Information about the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia can
be found at: https://www.apeg.bc.ca/Home.

7
 1.4 Minerals and Rocks

The rest of this chapter is devoted to a brief overview of a few of the important aspects of physical
geology, starting with minerals and rocks. This is followed by a review of Earth’s internal structure and
the processes of plate tectonics, and an explanation of geological time.

Like everything else in the universe, Earth is made up of varying proportions of the 90 naturally
occurring elements — hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, magnesium, silicon, iron, and so on. In most
geological materials, these combine in various ways to make minerals. Minerals will be covered in some
detail in Chapter 2, but here we will briefly touch on what minerals are, and how they are related to
rocks.

A mineral is a naturally occurring combination of specific elements that are arranged in a particular
1
repeating three-dimensional structure or lattice. The mineral halite is shown as an example in Figure
1.4. In this case, atoms of sodium (Na: purple) alternate with atoms of chlorine (Cl: green) in all three
dimensions, and the angles between the bonds are all 90°. Even in a tiny crystal, like the ones in your
salt shaker, the lattices extend in all three directions for thousands of repetitions. Halite always has this
composition and this structure.

Figure 1.4 The lattice structure and composition of the mineral halite
(common table salt) [SE]

1. Terms in bold are defined in the glossary at the end of the book.

8
9 Chapter 1 Introduction to Geology

Note: Element symbols (e.g., Na and Cl) are used extensively in this book. In Appendix 1, you will
find a list of the symbols and names of the elements common in minerals and a copy of the periodic
table. Please use those resources if you are not familiar with the element symbols.

There are thousands of minerals, although only a few dozen are mentioned in this book. In nature,
minerals are found in rocks, and the vast majority of rocks are composed of at least a few different
minerals. A close-up view of granite, a common rock, is shown in Figure 1.5. Although a hand-sized
piece of granite may have thousands of individual mineral crystals in it, there are typically only a few
different minerals, as shown here.

Figure 1.5 A close-up view of the rock granite and some of the
minerals that it typically contains (H = hornblende (amphibole), Q =
quartz and F = feldspar). The crystals range from about 0.1 to 3 mm in
diameter. Most are irregular in outline, but some are rectangular. [SE]

Rocks can form in a variety of ways. Igneous rocks form from magma (molten rock) that has either
cooled slowly underground (e.g., to produce granite) or cooled quickly at the surface after a volcanic
eruption (e.g., basalt). Sedimentary rocks, such as sandstone, form when the weathered products of
other rocks accumulate at the surface and are then buried by other sediments. Metamorphic rocks form
when either igneous or sedimentary rocks are heated and squeezed to the point where some of their
minerals are unstable and new minerals form to create a different type of rock. An example is schist.
 Physical Geology 10

A key point to remember is the difference between a mineral and a rock. A mineral is a pure substance
with a specific composition and structure, while a rock is typically a mixture of several different minerals
(although a few types of rock may include only one type of mineral). Examples of minerals are feldspar,
quartz, mica, halite, calcite, and amphibole. Examples of rocks are granite, basalt, sandstone, limestone,
and schist.

Exercises

Exercise 1.1 Find a Piece of Granite

Granite is very common in most parts of Canada, and unless everything is currently covered with snow where
you live, you should have no trouble finding a sample of it near you. The best places to look are pebbly ocean
or lake beaches, a gravel bar of a creek or river, a gravel driveway, or somewhere where rounded gravel has
been used in landscaping. In the photo shown here, taken on a beach, the granitic pebbles are the ones that are
predominantly light coloured with dark specks.
Select a sample of granite and, referring to Figure 1.5, see if you can identify some of the minerals in it. It
may help to break it in half with a hammer to see a fresh surface, but be careful to protect your eyes if you do
so. You should be able to see glassy-looking quartz, dull white plagioclase feldspar (and maybe pink
potassium feldspar), and black hornblende or, in some cases, flaky black biotite mica (or both).
In addition to identifying the minerals in your granite, you might also try to describe the texture in terms of
the range sizes of the mineral crystals (in millimetres) and the shapes of the crystals (some may be
rectangular in outline, most will be irregular). Think about where your granite might have come from and
how it got to where you found it.
1.5 Fundamentals of Plate Tectonics

Plate tectonics is the model or theory that has been used for the past 60 years to understand Earth’s
development and structure — more specifically the origins of continents and oceans, of folded rocks and
mountain ranges, of earthquakes and volcanoes, and of continental drift. It is explained in some detail in
Chapter 10, but is introduced here because it includes concepts that are important to many of the topics
covered in the next few chapters.

Key to understanding plate tectonics is an understanding of Earth’s internal structure, which is illustrated
in Figure 1.6. Earth’s core consists mostly of iron. The outer core is hot enough for the iron to be liquid.
The inner core, although even hotter, is under so much pressure that it is solid. The mantle is made up
of iron and magnesium silicate minerals. The bulk of the mantle, surrounding the outer core, is solid
rock, but is plastic enough to be able to flow slowly. Surrounding that part of the mantle is a partially
molten layer (the asthenosphere), and the outermost part of the mantle is rigid. The crust — composed
mostly of granite on the continents and mostly of basalt beneath the oceans — is also rigid. The crust
and outermost rigid mantle together make up the lithosphere. The lithosphere is divided into about 20
tectonic plates that move in different directions on Earth’s surface. (For a more accurate depiction of
the components of the Earth’s interior, please see Figure 9.2.)

An important property of Earth (and other planets) is that the temperature increases with depth, from
close to 0°C at the surface to about 7000°C at the centre of the core. In the crust, the rate of temperature
increase is about 30°C/km. This is known as the geothermal gradient.

Figure 1.6 The structure of Earth’s interior showing the inner and
outer core, the different layers of the mantle, and the crust [Wikipedia]

Heat is continuously flowing outward from Earth’s interior, and the transfer of heat from the core to
the mantle causes convection in the mantle (Figure 1.7). This convection is the primary driving force
for the movement of tectonic plates. At places where convection currents in the mantle are moving
upward, new lithosphere forms (at ocean ridges), and the plates move apart (diverge). Where two plates

11
 Physical Geology 12

are converging (and the convective flow is downward), one plate will be subducted (pushed down)
into the mantle beneath the other. Many of Earth’s major earthquakes and volcanoes are associated with
convergent boundaries.

Figure 1.7 A model of convection within Earth’s mantle

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/
Oceanic_spreading.svg/1280px-Oceanic_spreading.svg.png]

Earth’s major tectonic plates and the directions and rates at which they are diverging at sea-floor ridges,
are shown in Figure 1.8.

Exercises

Exercise 1.2 Plate Motion During Your Lifetime

Using either a map of the tectonic plates from the Internet or Figure 1.8, determine which tectonic plate you
are on right now, approximately how fast it is moving, and in what direction. How far has that plate moved
relative to Earth’s core since you were born?
13 Chapter 1 Introduction to Geology

Figure 1.8 Earth’s tectonic plates and tectonic features that

have been active over the past 1 million years
[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Plate_tectonics_map.gif]
 1.6 Geological Time

In 1788, after many years of geological study, James Hutton, one of the great pioneers of geology,
wrote the following about the age of Earth: The result, therefore, of our present enquiry is, that we find
1
no vestige of a beginning — no prospect of an end. Of course he wasn’t exactly correct, there was a
beginning and there will be an end to Earth, but what he was trying to express is that geological time
is so vast that we humans, who typically live for less than a century, have no means of appreciating
how much geological time there is. Hutton didn’t even try to assign an age to Earth, but we now know
that it is approximately 4,570 million years old. Using the scientific notation for geological time, that
is 4,570 Ma (for mega annum or “millions of years”) or 4.57 Ga (for giga annum or billions of years).
More recent dates can be expressed in ka (kilo annum); for example, the last cycle of glaciation ended
at approximately 11.7 ka or 11,700 years ago. This notation will be used for geological dates throughout
this book.

Exercises

Exercise 1.3 Using Geological Time Notation To help you understand the scientific notation for geological
time, write the following out in numbers (for example, 3.23 Ma = 3,230,000 years).

2.75 ka

0.93 Ga

14.2 Ma

We use this notation to describe times from the present, but not to express time differences in the past. For
example, we could say that the dinosaurs lived from about 225 Ma to 65 Ma, which is 160 million years, but
we would not say that they lived for 160 Ma.

Unfortunately, knowing how to express geological time doesn’t really help us understand or appreciate
its extent. A version of the geological time scale is included as Figure 1.9. Unlike time scales you’ll see
in other places, or even later in this book, this time scale is linear throughout its length, meaning that
50 Ma during the Cenozoic is the same thickness as 50 Ma during the Hadean—in each case about the
height of the “M” in Ma. The Pleistocene glacial epoch began at about 2.6 Ma, which is equivalent to
half the thickness of the thin grey line at the top of the yellow bar marked “Cenozoic.” Most other time
scales have earlier parts of Earth’s history compressed so that more detail can be shown for the more
recent parts. That makes it difficult to appreciate the extent of geological time.

1. Hutton, J, 1788. Theory of the Earth; or an investigation of the laws observable in the composition, dissolution, and restoration of land
upon the Globe. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

14
15 Chapter 1 Introduction to Geology

Figure 1.9 The geological

time scale [SE]

To create some context, the Phanerozoic Eon (the last 542 million years) is named for the time during
which visible (phaneros) life (zoi) is present in the geological record. In fact, large organisms — those
that leave fossils visible to the naked eye — have existed for a little longer than that, first appearing
around 600 Ma, or a span of just over 13% of geological time. Animals have been on land for 360 million
years, or 8% of geological time. Mammals have dominated since the demise of the dinosaurs around 65
Ma, or 1.5% of geological time, and the genus Homo has existed since approximately 2.2 Ma, or 0.05%
(1/2,000th) of geological time.

Geologists (and geology students) need to understand geological time. That doesn’t mean simply
memorizing the geological time scale; instead, it means getting your mind around the concept that
although most geological processes are extremely slow, very large and important things can happen if
such processes continue for enough time.

For example, the Atlantic Ocean between Nova Scotia and northwestern Africa has been getting wider at
a rate of about 2.5 cm per year. Imagine yourself taking a journey at that rate — it would be impossibly
 Physical Geology 16

and ridiculously slow. And yet, since it started to form around 200 Ma (just 4% of geological time), the
Atlantic Ocean has grown to a width of over 5,000 km!

A useful mechanism for understanding geological time is to scale it all down into one year. The origin of
the solar system and Earth at 4.57 Ga would be represented by January 1, and the present year would be
represented by the last tiny fraction of a second on New Year’s Eve. At this scale, each day of the year
represents 12.5 million years; each hour represents about 500,000 years; each minute represents 8,694
years; and each second represents 145 years. Some significant events in Earth’s history, as expressed on
this time scale, are summarized on Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 A summary of some important geological dates expressed as if all of geological time was
condensed into one year [SE]

Approximate
Event Calendar Equivalent
Date

Formation of oceans and continents 4.5 – 4.4 Ga January

Evolution of the first primitive life forms 3.8 Ga early March

Formation of British Columbia’s oldest rocks 2.0 Ga July

0.6 Ga or 600
Evolution of the first multi-celled animals November 15
Ma

Animals first crawled onto land 360 Ma December 1

Vancouver Island reached North America and the Rocky

90 Ma December 25
Mountains were formed

Extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs 65 Ma December 26

2 Ma or 2000
Beginning of the Pleistocene ice age 8 p.m., December, 31
ka

Retreat of the most recent glacial ice from southern Canada 14 ka 11:58 p.m., December 31

Arrival of the first people in British Columbia 10 ka 11:59 p.m., December 31

Arrival of the first Europeans on the west coast of what is 2 seconds before midnight,
250 years ago
now Canada December 31

Exercises

Exercise 1.4 Take a Trip through Geological Time

17 Chapter 1 Introduction to Geology

We’re going on a road trip! Pack some snacks and grab some of your favourite music. We’ll start in Tofino on
Vancouver Island and head for the Royal Tyrrell Museum just outside of Drumheller, Alberta, 1,500 km
away. Along the way, we’ll talk about some important geological sites that we pass by, and we’ll use the
distance as a way of visualizing the extent of geological time. Of course it’s just a “virtual” road trip, but it
will be fun anyway. To join in, go to: https://barabus.tru.ca/geol2051/road_trip/road_trip.html
Once you’ve had a chance to do the road trip, answer these questions:
1. We need oxygen to survive, and yet the first presence of free oxygen (O2 gas) in the atmosphere and the
oceans was a “catastrophe” for some organisms. When did this happen and why was it a catastrophe?
2. Approximately how much time elapsed between the colonization of land by plants and animals?
3. Explain why the evolution of land plants was such a critical step in the evolution of life on Earth.
 Chapter 1 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Geology is the study of Earth. It is an integrated science that involves the application of
What Is many of the other sciences, but geologists also have to consider geological time because
1.1
Geology? most of the geological features that we see today formed thousands, millions, or even
billions of years ago.

Geologists study Earth out of curiosity and for other, more practical reasons, including
understanding the evolution of life on Earth; searching for resources; understanding risks
Why Study
1.2 from geological events such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and slope failures; and
Earth?
documenting past environmental and climate changes so that we can understand how
human activities are affecting Earth.

Geologists work in the resource industries and in efforts to protect our resources and the
What Do
environment in general. They are involved in ensuring that risks from geological events
1.3 Geologists
(e.g., earthquakes) are minimized and that the public understands what the risks are.
Do?
Geologists are also engaged in fundamental research about Earth and in teaching.

Minerals are naturally occurring, specific combinations of elements that have particular
Minerals and
1.4 three-dimensional structures. Rocks are made up of mixtures of minerals and can form
Rocks
though igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic processes.

Convection currents move through Earth’s mantle because the mantle is being heated
Fundamentals from below by the hot core. Those convection currents cause the movement of tectonic
1.5 of Plate plates (which are composed of the crust and the uppermost rigid mantle). Plates are
Tectonics formed at divergent boundaries and consumed (subducted) at convergent boundaries.
Many important geological processes take place at plate boundaries.

Earth is approximately 4,570,000,000 years old; that is, 4.57 billion years or 4.57 Ga or
Geological
1.6 4,570 Ma. It’s such a huge amount of time that even extremely slow geological processes
Time
can have an enormous impact.

Questions for Review

1
Note:

1. In what way is geology different from the other sciences, such as chemistry and physics?
2. How would some familiarity with biology be helpful to a geologist?
3. List three ways in which geologists can contribute to society.
4. Describe the lattice structure and elemental composition of the mineral halite.

1. Answers to Review Questions at the end of each chapter are provided in Appendix 2.

18
19 Chapter 1 Introduction to Geology

5. In what way is a mineral different from a rock?

6. What is the main component of Earth’s core?
7. What process leads to convection in the mantle?
8. How does mantle convection contribute to plate tectonics?
9. What are some of the processes that take place at a divergent plate boundary?
10. Dinosaurs first appear in the geological record in rocks from about 215 Ma and then became
extinct 65 Ma. For what proportion (%) of geological time did dinosaurs exist?
11. If a typical rate for the accumulation of sediments is 1 mm/year, what thickness (metres) of
sedimentary rock could accumulate over a period of 30 million years?
Chapter 2 Minerals

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you
should be able to:

• Describe the nature of atoms and their constituents, particularly the behaviour of electrons and the
formation of ions
• Apply your understanding of atoms to explain bonding within minerals
• Describe mineral lattices and explain how they influence mineral properties
• Categorize minerals into groups based on their compositions
• Describe a silica tetrahedron and the ways in which tetrahedra combine to make silicate minerals
• Differentiate between ferromagnesian and other silicate minerals
• Explain some of the mechanisms of mineral formation
• Describe some of the important properties for identifying minerals

Minerals are all around us: the graphite in your pencil, the salt on your table, the plaster on your
walls, and the trace amounts of gold in your computer. Minerals can be found in a wide variety of
consumer products including paper, medicine, processed foods, cosmetics, and many more. And of
course, everything made of metal is also derived from minerals.

As defined in Chapter 1, a mineral is a naturally occurring combination of specific elements arranged

in a particular repeating three-dimensional structure (Figure 2.1).

“Naturally occurring” implies that minerals are not artificially made, although many naturally occurring
minerals (e.g., diamond) are also made in laboratories. That doesn’t disqualify them from being
minerals.

“Specific elements” means that most minerals have a specific chemical formula or composition. The
mineral pyrite, for example, is FeS2 (two atoms of sulphur for each atom of iron), and any significant
departure from that would make it a different mineral. But many minerals have variable compositions
within a specific range. The mineral olivine, for example, can range all the way from Fe2SiO4 to
Mg2SiO4. Intervening compositions are written as (Fe,Mg)2SiO4 meaning that Fe and Mg can be present
in any proportion. This type of substitution is known as solid solution.

Most important of all, a mineral has a specific “repeating three-dimensional structure” or “lattice,” which
is the way in which the atoms are arranged. We’ve already seen in Chapter 1 how sodium and chlorine
20
21 Steven Earle

atoms in halite alternate in a regular pattern. That happens to be about the simplest mineral lattice of all;
most mineral lattices are much more complicated, as we’ll see.

Figure 2.1 Crystals of native sulphur at an outlet of volcanic gases,

Kilauea volcano, Hawaii
2.1 Electrons, Protons, Neutrons, and Atoms

All matter, including mineral crystals, is made up of atoms, and all atoms are made up of three main
particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. As summarized in Table 2.1, protons are positively charged,
neutrons are uncharged and electrons are negatively charged. The negative charge of one electron
balances the positive charge of one proton. Both protons and neutrons have a mass of 1, while electrons
have almost no mass.

Table 2.1 Charges and masses of the

particles within atoms

Elementary Particle Charge Mass

Proton +1 1

Neutron 0 1

Electron −1 ~0

The element hydrogen has the simplest atoms, each with just one proton and one electron. The proton
forms the nucleus, while the electron orbits around it. All other elements have neutrons as well as protons
in their nucleus, such as helium, which is depicted in Figure 2.2. The positively charged protons tend to
repel each other, and the neutrons help to hold the nucleus together. The number of protons is the atomic
number, and the number of protons plus neutrons is the atomic mass. For hydrogen, the atomic mass is
1 because there is one proton and no neutrons. For helium, it is 4: two protons and two neutrons.

For most of the 16 lightest elements (up to oxygen) the number of neutrons is equal to the number
of protons. For most of the remaining elements, there are more neutrons than protons, because extra
neutrons are needed to keep the nucleus together by overcoming the mutual repulsion of the increasing
numbers of protons concentrated in a very small space. For example, silicon has 14 protons and 14
neutrons. Its atomic number is 14 and its atomic mass is 28. The most common isotope of uranium has
92 protons and 146 neutrons. Its atomic number is 92 and its atomic mass is 238 (92 + 146).

22
23 Chapter 2 Minerals

Figure 2.2 A depiction of a helium atom.

The dot in the middle is the nucleus, and the surrounding cloud represents where the two electrons might
be at any time. The darker the shade, the more likely that an electron will be there. An angstrom (Å) is
10-10m . A femtometre (fm) is 10-15m. In other words, a helium atom’s electron cloud is about 100,000
times bigger than its nucleus.

Electrons orbiting around the nucleus of an atom are arranged in shells — also known as “energy levels.”
The first shell can hold only two electrons, while the next shell holds up to eight electrons. Subsequent
shells can hold more electrons, but the outermost shell of any atom holds no more than eight electrons.
The electrons in the outermost shell play an important role in bonding between atoms. Elements that
have a full outer shell are inert in that they do not react with other elements to form compounds. They
all appear in the far-right column of the periodic table: helium, neon, argon, etc. For elements that do not
have a full outer shell, the outermost electrons can interact with the outermost electrons of nearby atoms
to create chemical bonds. The electron shell configurations for 29 of the first 36 elements are listed in
Table 2.2.
 Physical Geology 24

Table 2.2 Electron shell configurations of some of the elements up to

element 36. (The inert elements, with filled outer shells, are bolded.)

Number of Electrons in Each Shell

Element Symbol Atomic No. First Second Third Fourth

Hydrogen H 1 1

Helium He 2 2

Lithium Li 3 2 1

Beryllium Be 4 2 2

Boron B 5 2 3

Carbon C 6 2 4

Nitrogen N 7 2 5

Oxygen O 8 2 6

Fluorine F 9 2 7

Neon Ne 10 2 8

Sodium Na 11 2 8 1

Magnesium Mg 12 2 8 2

Aluminum Al 13 2 8 3

Silicon Si 14 2 8 4

Phosphorus P 15 2 8 5

Sulphur S 16 2 8 6

Chlorine Cl 17 2 8 7

Argon Ar 18 2 8 8

Potassium K 19 2 8 8 1

Calcium Ca 20 2 8 8 2

Scandium Sc 21 2 8 9 2

Titanium Ti 22 2 8 10 2

Vanadium V 23 2 8 11 2

Chromium Cr 24 2 8 13 1

Manganese Mn 25 2 8 13 2

Iron Fe 26 2 8 14 2

. . . . . . .
25 Chapter 2 Minerals

Selenium Se 34 2 8 18 6

Bromine Br 35 2 8 18 7

Krypton Kr 36 2 8 18 8

Attributions

Figure 2.2
Helium Atom by Yzmo is under CC-BY-SA-3.0
2.2 Bonding and Lattices

As we’ve just seen, an atom seeks to have a full outer shell (i.e., eight electrons for most elements, or
two electrons for hydrogen and helium) to be atomically stable. This is accomplished by transferring or
sharing electrons with other atoms. Elements that already have their outer orbits filled are considered to
be inert; they do not readily take part in chemical reactions.

Sodium has 11 electrons: two in the first shell, eight in the second, and one in the third (Figure 2.3).
Sodium readily gives up the third shell electron; when it loses this one negative charge, it becomes
positively charged. By giving up its lone third shell electron, sodium ends up with a full outer second
shell. Chlorine, on the other hand, has 17 electrons: two in the first shell, eight in the second, and seven
in the third. Chlorine readily accepts an eighth electron to fill its third shell, and therefore becomes
negatively charged because of an imbalance between the number of protons (17) and electrons (18). In
changing their number of electrons, these atoms become ions — the sodium loses an electron to become
a positive ion or cation, and the chlorine gains an electron to become a negative ion or anion (Figure
2.3). Since negative and positive charges attract, sodium and chlorine ions stick together, creating an
ionic bond. Electrons can be thought of as being transferred from one atom to another in an ionic bond.
Common table salt (NaCl) is a mineral composed of chlorine and sodium linked together by ionic bonds
(Figure 1.4). The mineral name for NaCl is halite.

Figure 2.3 A very simplified electron configuration of

sodium and chlorine atoms (top). Sodium gives up an
electron to become a cation (bottom left) and
chlorine accepts an electron to become an anion
(bottom right).

An element like chlorine can also form bonds without forming ions. For example, two chlorine atoms,

26
27 Chapter 2 Minerals

which each seek an eighth electron in their outer shell, can share an electron in what is known as a
covalent bond, to form chlorine gas (Cl2) (Figure 2.4). Electrons are shared in a covalent bond.

Figure 2.4 Depiction of a covalent bond between two

chlorine atoms. The electrons are black, in the left
atom and blue in the right atom. Two electrons are
shared (one black and one blue) so that each atom
“appears” to have a full outer shell. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 2.1 Cations, Anions, and Ionic Bonding

A number of elements are listed below along with their atomic numbers. Assuming that the first electron shell
can hold two electrons and subsequent electron shells can hold eight electrons, sketch in the electron
configurations for these elements. Predict whether the element is likely to form a cation (+) or an anion (–),
and what charge it would have (e.g., +1, +2, –1). The first one is done for you.
 Physical Geology 28

Fluorine (9) Lithium (3)

anion (-1) ________

Magnesium (12) Argon (18)

________ ________

Chlorine (17) Beryllium (3)

________ ________
29 Chapter 2 Minerals

Oxygen (8) Sodium (11)

________ ________

An uncharged carbon atom has six protons and six electrons; two of the electrons are in the inner shell
and four in the outer shell (Figure 2.5). Carbon would need to gain or lose four electrons to have a filled
outer shell, and this would create too great a charge imbalance for the ion to be stable. On the other
hand, carbon can share electrons to create covalent bonds. In the mineral diamond, the carbon atoms
are linked together in a three-dimensional framework, where one carbon atom is bonded to four other
carbon atoms and every bond is a very strong covalent bond. In the mineral graphite, the carbon atoms
are linked together in sheets or layers (Figure 2.5), and each carbon atom is covalently bonded to three
others. Graphite-based compounds, which are strong because of the strong intra-layer covalent bonding,
are used in high-end sports equipment such as ultralight racing bicycles. Graphite itself is soft because
the bonding between these layers is relatively weak, and it is used in a variety of applications, including
lubricants and pencils.
 Physical Geology 30

Figure 2.5 The electron configuration of carbon (above) and the

sharing of electrons in covalent C bonding of diamond (right). The
electrons shown in blue are shared between adjacent C atoms.
Although shown here in only two dimensions, diamond has a
three-dimensional structure as shown on Figure 2.7.

Silicon and oxygen bond together to create a silica tetrahedron, which is a four-sided pyramid shape
with O at each corner and Si in the middle (Figure 2.6). This structure is the building block of the many
important silicate minerals. The bonds in a silica tetrahedron have some of the properties of covalent
bonds and some of the properties of ionic bonds. As a result of the ionic character, silicon becomes a
cation (with a charge of +4) and oxygen becomes an anion (with a charge of –2). The net charge of a
silica tetrahedron (SiO4) is –4. As we will see later, silica tetrahedral (plural of tetrahedron) link together
in a variety of ways to form most of the common minerals of the crust.

Figure 2.6 The silica tetrahedron, the building block of all silicate
minerals (Because the silicon has a charge of +4 and the four oxygens
each have a charge of -2, the silica tetrahedron has a net charge of -4.)

Most minerals are characterized by ionic bonds, covalent bonds, or a combination of the two, but there
are other types of bonds that are important in minerals, including metallic bonds and weaker electrostatic
forces (hydrogen or Van der Waals bonds). Metallic elements have outer electrons that are relatively
loosely held. (The metals are highlighted on the periodic table in Appendix 1.) When bonds between
such atoms are formed, these electrons can move freely from one atom to another. A metal can thus
be thought of as an array of positively charged atomic nuclei immersed in a sea of mobile electrons.
This feature accounts for two very important properties of metals: their electrical conductivity and their
malleability (they can be deformed and shaped).
31 Chapter 2 Minerals

Molecules that are bonded ionically or covalently can also have other weaker electrostatic forces holding
them together. Examples of this are the force holding graphite sheets together and the attraction between
water molecules.

What’s with all of these “sili” names?

The element silicon is one of the most important geological elements and is the second-most abundant
element in Earth’s crust (after oxygen). Silicon bonds readily with oxygen to form a silica tetrahedron
(Figure 2.6). Pure silicon crystals (created in a lab) are used to make semiconductive media in electronic
devices. A silicate mineral is one in which silicon and oxygen are present as silica tetrahedra. Silica
also refers to a chemical component of a rock and is expressed as % SiO2. The mineral quartz is made
up entirely of silica tetrahedra, and some forms of quartz are known as silica. Silicone is a synthetic
product (e.g., silicone rubber, resin, or caulking) made from silicon-oxygen chains and various organic
molecules. To help you keep the “sili” names straight, here is a summary table:

“Sili” Names Summary Table

[Skip Table]

Silicon The 14th element

Silicon wafer A crystal of pure silicon sliced very thinly and used for electronics

Silica tetrahedron A combination of one silicon atom and four oxygen atoms that form a tetrahedron

% silica The proportion of a rock that is composed of the components Si + O2

Silica A form of the mineral quartz (SiO2)

Silicate A mineral that contains silica tetrahedra (e.g., quartz, feldspar, mica, olivine)

Silicone A flexible material made up of Si–O chains with attached organic molecules

As described in Chapter 1, all minerals are characterized by a specific three-dimensional pattern known
as a lattice or crystal structure. These structures range from the simple cubic pattern of halite (NaCl)
(Figure 1.4), to the very complex patterns of some silicate minerals. Two minerals may have the same
composition, but very different crystal structures and properties. Graphite and diamond, for example, are
both composed only of carbon, but while diamond is the hardest substance known, graphite is softer than
paper. Their lattice structures are compared in Figure 2.7.
 Physical Geology 32

Figure 2.7 A depiction of the lattices of graphite and diamond. [Long Description]

Figure 2.8 Cubic crystals (left) and right-angle cleavage planes (right) of the
mineral halite. If you look closely at the cleavage fragment in the middle, you can
see where it would break again (cleave) along a plane parallel to the existing
surface.

Mineral lattices have important implications for mineral properties, as exemplified by the relative
hardnesses of diamond and graphite. Lattices also determine the shape that mineral crystals grow in and
how they break. For example, the right angles in the lattice of the mineral halite (Figure 1.4) influence
both the shape of its crystals (typically cubic), and the way those crystals break (Figure 2.8).

Attributions

Figure 2.8
Image on left: Halite by Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com is used under a CC-BY-SA-3.0
33 Chapter 2 Minerals

Long Descriptions

Figure 2.7 long description: Graphite is a mixture of strong covalent bonds and weak inter-layer bonds.
In diamonds, all bonds are strong covalent bonds. [Return to Figure 2.7].
2.3 Mineral Groups

Most minerals are made up of a cation (a positively charged ion) or several cations and an anion (a
negatively charged ion (e.g., S2–)) or an anion complex (e.g., SO42–). For example, in the mineral
hematite (Fe2O3), the cation is Fe3+ (iron) and the anion is O2– (oxygen). We group minerals into classes
on the basis of their predominant anion or anion group. These include oxides, sulphides, carbonates,
silicates, and others. Silicates are by far the predominant group in terms of their abundance within the
crust and mantle. (They will be discussed in Section 2.4). Some examples of minerals from the different
mineral groups are given in Table 2.3.

Table 2.3 The Mineral Groups and Examples

[Skip Table]

Group Examples

Oxides Hematite (iron oxide Fe2O3), corundum (aluminum oxide Al2O3), water ice (H2O)

Galena (lead sulphide PbS), pyrite (iron sulphide FeS2), chalcopyrite (copper-iron sulphide
Sulphides
CuFeS2)

Gypsum (calcium sulphate CaSO4·H2O), barite (barium sulphate BaSO4) (Note that sulphates are
Sulphates
different from sulphides. Sulphates have the SO4–2 ion while sulphides have the S–2 ion)

Fluorite (calcium flouride CaF2), halite (sodium chloride NaCl) (Halide minerals have halogen
Halides elements as their anion — the minerals in the second last column on the right side of the periodic
table, including F, Cl, Br, etc. — see Appendix 1.)

Carbonates Calcite (calcium carbonate CaCO3), dolomite (calcium-magnesium carbonate (Ca,Mg)CO3)

Phosphates Apatite (Ca5(PO4)3(OH)), Turquoise (CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8·5H2O)

Quartz (SiO2), feldspar (sodium-aluminum silicate NaAlSi3O8), olivine (iron or magnesium

Silicates silicate (Mg,Fe)2SiO4) (Note that in quartz the anion is oxygen, and while it could be argued,
therefore, that quartz is an oxide, it is always classed with the silicates.)

Native
Gold (Au), diamond (C), graphite (C), sulphur (S), copper (Cu)
minerals

Oxide minerals have oxygen (O2–) as their anion, but they exclude those with oxygen complexes such
as carbonate (CO32–), sulphate (SO42–), and silicate (SiO44–). The most important oxides are the iron
oxides hematite and magnetite (Fe2O3 and Fe3O4, respectively). Both of these are important ores of iron.
Corundum (Al2O3) is an abrasive, but can also be a gemstone in its ruby and sapphire varieties. If the
oxygen is also combined with hydrogen to form the hydroxyl anion (OH–) the mineral is known as a
hydroxide. Some important hydroxides are limonite and bauxite, which are ores of iron and aluminium
respectively. Frozen water (H2O) is a mineral (an oxide), but liquid water is not because it doesn’t have
a regular lattice.

34
35 Chapter 2 Minerals

Sulphides are minerals with the S–2 anion, and they include galena (PbS), sphalerite (ZnS), chalcopyrite
(CuFeS2), and molybdenite (MoS2), which are the most important ores of lead, zinc, copper, and
molybdenum respectively. Some other sulphide minerals are pyrite (FeS2), bornite (Cu5FeS4), stibnite
(Sb2S3), and arsenopyrite (FeAsS).

Sulphates are minerals with the SO4–2 anion, and these include anhydrite (CaSO4) and its cousin
gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) and the sulphates of barium and strontium: barite (BaSO4) and celestite (SrSO4).
In all of these minerals, the cation has a +2 charge, which balances the –2 charge on the sulphate ion.

The halides are so named because the anions include the halogen elements chlorine, fluorine, bromine,
etc. Examples are halite (NaCl), cryolite (Na3AlF6), and fluorite (CaF2).

The carbonates include minerals in which the anion is the CO3–2 complex. The carbonate combines
with +2 cations to form minerals such as calcite (CaCO3), magnesite (MgCO3), dolomite ((Ca,Mg)CO3),
and siderite (FeCO3). The copper minerals malachite and azurite are also carbonates.

In phosphate minerals, the anion is the PO4–3 complex. An important phosphate mineral is apatite
(Ca5(PO4)3(OH)), which is what your teeth are made of.

The silicate minerals include the elements silicon and oxygen in varying proportions ranging from Si :
O2 to Si : O4. These are discussed at length in Section 2.4.

Native minerals are single-element minerals, such as gold, copper, sulphur, and graphite.

Exercises

Exercise 2.2 Mineral Groups

We classify minerals according to the anion part of the mineral formula, and mineral formulas are always
written with the anion part on the right. For example, for pyrite (FeS2), Fe2+ is the cation and S– is the anion.
This helps us to know that it’s a sulphide, but it is not always that obvious. Hematite (Fe2O3) is an oxide;
that’s easy, but anhydrite (CaSO4) is a sulphate because SO42– is the anion, not O. Along the same lines,
calcite (CaCO3) is a carbonate, and olivine (Mg2SiO4) is a silicate. Minerals with only one element (such as
S) are native minerals, while those with an anion from the halogen column of the periodic table (Cl, F, Br,
etc.) are halides. Provide group names for the following minerals:
 Physical Geology 36

Name Formula Group

sphalerite ZnS

magnetite Fe3O4

pyroxene MgSiO3

anglesite PbSO4

sylvite KCl

silver Ag

fluorite CaF2

ilmenite FeTiO3

siderite FeCO3

feldspar KAlSi3O8

sulphur S

xenotime YPO4
 2.4 Silicate Minerals

The vast majority of the minerals that make up the rocks of Earth’s crust are silicate minerals. These
include minerals such as quartz, feldspar, mica, amphibole, pyroxene, olivine, and a great variety of
clay minerals. The building block of all of these minerals is the silica tetrahedron, a combination of
four oxygen atoms and one silicon atom. These are arranged such that planes drawn through the oxygen
atoms form a tetrahedron (Figure 2.6). Since the silicon ion has a charge of +4 and each of the four
oxygen ions has a charge of –2, the silica tetrahedron has a net charge of –4.

In silicate minerals, these tetrahedra are arranged and linked together in a variety of ways, from single
units to complex frameworks (Figure 2.9). The simplest silicate structure, that of the mineral olivine,
is composed of isolated tetrahedra bonded to iron and/or magnesium ions. In olivine, the –4 charge of
each silica tetrahedron is balanced by two divalent (i.e., +2) iron or magnesium cations. Olivine can
be either Mg2SiO4 or Fe2SiO4, or some combination of the two (Mg,Fe)2SiO4. The divalent cations
1
of magnesium and iron are quite close in radius (0.73 versus 0.62 angstroms ). Because of this size
similarity, and because they are both divalent cations (both have a charge of +2), iron and magnesium
can readily substitute for each other in olivine and in many other minerals.

1. An angstrom is the unit commonly used for the expression of atomic-scale dimensions. One angstrom is 10–10 m or 0.0000000001 m.
The symbol for an angstrom is Å.

37
 Physical Geology 38

Figure 2.9 Silicate mineral configurations. The triangles represent silica tetrahedra.

Tetrahedron Configuration Example Minerals

Isolated (nesosilicates) Olivine, garnet, zircon, kyanite

Pairs (sorosilicates) Epidote, zoisite

Rings (cyclosilicates) Tourmaline

Single chains (inosilicates) Pyroxenes, wollastonite

Double chains (inosilicates) Amphiboles

Sheets (phyllosilicates) Micas, clay minerals, serpentine, chlorite

3-dimensional structure Framework (tectosilicates) Feldspars, quartz, zeolite

39 Chapter 2 Minerals

Exercises

Exercise 2.3 Make a Tetrahedron

Cut around the outside of the shape (solid lines and dotted lines), and then fold along the solid lines to form a
tetrahedron.
If you have glue or tape, secure the tabs to the tetrahedron to hold it together. If you don’t have glue or tape,
make a slice along the thin grey line and insert the pointed tab into the slit.
If you are doing this in a classroom, try joining your tetrahedron with others into pairs, rings, single and
double chains, sheets, and even three-dimensional frameworks.

In olivine, unlike most other silicate minerals, the silica tetrahedra are not bonded to each other. They
are, however, bonded to the iron and/or magnesium as shown on Figure 2.10.
 Physical Geology 40

Figure 2.10 A depiction of the structure of olivine as seen from above.

The formula for this particular olivine, which has three Fe ions for
each Mg ion, could be written: Mg0.5Fe1.5SiO4.

As already noted, the +2 ions of iron and magnesium are similar in size (although not quite the same).
This allows them to substitute for each other in some silicate minerals. In fact, the common ions in
silicate minerals have a wide range of sizes, as shown in Figure 2.11. All of the ions shown are cations,
except for oxygen. Note that iron can exist as both a +2 ion (if it loses two electrons during ionization)
or a +3 ion (if it loses three). Fe2+ is known as ferrous iron. Fe3+ is known as ferric iron. Ionic radii are
critical to the composition of silicate minerals, so we’ll be referring to this diagram again.

Figure 2.11 The ionic radii (effective sizes) in angstroms, of some of

the common ions in silicate minerals
41 Chapter 2 Minerals

The structure of the single-chain silicate pyroxene is shown on Figures 2.12 and 2.13. In pyroxene,
silica tetrahedra are linked together in a single chain, where one oxygen ion from each tetrahedron is
shared with the adjacent tetrahedron, hence there are fewer oxygens in the structure. The result is that the
oxygen-to-silicon ratio is lower than in olivine (3:1 instead of 4:1), and the net charge per silicon atom is
less (–2 instead of –4), since fewer cations are necessary to balance that charge. Pyroxene compositions
are of the type MgSiO3, FeSiO3, and CaSiO3, or some combination of these. Pyroxene can also be
written as (Mg,Fe,Ca)SiO3, where the elements in the brackets can be present in any proportion. In other
words, pyroxene has one cation for each silica tetrahedron (e.g., MgSiO3) while olivine has two (e.g.,
Mg2SiO4). Because each silicon ion is +4 and each oxygen ion is –2, the three oxygens (–6) and the one
silicon (+4) give a net charge of –2 for the single chain of silica tetrahedra. In pyroxene, the one divalent
cation (2+) per tetrahedron balances that –2 charge. In olivine, it takes two divalent cations to balance
the –4 charge of an isolated tetrahedron.

The structure of pyroxene is more “permissive” than that of olivine — meaning that cations with a wider
range of ionic radii can fit into it. That’s why pyroxenes can have iron (radius 0.63 Å) or magnesium
(radius 0.72 Å) or calcium (radius 1.00 Å) cations.

Figure 2.12 A depiction of the structure of pyroxene. The tetrahedral

chains continue to left and right and each is interspersed with a series
of divalent cations. If these are Mg ions, then the formula is MgSiO3.
 Physical Geology 42

Figure 2.13 A single silica tetrahedron (left) with

four oxygen ions per silicon ion (SiO4). Part of a
single chain of tetrahedra (right), where the oxygen
atoms at the adjoining corners are shared between
two tetrahedra (arrows). For a very long chain the
resulting ratio of silicon to oxygen is 1 to 3 (SiO3).

Exercises

Exercise 2.4 Oxygen Deprivation

The diagram below represents a single chain in a silicate mineral. Count the number of tetrahedra versus the
number of oxygen ions (yellow spheres). Each tetrahedron has one silicon ion so this should give the ratio of
Si to O in single-chain silicates (e.g., pyroxene).

The diagram below represents a double chain in a silicate mineral. Again, count the number of tetrahedra
versus the number of oxygen ions. This should give you the ratio of Si to O in double-chain silicates (e.g.,
amphibole).

In amphibole structures, the silica tetrahedra are linked in a double chain that has an oxygen-to-
silicon ratio lower than that of pyroxene, and hence still fewer cations are necessary to balance the
charge. Amphibole is even more permissive than pyroxene and its compositions can be very complex.
43 Chapter 2 Minerals

Hornblende, for example, can include sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, aluminum, silicon,
oxygen, fluorine, and the hydroxyl ion (OH–).

In mica structures, the silica tetrahedra are arranged in continuous sheets, where each tetrahedron shares
three oxygen anions with adjacent tetrahedra. There is even more sharing of oxygens between adjacent
tetrahedra and hence fewer charge-balancing cations are needed for sheet silicate minerals. Bonding
between sheets is relatively weak, and this accounts for the well-developed one-directional cleavage
(Figure 2.14). Biotite mica can have iron and/or magnesium in it and that makes it a ferromagnesian
silicate mineral (like olivine, pyroxene, and amphibole). Chlorite is another similar mineral that
commonly includes magnesium. In muscovite mica, the only cations present are aluminum and
potassium; hence it is a non-ferromagnesian silicate mineral.

Figure 2.14 Biotite mica (left) and muscovite mica (right). Both are
sheet silicates and split easily into thin layers along planes parallel to
the sheets. Biotite is dark like the other iron- and/or
magnesium-bearing silicates (e.g., olivine, pyroxene, and amphibole),
while muscovite is light coloured. (Each sample is about 3 cm across.)

Apart from muscovite, biotite, and chlorite, there are many other sheet silicates (or phyllosilicates),
which usually exist as clay-sized fragments (i.e., less than 0.004 mm). These include the clay minerals
kaolinite, illite, and smectite, and although they are difficult to study because of their very small size,
they are extremely important components of rocks and especially of soils.

All of the sheet silicate minerals also have water in their structure.

Silica tetrahedra are bonded in three-dimensional frameworks in both the feldspars and quartz. These
are non-ferromagnesian minerals — they don’t contain any iron or magnesium. In addition to silica
tetrahedra, feldspars include the cations aluminum, potassium, sodium, and calcium in various
combinations. Quartz contains only silica tetrahedra.

The three main feldspar minerals are potassium feldspar, (a.k.a. K-feldspar or K-spar) and two types
of plagioclase feldspar: albite (sodium only) and anorthite (calcium only). As is the case for iron and
magnesium in olivine, there is a continuous range of compositions (solid solution series) between albite
and anorthite in plagioclase. This is because the calcium and sodium ions are almost identical in size
(1.00 Å versus 0.99 Å). Any intermediate compositions between CaAl2Si3O8 and NaAlSi3O8 can exist
(Figure 2.15). This is a little bit surprising because, although they are very similar in size, calcium
and sodium ions don’t have the same charge (Ca2+ versus Na+). This problem is accounted for by
corresponding substitution of Al3+ for Si4+. Therefore, albite is NaAlSi3O8 (one Al and three Si) while
anorthite is CaAl2Si2O8 (two Al and two Si), and plagioclase feldspars of intermediate composition have
intermediate proportions of Al and Si. This is called a “coupled-substitution.”
 Physical Geology 44

The intermediate-composition plagioclase feldspars are oligoclase (10% to 30% Ca), andesine (30% to
50% Ca), labradorite (50% to 70% Ca), and bytownite (70% to 90% Ca). K-feldspar (KAlSi3O8) has
a slightly different structure than that of plagioclase, owing to the larger size of the potassium ion (1.37
Å) and because of this large size, potassium and sodium do not readily substitute for each other, except
at high temperatures. These high-temperature feldspars are likely to be found only in volcanic rocks
because intrusive igneous rocks cool slowly enough to low temperatures for the feldspars to change into
one of the lower-temperature forms.

Figure 2.15 Compositions of the feldspar minerals

In quartz (SiO2), the silica tetrahedra are bonded in a “perfect” three-dimensional framework. Each
tetrahedron is bonded to four other tetrahedra (with an oxygen shared at every corner of each
tetrahedron), and as a result, the ratio of silicon to oxygen is 1:2. Since the one silicon cation has a +4
charge and the two oxygen anions each have a –2 charge, the charge is balanced. There is no need for
aluminum or any of the other cations such as sodium or potassium. The hardness and lack of cleavage in
quartz result from the strong covalent/ionic bonds characteristic of the silica tetrahedron.

Exercises

Exercise 2.5 Ferromagnesian Silicates?

Silicate minerals are classified as being either ferromagnesian or non-ferromagnesian depending on whether
or not they have iron (Fe) and/or magnesium (Mg) in their formula. A number of minerals and their formulas
are listed below. For each one, indicate whether or not it is a ferromagnesian silicate.
45 Chapter 2 Minerals

Mineral Formula Ferromagnesian Silicate?

olivine (Mg,Fe)2SiO4

pyrite FeS2

plagioclase CaAl2Si2O8

pyroxene MgSiO3

hematite Fe2O3

orthoclase KAlSi3O8

quartz SiO2

Ferromagnesian
Mineral Formula*
Silicate?

amphibole Fe7Si8O22(OH)2

muscovite K2Al4 Si6Al2O20(OH)4

magnetite Fe3O4

biotite K2Fe4Al2Si6Al4O20(OH)4

dolomite (Ca,Mg)CO3

garnet Fe2Al2Si3O12

serpentine Mg3Si2O5(OH)4

*Some of the formulas, especially the more complicated ones, have been simplified.
2.5 Formation of Minerals

In order for a mineral crystal to grow, the elements needed to make it must be present in the appropriate
proportions, the physical and chemical conditions must be favourable, and there must be sufficient time
for the atoms to become arranged.

Physical and chemical conditions include factors such as temperature, pressure, presence of water, pH,
and amount of oxygen available. Time is one of the most important factors because it takes time for
atoms to become ordered. If time is limited, the mineral grains will remain very small. The presence of
water enhances the mobility of ions and can lead to the formation of larger crystals over shorter time
periods.

Most of the minerals that make up the rocks around us formed through the cooling of molten rock,
known as magma. At the high temperatures that exist deep within Earth, some geological materials are
liquid. As magma rises up through the crust, either by volcanic eruption or by more gradual processes,
it cools and minerals crystallize. If the cooling process is rapid (minutes, hours, days, or years), the
components of the minerals will not have time to become ordered and only small crystals can form
before the rock becomes solid. The resulting rock will be fine-grained (i.e., crystals less than 1 mm).
If the cooling is slow (from decades to millions of years), the degree of ordering will be higher and
relatively large crystals will form. In some cases, the cooling will be so fast (seconds) that the texture
will be glassy, which means that no crystals at all form. Volcanic glass is not composed of minerals
because the magma has cooled too rapidly for crystals to grow, although over time (millions of years)
the volcanic glass may crystallize into various silicate minerals.

Minerals can also form in several other ways:

• Precipitation from aqueous solution (i.e., from hot water flowing underground, from
evaporation of a lake or inland sea, or in some cases, directly from seawater)
• Precipitation from gaseous emanations (e.g., in volcanic regions as shown in Figure 2.1)
• Metamorphism — formation of new minerals directly from the elements within existing
minerals under conditions of elevated temperature and pressure
• Weathering — during which minerals unstable at Earth’s surface may be altered to other
minerals
• Organic formation — formation of minerals within shells (primarily calcite) and teeth and
bones (primarily apatite) by organisms (these organically formed minerals are still called
minerals because they can also form inorganically)

Opal is a mineraloid, because although it has all of the other properties of a mineral, it does not have a
specific structure. Pearl is not a mineral because it can only be produced by organic processes.

46
2.6 Mineral Properties

Minerals are universal. A crystal of hematite on Mars will have the same properties as one on Earth,
and the same as one on a planet orbiting another star. That’s good news for geology students who are
planning interplanetary travel since we can use those properties to help us identify minerals anywhere.
That doesn’t mean that it’s easy, however; identification of minerals takes a lot of practice. Some of the
mineral properties that are useful for identification are as follows:

Colour Streak Lustre Hardness

Habit Cleavage/fracture Density Other

Colour

For most of us, colour is one of our key ways of identifying objects. While some minerals have
particularly distinctive colours that make good diagnostic properties, many do not, and for many, colour
is simply unreliable. The mineral sulphur (Figures 2.1 and 2.16) is always a distinctive and unique
yellow. Hematite, on the other hand, is an example of a mineral for which colour is not diagnostic. In
some forms hematite is deep dull red, but in others it is black and shiny metallic (Figure 2.16). Many
other minerals can have a wide range of colours (e.g., quartz, feldspar, amphibole, fluorite, and calcite).
In most cases, the variations in colours are a result of varying proportions of trace elements within the
mineral. In the case of quartz, for example, yellow quartz (citrine) has trace amounts of ferric iron (Fe3+),
rose quartz has trace amounts of manganese, purple quartz (amethyst) has trace amounts of iron, and
milky quartz, which is very common, has millions of fluid inclusions (tiny cavities, each filled with
water).

Figure 2.16 Examples of the colours of the minerals

sulphur and hematite

Streak

In the context of minerals, “colour” is what you see when light reflects off the surface of the sample. One
reason that colour can be so variable is that the type of surface is variable. If we grind a small amount
of the sample to a powder we get a much better indication of its actual colour. This can easily be done

47
 Physical Geology 48

by scraping a corner of the sample across a streak plate (a piece of unglazed porcelain). The result is
that some of the mineral gets ground to a powder and we can get a better impression of its “true” colour
(Figure 2.17).

Figure 2.17 The streak colours of earthy hematite

(left) and specular hematite (right). Although the
specular hematite streak looks close to black, it does
have red undertones that you can see if you look
closely. [SE]

Lustre

Lustre is the way light reflects off the surface of a mineral, and the degree to which it penetrates into the
interior. The key distinction is between metallic and non-metallic lustres. Light does not pass through
metals, and that is the main reason they look “metallic.” Even a thin sheet of metal — such as aluminum
foil — will prevent light from passing through it. Many non-metallic minerals may look as if light will
not pass through them, but if you take a closer look at a thin edge of the mineral you can see that it does.
If a non-metallic mineral has a shiny, reflective surface, then it is called “glassy.” If it is dull and non-
reflective, it is “earthy.” Other types of non-metallic lustres are “silky,” “pearly,” and “resinous.” Lustre
is a good diagnostic property, since most minerals will always appear either metallic or non-metallic.
There are a few exceptions to this (e.g., hematite in Figure 2.16).

Hardness

One of the most important diagnostic properties of a mineral is its hardness. In 1812 German
mineralogist Friedrich Mohs came up with a list of 10 reasonably common minerals that had a wide
range of hardness. These minerals are shown in Figure 2.18, with the Mohs scale of hardness along the
bottom axis. In fact, while each mineral on the list is harder than the one before it, the relative measured
49 Chapter 2 Minerals

hardnesses (vertical axis) are not linear. For example apatite is about three times harder than fluorite
and diamond is three times harder than corundum. Some commonly available reference materials are
also shown on this diagram, including a typical fingernail (2.5), a piece of copper wire (3.5), a knife
blade or a piece of window glass (5.5), a hardened steel file (6.5), and a porcelain streak plate (7). These
are tools that a geologist can use to measure the hardness of unknown minerals. For example, if you
have a mineral that you can’t scratch with your fingernail, but you can scratch with a copper wire, then
its hardness is between 2.5 and 3.5. And of course the minerals themselves can be used to test other
minerals.

Figure 2.18 Minerals and reference materials in the Mohs scale of

hardness. The “measured hardness” values are Vickers Hardness
numbers.

Crystal Habit

When minerals form within rocks, there is a possibility that they will form in distinctive crystal shapes
if they are not crowded out by other pre-existing minerals. Every mineral has one or more distinctive
crystal habits, but it is not that common, in ordinary rocks, for the shapes to be obvious. Quartz,
for example, will form six-sided prisms with pointed ends, but this typically happens only when it
crystallizes from a hot water solution within a cavity in an existing rock (Figure 2.19). Pyrite can form
cubic crystals (Figure 2.19), but can also form crystals with 12 faces, known as dodecahedra (“dodeca”
means 12). The mineral garnet also forms dodecahedral crystals (Figure 2.19).
 Physical Geology 50

Figure 2.19 Hexagonal prisms of quartz (left), cubic crystals of pyrite

(centre), and a dodecahedral crystal of garnet (right)

Because beautiful well-formed crystals are rare in ordinary rocks, habit isn’t as useful a diagnostic
feature as one might think. However, there are several minerals for which it is important. One is garnet,
which is common in some metamorphic rocks and typically displays the dodecahedral shape. Another is
amphibole, which forms long thin crystals, and is common in igneous rocks like granite (Figure 1.5).

Mineral habit is often related to the regular arrangement of the molecules that make up the mineral.
Some of the terms that are used to describe habit include bladed, botryoidal (grape-like), dendritic
(branched), drusy (an encrustation of minerals), equant (similar in all dimensions), fibrous, platy,
prismatic (long and thin), and stubby.

Cleavage and fracture

Crystal habit is a reflection of how a mineral grows, while cleavage and fracture describe how it breaks.
These characteristics are the most important diagnostic features of many minerals, and often the most
difficult to understand and identify. Cleavage is what we see when a mineral breaks along a specific
plane or planes, while fracture is an irregular break. Some minerals tend to cleave along planes at
various fixed orientations, some do not cleave at all (they only fracture). Minerals that have cleavage
can also fracture along surfaces that are not parallel to their cleavage planes.

As we’ve already discussed, the way that minerals break is determined by their atomic arrangement and
specifically by the orientation of weaknesses within the lattice. Graphite and the micas, for example,
have cleavage planes parallel to their sheets (Figures 2.7 and 2.14), and halite has three cleavage planes
parallel to the lattice directions (Figure 2.8).

Quartz has no cleavage because it has equally strong Si–O bonds in all directions, and feldspar has two
cleavages at 90° to each other (Figure 1.5).

One of the main difficulties with recognizing and describing cleavage is that it is visible only in
individual crystals. Most rocks have small crystals and it’s very difficult to see the cleavage within a
small crystal. Geology students have to work hard to understand and recognize cleavage, but it’s worth
the effort since it is a reliable diagnostic property for most minerals.

Density

Density is a measure of the mass of a mineral per unit volume, and it is a useful diagnostic tool in some
51 Chapter 2 Minerals

cases. Most common minerals, such as quartz, feldspar, calcite, amphibole, and mica, have what we call
“average density” (2.6 to 3.0 g/cm3), and it would be difficult to tell them apart on the basis of their
density. On the other hand, many of the metallic minerals, such as pyrite, hematite, and magnetite, have
densities over 5 g/cm3. They can easily be distinguished from the lighter minerals on the basis of density,
but not necessarily from each other. A limitation of using density as a diagnostic tool is that one cannot
assess it in minerals that are a small part of a rock with other minerals in it.

Other properties

Several other properties are also useful for identification of some minerals. For example, calcite is
soluble in dilute acid and will give off bubbles of carbon dioxide. Magnetite is magnetic, so will affect a
magnet. A few other minerals are weakly magnetic.

Attributions

Figure 2.19
Quartz Bresil by Didier Descouens is under CC BY 3.0
Pyrite cubic crystals on marlstone by Carles Millan is under CC BY SA 3.0
Almandine garnet by Eurico Zimbres (FGEL/UERJ) and Tom Epaminondas (mineral collector) is under
CC BY SA 2.0
Chapter 2 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows.

Electrons, An atom is made up of protons and neutrons in the nucleus and electrons arranged in energy
Protons, shells around the nucleus. The first shell holds two electrons, and outer shells hold more, but
2.1 Neutrons, atoms strive to have eight electrons in their outermost shell (or two for H and He). They
and either gain or lose electrons (or share) to achieve this, and in so doing become either cations
Atoms (if they lose electrons) or anions (if they gain them).

The main types of bonding in minerals are ionic bonding (electrons transferred) and covalent
Bonding
bonding (electrons shared). Some minerals have metallic bonding or other forms of weak
2.2 and
bonding. Minerals form in specific three-dimensional lattices, and the nature of the lattices
Lattices
and the type of bonding within them have important implications for mineral properties.

Minerals are grouped according to the anion part of their formula, with some common types
Mineral
2.3 being oxides, sulphides, sulphates, halides, carbonates, phosphates, silicates, and native
Groups
minerals.

Silicate minerals are, by far, the most important minerals in Earth’s crust. They all include
Silicate silica tetrahedra (four oxygens surrounding a single silicon atom) arranged in different
2.4
Minerals structures (chains, sheets, etc.). Some silicate minerals include iron or magnesium and are
called ferromagnesian silicates.

Formation
Most minerals in the crust form from the cooling and crystallization of magma. Some form
2.5 of
from hot water solutions, during metamorphism or weathering, or through organic processes.
Minerals

Mineral Some of the important properties for mineral identification include hardness, cleavage/
2.6
Properties fracture, density, lustre, colour, and streak colour.

Questions for Review

1. What is the electrical charge on a proton? A neutron? An electron? What are their relative masses?
2. Explain how the need for an atom’s outer shell to be filled with electrons contributes to bonding.
3. Why are helium and neon non-reactive?
4. What is the difference in the role of electrons in an ionic bond compared to a covalent bond?
5. What is the electrical charge on an anion? A cation?
6. What chemical feature is used in the classification of minerals into groups?
7. Name the mineral group for the following minerals:

52
53 Chapter 2 Minerals

calcite biotite pyrite

gypsum galena orthoclase

hematite graphite magnetite

quartz fluorite olivine

8. What is the net charge on an unbonded silica tetrahedron?

9. What allows magnesium to substitute freely for iron in olivine?
10. How are the silica tetrahedra structured differently in pyroxene and amphibole?
11. Why is biotite called a ferromagnesian mineral, while muscovite is not?
12. What are the names and compositions of the two end-members of the plagioclase series?
13. Why does quartz have no additional cations (other than Si+4)?
14. Why is colour not necessarily a useful guide to mineral identification?
15. You have an unknown mineral that can scratch glass but cannot scratch a porcelain streak plate. What is
its approximate hardness?
Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Describe the rock cycle and the types of processes that lead to the formation of igneous,
sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks, and explain why there is an active rock cycle on Earth
• Explain partial melting and the geological processes that lead to melting
• Describe, in general terms, the range of chemical compositions of magmas
• Discuss the processes that take place during the cooling and crystallization of magma, and the
typical order of crystallization according to the Bowen reaction series
• Explain how magma composition can be changed by fractional crystallization and partial melting
of the surrounding rocks
• Apply the criteria for igneous rock classification based on mineral proportions
• Describe the origins of phaneritic, porphyritic, and pegmatitic textures
• Identify plutons on the basis of their morphology and their relationships to the surrounding rocks
• Explain the origin of a chilled margin

Figure 3.1 A fine-grained mafic dyke (dark green)

intruded into a felsic dyke (pink) and into coarse
diorite (grey), Quadra Island, B.C. All of these rocks
are composed of more than one type of mineral. The
mineral components are clearly visible in the diorite,
but not in the other two rock types. [SE photo]

A rock is a consolidated mixture of the same or different minerals. By consolidated, we mean hard and
strong; real rocks don’t fall apart in your hands! A mixture of minerals implies the presence of more

54
55 Steven Earle

than one mineral grain, but not necessarily more than one type of mineral (Figure 3.1). A rock can be
composed of only one type of mineral (e.g., limestone is commonly made up of only calcite), but most
rocks are composed of several different minerals. A rock can also include non-minerals, such as fossils
or the organic matter within a coal bed or in some types of mudstone.

Rocks are grouped into three main categories based on how they form:

Igneous: formed from the cooling and crystallization of magma (molten rock)

Sedimentary: formed when weathered fragments of other rocks are buried, compressed, and
cemented together, or when minerals precipitate directly from solution

Metamorphic: formed by alteration (due to heat, pressure, and/or chemical action) of a pre-existing
igneous or sedimentary rock
3.1 The Rock Cycle

The rock components of the crust are slowly but constantly being changed from one form to another
and the processes involved are summarized in the rock cycle (Figure 3.2). The rock cycle is driven by
two forces: (1) Earth’s internal heat engine, which moves material around in the core and the mantle
and leads to slow but significant changes within the crust, and (2) the hydrological cycle, which is the
movement of water, ice, and air at the surface, and is powered by the sun.

The rock cycle is still active on Earth because our core is hot enough to keep the mantle moving, our
atmosphere is relatively thick, and we have liquid water. On some other planets or their satellites, such
as the Moon, the rock cycle is virtually dead because the core is no longer hot enough to drive mantle
convection and there is no atmosphere or liquid water.

Figure 3.2 A schematic view of the rock cycle. [SE]

In describing the rock cycle, we can start anywhere we like, although it’s convenient to start with
magma. As we’ll see in more detail below, magma is rock that is hot to the point of being entirely molten.
This happens at between about 800° and 1300°C, depending on the composition and the pressure, onto
the surface and cool quickly (within seconds to years) — forming extrusive igneous rock (Figure 3.3).

Figure 3.3 Magma forming pahoehoe basalt at

Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii [SE]

Magma can either cool slowly within the crust (over centuries to millions of years) — forming intrusive

56
57 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

igneous rock, or erupt onto the surface and cool quickly (within seconds to years) — forming extrusive
igneous rock. Intrusive igneous rock typically crystallizes at depths of hundreds of metres to tens of
kilometres below the surface. To change its position in the rock cycle, intrusive igneous rock has to be
uplifted and exposed by the erosion of the overlying rocks.

Through the various plate-tectonics-related processes of mountain building, all types of rocks are
uplifted and exposed at the surface. Once exposed, they are weathered, both physically (by mechanical
breaking of the rock) and chemically (by weathering of the minerals), and the weathering products —
mostly small rock and mineral fragments — are eroded, transported, and then deposited as sediments.
Transportation and deposition occur through the action of glaciers, streams, waves, wind, and other
agents, and sediments are deposited in rivers, lakes, deserts, and the ocean.

Exercises

Exercise 3.1 Rock around the Rock-Cycle clock

Referring to the rock cycle (Figure 3.2), list the steps that are necessary to cycle some geological material
starting with a sedimentary rock, which then gets converted into a metamorphic rock, and eventually a new
sedimentary rock.
A conservative estimate is that each of these steps would take approximately 20 million years (some may be
less, others would be more, and some could be much more). How long might it take for this entire process to
be completed?

Figure 3.4 Cretaceous-aged marine sandstone

overlying mudstone, Gabriola Island, B.C. [SE]

Unless they are re-eroded and moved along, sediments will eventually be buried by more sediments. At
depths of hundreds of metres or more, they become compressed and cemented into sedimentary rock.
Again through various means, largely resulting from plate-tectonic forces, different kinds of rocks are
either uplifted, to be re-eroded, or buried deeper within the crust where they are heated up, squeezed,
and changed into metamorphic rock.
 Physical Geology 58

Figure 3.5 Metamorphosed and folded Triassic-aged

limestone, Quadra Island, B.C. [SE]
3.2 Magma and Magma Formation

Magmas can vary widely in composition, but in general they are made up of only eight elements; in order
of importance: oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, magnesium, and potassium (Figure
3.6). Oxygen, the most abundant element in magma, comprises a little less than half the total, followed
by silicon at just over one-quarter. The remaining elements make up the other one-quarter. Magmas
derived from crustal material are dominated by oxygen, silicon, aluminum, sodium, and potassium.

The composition of magma depends on the rock it was formed from (by melting), and the conditions
of that melting. Magmas derived from the mantle have higher levels of iron, magnesium, and calcium,
but they are still likely to be dominated by oxygen and silicon. All magmas have varying proportions
of elements such as hydrogen, carbon, and sulphur, which are converted into gases like water vapour,
carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulphide as the magma cools.

Figure 3.6 Average elemental proportions in Earth’s

crust, which is close to the average composition of
magmas within the crust [SE]

Virtually all of the igneous rocks that we see on Earth are derived from magmas that formed from partial
melting of existing rock, either in the upper mantle or the crust. Partial melting is what happens when
only some parts of a rock melt; it takes place because rocks are not pure materials. Most rocks are made
up of several minerals, each of which has a different melting temperature. The wax in a candle is a pure
material. If you put some wax into a warm oven (50°C will do as the melting temperature of most wax is
about 40°C) and leave it there for a while, it will soon start to melt. That’s complete melting, not partial
melting. If instead you took a mixture of wax, plastic, aluminum, and glass and put it into the same warm
oven, the wax would soon start to melt, but the plastic, aluminum, and glass would not melt (Figure
3.7a). That’s partial melting and the result would be solid plastic, aluminum, and glass surrounded by
liquid wax (Figure 3.7b). If we heat the oven up to around 120°C, the plastic would melt too and mix
with the liquid wax, but the aluminum and glass would remain solid (Figure 3.7c). Again this is partial
melting. If we separated the wax/plastic “magma” from the other components and let it cool, it would
eventually harden. As you can see from Figure 3.7d, the liquid wax and plastic have mixed, and on
cooling, have formed what looks like a single solid substance. It is most likely that this is a very fine-

59
 Physical Geology 60

grained mixture of solid wax and solid plastic, but it could also be some other substance that has formed
from the combination of the two.

Figure 3.7 Partial melting of “pretend rock”: (a) the original

components of white candle wax, black plastic pipe, green beach glass,
and aluminum wire, (b) after heating to 50˚C for 30 minutes only the
wax has melted, (c) after heating to 120˚C for 60 minutes much of the
plastic has melted and the two liquids have mixed, (d) the liquid has
been separated from the solids and allowed to cool to make a “pretend
rock” with a different overall composition. [SE]

In this example, we partially melted some pretend rock to create some pretend magma. We then
separated the magma from the source and allowed it to cool to make a new pretend rock with a
composition quite different from the original material (it lacks glass and aluminum).

Of course partial melting in the real world isn’t exactly the same as in our pretend-rock example. The
main differences are that rocks are much more complex than the four-component system we used, and
the mineral components of most rocks have more similar melting temperatures, so two or more minerals
are likely to melt at the same time to varying degrees. Another important difference is that when rocks
melt, the process takes thousands to millions of years, not the 90 minutes it took in the pretend-rock
example.

Contrary to what one might expect, and contrary to what we did to make our pretend rock, most partial
melting of real rock does not involve heating the rock up. The two main mechanisms through which
rocks melt are decompression melting and flux melting. Decompression melting takes place within
Earth when a body of rock is held at approximately the same temperature but the pressure is reduced.
This happens because the rock is being moved toward the surface, either at a mantle plume (a.k.a., hot
 61 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks
1
spot), or in the upwelling part of a mantle convection cell. The mechanism of decompression melting
is shown in Figure 3.8a. If a rock that is hot enough to be close to its melting point is moved toward
the surface, the pressure is reduced, and the rock can pass to the liquid side of its melting curve. At
this point, partial melting starts to take place. The process of flux melting is shown in Figure 3.8b. If a
rock is close to its melting point and some water (a flux that promotes melting) is added to the rock, the
melting temperature is reduced (solid line versus dotted line), and partial melting starts.

Figure 3.8 Mechanisms for (a) decompression

melting (the rock is moved toward the surface) and
(b) flux melting (water is added to the rock) and the
melting curve is displaced. [SE]

The partial melting of rock happens in a wide range of situations, most of which are related to plate
tectonics. The more important of these are shown in Figure 3.9. At both mantle plumes and in the upward
parts of convection systems, rock is being moved toward the surface, the pressure is dropping, and at
some point, the rock crosses to the liquid side of its melting curve. At subduction zones, water from the
wet, subducting oceanic crust is transferred into the overlying hot mantle. This provides the flux needed
to lower the melting temperature. In both of these cases, only partial melting takes place — typically
only about 10% of the rock melts — and it is always the most silica-rich components of the rock that
melt, creating a magma that is more silica-rich than the rock from which it is derived. (By analogy, the
melt from our pretend rock is richer in wax and plastic than the “rock” from which it was derived.)
The magma produced, being less dense than the surrounding rock, moves up through the mantle, and
eventually into the crust.

Figure 3.9 Common sites of magma formation in the

upper mantle. The black circles are regions of partial
melting. The blue arrows represent water being
transferred from the subducting plates into the
overlying mantle. [SE, after USGS
(http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/Vigil.html)]

As it moves toward the surface, and especially when it moves from the mantle into the lower crust, the
hot magma interacts with the surrounding rock. This typically leads to partial melting of the surrounding
1. Mantle plumes are described in Chapter 4 and mantle convection in Chapter 9.
 Physical Geology 62

rock because most such magmas are hotter than the melting temperature of crustal rock. (In this case,
melting is caused by an increase in temperature.) Again, the more silica-rich parts of the surrounding
rock are preferentially melted, and this contributes to an increase in the silica content of the magma.

At very high temperatures (over 1300°C), most magma is entirely liquid because there is too much
energy for the atoms to bond together. As the temperature drops, usually because the magma is slowly
moving upward, things start to change. Silicon and oxygen combine to form silica tetrahedra, and then,
as cooling continues, the tetrahedra start to link together to make chains (polymerize). These silica
chains have the important effect of making the magma more viscous (less runny), and as we’ll see in
Chapter 4, magma viscosity has significant implications for volcanic eruptions. As the magma continues
to cool, crystals start to form.

Exercises

Exercise 3.2 Making Magma Viscous

This is an experiment that you can do at home to help you understand the properties of magma. It will only
take about 15 minutes, and all you need is half a cup of water and a few tablespoons of flour.
If you’ve ever made gravy, white sauce, or roux, you’ll know how this works.
Place about 1/2 cup (125 mL) of water in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons (10 mL) of white
flour (this represents silica) and stir while the mixture comes close to boiling. It should thicken like gravy
because the gluten in the flour becomes polymerized into chains during this process.
Now you’re going to add more “silica” to see how this changes the viscosity of your magma. Take another 4
teaspoons (20 mL)of flour and mix it thoroughly with about 4 teaspoons (20 mL) of water in a cup and then
add all of that mixture to the rest of the water and flour in the saucepan. Stir while bringing it back up to
nearly boiling temperature, and then allow it to cool. This mixture should slowly become much thicker —
something like porridge — because there is more gluten and more chains have been formed (see the photo).
63 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

This is analogous to magma, of course. As we’ll see below, magmas have quite variable contents of silica and
therefore have widely varying viscosities (“thicknesses”) during cooling.
3.3 Crystallization of Magma

The minerals that make up igneous rocks crystallize at a range of different temperatures. This explains
why a cooling magma can have some crystals within it and yet remain predominantly liquid. The
sequence in which minerals crystallize from a magma is known as the Bowen reaction series (Figure
3.10 and Who was Bowen).

Of the common silicate minerals, olivine normally crystallizes first, at between 1200° and 1300°C. As
the temperature drops, and assuming that some silica remains in the magma, the olivine crystals react
(combine) with some of the silica in the magma (see Box 3.1) to form pyroxene. As long as there is silica
remaining and the rate of cooling is slow, this process continues down the discontinuous branch: olivine
to pyroxene, pyroxene to amphibole, and (under the right conditions) amphibole to biotite.

At about the point where pyroxene begins to crystallize, plagioclase feldspar also begins to crystallize.
At that temperature, the plagioclase is calcium-rich (anorthite) (see Figure 2.15). As the temperature
drops, and providing that there is sodium left in the magma, the plagioclase that forms is a more sodium-
rich variety.

Figure 3.10 The Bowen reaction series describes the

process of magma crystallization [SE]

Who was Bowen, and what’s a reaction series?

Norman Levi Bowen, born in Kingston Ontario, studied geology at Queen’s University and then at
MIT in Boston. In 1912, he joined the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., where he carried
out groundbreaking experimental research into the processes of cooling magmas. Working mostly with
basaltic magmas, he determined the order of crystallization of minerals as the temperature drops. The
method, in brief, was to melt the rock to a magma in a specially made kiln, allow it to cool slowly to
a specific temperature (allowing some minerals to form), and then quench it (cool it quickly) so that
no new minerals form (only glass). The results were studied under the microscope and by chemical
analysis. This was done over and over, each time allowing the magma to cool to a lower temperature
before quenching.

64
65 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

The Bowen reaction series is one of the results of his work, and even a century later, it is an important
basis for our understanding of igneous rocks. The word reaction is critical. In the discontinuous branch,
olivine is typically the first mineral to form (at just below 1300°C). As the temperature continues to
drop, olivine becomes unstable while pyroxene becomes stable. The early-forming olivine crystals react
with silica in the remaining liquid magma and are converted into pyroxene, something like this:

Mg2SiO4 + SiO2 ——> 2MgSiO3

olivine pyroxene

This continues down the chain, as long as there is still silica left in the liquid. [image from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NormanLBowen_1909.jpg]

In cases where cooling happens relatively quickly, individual plagioclase crystals can be zoned from
calcium-rich in the centre to more sodium-rich around the outside. This occurs when calcium-rich early-
forming plagioclase crystals become coated with progressively more sodium-rich plagioclase as the
magma cools. Figure 3.11 shows a zoned plagioclase under a microscope.

Figure 3.11 A zoned plagioclase crystal. The central part is

calcium-rich and the outside part is sodium-rich: [Sandra
Johnstone, used with permission]
 Physical Geology 66

Finally, if the magma is quite silica-rich to begin with, there will still be some left at around 750° to
800°C, and from this last magma, potassium feldspar, quartz, and maybe muscovite mica will form.

The composition of the original magma is critical to magma crystallization because it determines how
far the reaction process can continue before all of the silica is used up. The compositions of typical
mafic, intermediate, and felsic magmas are shown in Figure 3.12. Note that, unlike Figure 3.6, these
compositions are expressed in terms of “oxides” (e.g., Al2O3 rather than just Al). There are two reasons
for this: one is that in the early analytical procedures, the results were always expressed that way, and
the other is that all of these elements combine readily with oxygen to form oxides.

Figure 3.12 The chemical compositions of typical

mafic, intermediate, and felsic magmas and the types
of rocks that form from them. [SE]

Mafic magmas have 45% to 55% SiO2, about 25% total of FeO and MgO plus CaO, and about 5%
Na2O + K2O. Felsic magmas, on the other hand, have much more SiO2 (65% to 75%) and Na2O + K2O
(around 10%) and much less FeO and MgO plus CaO (about 5%).

Exercises

Exercise 3.3 Rock Types Based on Magma Composition

The proportions of the main chemical components of felsic, intermediate, and mafic magmas are listed in the
table below. (The values are similar to those shown in Figure 3.12.)
67 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

Oxide Felsic Magma Intermediate Magma Mafic Magma

SiO2 65-75% 55-65% 45-55%

Al2O3 12-16% 14-18% 14-18%

FeO 2-4% 4-8% 8-12%

CaO 1-4% 4-7% 7-11%

MgO 0-3% 2-6% 5-9%

Na2O 2-6% 3-7% 1-3%

K 2O 3-5% 2-4% 0.5-3%

Chemical data for four rock samples are shown in the following table. Compare these with those in the table
above to determine whether each of these samples is felsic, intermediate, or mafic.

SiO2 Al2O3 FeO CaO MgO Na2O K2O Type?

55% 17% 5% 6% 3% 4% 3%

74% 14% 3% 3% 0.5% 5% 4%

47% 14% 8% 10% 8% 1% 2%

65% 14% 4% 5% 4% 3% 3%

As a mafic magma starts to cool, some of the silica combines with iron and magnesium to make olivine.
As it cools further, much of the remaining silica goes into calcium-rich plagioclase, and any silica left
may be used to convert some of the olivine to pyroxene. Soon after that, all of the magma is used up
and no further changes takes place. The minerals present will be olivine, pyroxene, and calcium-rich
plagioclase. If the magma cools slowly underground, the product will be gabbro; if it cools quickly at
the surface, the product will be basalt (Figure 3.13).

Felsic magmas tend to be cooler than mafic magmas when crystallization begins (because they don’t
have to be as hot to remain liquid), and so they may start out crystallizing pyroxene (not olivine)
and plagioclase. As cooling continues, the various reactions on the discontinuous branch will proceed
because silica is abundant, the plagioclase will become increasingly sodium-rich, and eventually
potassium feldspar and quartz will form. Commonly even very felsic rocks will not have biotite or
muscovite because they may not have enough aluminum or enough hydrogen to make the OH complexes
that are necessary for mica minerals. Typical felsic rocks are granite and rhyolite (Figure 3.13).

The cooling behaviour of intermediate magmas lie somewhere between those of mafic and felsic
magmas. Typical intermediate rocks are diorite and andesite (Figure 3.13).
 Physical Geology 68

Figure 3.13 Examples of the igneous rocks that form

from mafic, intermediate, and felsic magmas. [SE]

A number of processes that take place within a magma chamber can affect the types of rocks produced
in the end. If the magma has a low viscosity (i.e., it’s runny) — which is likely if it is mafic — the
crystals that form early, such as olivine (Figure 3.14a), may slowly settle toward the bottom of the
magma chamber (Figure 3.14b). The means that the overall composition of the magma near the top of
the magma chamber will become more felsic, as it is losing some iron- and magnesium-rich components.
This process is known as fractional crystallization. The crystals that settle might either form an olivine-
rich layer near the bottom of the magma chamber, or they might remelt because the lower part is likely to
be hotter than the upper part (remember, from Chapter 1, that temperatures increase steadily with depth
in Earth because of the geothermal gradient). If any melting takes place, crystal settling will make the
magma at the bottom of the chamber more mafic than it was to begin with (Figure 3.14c).

Figure 3.14 An example of crystal settling and the

formation of a zoned magma chamber [SE]

If crystal settling does not take place, because the magma is too viscous, then the process of cooling will
continue as predicted by the Bowen reaction series. In some cases, however, partially cooled but still
liquid magma, with crystals in it, will either move farther up into a cooler part of the crust, or all the way
to the surface during a volcanic eruption. In either of these situations, the magma that has moved toward
the surface is likely to cool much faster than it did within the magma chamber, and the rest of the rock
will have a finer crystalline texture. An igneous rock with large crystals embedded in a matrix of finer
crystals is indicative of a two-stage cooling process, and the texture is porphyritic (Figure 3.15).
69 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

Figure 3.15 Porphyritic textures: volcanic porphyry

(left – olivine crystals in Hawaiian basalt) and
intrusive porphyry (right) [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 3.4 Porphyritic Minerals

As a magma cools below 1300°C, minerals start to crystallize within it. If that magma is then involved in a
volcanic eruption, the rest of the liquid will cool quickly to form a porphyritic texture. The rock will have
some relatively large crystals (phenocrysts) of the minerals that crystallized early, and the rest will be very
fine grained or even glassy. Using the diagram shown here, predict what phenocrysts might be present where
the magma cooled as far as line a in one case, and line b in another.
3.4 Classification of Igneous Rocks

As has already been described, igneous rocks are classified into four categories, based on either their
chemistry or their mineral composition: felsic, intermediate, mafic, and ultramafic. The diagram in
Figure 3.16 can be used to help classify igneous rocks by their mineral composition. An important
feature to note on this diagram is the red line separating the non-ferromagnesian silicates in the lower
left (K-feldspar, quartz, and plagioclase feldspar) from the ferromagnesian silicates in the upper right
(biotite, amphibole, pyroxene, and olivine). In classifying intrusive igneous rocks, the first thing to
consider is the percentage of ferromagnesian silicates. That’s relatively easy in most igneous rocks
because the ferromagnesian minerals are clearly darker than the others. At the same time, it’s quite
difficult to estimate the proportions of minerals in a rock.

Based on the position of the red line in Figure 3.16, it is evident that felsic rocks can have about 1% to
20% ferromagnesian silicates (the red line intersects the left side of the felsic zone 1% of the distance
from the top of the diagram, and it intersects the right side of the felsic zone 20% of the distance from
the top). Intermediate rocks have between 20% and 50% ferromagnesian silicates, and mafic rocks have
50% to 100% ferromagnesian silicates. To be more specific, felsic rocks typically have biotite and/or
amphibole; intermediate rocks have amphibole and, in some cases, pyroxene; and mafic rocks have
pyroxene and, in some cases, olivine.

Figure 3.16 A simplified classification diagram for

igneous rocks based on their mineral compositions
[SE]

If we focus on the non-ferromagnesian silicates, it is evident that felsic rocks can have from 0% to 35%
K-feldspar, from 25% to 35% quartz (the vertical thickness of the quartz field varies from 25% to 35%),
and from 25% to 50% plagioclase (and that plagioclase will be sodium-rich, or albitic). Intermediate
rocks can have up to 25% quartz and 50% to 75% plagioclase. Mafic rocks only have plagioclase (up to
50%), and that plagioclase will be calcium-rich, or anorthitic.

Exercises

Exercise 3.5 Mineral proportions in igneous rocks

70
71 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

The dashed black lines in the diagram represent four igneous rocks. Complete the table by estimating the
mineral proportions of the four rocks (to the nearest 10%).

Hint: Rocks b and d are the easiest; start with those.

Figure 3.17 provides a diagrammatic representation of the proportions of dark minerals in light-coloured
rocks. You can use that when trying to estimate the ferromagnesian mineral content of actual rocks, and
you can get some practice doing that by completing Exercise 3.6.

Figure 3.17 A guide to estimating the proportions of

dark minerals in light-coloured rocks

Exercises

Exercise 3.6 Proportions of Ferromagnesian Silicates

The four igneous rocks shown below have differing proportions of ferromagnesian silicates. Estimate those
proportions using the diagrams in Figure 3.17, and then use Figure 3.16 to determine the likely rock name for
each one.
 Physical Geology 72

___% ___% ___% ___%

__________ __________ __________ __________

Igneous rocks are also classified according to their textures. The textures of volcanic rocks will be
discussed in Chapter 4, so here we’ll only look at the different textures of intrusive igneous rocks.
Almost all intrusive igneous rocks have crystals that are large enough to see with the naked eye, and
we use the term phaneritic (from the Greek word phaneros meaning visible) to describe that. Typically
that means they are larger than about 0.5 mm — the thickness of a strong line made with a ballpoint
pen. (If the crystals are too small to distinguish, which is typical of most volcanic rocks, we use the term
aphanitic.) The intrusive rocks shown in Figure 3.13 are all phaneritic, as are those shown in Exercise
3.6.

In general, the size of crystals is proportional to the rate of cooling. The longer it takes for a body of
magma to cool, the larger the crystals will be. It is not uncommon to see an intrusive igneous rock with
crystals up to a centimetre long. In some situations, especially toward the end of the cooling stage, the
magma can become water rich. The presence of liquid water (still liquid at high temperatures because it
is under pressure) promotes the relatively easy movement of ions, and this allows crystals to grow large,
sometimes to several centimetres (Figure 3.18). As already described, if an igneous rock goes through a
two-stage cooling process, its texture will be porphyritic (Figure 3.15).
73 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

Figure 3.18 A pegmatite with mica, quartz, and

tourmaline (black) from the White Elephant mine,
South Dakota [from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Pegmatite#mediaviewer/File:We-pegmatite.jpg]
 3.5 Intrusive Igneous Bodies

In most cases, a body of hot magma is less dense than the rock surrounding it, so it has a tendency
to move very slowly up toward the surface. It does so in a few different ways, including filling and
1
widening existing cracks, melting the surrounding rock (called country rock ), pushing the rock aside
(where it is somewhat plastic), and breaking the rock. Where some of the country rock is broken off, it
may fall into the magma, a process called stoping. The resulting fragments, illustrated in Figure 3.19,
are known as xenoliths (Greek for “strange rocks”).

Figure 3.19 Xenoliths of mafic rock in granite,

Victoria, B.C. The fragments of dark rock have been
broken off and incorporated into the light-coloured
granite. [SE]

Some upward-moving magma reaches the surface, resulting in volcanic eruptions, but most cools within
the crust. The resulting body of rock is known as a pluton. Plutons can have various different shapes
and relationships to the surrounding country rock as shown in Figure 3.20.

1. “Country rock” is not necessarily music to a geologist’s ears. The term refers to the original “rock of the country” or region, and hence the
rock into which the magma intruded to form a pluton.

74
75 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

Figure 3.20 Depiction of some of the types of plutons. a:

stocks (if they coalesce at depth then they might constitute a
batholith), b: sill (a tabular body, in this case parallel to
bedding), c: dyke (cross-cuts bedding), d: laccolith (a sill that
has pushed up the overlying rock layers), e: pipe (a
cylindrical conduit feeding a volcano). The two features
labelled f could be pipes or dykes, but from this perspective
it’s not possible to determine if they are cylindrical or tabular.
[SE drawing]

Large irregular-shaped plutons are called either stocks or batholiths. The distinction between the two
is made on the basis of the area that is exposed at the surface: if the body has an exposed surface area
greater than 100 km2, then it’s a batholith; smaller than 100 km2 and it’s a stock. Batholiths are typically
formed only when a number of stocks coalesce beneath the surface to create one large body. One of the
largest batholiths in the world is the Coast Range Plutonic Complex, which extends all the way from the
Vancouver region to southeastern Alaska (Figure 3.21). More accurately, it’s many batholiths.

Tabular (sheet-like) plutons are distinguished on the basis of whether or not they are concordant with
(parallel to) existing layering (e.g., sedimentary bedding or metamorphic foliation) in the country rock.
A sill is concordant with existing layering, and a dyke is discordant. If the country rock has no bedding
or foliation, then any tabular body within it is a dyke. Note that the sill-versus-dyke designation is not
determined simply by the orientation of the feature. A dyke can be horizontal and a sill can be vertical
(if the bedding is vertical). A large dyke can be seen in Figure 3.21.

A laccolith is a sill-like body that has expanded upward by deforming the overlying rock.

Finally, a pipe is a cylindrical body (with a circular, ellipitical, or even irregular cross-section) that
served as a conduit for the movement of magma from one location to another. Most known pipes fed
volcanoes, although pipes can also connect plutons. It is also possible for a dyke to feed a volcano.
 Physical Geology 76

Figure 3.21 The Stawamus Chief, part of the Coast

Range Plutonic Complex, near to Squamish, B.C.
The cliff is about 600 m high. Most of the dark
stripes are a result of algae and lichen growth where
the surface is frequently wet, but there is a large
(about 10 m across) vertical dyke that extends from
bottom to top. [SE photo]

As discussed already, plutons can interact with the rocks into which they are intruded, sometimes leading
to partial melting of the country rock or to stoping and formation of xenoliths. And, as we’ll see in
Chapter 7, the heat of a body of magma can lead to metamorphism of the country rock. The country rock
can also have an effect on the magma within a pluton. The most obvious such effect is the formation
of a chilled margin along the edges of the pluton, where it came in contact with country rock that was
significantly colder than the magma. Within the chilled margin, the magma cooled more quickly than in
the centre of the dyke, so the texture is finer and the colour may be different. An example is shown in
Figure 3.22.

Figure 3.22 A mafic dyke with chilled margins within

basalt at Nanoose, B.C. The coin is 24 mm in
diameter. The dyke is about 25 cm across and the
chilled margins are 2 cm wide.
77 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

Exercises

Exercise 3.7 Pluton Problems

The diagram here is a cross-section through part of the crust showing a variety of intrusive igneous rocks.
Except for the granite (a), all of these rocks are mafic in composition. Indicate whether each of the plutons
labelled a to e on the diagram below is a dyke, a sill, a stock, or a batholith.

a b c d e
Chapter 3 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

The three types of rocks are igneous, formed from magma; sedimentary, formed from
fragments of other rocks or precipitations from solution; and metamorphic, formed when
The Rock existing rocks are altered by heat, pressure, and/or chemical action. The rock cycle
3.1
Cycle summarizes the processes that contribute to cycling of rock material among these three
types. The rock cycle is driven by Earth’s internal heat, and by processes happening at
the surface, which are driven by solar energy.

Magma is molten rock, and in most cases, it forms from partial melting of existing rock.
The two main processes of magma formation are decompression melting and flux
Magma and
melting. Magmas range in composition from ultramafic to felsic. Mafic rocks are rich in
3.2 Magma
iron, magnesium, and calcium and have around 50% silica. Felsic rocks are rich in silica
Formation
(~75%) and have lower levels of iron, magnesium, and calcium and higher levels of
sodium and potassium than mafic rocks.

As a body of magma starts to cool, the first process to take place is the polymerization of
silica tetrahedra into chains. This increases the magma’s viscosity (makes it thicker) and
because felsic magmas have more silica than mafic magmas, they tend to be more
Crystallization
3.3 viscous. The Bowen reaction series allows us to predict the order of crystallization of
of Magma
magma as it cools. Magma can be modified by fractional crystallization (separation of
early-forming crystals) and by incorporation of material from the surrounding rocks by
partial melting.

Igneous rocks are classified based on their mineral composition and texture. Felsic
igneous rocks have less than 20% ferromagnesian silicates (amphibole and/or biotite)
plus varying amounts of quartz and both potassium and plagioclase feldspars. Mafic
Classification
igneous rocks have more than 50% ferromagnesian silicates (primarily pyroxene) plus
3.4 of Igneous
plagioclase feldspar. Most intrusive igneous rocks are phaneritic (crystals are visible to
Rocks
the naked eye). If there were two stages of cooling (slow then fast), the texture may be
porphyritic (large crystals in a matrix of smaller crystals). If water was present during
cooling, the texture may be pegmatitic (very large crystals).

Magma intrudes into country rock by pushing it aside or melting through it. Intrusive
Intrusive igneous bodies tend to be either irregular (stocks and batholiths), tabular (dykes and
3.5 Igneous sills), or pipe-like. Batholiths have exposed areas of greater than 100 km2, while stocks
Bodies are smaller. Sills are parallel to existing layering in the country rock, while dykes cut
across layering. A pluton that intruded into cold rock it is likely to have a chilled margin.

Questions for Review

78
79 Chapter 3 Intrusive Igneous Rocks

1. What processes must take place to transform rocks into sediment?

2. What processes normally take place in the transformation of sediments to sedimentary rock?
3. What are the processes that lead to the formation of a metamorphic rock?
4. What is the significance of the term reaction in the name of the Bowen reaction series?
5. Why is it common for plagioclase crystals to be zoned from relatively calcium-rich in the middle to more
sodium-rich on the outside?
6. What must happen within a magma chamber for fractional crystallization to take place?
7. Explain the difference between aphanitic and phaneritic textures.
8. Explain the difference between porphyritic and pegmatitic textures.
9. Name the following rocks:
(a) An extrusive rock with 40% Ca-rich plagioclase and 60% pyroxene
(b) An intrusive rock with 65% plagioclase, 25% amphibole, and 10% pyroxene
(c) An intrusive rock with 25% quartz, 20% orthoclase, 50% feldspar, and minor amounts of biotite
10. With respect to tabular intrusive bodies, what is the difference between a concordant body and a
discordant body?
11. Why does a dyke commonly have a fine-grained margin?
12. What is the difference between a batholith and a stock?
13. Describe two ways in which batholiths intrude into existing rock.
14. Why is compositional layering a common feature of mafic plutons but not of felsic plutons?
Chapter 4 Volcanism

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Explain the relationships between plate tectonics, the formation of magma, and volcanism
• Describe the range of magma compositions formed in differing tectonic environments, and
discuss the relationship between magma composition (and gas content) and eruption style
• Explain the geological and eruption-style differences between different types of volcanoes,
especially shield volcanoes, composite volcanoes, and cinder cones
• Understand the types of hazards posed to people and to infrastructure by the different types of
volcanic eruptions
• Describe the behaviours that we can expect to observe when a volcano is ready to erupt, and the
techniques that we can use to monitor those behaviours and predict eruptions
• Summarize the types of volcanoes that have erupted in British Columbia over the past 2.6 Ma,
and the characteristics of some of those eruptions

A volcano is any location where magma comes to the surface, or has done so within the past several
million years. This can include eruptions on the ocean floor (or even under the water of lake), where
they are called subaqueous eruptions, or on land, where they are called subaerial eruptions. Not
all volcanic eruptions produce the volcanic mountains with which we are familiar; in fact most of
Earth’s volcanism takes place along the spreading ridges on the sea floor and does not produce volcanic
mountains at all — not even sea-floor mountains.

Canada has a great deal of volcanic rock, but most of it is old, some of it billions of years old. Only
in B.C. and the Yukon are there volcanoes that have been active within the past 2.6 Ma (Pleistocene or
younger), and the vast majority of these are in B.C. We’ll look at those in some detail toward the end of
this chapter, but a few of them are shown on Figures 4.1 and 4.2.

The study of volcanoes is critical to our understanding of the geological evolution of Earth, and to
our understanding of significant changes in climate. But, most important of all, understanding volcanic
eruptions allows us to save lives and property. Over the past few decades, volcanologists have made
great strides in their ability to forecast volcanic eruptions and predict the consequences — this has
already saved thousands of lives.

80
81 Steven Earle

Figure 4.1 Mt. Garibaldi, near Squamish B.C., is one

of Canada’s tallest (2,678 m) and most recently
active volcanoes. It last erupted approximately
10,000 years ago. [SE photo]

Figure 4.2 Mt. Garibaldi (background left, looking

from the north) with Garibaldi Lake in the
foreground. The volcanic peak in the centre is Mt.
Price and the dark flat–topped peak is The Table. All
three of these volcanoes were active during the last
glaciation. [SE photo]
4.1 Plate Tectonics and Volcanism

The relationships between plate tectonics and volcanism are shown on Figure 4.3. As summarized in
Chapter 3, magma is formed at three main plate-tectonic settings: divergent boundaries (decompression
melting), convergent boundaries (flux melting), and mantle plumes (decompression melting).

Figure 4.3 The plate-tectonic settings of common

types of volcanism. Composite volcanoes form at
subduction zones, either on ocean-ocean convergent
boundaries (left) or ocean-continent convergent
boundaries (right). Both shield volcanoes and cinder
cones form in areas of continental rifting. Shield
volcanoes form above mantle plumes, but can also
form at other tectonic settings. Sea-floor volcanism
can take place at divergent boundaries, mantle
plumes and ocean-ocean-convergent boundaries.
[SE, after USGS (http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/
Vigil.html)]

The mantle and crustal processes that take place in areas of volcanism are illustrated in Figure 4.4. At a
spreading ridge, hot mantle rock moves slowly upward by convection (cm/year), and within about 60 km
of the surface, partial melting starts because of decompression. Over the triangular area shown in Figure
4.4a, about 10% of the ultramafic mantle rock melts, producing mafic magma that moves upward toward
the axis of spreading (where the two plates are moving away from each other). The magma fills vertical
fractures produced by the spreading and spills out onto the sea floor to form basaltic pillows (more on
that later) and lava flows. There is spreading-ridge volcanism taking place about 200 km offshore from
the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Exercises

Exercise 4.1 How Thick Is the Oceanic Crust?

Figure 4.4a shows a triangular zone about 60 km thick; within this zone, approximately 10% of the mantle
rock melts to form oceanic crust. Based on this information, approximately how thick do you think the
resulting oceanic crust should be?

82
 83 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Figure 4.4 The processes that lead to volcanism in the

three main volcanic settings on Earth: (a) volcanism
related to plate divergence, (b) volcanism at an
ocean-continent boundary*, and (c) volcanism related to a
mantle plume. [SE, after USGS (http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/
dynamic/Vigil.html)]
*Similar processes take place at an ocean-ocean
convergent boundary.

1
At an ocean-continent or ocean-ocean convergent boundary, oceanic crust is pushed far down into the
mantle (Figure 4.4b). It is heated up, and while there isn’t enough heat to melt the subducting crust, there
is enough to force the water out of some of its minerals. This water rises into the overlying mantle where
it contributes to flux melting of the mantle rock. The mafic magma produced rises through the mantle to
the base of the crust. There it contributes to partial melting of crustal rock, and thus it assimilates much
more felsic material. That magma, now intermediate in composition, continues to rise and assimilate
crustal material; in the upper part of the crust, it accumulates into plutons. From time to time, the magma
from the plutons rises toward surface, leading to volcanic eruptions. Mt. Garibaldi (Figures 4.1 and 4.2)
is an example of subduction-related volcanism.

A mantle plume is an ascending column of hot rock (not magma) that originates deep in the mantle,
possibly just above the core-mantle boundary. Mantle plumes are thought to rise at approximately 10
times the rate of mantle convection. The ascending column may be on the order of kilometres to tens of
kilometres across, but near the surface it spreads out to create a mushroom-style head that is several tens
to over 100 kilometres across. Near the base of the lithosphere (the rigid part of the mantle), the mantle
plume (and possibly some of the surrounding mantle material) partially melts to form mafic magma that
rises to feed volcanoes. Since most mantle plumes are beneath the oceans, the early stages of volcanism
typically take place on the sea floor. Over time, islands may form like those in Hawaii.

Volcanism in northwestern B.C. (Figures 4.5 and 4.6) is related to continental rifting. This area is not at
a divergent or convergent boundary, and there is no evidence of an underlying mantle plume. The crust
of northwestern B.C. is being stressed by the northward movement of the Pacific Plate against the North
America Plate, and the resulting crustal fracturing provides a conduit for the flow of magma from the
mantle. This may be an early stage of continental rifting, such as that found in eastern Africa.

1. At an ocean-continent convergent boundary, part of a plate that is made up of oceanic crust is subducting beneath part of another plate
made up of continental crust. At an ocean-ocean convergent boundary, oceanic crust is being subducted beneath another oceanic-crust
plate.
 Physical Geology 84

Figure 4.5 Volcanoes and volcanic fields in the

Northern Cordillera Volcanic Province, B.C. (base
map from Wikipedia (http://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File:South-West_Canada.jpg). Volcanic
locations from Edwards, B. & Russell, J. (2000).
Distribution, nature, and origin of
Neogene-Quaternary magmatism in the northern
Cordilleran volcanic province, Canada. Geological
Society of America Bulletin. pp.
1280-1293[SE]Cordillera Volcanic Province, B.C.

Figure 4.6 Volcanic rock at the Tseax River area,

northwestern B.C. [SE]
4.2 Magma Composition and Eruption Style

As noted in the previous section, the types of magma produced in the various volcanic settings can differ
significantly. At divergent boundaries and oceanic mantle plumes, where there is little interaction with
crustal materials and magma fractionation to create felsic melts does not take place, the magma tends to
be consistently mafic. At subduction zones, where the magma ascends through significant thicknesses
of crust, interaction between the magma and the crustal rock — some of which is quite felsic — leads to
increases in the felsic character of the magma.

As shown in Figure 4.7, several processes can make magma that is stored in a chamber within the crust
more felsic, and can also contribute to development of vertical zonation from more mafic at the bottom
to more felsic at the top. Partial melting of country rock and country-rock xenoliths increases the overall
felsic character of the magma; first, because the country rocks tends to be more felsic than the magma,
and second, because the more felsic components of the country rock melt preferentially. Settling of
ferromagnesian crystals from the upper part of the magma, and possible remelting of those crystals in
the lower part can both contribute to the vertical zonation from relatively mafic at the bottom to more
felsic at the top.

Figure 4.7 The important processes that lead to

changes in the composition of magmas stored within
magma chambers within relatively felsic rocks of the
crust. [SE]

From the perspective of volcanism there are some important differences between felsic and mafic
magmas. First, as we’ve already discussed, felsic magmas tend to be more viscous because they have
more silica, and hence more polymerization. Second, felsic magmas tend to have higher levels of
volatiles; that is, components that behave as gases during volcanic eruptions. The most abundant volatile
85
 Physical Geology 86

in magma is water (H2O), followed typically by carbon dioxide (CO2), and then by sulphur dioxide
(SO2). The general relationship between the SiO2 content of magma and the amount of volatiles is shown
in Figure 4.8. Although there are many exceptions to this trend, mafic magmas typically have 1% to 3%
volatiles, intermediate magmas have 3% to 4% volatiles, and felsic magmas have 4% to 7% volatiles.

Figure 4.8 Variations in the volatile compositions of magmas as a

function of silica content [SE after Schminke, 2004, (Schminke, H-U.,
2004, Volcanism, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg)]

Differences in viscosity and volatile level have significant implications for the nature of volcanic
eruptions. When magma is deep beneath the surface and under high pressure from the surrounding rocks,
the gases remain dissolved. As magma approaches the surface, the pressure exerted on it decreases. Gas
bubbles start to form, and the more gas there is in the magma, the more bubbles form. If the gas content
is low or the magma is runny enough for gases to rise up through it and escape to surface, the pressure
will not become excessive. Assuming that it can break through to the surface, the magma will flow out
relatively gently. An eruption that involves a steady non-violent flow of magma is called effusive.

Exercises

Exercise 4.2 Under Pressure!

A good analogy for a magma chamber in the upper crust is a plastic bottle of pop on the supermarket shelf.
Go to a supermarket and pick one up off the shelf (something not too dark). You’ll find that the bottle is hard
because it was bottled under pressure, and you should be able to see that there are no gas bubbles inside.
87 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Buy a small bottle of pop (you don’t have to drink it!) and open it. The
bottle will become soft because the pressure is released, and small bubbles will start forming. If you put the
lid back on and shake the bottle (best to do this outside!), you’ll enhance the processes of bubble formation,
and when you open the lid, the pop will come gushing out, just like an explosive volcanic eruption.
A pop bottle is a better analogue for a volcano than the old baking soda and vinegar experiment that you did
in elementary school, because pop bottles, like volcanoes, come pre-charged with gas pressure. All we need
to do is release the confining pressure and the gases come bubbling out.
[Wikipedia image: http://upload.wikimedia.org /wikipedia/commons/6/64/
Champagne_uncorking_photographed_with_a_high_speed_air-gap_flash.jpg]

If the magma is felsic, and therefore too viscous for gases to escape easily, or if it has a particularly high
gas content, it is likely to be under high pressure. Viscous magma doesn’t flow easily, so even if there
is a way for it to move out, it may not flow out. Under these circumstances pressure will continue to
build as more magma moves up from beneath and gases continue to exsolve. Eventually some part of
the volcano will break and then all of that pent-up pressure will lead to an explosive eruption.

Mantle plume and spreading-ridge magmas tend to be consistently mafic, so effusive eruptions are the
norm. At subduction zones, the average magma composition is likely to be close to intermediate, but as
we’ve seen, magma chambers can become zoned and so compositions ranging from felsic to mafic are
possible. Eruption styles can be correspondingly variable.
4.3 Types of Volcanoes

There are numerous types of volcanoes or volcanic sources; some of the more common ones are
summarized in Table 4.1.

Magma and Eruption

Type Tectonic Setting Size and Shape Example
Characteristics

Various; some Most are mafic and form from the Eve Cone,
Cinder Small (10s to 100s of
form on the flanks gas-rich early stages of a shield- or northern
cone m) and steep (>20°)
of larger volcanoes rift-associated eruption B.C.

Medium size (1000s of Magma composition varies from felsic

Composite Almost all are at Mt. St.
m) and moderate to mafic, and from explosive to
volcano subduction zones Helens
steepness (10° to 30°) effusive

Most are at mantle Large (up to several Magma is almost always mafic, and
Shield plumes; some are 1,000 m high and 200 eruptions are typically effusive, Kilauea,
volcano on spreading km across), not steep although cinder cones are common on Hawaii
ridges (typically 2° to 10°) the flanks of shield volcanoes

Large Associated with Enormous (up to Columbia

Magma is always mafic and
igneous “super” mantle millions of km2) and River
individual flows can be 10s of m thick
provinces plumes 100s of m thick basalts

Generally
associated with Large areas of the sea At typical eruption rates, pillows
Sea-floor Juan de
spreading ridges floor associated with form; at faster rates, lava flows
volcanism Fuca ridge
but also with spreading ridges develop
mantle plumes

Lac de
Most appear to have had explosive
The remnants are Gras
Upper-mantle eruptions forming cinder cones; the
Kimberlite typically 10s to 100s Kimberlite
sourced youngest one is over 10 ka old, and all
of m across Field,
others are over 30 Ma old.
N.W.T.

Table 4.1 A summary of the important types of volcanism

The sizes and shapes of typical shield, composite, and cinder-cone volcanoes are compared in Figure
4.9, although, to be fair, Mauna Loa is the largest shield volcano on Earth; all others are smaller. Mauna
Loa rises from the surrounding flat sea floor, and its diameter is in the order of 200 km. Its elevation is
4,169 m above sea level. Mt. St. Helens, a composite volcano, rises above the surrounding hills of the
Cascade Range. Its diameter is about 6 km, and its height is 2,550 m above sea level. Cinder cones are
much smaller. On this drawing, even a large cinder cone is just a dot.

88
89 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Figure 4.9 Profiles of Mauna Loa shield volcano, Mt. St. Helens
composite volcano, and a large cinder cone [SE]

Cinder Cones

Cinder cones, like Eve Cone in northern B.C. (Figure 4.10), are typically only a few hundred metres in
diameter, and few are more than 200 m high. Most are made up of fragments of vesicular mafic rock
(scoria) that were expelled as the magma boiled when it approached the surface, creating fire fountains.
In many cases, these later became effusive (lava flows) when the gases were depleted. Most cinder cones
are monogenetic, meaning that they formed during a single eruptive phase that might have lasted weeks
or months. Because cinder cones are made up almost exclusively of loose fragments, they have very
little strength. They can be easily, and relatively quickly, eroded away.

Figure 4.10 Eve Cone, situated near to Mt. Edziza in northern

B.C., formed approximately 700 years ago [Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Cone# mediaviewer/
File:Symmetrical_Eve_Cone.jpg]

Composite Volcanoes

Composite volcanoes, like Mt. St. Helens in Washington State (Figure 4.11), are almost all associated
with subduction at convergent plate boundaries — either ocean-continent or ocean-ocean boundaries
(Figure 4.4b). They can extend up to several thousand metres from the surrounding terrain, and, with
slopes ranging up to 30˚, are typically up to 10 km across. At many such volcanoes, magma is stored
in a magma chamber in the upper part of the crust. For example, at Mt. St. Helens, there is evidence
 Physical Geology 90

of a magma chamber that is approximately 1 km wide and extends from about 6 km to 14 km below
the surface (Figure 4.12). Systematic variations in the composition of volcanism over the past several
thousand years at Mt. St. Helens imply that the magma chamber is zoned, from more felsic at the top to
more mafic at the bottom.

Figure 4.11 The north side of Mt. St. Helens in

southwestern Washington State, 2003 [SE photo].
The large 1980 eruption reduced the height of the
volcano by 400 m, and a sector collapse removed a
large part of the northern flank. Between 1980 and
1986 the slow eruption of more mafic and less
viscous lava led to construction of a dome inside the
crater.
91 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Figure 4.12 A cross-section through the upper part of the crust at Mt.
St. Helens showing the zoned magma chamber. [SE, after Pringle,
1993]

Mafic eruptions (and some intermediate eruptions), on the other hand, produce lava flows; the one
shown in Figure 4.13b is thick enough (about 10 m in total) to have cooled in a columnar jointing
pattern (Figure 4.14). Lava flows both flatten the profile of the volcano (because the lava typically
flows farther than pyroclastic debris falls) and protect the fragmental deposits from erosion. Even so,
composite volcanoes tend to erode quickly. Patrick Pringle, a volcanologist with the Washington State
Department of Natural Resources, describes Mt. St. Helens as a “pile of junk.” The rock that makes up
Mt. St. Helens ranges in composition from rhyolite (Figure 4.13a) to basalt (Figure 4.13b); this implies
that the types of past eruptions have varied widely in character. As already noted, felsic magma doesn’t
flow easily and doesn’t allow gases to escape easily. Under these circumstances, pressure builds up
until a conduit opens, and then an explosive eruption results from the gas-rich upper part of the magma
chamber, producing pyroclastic debris, as shown on Figure 4.13a. This type of eruption can also lead to
rapid melting of ice and snow on a volcano, which typically triggers large mudflows known as lahars
(Figure 4.13a). Hot, fast-moving pyroclastic flows and lahars are the two main causes of casualties
in volcanic eruptions. Pyroclastic flows killed approximately 30,000 people during the 1902 eruption
of Mt. Pelée on the Caribbean island of Martinique. Most were incinerated in their homes. In 1985 a
massive lahar, triggered by the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz, killed 23,000 people in the Colombian town
of Armero, about 50 km from the volcano.

In a geological context, composite volcanoes tend to form relatively quickly and do not last very long.
Mt. St. Helens, for example, is made up of rock that is all younger than 40,000 years; most of it is
younger than 3,000 years. If its volcanic activity ceases, it might erode away within a few tens of
thousands of years. This is largely because of the presence of pyroclastic eruptive material, which is not
strong.
 Physical Geology 92

Figure 4.13 Mt. St. Helens volcanic deposits: (a)

lahar deposits (L) and felsic pyroclastic deposits (P)
and (b) a columnar basalt lava flow. The two photos
were taken at locations only about 500 m apart. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 4.3 Volcanoes and Subduction

The map shown here illustrates the interactions between the North America, Juan de Fuca, and Pacific Plates
off the west coast of Canada and the United States. The Juan de Fuca Plate is forming along the Juan de Fuca
ridge, and is then subducted beneath the North America Plate along the red line with teeth on it (“Subduction
boundary”).
1. Using the scale bar in the lower left of the map, estimate the average distance between the subduction
boundary and the Cascadia composite volcanoes.
2. If the subducting Juan de Fuca Plate descends 40 km for every 100 km that it moves inland, what is its
likely depth in the area where volcanoes are forming?
 93 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Figure 4.14 Figure 4.14 The development of columnar jointing in

basalt, here seen from the top looking down. As the rock cools it
shrinks, and because it is very homogenous it shrinks in a systematic
way. When the rock breaks it does so with approximately 120˚ angles
between the fracture planes. The resulting columns tend to be 6-sided
but 5- and 7-sided columns also form. [SE]

Shield Volcanoes

Most shield volcanoes are associated with mantle plumes, although some form at divergent boundaries,
either on land or on the sea floor. Because of their non-viscous mafic magma they tend to have relatively
gentle slopes (2 to 10˚) and the larger ones can be over 100 km in diameter. The best-known shield
volcanoes are those that make up the Hawaiian Islands, and of these, the only active ones are on the big
island of Hawaii. Mauna Loa, the world’s largest volcano and the world’s largest mountain (by volume)
last erupted in 1984. Kilauea, arguably the world’s most active volcano, has been erupting, virtually
without interruption, since 1983. Loihi is an underwater volcano on the southeastern side of Hawaii. It
is last known to have erupted in 1996, but may have erupted since then without being detected.

All of the Hawaiian volcanoes are related to the mantle plume that currently lies beneath Mauna Loa,
Kilauea, and Loihi (Figure 4.15). In this area, the Pacific Plate is moving northwest at a rate of about 7
cm/year. This means that the earlier formed — and now extinct — volcanoes have now moved well away
from the mantle plume. As shown on Figure 4.15, there is evidence of crustal magma chambers beneath
all three active Hawaiian volcanoes. At Kilauea, the magma chamber appears to be several kilometres in
1
diameter, and is situated between 8 km and 11 km below surface.

1. Lin, G, Amelung, F, Lavallee, Y, and Okubo, P, 2014, Seismic evidence for a crustal magma reservoir beneath the upper east rift zone of
Kilauea volcano, Hawaii. Geology. V.
 Physical Geology 94

Figure 4.15 Mauna Kea from near to the summit of Mauna Loa,
Hawaii [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/
Hawaii_hotspot_cross-sectional_diagram.jpg]

Although it is not a prominent mountain (Figure 4.9), Kilauea volcano has a large caldera in its summit
area (Figure 4.16). A caldera is a volcanic crater that is more than 2 km in diameter; this one is 4 km
long and 3 km wide. It contains a smaller feature called Halema’uma’u crater, which has a total depth
of over 200 m below the surrounding area. Most volcanic craters and calderas are formed above magma
chambers, and the level of the crater floor is influenced by the amount of pressure exerted by the magma
body. During historical times, the floors of both Kilauea caldera and Halema’uma’u crater have moved
up during expansion of the magma chamber and down during deflation of the chamber.

Figure 4.16 Aerial view of the Kilauea caldera. The caldera is about 4
km across, and up to 120 m deep. It encloses a smaller and deeper
crater known as Halema’uma’u. [http://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Kilauea_ali_2012_01_28.jpg]

One of the conspicuous features of Kilauea caldera is rising water vapour (the white cloud in Figure
4.16) and a strong smell of sulphur (Figure 4.17). As is typical in magmatic regions, water is the main
volatile component, followed by carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide. These, and some minor gases,
originate from the magma chamber at depth and rise up through cracks in the overlying rock. This
95 Chapter 4 Volcanism

degassing of the magma is critical to the style of eruption at Kilauea, which, for most of the past 30
years, has been effusive, not explosive.

Figure 4.17 A gas-composition monitoring station

(left) within the Kilauea caldera and at the edge of
Halema’uma’u crater. The rising clouds are mostly
composed of water vapour, but also include carbon
dioxide and sulphur dioxide. Sulphur crystals (right)
have formed around a gas vent in the caldera. [SE
photos]

The Kilauea eruption that began in 1983 started with the formation of a cinder cone at Pu’u ’O’o,
approximately 15 km east of the caldera (Figure 4.18). The magma feeding this eruption flowed along
a major conduit system known as the East Rift, which extends for about 20 km from the caldera, first
southeast and then east. Lava fountaining and construction of the Pu’u ’O’o cinder cone (Figure 4.19a)
continued until 1986 at which time the flow became effusive. From 1986 to 2014, lava flowed from a
gap in the southern flank of Pu’u ’O’o down the slope of Kilauea through a lava tube (Figure 4.19d),
emerging at or near the ocean. Since June 2014, the lava has flowed northeast (see Exercise 4.4).

Figure 4.18 Satellite image of Kilauea volcano showing the East rift
and Pu’u ’O’o, the site of the eruption that started in 1983. The puffy
white blobs are clouds. [SE after, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hawaii_(island)#mediaviewer/
File:Island_of_Hawai%27i_-_Landsat_mosaic.jpg]

The two main types of textures created during effusive subaerial eruptions are pahoehoe and aa.
Pahoehoe, ropy lava that forms as non-viscous lava, flows gently, forming a skin that gels and then
wrinkles because of ongoing flow of the lava below the surface (Figure 4.19b, and “lava flow video”).
Aa, or blocky lava, forms when magma is forced to flow faster than it is able to (down a slope
for example) (Figure 4.19c). Tephra (lava fragments) is produced during explosive eruptions, and
accumulates in the vicinity of cinder cones.

Figure 4.19d is a view into an active lava tube on the southern edge of Kilauea. The red glow is from a
 Physical Geology 96

stream of very hot lava (~1200°C) that has flowed underground for most of the 8 km from the Pu’u ’O’o
vent. Lava tubes form naturally and readily on both shield and composite volcanoes because flowing
mafic lava preferentially cools near its margins, forming solid lava levées that eventually close over the
top of the flow. The magma within a lava tube is not exposed to the air, so it remains hot and fluid and
can flow for tens of kilometres, thus contributing to the large size and low slopes of shield volcanoes.
The Hawaiian volcanoes are riddled with thousands of old lava tubes, some as long as 50 km.

Figure 4.19 Images of Kilauea volcano taken in 2002

(b & c) and 2007 (a & d) [SE photos] (a) Pu’u’O’o
cinder cone in the background with tephra in the
foreground and aa lava in the middle, (b) Formation
of pahoehoe on the southern edge of Kilauea, (c)
Formation of aa on a steep slope on Kilauea, (d)
Skylight in an active lava tube, Kilauea.

Kilauea is approximately 300 ka old, while neighbouring Mauna Loa is over 700 ka and Mauna Kea is
over 1 Ma. If volcanism continues above the Hawaii mantle plume in the same manner that it has for
the past 85 Ma, it is likely that Kilauea will continue to erupt for at least another 500,000 years. By that
time, its neighbour, Loihi, will have emerged from the sea floor, and its other neighbours, Mauna Loa
and Mauna Kea, will have become significantly eroded, like their cousins, the islands to the northwest
(Figure 4.15).

Exercises

Exercise 4.4 Kilauea’s June 27th Lava Flow

The U.S. Geological Survey Hawaii Volcano Observatory (HVO) map shown here, dated January 29, 2015,
shows the outline of lava that started flowing northeast from Pu’u ’O’o on June 27, 2004 (the “June 27th
Lava flow,” a.k.a. the “East Rift Lava Flow”). The flow reached the nearest settlement, Pahoa, on October 29,
after covering a distance of 20 km in 124 days. After damaging some infrastructure west of Pahoa, the flow
stopped advancing. A new outbreak occurred November 1, branching out to the north from the main flow
about 6 km southwest of Pahoa.
1. What is the average rate of advance of the flow front from June 27 to October 29, 2014, in m/day and m/
hour?
97 Chapter 4 Volcanism

2. Go to the Kilauea page of the HVO website at: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/activity/kilaueastatus.php to

compare the current status of the June 27th (or East Rift) lava flow with that shown on the map below.

[From USGS HVO: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/maps/]

Large Igneous Provinces

While the Hawaii mantle plume has produced a relatively low volume of magma for a very long time
(~85 Ma), other mantle plumes are less consistent, and some generate massive volumes of magma over
relatively short time periods. Although their origin is still controversial, it is thought that the volcanism
leading to large igneous provinces (LIP) is related to very high volume but relatively short duration
bursts of magma from mantle plumes. An example of an LIP is the Columbia River Basalt Group
(CRGB), which extends across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho (Figure 4.20). This volcanism, which
covered an area of about 160,000 km2 with basaltic rock up to several hundred metres thick, took place
between 17 and 14 Ma.
 Physical Geology 98

Figure 4.20 A part of the Columbia River Basalt

Group at Frenchman Coulee, eastern Washington.
All of the flows visible here have formed large (up to
two metres in diameter) columnar basalts, a result of
relatively slow cooling of flows that are tens of m
thick. The inset map shows the approximate extent of
the 17 to 14 Ma Columbia River Basalts, with the
location of the photo shown as a star. [SE – photo
and drawing]

Most other LIP eruptions are much bigger. The Siberian Traps (also basalt), which erupted at the end of
the Permian period at 250 Ma, are estimated to have produced approximately 40 times as much lava as
the CRBG.

The mantle plume that is assumed to be responsible for the CRBG is now situated beneath the
Yellowstone area, where it leads to felsic volcanism. Over the past 2 Ma three very large explosive
eruptions at Yellowstone have yielded approximately 900 km3 of felsic magma, about 900 times the
volume of the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, but only 5% of the volume of mafic magma in the CRBG.

Sea-Floor Volcanism

Some LIP eruptions occur on the sea floor, the largest being the one that created the Ontong Java plateau
in the western Pacific Ocean at around 122 Ma. But most sea-floor volcanism originates at divergent
boundaries and involves relatively low-volume eruptions. Under these conditions, hot lava that oozes
out into the cold seawater quickly cools on the outside and then behaves a little like toothpaste. The
resulting blobs of lava are known as pillows, and they tend to form piles around a sea-floor lava vent
(Figure 4.21). In terms of area, there is very likely more pillow basalt on the sea floor than any other
type of rock on Earth.
99 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Figure 4.21 Modern and ancient sea-floor pillow

basalts (left) Modern sea-floor pillows in the south
Pacific [NOAA, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Basalt#mediaviewer/File:Pillow_basalt_crop_l.jpg]
(right) Eroded 40 to 50 Ma pillows on the shore of
Vancouver Island, near to Sooke. The pillows are 30
to 40 cm in diameter. [SE]

Kimberlites

While all of the volcanism discussed so far is thought to originate from partial melting in the upper
mantle or within the crust, there is a special class of volcanoes called kimberlites that have their origins
much deeper in the mantle, at depths of 150 km to 450 km. During a kimberlite eruption, material
from this depth may make its way to surface quickly (hours to days) with little interaction with the
surrounding rocks. As a result, kimberlite eruptive material is representative of mantle compositions: it
is ultramafic.

Kimberlite eruptions that originate at depths greater than 200 km, within areas beneath old thick crust
(shields), traverse the region of stability of diamond in the mantle, and in some cases, bring diamond-
bearing material to the surface. All of the diamond deposits on Earth are assumed to have formed in this
way; an example is the rich Ekati Mine in the Northwest Territories (Figure 4.22).

Figure 4.22 Ekati diamond mine, Northwest

Territories, part of the Lac de Gras kimberlite field
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/
88/Ekati_mine_640px.jpg]

The kimberlites at Ekati erupted between 45 and 60 Ma. Many kimberlites are older, some much older.
There have been no kimberlite eruptions in historic times. The youngest known kimberlites are in the
Igwisi Hills in Tanzania and are only about 10,000 years old. The next youngest known are around 30
Ma old.
4.4 Volcanic Hazards

There are two classes of volcanic hazards, direct and indirect. Direct hazards are forces that directly
kill or injure people, or destroy property or wildlife habitat. Indirect hazards are volcanism-induced
environmental changes that lead to distress, famine, or habitat destruction. Indirect effects of volcanism
have accounted for approximately 8 million deaths during historical times, while direct effects have
accounted for fewer than 200,000, or 2.5% of the total. Some of the more important types of volcanic
hazards are summarized in Table 4.2.

Table 4.2 A summary of the important volcanic hazards

Type Description Risk

Respiration problems for some

individuals
Tephra Small particles of volcanic rock emitted into the
emissions atmosphere Significant climate cooling and famine

Damage to aircraft

Climate cooling leading to crop failure

Gas The emission of gases before, during, and after an and famine
emissions eruption
In some cases, widespread poisoning

Pyroclastic A very hot (several 100°C) mixture of gases and

Extreme hazard — destroys anything in
density volcanic tephra that flows rapidly (up to 100s of km/
the way
current h) down the side of a volcano

Thick tephra coverage of areas close to

Pyroclastic Vertical fall of tephra in the area surrounding an the eruption (km to 10s of km)
fall eruption
Collapsed roofs

A flow of mud and debris down a channel leading Severe risk of destruction for anything
Lahar away from a volcano, triggered either by an eruption within the channel — lahar mud flows
or a severe rain event can move at 10s of km/h

Sector
The failure of part of a volcano, either due to an
collapse/ Severe risk of destruction for anything
eruption or for some other reason, leading to the
debris in the path of the debris avalanche
failure of a large portion of the volcano
avalanche

People and infrastructure at risk, but

Lava flow The flow of lava away from a volcanic vent lava flows tend to be slow (km/h) and
are relatively easy to avoid

100
101 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Volcanic Gas and Tephra Emissions

Large volumes of tephra (rock fragments, mostly pumice) and gases are emitted during major plinian
eruptions (large explosive eruptions with hot gas a tephra columns extending into the stratosphere) at
composite volcanoes, and a large volume of gas is released during some very high-volume effusive
eruptions. One of the major effects is cooling of the climate by 1° to 2°C for several months to a few
years because the dust particles and tiny droplets and particles of sulphur compounds block the sun. The
last significant event of this type was in 1991 and 1992 following the large eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in
the Philippines. A drop of 1° to 2°C may not seem like very much, but that is the global average amount
of cooling, and cooling was much more severe in some regions and at some times.

Over an eight-month period in 1783 and 1784, a massive effusive eruption took place at the Laki volcano
in Iceland. Although there was relatively little volcanic ash involved, a massive amount of sulphur
dioxide was released into the atmosphere, along with a significant volume of hydrofluoric acid (HF).
The sulphate aerosols that formed in the atmosphere led to dramatic cooling in the northern hemisphere.
There were serious crop failures in Europe and North America, and a total of 6 million people are
estimated to have died from famine and respiratory complications. In Iceland, poisoning from the HF
resulted in the death of 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle, and the ensuing famine, along with HF poisoning,
resulted in more than 10,000 human deaths, about 25% of the population.

Volcanic ash can also have serious implications for aircraft because it can destroy jet engines. For
example, over 5 million airline passengers had their travel disrupted by the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull
volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Pyroclastic Density Currents

In a typical explosive eruption at a composite volcano, the tephra and gases are ejected with explosive
force and are hot enough to be forced high up into the atmosphere. As the eruption proceeds, and the
amount of gas in the rising magma starts to decrease, parts will become heavier than air, and they can
then flow downward along the flanks of the volcano (Figure 4.23). As they descend, they cool more
and flow faster, reaching speeds up to several hundred km/h. A pyroclastic density current (PDC)
consists of tephra ranging in size from boulders to microscopic shards of glass (made up of the edges and
junctions of the bubbles of shattered pumice), plus gases (dominated by water vapour, but also including
other gases). The temperature of this material can be as high as 1000°C. Among the most famous PDCs
are the one that destroyed Pompeii in the year 79 CE, killing an estimated 18,000 people, and the one
that destroyed the town of St. Pierre, Martinique, in 1902, killing an estimated 30,000.

The buoyant upper parts of pyroclastic density currents can flow over water, in some cases for several
kilometres. The 1902 St. Pierre PDC flowed out into the harbour and destroyed several wooden ships
anchored there.
 Physical Geology 102

Figure 4.23 The plinian eruption of Mt. Mayon, Philippines. in 1984.

Although most of the eruption column is ascending into the
atmosphere, there are pyroclastic density currents flowing down the
sides of the volcano in several places. [USGS photo from:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/
Pyroclastic_flows_at_Mayon_Volcano.jpg]

Pyroclastic Fall

Most of the tephra from an explosive eruption ascends high into the atmosphere, and some of it is
distributed around Earth by high-altitude winds. The larger components (larger than 0.1 mm) tend to fall
relatively close to the volcano, and the amount produced by large eruptions can cause serious damage
and casualties. The large 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines resulted in the accumulation of
tens of centimetres of ash in fields and on rooftops in the surrounding populated region. Heavy typhoon
rains that hit the island at the same time added to the weight of the tephra, leading to the collapse of
thousands of roofs and to at least 300 of the 700 deaths attributed to the eruption.

Lahar

A lahar is any mudflow or debris flow that is related to a volcano. Most are caused by melting snow
and ice during an eruption, as was the case with the lahar that destroyed the Colombian town of Armero
in 1985 (described earlier). Lahars can also happen when there is no volcanic eruption, and one of the
reasons is that, as we’ve seen, composite volcanoes tend to be weak and easily eroded.

In October 1998, category 5 hurricane Mitch slammed into the coast of central America. Damage was
extensive and 19,000 people died, not so much because of high winds but because of intense rainfall —
some regions received almost 2 m of rain over a few days! Mudflows and debris flows occurred in many
areas, especially in Honduras and Nicaragua. An example is Casita Volcano in Nicaragua, where the
heavy rains weakened rock and volcanic debris on the upper slopes, resulting in a debris flow that rapidly
built in volume as it raced down the steep slope, and then ripped through the towns of El Porvenir and
103 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Rolando Rodriguez killing more than 2,000 people (Figure 4.24). El Porvenir and Rolando Rodriguez
were new towns that had been built without planning approval in an area that was known to be at risk of
lahars.

Figure 4.24 Part of the path of the lahar from Casita Volcano, October
30, 1998. [USGS photo from: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/lahar/
casita.php]

Sector Collapse and Debris Avalanche

In the context of volcanoes, sector collapse or flank collapse is the catastrophic failure of a significant
part of an existing volcano, creating a large debris avalanche. This hazard was first recognized with the
failure of the north side of Mt. St. Helens immediately prior to the large eruption on May 18, 1980. In
the weeks before the eruption, a large bulge had formed on the side of the volcano, the result of magma
transfer from depth into a satellite magma body within the mountain itself. Early on the morning of
May 18, a moderate earthquake struck nearby; this is thought to have destabilized the bulge, leading to
Earth’s largest observed landslide in historical times. The failure of this part of the volcano exposed the
underlying satellite magma chamber, causing it to explode sideways, which exposed the conduit leading
to the magma chamber below. The resulting plinian eruption — with a 24 km high eruption column —
lasted for nine hours.

In August 2010, a massive part of the flank of B.C.’s Mt. Meager gave way and about 48 million cubic
metres of rock rushed down the valley, one of the largest slope failures in Canada in historical times
(Figure 4.25). More than 25 slope failures have taken place at Mt. Meager in the past 8,000 years, some
of them more than 10 times larger than the 2010 failure.
 Physical Geology 104

Figure 4.25 The August 2010 Mt. Meager rock avalanche, showing
where the slide originated (arrow, 4 km upstream), its path down a
steep narrow valley, and the debris field (and the stream that
eventually cut through it) in the foreground. (Mika McKinnon photo,
http://www.geomika.com/blog/2011/ 01/05/the-trouble-with-landslides/
Used with permission ([email protected])

Lava Flows

As we saw in Exercise 4.4, lava flows at volcanoes like Kilauea do not advance very quickly, and in
most cases, people can get out of the way. Of course, it is more difficult to move infrastructure, and so
buildings and roads are typically the main casualties of lava flows.

Exercises

Exercise 4.5 Volcanic Hazards in Squamish

105 Chapter 4 Volcanism

The town of Squamish is situated approximately 10 km from Mt. Garibaldi, as shown in the photo. In the
event of a major eruption of Mt. Garibaldi, which of the following hazards has the potential to be an issue for
the residents of Squamish or for those passing through on Highway 99? [SE after Google Earth]

Hazard Yes or No, and Brief Explanation

Tephra emission

Gas emission

Pyroclastic density current

Pyroclastic fall

Lahar

Sector collapse

Lava flow
 4.5 Monitoring Volcanoes and Predicting Eruptions

In 2005 USGS geologist Chris Newhall made a list of the six most important signs of an imminent
volcanic eruption. They are as follows:

1. Gas leaks — the release of gases (mostly H2O, CO2, and SO2) from the magma into the
atmosphere through cracks in the overlying rock
2. Bit of a bulge — the deformation of part of the volcano, indicating that a magma chamber at
depth is swelling or becoming more pressurized
3. Getting shaky — many (hundreds to thousands) of small earthquakes, indicating that magma
is on the move. The quakes may be the result of the magma forcing the surrounding rocks to
crack, or a harmonic vibration that is evidence of magmatic fluids moving underground.
4. Dropping fast — a sudden decrease in the rate of seismicity, which may indicate that magma
has stalled, which could mean that something is about to give way
5. Big bump — a pronounced bulge on the side of the volcano (like the one at Mt. St. Helens in
1980), which may indicate that magma has moved close to surface
6. Blowing off steam — steam eruptions (a.k.a. phreatic eruptions) that happen when magma
near the surface heats groundwater to the boiling point. The water eventually explodes,
sending fragments of the overlying rock far into the air.

With these signs in mind, we can make a list of the equipment we should have and the actions we can
take to monitor a volcano and predict when it might erupt.

Assessing seismicity: The simplest and cheapest way to monitor a volcano is with seismometers. In an
area with several volcanoes that have the potential to erupt (e.g., the Squamish-Pemberton area), a few
well-placed seismometers can provide us with an early warning that something is changing beneath one
of the volcanoes, and that we need to take a closer look. There are currently enough seismometers in the
1
Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island to provide this information.

If there is seismic evidence that a volcano is coming to life, more seismometers should be placed in
locations within a few tens of kilometres of the source of the activity (Figure 4.26). This will allow
geologists to determine the exact location and depth of the seismic activity so that they can see where
the magma is moving.

1. See: http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/stndon/CNSN-RNSC/stnbook-cahierstn/index-
eng.php?tpl_sorting=map&CHIS_SZ=west

106
107 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Figure 4.26 A seismometer installed in 2007 in the vicinity of the

Nazco Cone, B.C. [photo Cathie Hickson, used with permission]

Detecting gases: Water vapour quickly turns into clouds of liquid water droplets and is relatively easy to
detect just by looking, but CO2 and SO2 are not as obvious. It’s important to be able to monitor changes
in the composition of volcanic gases, and we need instruments to do that. Some can be monitored from
a distance (from the ground or even from the air) using infrared devices, but to obtain more accurate
data, we need to sample the air and do chemical analysis. This can be achieved with instruments placed
on the ground close to the source of the gases (see Figure 4.17), or by collecting samples of the air and
analyzing them in a lab.

Measuring deformation: There are two main ways to measure ground deformation at a volcano. One
is known as a tiltmeter, which is a sensitive three-directional level that can sense small changes in the
tilt of the ground at a specific location. Another is through the use of GPS (global positioning system)
technology (Figure 4.27). GPS is more effective than a tiltmeter because it provides information on how
far the ground has actually moved — east-west, north-south, and up-down.
 Physical Geology 108

Figure 4.27 A GPS unit installed at Hualalai volcano, Hawaii. The

dish-shaped antenna on the right is the GPS receiver. The antenna on
the left is for communication with a base station. [from USGS at:
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/view.php?id=173]

By combining information from these types of sources, along with careful observations made on the
ground and from the air, and a thorough knowledge of how volcanoes work, geologists can get a good
idea of the potential for a volcano to erupt in the near future (months to weeks, but not days). They can
then make recommendations to authorities about the need for evacuations and restricting transportation
corridors. Our ability to predict volcanic eruptions has increased dramatically in recent decades because
of advances in our understanding of how volcanoes behave and in monitoring technology. Providing
that careful work is done, there is no longer a large risk of surprise eruptions, and providing that public
warnings are issued and heeded, it is less and less likely that thousands will die from sector collapse,
pyroclastic flows, ash falls, or lahars. Indirect hazards are still very real, however, and we can expect the
next eruption like the one at Laki in 1783 to take an even greater toll than it did then, especially since
there are now roughly eight times as many people on Earth.

Exercises

Exercise 4.6 Volcano Alert!

You’re the chief volcanologist for the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), based in Vancouver. At 10:30
a.m. on a Tuesday, you receive a report from a seismologist at the GSC in Sidney saying that there has been a
sudden increase in the number of small earthquakes in the vicinity of Mt. Garibaldi. You have two technicians
available, access to some monitoring equipment, and a four-wheel-drive vehicle. At noon, you meet with your
technicians and a couple of other geologists. By the end of the day, you need to have a plan to implement,
109 Chapter 4 Volcanism

starting tomorrow morning, and a statement to release to the press. What should your first day’s fieldwork
include? What should you say later today in your press release?
4.6 Volcanoes in British Columbia

As shown on the Figure 4.28, three types of volcanic environments are represented in British Columbia:

• The Cascade Arc (a.k.a. the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt in Canada) is related to subduction of the
Juan de Fuca Plate beneath the North America plate.
• The Anahim Volcanic Belt is assumed to be related to a mantle plume.
• The Stikine Volcanic Belt and the Wells Gray-Clearwater Volcanic Field are assumed to be
related to crustal rifting.

Figure 4.28 Major volcanic centres in British

Columbia (base map from Wikipedia
(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:South-West_Canada.jpg). Volcanic locations
from Wood, D., 1993, Waiting for another big blast
– probing B.C.’s volcanoes, Canadian Geographic,
based on the work of Cathie Hickson)

Subduction Volcanism

Southwestern British Columbia is at the northern end of the Juan de Fuca (Cascadia) subduction zone,
and the volcanism there is related to magma generation by flux melting in the upper mantle above the
subducting plate. In general, there has been a much lower rate and volume of volcanism in the B.C. part
of this belt than in the U.S. part. One reason for this is that the northern part of the Juan de Fuca Plate
(i.e., the Explorer Plate) is either not subducting, or is subducting at a slower rate than the rest of the
plate. There are several volcanic centres in the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt: the Garibaldi centre (including
Mt. Garibaldi and the Black Tusk-Mt. Price area adjacent to Garibaldi Lake (Figures 4.1 and 4.2), Mt.
110
111 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Cayley, and Mt. Meager (Figure 4.25). The most recent volcanic activity in this area was at Mt. Meager.
Approximately 2,400 years ago, an explosive eruption of about the same magnitude as the 1980 Mt. St.
Helens eruption took place at Mt. Meager. Ash spread as far east as Alberta. There was also significant
eruptive activity at Mts. Price and Garibaldi approximately 12,000 and 10,000 years ago during the last
glaciation; in both cases, lava and tephra built up against glacial ice in the adjacent valley (Figure 4.29).
The Table in Figure 4.2 at the beginning of this chapter is a tuya, a volcano that formed beneath glacial
ice and had its top eroded by the lake that formed around it in the ice.

Figure 4.29 Perspective view of the Garibaldi region (looking

east) showing the outlines of two lava flows from Mt. Price.
Volcanism in this area last took place when the valley in the
foreground was filled with glacial ice. The cliff known as the
Barrier formed when part of the Mt. Price lava flow failed
after deglaciation. The steep western face of Mt. Garibaldi
formed by sector collapse, also because the rocks were no
longer supported by glacial ice. [SE after Google Earth]

Mantle Plume Volcanism

The chain of volcanic complexes and cones extending from Milbanke Sound to Nazko Cone is
interpreted as being related to a mantle plume currently situated close to the Nazko Cone, just west of
Quesnel. The North America Plate is moving in a westerly direction at about 2 cm per year with respect
to this plume, and the series of now partly eroded shield volcanoes between Nazco and the coast is
interpreted to have been formed by the plume as the continent moved over it.

The Rainbow Range, which formed at approximately 8 Ma, is the largest of these older volcanoes. It has
a diameter of about 30 km and an elevation of 2,495 m (Figure 4.30). The name “Rainbow” refers to the
bright colours displayed by some of the volcanic rocks as they weather.
 Physical Geology 112

Figure 4.30 Rainbow Range, Chilcotin Plateau, B.C.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/
fd/Rainbow_Range_Colors.jpg).

Rift-Related Volcanism

While B.C. is not about to split into pieces, two areas of volcanism are related to rifting — or at least
to stretching-related fractures that might extend through the crust. These are the Wells Gray-Clearwater
volcanic field southeast of Quesnel, and the Northern Cordillera Volcanic Field, which ranges across the
northwestern corner of the province (as already discussed in section 4.1). This area includes Canada’s
most recent volcanic eruption, a cinder cone and mafic lava flow that formed around 250 years ago at the
Tseax River Cone in the Nass River area north of Terrace. According to Nisga’a oral history, as many
as 2,000 people died during that eruption, in which lava overran their village on the Nass River. Most of
the deaths are attributed to asphyxiation from volcanic gases, probably carbon dioxide.

The Mount Edziza Volcanic Field near the Stikine River is a large area of lava flows, sulphurous ridges,
and cinder cones. The most recent eruption in this area was about 1,000 years ago. While most of the
other volcanism in the Edziza region is mafic and involves lava flows and cinder cones, Mt. Edziza itself
(Figure 4.31) is a composite volcano with rock compositions ranging from rhyolite to basalt. A possible
explanation for the presence of composite volcanism in an area dominated by mafic flows and cinder
cones is that there is a magma chamber beneath this area, within which magma differentiation is taking
place.
113 Chapter 4 Volcanism

Figure 4.31 Mount Edziza, in the Stikine area, B.C., with Eve
Cone in the foreground. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/5/54/
Mount_Edziza%2C_British_Columbia.jpg).

Exercises

Exercise 4.7 Volcanoes Down Under

This map shows the plate tectonic situation in the area around New Zealand.

1. Based on what you know about volcanoes in B.C., predict where you might expect to see volcanoes in and
around New Zealand.
2. What type of volcanoes would you expect to find in and around New Zealand?
 Physical Geology 114

[from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/NZ_faults.png]
Chapter 4 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Volcanism is closely related to plate tectonics. Most volcanoes are associated with
convergent plate boundaries (at subduction zones), and there is also a great deal of
Plate
volcanic activity at divergent boundaries and areas of continental rifting. At convergent
Tectonics
4.1 boundaries magma is formed where water from a subducting plate acts as a flux to lower
and
the melting temperature of the adjacent mantle rock. At divergent boundaries magma
Volcanism
forms because of decompression melting. Decompression melting also takes place within a
mantle plume.

The initial magmas in most volcanic regions are mafic in composition, but they can evolve
Magma
into more felsic types through interaction with crustal rock, and as a result of crystal
Composition
settling within a magma chamber. Felsic magmas tend to have higher gas contents than
4.2 and
mafic magmas, and they are also more viscous. The higher viscosity prevents gases from
Eruption
escaping from the magma, and so felsic magmas are more pressurized and more likely to
Style
erupt explosively.

Cinder cones, which can form in various volcanic settings, are relatively small volcanoes
that are composed mostly of mafic rock fragments that were formed during a single
eruptive event. Composite volcanoes are normally associated with subduction, and while
Types of
4.3 their magma tends to be intermediate on average, it can range all the way from felsic to
Volcanoes
mafic. The corresponding differences in magma viscosity lead to significant differences in
eruptions style. Most shield volcanoes are associated with mantle plumes, and have
consistently mafic magma which generally erupts as lava flows.

Most direct volcanic hazards are related to volcanoes that erupt explosively, especially
composite volcanoes. Pyroclastic density currents, some as hot as 1000˚C can move at
Volcanic
4.4 hundreds of km/h and will kill anything in the way. Lahars, volcano-related mudflows, can
Hazards
be large enough to destroy entire towns. Lava flows will destroy anything in their paths,
but tend to move slowly enough so that people can get to safety.

Monitoring
We have the understanding and technology to predict volcanic eruptions with some
Volcanoes
success, and to ensure that people are not harmed. The prediction techniques include
4.5 and
monitoring seismicity in volcanic regions, detecting volcanic gases, and measuring
Predicting
deformation of the flanks of a volcano.
Eruptions

Volcanoes in There are examples of all of the important types of volcanoes in British Columbia,
4.6 British including subduction volcanism north of Vancouver, mantle-plume volcanism along the
Columbia Nazco trend, and rift-related volcanism in the Wells Gray and Stikine regions.

Questions fo Review

115
 Physical Geology 116

1. What are the three main tectonic settings for volcanism on Earth?
2. What is the primary mechanism for partial melting at a convergent plate boundary?
3. Why are the viscosity and gas content of a magma important in determining the type of volcanic
rocks that will be formed when that magma is extruded?
4. Why do the gases in magma not form gas bubbles when the magma is deep within the crust?
5. Where do pillow lavas form? Why do they form and from what type of magma?
6. What two kinds of rock textures are typically found in a composite volcano?
7. What is a lahar, and why are lahars commonly associated with eruptions of composite volcanoes?
8. Under what other circumstances might a lahar form?
9. Explain why shield volcanoes have such gentle slopes.
10. In very general terms, what is the lifespan difference between a composite volcano and a shield
volcano?
11. Why is weak seismic activity (small earthquakes) typically associated with the early stages of a
volcanic eruption?
12. How can GPS technology be used to help monitor a volcano in the lead-up to an eruption?
13. What type of eruption at Mt. St. Helens might have produced columnar basalts?
14. What is the likely geological origin of the Nazko Cone?
15. What might be the explanation for southwestern B.C. having much less subduction-related
volcanism than adjacent Washington and Oregon?
16. What was the likely cause of most of the deaths from the most recent eruption at the Tseax River
Cone?
Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Explain why rocks formed at depth in the crust are susceptible to weathering at the surface
• Describe the main processes of mechanical weathering, and the types of materials that are
produced when mechanical weathering predominates
• Describe the main processes of chemical weathering, and the products of chemical weathering of
minerals such as feldspar, ferromagnesian silicates, and calcite
• Explain the type of weathering processes that are likely to have taken place to produce a
particular sediment deposit
• Discuss the relationships between weathering and soil formation, and the origins of soil horizons
and some of the different types of soil
• Describe and explain the distribution of some of the important soil types in Canada
• Explain the geological carbon cycle, and how variations in rates of weathering can lead to climate
change

Figure 5.1 The Hoodoos, near Drumheller, Alberta, have

formed from the differential weathering of sedimentary
rock that was buried beneath other rock for close to 100
Ma [SE photo]

Weathering is what takes place when a body of rock is exposed to the “weather” — in other words,
to the forces and conditions that exist at Earth’s surface. With the exception of volcanic rocks and
some sedimentary rocks, most rocks are formed at some depth within the crust. There they experience

117
 Physical Geology 118

relatively constant temperature, high pressure, no contact with the atmosphere, and little or no moving
water. Once a rock is exposed at the surface, which is what happens when the overlying rock is eroded
away, conditions change dramatically. Temperatures vary widely, there is much less pressure, oxygen
and other gases are plentiful, and in most climates, water is abundant (Figure 5.1).

Weathering includes two main processes that are quite different. One is the mechanical breakdown of
rock into smaller fragments, and the other is the chemical change of the minerals within the rock to
forms that are stable in the surface environment. Mechanical weathering provides fresh surfaces for
attack by chemical processes, and chemical weathering weakens the rock so that it is more susceptible
to mechanical weathering. Together, these processes create two very important products, one being the
sedimentary clasts and ions in solution that can eventually become sedimentary rock, and the other being
the soil that is necessary for our existence on Earth.

The various processes related to uplift and weathering are summarized in the rock cycle in Figure 5.2.

Figure 5.2 Weathering can take place once a rock is exposed at surface
by uplift and the removal of the overlying rock. [SE]
 5.1 Mechanical Weathering

Intrusive igneous rocks form at depths of several hundreds of metres to several tens of kilometres.
Sediments are turned into sedimentary rocks only when they are buried by other sediments to depths in
excess of several hundreds of metres. Most metamorphic rocks are formed at depths of kilometres to tens
of kilometres. Weathering cannot even begin until these rocks are uplifted through various processes of
mountain building — most of which are related to plate tectonics — and the overlying material has been
1
eroded away and the rock is exposed as an outcrop.

The important agents of mechanical weathering are:

• The decrease in pressure that results from removal of overlying rock

• Freezing and thawing of water in cracks in the rock
• Formation of salt crystals within the rock
• Cracking from plant roots and exposure by burrowing animals

When a mass of rock is exposed by weathering and removal of the overlying rock, there is a decrease
in the confining pressure on the rock, and the rock expands. This unloading promotes cracking of the
rock, known as exfoliation, as shown in the granitic rock in Figure 5.3.

Figure 5.3 Exfoliation fractures in granitic rock exposed on the west

side of the Coquihalla Highway north of Hope, B.C. [SE]

1. To a geologist, an outcrop is an exposure of bedrock, the solid rock of the crust.

119
 Physical Geology 120

Figure 5.4 Exfoliation of slate at a road cut in the

Columbia Mountains west of Golden, B.C. [SE
photo]

Granitic rock tends to exfoliate parallel to the exposed surface because the rock is typically homogenous,
and it doesn’t have predetermined planes along which it must fracture. Sedimentary and metamorphic
rocks, on the other hand, tend to exfoliate along predetermined planes (Figure 5.4).

Frost wedging is the process by which water seeps into cracks in a rock, expands on freezing, and
thus enlarges the cracks (Figure 5.5). The effectiveness of frost wedging is related to the frequency of
freezing and thawing. Frost wedging is most effective in a climate like Canada’s. In warm areas where
freezing is infrequent, in very cold areas where thawing is infrequent, or in very dry areas, where there
is little water to seep into cracks, the role of frost wedging is limited.

Figure 5.5 The process of frost wedging on a steep

slope. Water gets into fractures and then freezes,
expanding the fracture a little. When the water thaws
it seeps a little farther into the expanded crack. The
process is repeated many times, and eventually a
piece of rock will be wedged away. [SE]

In many parts of Canada, the transition between freezing nighttime temperatures and thawing daytime
temperatures is frequent — tens to hundreds of times a year. Even in warm coastal areas of southern
121 Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

B.C., freezing and thawing transitions are common at higher elevations. A common feature in areas of
effective frost wedging is a talus slope — a fan-shaped deposit of fragments removed by frost wedging
from the steep rocky slopes above (Figure 5.6).

Figure 5.6 An area with very effective frost-wedging near Keremeos,

B.C. The fragments that have been wedged away from the cliffs above
have accumulated in a talus deposit at the base of the slope. The rocks
in this area have quite varied colours, and those are reflected in the
colours of the talus. [SE]

A related process, frost heaving, takes place within unconsolidated materials on gentle slopes. In
this case, water in the soil freezes and expands, pushing the overlying material up. Frost heaving is
responsible for winter damage to roads all over North America.

When salt water seeps into rocks and then evaporates on a hot sunny day, salt crystals grow within cracks
and pores in the rock. The growth of these crystals exerts pressure on the rock and can push grains
apart, causing the rock to weaken and break. There are many examples of this on the rocky shorelines
of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, where sandstone outcrops are common and salty seawater
is readily available (Figure 5.7). Salt weathering can also occur away from the coast, because most
environments have some salt in them.
 Physical Geology 122

Figure 5.7 Honeycomb weathering of sandstone on Gabriola Island,

B.C. The holes are caused by crystallization of salt within rock pores,
and the seemingly regular pattern is related to the original roughness
of the surface. It’s a positive-feedback process because the holes
collect salt water at high tide, and so the effect is accentuated around
existing holes. This type of weathering is most pronounced on
south-facing sunny exposures. [SE]

The effects of plants and animals are significant in mechanical weathering. Roots can force their way
into even the tiniest cracks, and then they exert tremendous pressure on the rocks as they grow, widening
the cracks and breaking the rock (Figure 5.8). Although animals do not normally burrow through solid
rock, they can excavate and remove huge volumes of soil, and thus expose the rock to weathering by
other mechanisms.

Figure 5.8 Conifers growing on granitic rocks at The Lions, near

Vancouver, B.C. [SE]

Mechanical weathering is greatly facilitated by erosion, which is the removal of weathering products,
allowing for the exposure of more rock for weathering. A good example of this is shown in Figure 5.6.
On the steep rock faces at the top of the cliff, rock fragments have been broken off by ice wedging, and
then removed by gravity. This is a form of mass wasting, which is discussed in more detail in Chapter
15. Other important agents of erosion that also have the effect of removing the products of weathering
123 Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

include water in streams (Chapter 13), ice in glaciers (Chapter 16), and waves on the coasts (Chapter
17).

Exercises

Exercise 5.1 Mechanical Weathering

This photo shows granitic rock at the top of Stawamus Chief near Squamish, B.C. Identify the mechanical
weathering processes that you can see taking place, or you think probably take place at this location.
5.2 Chemical Weathering

Chemical weathering results from chemical changes to minerals that become unstable when they are
exposed to surface conditions. The kinds of changes that take place are highly specific to the mineral
and the environmental conditions. Some minerals, like quartz, are virtually unaffected by chemical
weathering, while others, like feldspar, are easily altered. In general, the degree of chemical weathering
is greatest in warm and wet climates, and least in cold and dry climates. The important characteristics
of surface conditions that lead to chemical weathering are the presence of water (in the air and on
the ground surface), the abundance of oxygen, and the presence of carbon dioxide, which produces
weak carbonic acid when combined with water. That process, which is fundamental to most chemical
weathering, can be shown as follows:

H2O + CO2 —->H2CO3 then H2CO3 —-> H+ + HCO3–,

water + carbon dioxide —-> carbonic acid then carbonic acid —-> hydrgen ion + carbonate ion

Here we have water (e.g., as rain) plus carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, combining to create carbonic
acid. Then carbonic acid dissociates (comes apart) to form hydrogen and carbonate ions. The amount of
CO2 in the air is enough to make only very weak carbonic acid, but there is typically much more CO2 in
the soil, so water that percolates through the soil can become significantly more acidic.

There are two main types of chemical weathering. On the one hand, some minerals become altered to
other minerals. For example, feldspar is altered — by hydrolysis — to clay minerals. On the other
hand, some minerals dissolve completely, and their components go into solution. For example, calcite
(CaCO3) is soluble in acidic solutions.

The hydrolysis of feldspar can be written like this:

CaAl2Si2O8 + H2CO3 + ½O2 —-> Al2Si2O5(OH)4 + Ca2+ + CO32-

plagioclase + carbonic acid —-> kaolinite + dissolved calcium + carbonate ions

This reaction shows calcium plagioclase feldspar, but similar reactions could also be written for sodium
or potassium feldspars. In this case, we end up with the mineral kaolinite, along with calcium and
carbonate ions in solution. Those ions can eventually combine (probably in the ocean) to form the
mineral calcite. The hydrolysis of feldspar to clay is illustrated in Figure 5.9, which shows two images
of the same granitic rock, a recently broken fresh surface on the left and a clay-altered weathered surface
on the right. Other silicate minerals can also go through hydrolysis, although the end results will be a
little different. For example, pyroxene can be converted to the clay minerals chlorite or smectite, and
olivine can be converted to the clay mineral serpentine.

124
125 Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

Figure 5.9 Unweathered (left) and weathered (right) surfaces of the

same piece of granitic rock. On the unweathered surfaces the feldspars
are still fresh and glassy-looking. On the weathered surface the
feldspar has been altered to the chalky-looking clay mineral kaolinite.
[SE]

Oxidation is another very important chemical weathering process. The oxidation of the iron in a
ferromagnesian silicate starts with the dissolution of the iron. For olivine, the process looks like this,
where olivine in the presence of carbonic acid is converted to dissolved iron, carbonate, and silicic acid:

Fe2SiO4+ 4H2CO3 —> 2Fe2+ + 4HCO3– + H4SiO4

olivine + (carbonic acid) —> dissolved iron + dissolved carbonate + dissolved silicic acid

In the presence of oxygen, the dissolved iron is then quickly converted to hematite:

2Fe2+ + 4HCO3– + ½ O2 + 2H2O —->Fe2O3 + 4H2CO3

dissolved iron + bicarbonate + oxygen + water—->hematite + carbonic acid

The equation shown here is for olivine, but it could apply to almost any other ferromagnesian silicate,
including pyroxene, amphibole, or biotite. Iron in the sulphide minerals (e.g., pyrite) can also be
oxidized in this way. And the mineral hematite is not the only possible end result, as there is a wide range
of iron oxide minerals that can form in this way. The results of this process are illustrated in Figure 5.10,
which shows a granitic rock in which some of the biotite and amphibole have been altered to form the
iron oxide mineral limonite.
 Physical Geology 126

Figure 5.10 A granitic rock containing biotite and amphibole which

have been altered near to the rock’s surface to limonite, which is a
mixture of iron oxide minerals. [SE]

A special type of oxidation takes place in areas where the rocks have elevated levels of sulphide
minerals, especially pyrite (FeS2). Pyrite reacts with water and oxygen to form sulphuric acid, as
follows:

2FeS2 + 7O2 +2H2O —–> 2Fe2+ H2SO4+ 2H+

pyrite + oxygen + water —–> iron ions + sulphuric acid + hydrogen ions

The runoff from areas where this process is taking place is known as acid rock drainage (ARD), and
even a rock with 1% or 2% pyrite can produce significant ARD. Some of the worst examples of ARD
are at metal mine sites, especially where pyrite-bearing rock and waste material have been mined from
deep underground and then piled up and left exposed to water and oxygen. One example of that is the
Mt. Washington Mine near Courtenay on Vancouver Island (Figure 5.11), but there are many similar
sites across Canada and around the world.
127 Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

Figure 5.11 Exposed oxidizing and acid generating rocks and mine
waste at the abandoned Mt. Washington Mine, B.C. (left), and an
example of acid drainage downstream from the mine site (right). [SE]

At many ARD sites, the pH of the runoff water is less than 4 (very acidic). Under these conditions,
metals such as copper, zinc, and lead are quite soluble, which can lead to toxicity for aquatic and other
organisms. For many years, the river downstream from the Mt. Washington Mine had so much dissolved
copper in it that it was toxic to salmon. Remediation work has since been carried out at the mine and the
situation has improved.

The hydrolysis of feldspar and other silicate minerals and the oxidation of iron in ferromagnesian
silicates all serve to create rocks that are softer and weaker than they were to begin with, and thus more
susceptible to mechanical weathering.

The weathering reactions that we’ve discussed so far involved the transformation of one mineral to
another mineral (e.g., feldspar to clay), and the release of some ions in solution (e.g., Ca2+). Some
weathering processes involve the complete dissolution of a mineral. Calcite, for example, will dissolve
in weak acid, to produce calcium and bicarbonate ions. The equation is as follows:

CaCO3 + H+ + HCO3– —–> Ca2+ + 2HCO3–

calcite + hydrogen ions + bicarbonate —–> calcium ions + bicarbonate

Calcite is the major component of limestone (typically more than 95%), and under surface conditions,
limestone will dissolve to varying degrees (depending on which minerals it contains, other than calcite),
as shown in Figure 5.12. Limestone also dissolves at relatively shallow depths underground, forming
limestone caves. This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 14, where we look at groundwater.
 Physical Geology 128

Figure 5.12 A limestone outcrop on Quadra Island, B.C. The

limestone, which is primarily made up of the mineral calcite, has been
dissolved to different degrees in different areas because of
compositional differences. The buff-coloured bands are volcanic rock,
which is not soluble. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 5.2 Chemical Weathering

The main processes of chemical weathering are hydrolysis, oxidation, and dissolution. Complete the
following table by indicating which process is primarily responsible for each of the described chemical
weathering changes:

Chemical Change Process?

Pyrite to hematite

Calcite to calcium and bicarbonate ions

Feldspar to clay

Olivine to serpentine

Pyroxene to iron oxide

5.3 The Products of Weathering and Erosion

The products of weathering and erosion are the unconsolidated materials that we find around us on
slopes, beneath glaciers, in stream valleys, on beaches, and in deserts. The nature of these materials —
their composition, size, degree of sorting, and degree of rounding — is determined by the type of rock
that is being weathered, the nature of the weathering, the erosion and transportation processes, and the
climate.

A summary of the weathering products of some of the common minerals present in rocks is provided in
Table 5.1.

Table 5.1 A list of the typical weathering products of some of the minerals in
common rocks [SE]

Common Mineral Typical Weathering Products

Quartz Quartz as sand grains

Feldspar Clay minerals plus potassium, sodium, and calcium in solution

Biotite and amphibole Chlorite plus iron and magnesium in solution

Pyroxene and olivine Serpentine plus iron and magnesium in solution

Calcite Calcium and carbonate in solution

Pyrite Iron oxide minerals plus iron in solution and sulphuric acid

Some examples of the products of weathering are shown in Figure 5.13. They range widely in size and
shape depending on the processes involved. If and when deposits like these are turned into sedimentary
rocks, the textures of those rocks will vary significantly. Importantly, when we describe sedimentary
rocks that formed millions of years in the past, we can use those properties to make inferences about the
conditions that existed during their formation.

We’ll talk more about the nature and interpretation of sediments and sedimentary rocks in Chapter 6, but
it’s worth considering here why the sandy sediments shown in Figure 5.13 are so strongly dominated
by the mineral quartz, even though quartz makes up less than 20% of Earth’s crust. The explanation is
that quartz is highly resistant to the types of weathering that occur at Earth’s surface. It is not affected
by weak acids or the presence of oxygen. This makes it unique among the minerals that are common
in igneous rocks. Quartz is also very hard, and doesn’t have cleavage, so it is resistant to mechanical
erosion.

As weathering proceeds, the ferromagnesian silicates and feldspar are very likely to be broken into
small pieces and converted into clay minerals and dissolved ions (e.g., Ca2+, Na+, K+, Fe2+, Mg2+, and
H4SiO4). In other words, quartz, clay minerals, and dissolved ions are the most common products of
weathering. Quartz and some of the clay minerals tend to form sedimentary deposits on and at the edges

129
 Physical Geology 130

of continents, while the rest of the clay minerals and the dissolved ions tend to be washed out into the
oceans to form sediments on the sea floor.

Figure 5.13 Products of weathering and erosion

formed under different conditions. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 5.3 Describing the Weathering Origins of Sands

In the left side of the following table, a number of different sands are illustrated and. On the right side,
describe some of the important weathering processes that might have led to the development of these sands.
[SE photos]
131 Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

Possible
Image Description and Location Weathering
Processes

Fragments of coral, algae, and urchin from a

shallow water area (~2 m depth) near a reef
in Belize. The grains are between 0.1 and 1
mm.

Angular quartz and rock fragments from a

glacial stream deposit near Osoyoos, B.C.
The grains are between 0.25 and 0.5 mm
across.
 Physical Geology 132

Rounded grains of olivine (green) and

volcanic glass (black) from a beach on the
big island of Hawaii. The grains are
approximately 1 mm across.
5.4 Weathering and the Formation of Soil

Weathering is a key part of the process of soil formation, and soil is critical to our existence on Earth. In
other words, we owe our existence to weathering, and we need to take care of our soil!

Many people refer to any loose material on Earth’s surface as soil, but to geologists (and geology
students) soil is the material that includes organic matter, lies within the top few tens of centimetres of
the surface, and is important in sustaining plant growth.

Soil is a complex mixture of minerals (approximately 45%), organic matter (approximately 5%), and
empty space (approximately 50%, filled to varying degrees with air and water). The mineral content of
soils is variable, but is dominated by clay minerals and quartz, along with minor amounts of feldspar and
small fragments of rock. The types of weathering that take place within a region have a major influence
on soil composition and texture. For example, in a warm climate, where chemical weathering dominates,
soils tend to be richer in clay. Soil scientists describe soil texture in terms of the relative proportions of
sand, silt, and clay, as shown in Figure 5.14. The sand and silt components in this diagram are dominated
by quartz, with lesser amounts of feldspar and rock fragments, while the clay component is dominated
by the clay minerals.

Figure 5.14 The U.S. Department of Agriculture soil texture diagram.

This diagram applies only to the mineral component of soils, and the
names are textural descriptions, not soil classes.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Soil#media viewer/
File:SoilTexture_USDA.png]

133
 Physical Geology 134

Soil forms through accumulation and decay of organic matter and through the mechanical and chemical
weathering processes described above. The factors that affect the nature of soil and the rate of its
formation include climate (especially average temperature and precipitation amounts, and the
consequent types of vegetation), the type of parent material, the slope of the surface, and the amount of
time available.

Climate

Soils develop because of the weathering of materials on Earth’s surface, including the mechanical
breakup of rocks, and the chemical weathering of minerals. Soil development is facilitated by the
downward percolation of water. Soil forms most readily under temperate to tropical conditions (not
cold) and where precipitation amounts are moderate (not dry, but not too wet). Chemical weathering
reactions (especially the formation of clay minerals) and biochemical reactions proceed fastest under
warm conditions, and plant growth is enhanced in warm climates. Too much water (e.g., in rainforests)
can lead to the leaching of important chemical nutrients and hence to acidic soils. In humid and poorly
drained regions, swampy conditions may prevail, producing soil that is dominated by organic matter. Too
little water (e.g., in deserts and semi-deserts), results in very limited downward chemical transportation
and the accumulation of salts and carbonate minerals (e.g., calcite) from upward-moving water. Soils in
dry regions also suffer from a lack of organic material (Figure 5.15).

Figure 5.15 Poorly developed soil on wind-blown silt (loess) in an arid

part of northeastern Washington State [SE]
135 Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

Parent Material

Soil parent materials can include all different types of bedrock and any type of unconsolidated
sediments, such as glacial deposits and stream deposits. Soils are described as residual soils if they
develop on bedrock, and transported soils if they develop on transported material such as glacial
sediments. But the term “transported soil” is misleading because it implies that the soil itself has been
transported, which is not the case. When referring to such soil, it is better to be specific and say “soil
developed on unconsolidated material,” because that distinguishes it from soil developed on bedrock.

Quartz-rich parent material, such as granite, sandstone, or loose sand, leads to the development of sandy
soils. Quartz-poor material, such as shale or basalt, generates soils with little sand.

Parent materials provide important nutrients to residual soils. For example, a minor constituent of
granitic rocks is the calcium-phosphate mineral apatite, which is a source of the important soil nutrient
phosphorus. Basaltic parent material tends to generate very fertile soils because it also provides
phosphorus, along with significant amounts of iron, magnesium, and calcium.

Some unconsolidated materials, such as river-flood deposits, make for especially good soils because
they tend to be rich in clay minerals. Clay minerals have large surface areas with negative charges that
are attractive to positively charged elements like calcium, magnesium, iron, and potassium — important
nutrients for plant growth.

Slope

Soil can only develop where surface materials remain in place and are not frequently moved away by
mass wasting. Soils cannot develop where the rate of soil formation is less than the rate of erosion, so
steep slopes tend to have little or no soil.

Time

Even under ideal conditions, soil takes thousands of years to develop. Virtually all of southern Canada
was still glaciated up until 14 ka, and most of the central and northern parts of B.C., the prairies, Ontario,
and Quebec were still glaciated at 12 ka. Glaciers still dominated the central and northern parts of
Canada until around 10 ka, and so, at that time, conditions were still not ideal for soil development even
in the southern regions. Therefore, soils in Canada, and especially in central and northern Canada, are
relatively young and not well developed.

The same applies to soils that are forming on newly created surfaces, such as recent deltas or sand bars,
or in areas of mass wasting.
 Physical Geology 136

Soil Horizons

The process of soil formation generally involves the downward movement of clay, water, and dissolved
ions, and a common result of that is the development of chemically and texturally different layers known
as soil horizons. The typically developed soil horizons, as illustrated in Figure 5.16, are:

O — the layer of organic matter

A — the layer of partially decayed organic matter mixed with mineral material

E— the eluviated (leached) layer from which some of the clay and iron have been removed to create a
pale layer that may be sandier than the other layers

B — the layer of accumulation of clay, iron, and other elements from the overlying soil

C — the layer of incomplete weathering

Although rare in Canada, another type of layer that develops in hot arid regions is known as caliche
(pronounced ca-lee-chee). It forms from the downward (or in some cases upward) movement of
calcium ions, and the precipitation of calcite within the soil. When well developed, caliche cements the
surrounding material together to form a layer that has the consistency of concrete.
137 Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

Figure 5.16 Soil horizons in a podsol from a site in northeastern

Scotland. O: organic matter A: organic matter and mineral material E:
leached layer B: accumulation of clay, iron etc. C: incomplete
weathering of parent material [SE after
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Podzol_-_geograph.org.uk_-_218892.jpg]

Like all geological materials, soil is subject to erosion, although under natural conditions on gentle
slopes, the rate of soil formation either balances or exceeds the rate of erosion. Human practices related
to forestry and agriculture have significantly upset this balance.

Soils are held in place by vegetation. When vegetation is removed, either through cutting trees or
routinely harvesting crops and tilling the soil, that protection is either temporarily or permanently lost.
The primary agents of the erosion of unprotected soil are water and wind.

Water erosion is accentuated on sloped surfaces because fast-flowing water obviously has greater
eroding power than still water (Figure 5.17). Raindrops can disaggregate exposed soil particles, putting
the finer material (e.g., clays) into suspension in the water. Sheetwash, unchannelled flow across a
surface carries suspended material away, and channels erode right through the soil layer, removing both
fine and coarse material.
 Physical Geology 138

Figure 5.17 Soil erosion by rain and channelled runoff on a field in

Alberta. [from Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development,
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex9313,
used with permission]

Wind erosion is exacerbated by the removal of trees that act as wind breaks and by agricultural practices
that leave bare soil exposed (Figure 5.18).

Tillage is also a factor in soil erosion, especially on slopes, because each time the soil is lifted by a
cultivator, it is moved a few centimetres down the slope.

Figure 5.18 Soil erosion by wind in Alberta. [from Alberta Agriculture

and Rural Development, http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/
deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex9313, used with permission]
5.5 The Soils of Canada

Up until the 1950s, the classification of soils in Canada was based on the system used in the United
States. However, it was long recognized that the U.S .system did not apply well to many parts of Canada
because of climate and environmental differences. The Canadian System of Soil Classification was first
outlined in 1955 and has been refined and modified numerous times since then.

There are 10 orders of soil recognized in Canada. Each one is divided into groups, and then families,
and then series, but we will only look at the orders, some of which are summarized in Table 5.2. The
distribution of these types of soils (and a few others) in Canada is shown in Figure 5.19.

Table 5.2 The nature, origins and distributions of the more important soil orders in Canada

Order Brief Description Environment

Forest
soils

Podsol Well-developed A and B horizons Coniferous forests throughout Canada

Northern prairies and central B.C., mostly on

Luvisol Clay rich B horizon
sedimentary rocks

Poorly developed or immature soil, that Boreal-forest soils in the discontinuous permafrost
Brunisol does not have the well-defined horizons of areas of central and western Canada, and also in
podsol or luvisol southern B.C.

Grassland
soils

Southern prairies (and parts of B.C.’s southern

High levels of organic matter and an A
Chernozem interior), in areas that experience water deficits
horizon at least 10 cm thick
during the summer

A clay-rich B horizon, commonly with a Southern prairies, in areas that experience water
Solonetzic
salt-bearing C horizon deficits during the summer

Other
important
soils

Wetland areas, especially along the western edge of

Dominated by organic matter; mineral
Organic Hudson Bay, and in the area between the prairies and
horizons are typically absent
the boreal forest

Cryosol Poorly developed soil, mostly C horizon Permafrost areas of northern Canada

There is an excellent website on Canadian soils, with videos describing the origins and characteristics of
the soils, at: http://soilweb.landfood.ubc.ca/classification/.

139
 Physical Geology 140

As we’ve discussed, the processes of soil formation are dominated by the downward transportation of
clays and certain elements, and the nature of those processes depends in large part on the climate. In
Canada’s predominantly cool and humid climate (which applies to most places other than the far north),
podsolization is the norm. This involves downward transportation of hydrogen, iron, and aluminum
(and other elements) from the upper part of the soil profile, and accumulation of clay, iron, and aluminum
in the B horizon. Most of the podsols, luvisols, and brunisols of Canada form through various types of
podsolization.

Figure 5.19 The soil order map of Canada. [from The Department of
Soil Science, University of Saskatchewan,
http://www.soilsofcanada.ca/ used with permission]

In the grasslands of the dry southern parts of the prairie provinces and in some of the drier parts of
southern B.C., dark brown organic-rich chernozem soils are dominant. In some parts of these areas, weak
calcification takes place with leaching of calcium from the upper layers and accumulation of calcium in
the B layer. Development of caliche layers is rare in Canada.

Organic soils form in areas with poor drainage (i.e., swamps) and a rich supply of organic matter. These
soils have very little mineral matter.

In the permafrost regions of the north, where glacial retreat was most recent, the time available for soil
formation has been short and the rate of soil formation is very slow. The soils are called cryosols (cryo
means “ice cold”). Permafrost areas are also characterized by the churning of the soil by freeze-thaw
processes, and as a result, development of soil horizons is very limited.

Exercises
141 Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

Exercise 5.4 The Soils of Canada

Examine Figure 5.19, which shows the distribution of soils in Canada. In the following table, briefly describe
the distributions of the five soils types listed. For each one, explain its distribution based on what you know
about the conditions under which the soil forms and the variations in climate and vegetation related to it.

Soil type Describe the Distribution Explain the Reason for This Distribution

Chernozem

Luvisol

Podsol

Brunisol

Organic
5.6 Weathering and Climate Change

Earth has two important carbon cycles. One is the biological one, wherein living organisms — mostly
plants — consume carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make their tissues, and then, after they die,
that carbon is released back into the atmosphere when they decay over a period of years or decades. A
small proportion of this biological-cycle carbon becomes buried in sedimentary rocks: during the slow
formation of coal, as tiny fragments and molecules in organic-rich shale, and as the shells and other parts
of marine organisms in limestone. This then becomes part of the geological carbon cycle, a cycle that
actually involves a majority of Earth’s carbon, but one that operates only very slowly.

The geological carbon cycle is shown diagrammatically in Figure 5.20. The various steps in the process
(not necessarily in this order) are as follows:

a: Organic matter from plants is stored in peat, coal, and permafrost for thousands to millions of years.

Weathering of silicate minerals converts atmospheric carbon dioxide to dissolved bicarbonate, which is
b:
stored in the oceans for thousands to tens of thousands of years.

Dissolved carbon is converted by marine organisms to calcite, which is stored in carbonate rocks for tens to
c:
hundreds of millions of years.

Carbon compounds are stored in sediments for tens to hundreds of millions of years; some end up in
d:
petroleum deposits.

Carbon-bearing sediments are transferred to the mantle, where the carbon may be stored for tens of millions
e:
to billions of years.

During volcanic eruptions, carbon dioxide is released back to the atmosphere, where it is stored for years to
f:
decades.

Figure 5.20 A representation of the geological carbon cycle (a: carbon

in organic matter stored in peat, coal and permafrost, b: weathering of
silicate minerals converts atmospheric carbon dioxide to dissolved
bicarbonate, c: dissolved carbon is converted to calcite by marine
organisms, d: carbon compounds are stored in sediments, e:
carbon-bearing sediments are transferred to longer-term storage in the
mantle, and f: carbon dioxide is released back to atmosphere during
volcanic eruptions.) [SE]

142
143 Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

During much of Earth’s history, the geological carbon cycle has been balanced, with carbon being
released by volcanism at approximately the same rate that it is stored by the other processes. Under these
conditions, the climate remains relatively stable.

During some periods of Earth’s history, that balance has been upset. This can happen during prolonged
periods of greater than average volcanism. One example is the eruption of the Siberian Traps at around
250 Ma, which appears to have led to strong climate warming over a few million years.

A carbon imbalance is also associated with significant mountain-building events. For example, the
Himalayan Range was formed between about 40 and 10 Ma and over that time period — and still today
— the rate of weathering on Earth has been enhanced because those mountains are so high and the range
is so extensive. The weathering of these rocks — most importantly the hydrolysis of feldspar — has
resulted in consumption of atmospheric carbon dioxide and transfer of the carbon to the oceans and to
ocean-floor carbonate minerals. The steady drop in carbon dioxide levels over the past 40 million years,
which led to the Pleistocene glaciations, is partly attributable to the formation of the Himalayan Range.

Another, non-geological form of carbon-cycle imbalance is happening today on a very rapid time scale.
We are in the process of extracting vast volumes of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) that was stored
in rocks over the past several hundred million years, and converting these fuels to energy and carbon
dioxide. By doing so, we are changing the climate faster than has ever happened in the past.
Chapter 5 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Rocks weather when they are exposed to surface conditions, which in most case are quite
Mechanical
5.1 different from those at which they formed. The main processes of mechanical weathering
Weathering
include exfoliation, freeze-thaw, salt crystallization, and the effects of plant growth.

Chemical weathering takes place when minerals within rocks are not stable in their existing
Chemical environment. Some of the important chemical weathering processes are hydrolysis of
5.2
Weathering silicate minerals to form clay minerals, oxidation of iron in silicate and other minerals to
form iron oxide minerals, and dissolution of calcite.

The
Products of The main products of weathering and erosion are grains of quartz (because quartz is
5.3 Weathering resistant to chemical weathering), clay minerals, iron oxide minerals, rock fragments, and a
and wide range of ions in solution.
Erosion

Soil is a mixture of fine mineral fragments (including quartz and clay minerals), organic
Weathering matter, and empty spaces that may be partially filled with water. Soil formation is
and the controlled by climate (especially temperature and humidity), the nature of the parent
5.4
Formation material, the slope (because soil can’t accumulate on steep slopes), and the amount of time
of Soil available. Typical soils have layers called horizons which form because of differences in the
conditions with depth.

Canada has a range of soil types related to our unique conditions. The main types of soil
The Soils form in forested and grassland regions, but there are extensive wetlands in Canada that
5.5
of Canada produce organic soils, and large areas where soil development is poor because of cold
conditions.

The geological carbon cycle plays a critical role in balancing Earth’s climate. Carbon is
Weathering released to the atmosphere during volcanic eruptions. Carbon is extracted from the
and atmosphere during weathering of silicate minerals and this is eventually stored in the ocean
5.6
Climate and in sediments. Atmospheric carbon is also transferred to organic matter and some of that
Change is later stored in soil, permafrost, and rocks. Our use of geologically stored carbon (fossil
fuels) upsets this climate balance.

Questions for Review

1. What has to happen to a body of rock before exfoliation can take place?
2. The climate of central B.C. is consistently cold in the winter and consistently warm in the
summer. At what times of year would you expect frost wedging to be most effective?
3. What are the likely products of the hydrolysis of the feldspar albite (NaAlSi3O8)?

144
145 Chapter 5 Weathering and Soil

4. Oxidation weathering of the sulphide mineral pyrite (FeS2) can lead to development of acid rock
drainage (ARD). What are the environmental implications of ARD?
5. Most sand deposits are dominated by quartz, with very little feldspar. Under what weathering and
erosion conditions would you expect to find feldspar-rich sand?
6. What ultimately happens to most of the clay that forms during the hydrolysis of silicate minerals?
7. Why are the slope and the parent materials important factors in soil formation?
8. Which soil constituents move downward to produce the B horizon of a soil?
9. What are the main processes that lead to the erosion of soils in Canada?
10. Where in Canada would you expect to find a chernozemic soil? What characteristics of this
region produce this type of soil?
11. Where are luvisolic soils found in B.C.?
12. Why does weathering of silicate minerals, especially feldspar, lead to consumption of
atmospheric carbon dioxide? What eventually happens to the carbon that is involved in that
process?
Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Describe the differences between cobbles, pebbles, sand, silt, and clay and explain the
relationship between clast size and the extent to which clasts can be transported by moving water
or by wind
• Describe the characteristics of the various types of clastic sedimentary rock, including the
significance of differences in the composition of sandstones
• Explain the differences in the characteristics and depositional environments of various types of
chemical sedimentary rocks
• Differentiate between various sedimentary depositional environments in both terrestrial and
marine environments, and explain how the formation of sedimentary basins can be related to plate
tectonic processes
• Apply your understanding of the features of sedimentary rocks, including grain characteristics,
sedimentary structures, and fossils, to the interpretation of past depositional environments and
climates
• Explain the importance of and differences between groups, formations, and members

Figure 6.1 The Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation at Dinosaur

Provincial Park, Alberta, one the world’s most important sites for
dinosaur fossils. The rocks in the foreground show cross-bedding,
indicative of deposition in a fluvial (river) environment

146
147 Steven Earle

In Chapter 5, we talked about weathering and erosion, which are the first two steps in the transformation
of existing rocks into sedimentary rocks. The remaining steps in the formation of sedimentary rocks
are transportation, deposition, burial, and lithification (Figure 6.2). Transportation is the movement of
sediments or dissolved ions from the site of erosion to a site of deposition; this can be by wind, flowing
water, glacial ice, or mass movement down a slope. Deposition takes place where the conditions change
enough so that sediments being transported can no longer be transported (e.g., a current slows). Burial
occurs when more sediments are piled onto existing sediments, and layers formed earlier are covered
and compacted. Lithification is what happens — at depths of hundreds to thousands of metres — when
those compacted sediments become cemented together to form solid sedimentary rock.

Figure 6.2 The rock cycle, showing the processes related to

sedimentary rocks on the right-hand side.

In this textbook, we divide sedimentary rocks into two main types: clastic and chemical. Clastic
sedimentary rocks are mainly composed of material that has been transported as solid fragments (clasts).
Chemical sedimentary rocks are mainly composed of material that has been transported as ions in
solution. It’s important not to assume that mechanical weathering leads only to clastic sedimentary rocks,
while chemical weathering leads only to chemical sedimentary rocks. In most cases, millions of years
separate the weathering and depositional processes, and both types of sedimentary rocks tend to include
at least some material derived from both types of weathering.
 6.1 Clastic Sedimentary Rocks

1
A clast is a fragment of rock or mineral, ranging in size from less than a micron (too small to see)
to as big as an apartment block. Various types of clasts are shown in Figure 5.12 and in Exercise 5.3.
The smaller ones tend to be composed of a single mineral crystal, and the larger ones are typically
composed of pieces of rock. As we’ve seen in Chapter 5, most sand-sized clasts are made of quartz
because quartz is more resistant to weathering than any other common mineral. Most clasts that are
smaller than sand size (<1/16 mm) are made of clay minerals. Most clasts larger than sand size (>2 mm)
are actual fragments of rock, and commonly these might be fine-grained rock like basalt or andesite, or
if they are bigger, coarse-grained rock like granite or gneiss.

Grain-Size Classification

Geologists that study sediments and sedimentary rocks use the Udden-Wentworth grain-size scale for
describing the sizes of the grains in these materials (Table 6.1).

1. A micron is a millionth of a metre. There are 1,000 microns in a millimetre.

148
149 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Table 6.1 The Udden-Wentworth grain-size scale for

classifying sediments and the grains that make up sedimentary
rocks

Size Range in mm
Description
from to

no
large 1,024
limit
Boulder
medium 512 1024

small 256 512

large 128 256

Cobble
small 64 128

very coarse 32 64

coarse 16 32

Pebble medium 8 16
(Granule)
Size in
fine 4 8
microns

very fine 2 4 from to

very coarse 1 2 1,000 2,000

coarse 0.5 1 500 1,000

Sand medium 0.25 0.5 250 500

fine 0.125 0.25 125 250

very fine 0.063 0.125 63 125

Silt very coarse 32 63

coarse 16 32

medium 8 16

fine 4 8

v. fine 2 4

Clay clay 0 2

There are six main grain-size categories; five are broken down into subcategories, with clay being the
exception. The diameter limits for each successive subcategory are twice as large as the one beneath it.
In general, a boulder is bigger than a toaster and difficult to lift. There is no upper limit to the size of
 Physical Geology 150
2
boulder. A small cobble will fit in one hand, a large one in two hands. A pebble is something that you
could throw quite easily. The smaller ones — known as granules — are gravel size, but still you could
throw one. But you can’t really throw a single grain of sand. Sand ranges from 2 mm down to 0.063
mm, and its key characteristic is that it feels “sandy” or gritty between your fingers — even the finest
sand grains feel that way. Silt is essentially too small for individual grains to be visible, and while sand
feels sandy to your fingers, silt feels smooth to your fingers but gritty in your mouth. Clay is so fine that
it feels smooth even in your mouth.

Exercises

Exercise 6.1 Describe the Sediment on a Beach

Providing that your landscape isn’t covered in deep snow at present, visit a beach somewhere nearby — an
ocean shore, a lakeshore, or a bar on a river — and look carefully at the size and shape of the beach
sediments. Are they sand, pebbles, or cobbles? If they are not too fine, you should be able to tell if they are
well rounded or more angular.
The beach in the image is at Sechelt, B.C. Although there is a range of clast sizes, it’s mostly made up of
well-rounded cobbles, interspersed with pebbles. This beach is subject to strong wave activity, especially
when winds blow across the Strait of Georgia from the south. That explains why the clasts are relatively large
and are well rounded.

If you drop a granule into a glass of water, it will sink quickly to the bottom (less than half a second).
If you drop a grain of sand into the same glass, it will sink more slowly (a second or two depending on
the size). A grain of silt will take several seconds to get to the bottom, and a particle of fine clay may
never get there. The rate of settling is determined by the balance between gravity and friction, as shown
in Figure 6.3.
2. The largest known free-standing rock (i.e., not part of bedrock) is Giant Rock in the Mojave Desert, California. It’s about as big as an
apartment building — seven storeys high!
 151 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Figure 6.3 The two forces operating on

a grain of sand in water. Gravity is
pushing it down, and the friction
between the grain and the water is
resisting that downward force. Large
particles settle quickly because the
gravitational force (which is
proportional to the mass, and therefore
to the volume of the particle) is much
greater than the frictional force (which
is proportional to the surface area of
the particle). For small particles it is
only slightly greater, so they settle
slowly.

Transportation

One of the key principles of sedimentary geology is that the ability of a moving medium (air or water)
to move sedimentary particles, and keep them moving, is dependent on the velocity of flow. The faster
the medium flows, the larger the particles it can move. This is illustrated in Figure 6.4. Parts of the river
are moving faster than other parts, especially where the slope is greatest and the channel is narrow. Not
only does the velocity of a river change from place to place, but it changes from season to season.
3
During peak discharge at this location, the water is high enough to flow over the embankment on the
right, and it flows fast enough to move the boulders that cannot be moved during low flows.

3. Discharge of a stream is the volume of flow passing a point per unit time. It’s normally measured in cubic metres per second (m3/s).
 Physical Geology 152

Figure 6.4 Variations in flow velocity on the Englishman River near

Parksville, B.C. When the photo was taken the river was not flowing
fast enough anywhere to move the boulders and cobbles visible here,
but it is fast enough when the discharge is higher.

Clasts within streams are moved in several different ways, as illustrated in Figure 6.5. Large bedload
clasts are pushed (by traction) or bounced along the bottom (saltation), while smaller clasts are
suspended in the water and kept there by the turbulence of the flow. As the flow velocity changes,
different-sized clasts may be either incorporated into the flow or deposited on the bottom. At various
places along a river, there are always some clasts being deposited, some staying where they are, and
some being eroded and transported. This changes over time as the discharge of the river changes in
response to changing weather conditions.

Other sediment transportation media, such as waves, ocean currents, and wind, operate under similar
principles, with flow velocity as the key underlying factor that controls transportation and deposition.

Figure 6.5 Transportation of sediment clasts by stream flow. The larger

clasts, resting on the bottom (bedload), are moved by traction (sliding)
or by saltation (bouncing). Smaller clasts are kept in suspension by
turbulence in the flow. Ions (depicted as + and – in the image, but
invisible in real life) are dissolved in the water.

Clastic sediments are deposited in a wide range of environments, including glaciers, slope failures, rivers
— both fast and slow, lakes, deltas, and ocean environments — both shallow and deep. Depending on
153 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

the grain size in particular, they may eventually form into rocks ranging from fine mudstone to coarse
breccia and conglomerate.

Lithification is the term used to describe a number of different processes that take place within a deposit
of sediment to turn it into solid rock. One of these processes is burial by other sediments, which leads
to compaction of the material and removal of some of the intervening water and air. After this stage, the
individual clasts are all touching one another. Cementation is the process of crystallization of minerals
within the pores between the small clasts, and also at the points of contact between the larger clasts (sand
size and larger). Depending on the pressure, temperature, and chemical conditions, these crystals might
include calcite, hematite, quartz, clay minerals, or a range of other minerals.

The characteristics and distinguishing features of clastic sedimentary rocks are summarized in Table
6.2. Mudrock is composed of at least 75% silt- and clay-sized fragments. If it is dominated by clay,
it is called claystone. If it shows evidence of bedding or fine laminations, it is shale; otherwise it is
mudstone. Mudrocks form in very low energy environments, such as lakes, river backwaters, and the
deep ocean.

Table 6. 2 The main types of clastic sedimentary rocks and their characteristics.

Group Examples Characteristics

mudstone >75% silt and clay, not bedded

Mudrock
shale >75% silt and clay, thinly bedded

dominated by fragments of partially decayed plant matter, often enclosed between

Coal
beds of sandstone or mudrock

quartz
dominated by sand, >90% quartz
sandstone

Sandstone arkose dominated by sand, >10% feldspar

lithic
dominated by sand, >10% rock fragments, >15% silt and clay
wacke

Conglomerate dominated by rounded clasts, pebble size and larger

Breccia dominated by angular clasts, pebble size and larger

Most coal forms in fluvial or delta environments where vegetation growth is vigorous and where
decaying plant matter accumulates in long-lasting swamps with low oxygen levels. To avoid oxidation
and breakdown, the organic matter must remain submerged for centuries or millennia, until it is covered
with another layer of either muddy or sandy sediments.

It is important to note that in some textbooks coal is described as an “organic sedimentary rock.” In this
book, coal is classified with the clastic rocks for two reasons: first, because it is made up of fragments of
organic matter; and second, because coal seams (sedimentary layers) are almost always interbedded with
layers of clastic rocks, such as mudrock or sandstone. In other words, coal accumulates in environments
where other clastic rocks accumulate.
 Physical Geology 154

It’s worth taking a closer look at the different types of sandstone because sandstone is a common and
important sedimentary rock. Typical sandstone compositions are shown in Figure 6.6. The term arenite
applies to a so-called clean sandstone, meaning one with less than 15% silt and clay. Considering the
sand-sized grains only, arenites with 90% or more quartz are called quartz arenites. If they have more
than 10% feldspar and more feldspar than rock fragments, they are called feldspathic arenites or arkosic
arenites (or just arkose). If they have more than 10% rock fragments, and more rock fragments than
4
feldspar, they are lithic arenites. A sandstone with more than 15% silt or clay is called a wacke
(pronounced wackie). The terms quartz wacke, lithic wacke, and feldspathic wacke are used. Another
name for a lithic wacke is greywacke.

Some examples of sandstones, magnified in thin section are shown in Figure 6.7. (A thin section is rock
sliced thin enough so that light can shine through.)

Clastic sedimentary rocks in which a significant proportion of the clasts are larger than 2 mm are known
as conglomerate if the clasts are well rounded, and breccia if they are angular. Conglomerates form in
high-energy environments where the particles can become rounded, such as fast-flowing rivers. Breccias
typically form where the particles are not transported a significant distance in water, such as alluvial fans
and talus slopes. Some examples of clastic sedimentary rocks are shown on Figure 6.8.

Figure 6.6 A compositional triangle for arenite sandstones, with the

three most common components of sand-sized grains: quartz, feldspar,
and rock fragments. Arenites have less than 15% silt or clay.
Sandstones with more than 15% silt and clay are called wackes (e.g.,
quartz wacke, lithic wacke).

4. “Lithic” means “rock.” Lithic clasts are rock fragments, as opposed to mineral fragments.
155 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Figure 6.7 Photos of thin sections of three types of

sandstone. Some of the minerals are labelled:
Q=quartz, F=feldspar and L= lithic (rock
fragments). The quartz arenite and arkose have
relatively little silt-clay matrix, while the lithic wacke
has abundant matrix.

Figure 6.8 Examples of various clastic sedimentary

rocks.

Exercises

Exercise 6.2 Classifying Sandstones

The table below shows magnified thin sections of three sandstones, along with descriptions of their
compositions. Using Table 6.1 and Figure 6.6, find an appropriate name for each of these rocks.
 Physical Geology 156

Magnified Thin Section Description Rock name?

Angular sand-sized grains are

approximately 85% quartz and
15% feldspar. Silt and clay make
up less than 5% of the rock.

Rounded sand-sized grains are

approximately 99% quartz and
1% feldspar. Silt and clay make
up less than 2% of the rock.

Angular sand-sized grains are

approximately 70% quartz, 20%
lithic, and 10% feldspar. Silt and
clay make up about 20% of the
rock.

Attributions

Aplite Red by Rudolf Pohl is under CC BY-SA 3.0

 6.2 Chemical Sedimentary Rocks

Whereas clastic sedimentary rocks are dominated by components that have been transported as solid
clasts (clay, silt, sand, etc.), chemical sedimentary rocks are dominated by components that have been
transported as ions in solution (Na+, Ca2+, HCO3–, etc.). There is some overlap between the two because
almost all clastic sedimentary rocks contain cement formed from dissolved ions, and many chemical
sedimentary rocks include some clasts. Since ions can stay in solution for tens of thousands of years
(some much longer), and can travel for tens of thousands of kilometres, it is virtually impossible to relate
chemical sediments back to their source rocks.

The most common chemical sedimentary rock, by far, is limestone. Others include chert, banded iron
formation, and a variety of rocks that form when bodies of water evaporate. Biological processes are
important in the formation of some chemical sedimentary rocks, especially limestone and chert. For
1
example, limestone is made up almost entirely of fragments of marine organisms that manufacture
calcite for their shells and other hard parts, and most chert includes at least some of the silica tests
(shells) of tiny marine organisms (such as diatoms and radiolaria).

Limestone

Almost all limestone forms in the oceans, and most of that forms on the shallow continental shelves,
especially in tropical regions with coral reefs. Reefs are highly productive ecosystems populated by a
wide range of organisms, many of which use calcium and bicarbonate ions in seawater to make carbonate
minerals (especially calcite) for their shells and other structures. These include corals, of course, but
also green and red algae, urchins, sponges, molluscs, and crustaceans. Especially after they die, but
even while they are still alive, these organisms are eroded by waves and currents to produce carbonate
fragments that accumulate in the surrounding region, as illustrated in Figure 6.9.

1. We use the word marine when referring to salt water (i.e., oceanic) environments, and the word aquatic when referring to freshwater
environments.

157
 Physical Geology 158

Figure 6.9 Various corals and green algae on a reef

at Ambergris, Belize. The light-coloured sand
consists of carbonate fragments eroded from the reef
organisms.

Figure 6.10 shows a cross-section through a typical reef in a tropical environment (normally between
40° N and 40° S). Reefs tend to form near the edges of steep drop-offs because the reef organisms thrive
on nutrient-rich upwelling currents. As the reef builds up, it is eroded by waves and currents to produce
carbonate sediments that are transported into the steep offshore fore-reef area and the shallower inshore
back-reef area. These sediments are dominated by reef-type carbonate fragments of all sizes, including
mud. In many such areas, carbonate-rich sediments also accumulate in quiet lagoons, where mud and
mollusc-shell fragments predominate (Figure 6.11a) or in offshore areas with strong currents, where
either foraminifera tests accumulate (Figure 6.11b) or calcite crystallizes inorganically to form ooids –
spheres of calcite that form in shallow tropical ocean water with strong currents (Figure 6.11c).

Figure 6.10 Schematic cross-section through a typical tropical reef.

159 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Figure 6.11 Carbonate rocks and sediments: (a)

mollusc-rich limestone formed in a lagoon area at
Ambergris, Belize, (b) foraminifera-rich sediment
from a submerged carbonate sandbar near to
Ambergris, Belize (c) ooids from a beach at Joulters
Cay, Bahamas.

Limestone also accumulates in deeper water, from the steady rain of the carbonate shells of tiny
organisms that lived near the ocean surface. The lower limit for limestone accumulation is around 4,000
m. Beneath that depth, calcite is soluble so limestone does not accumulate.

Calcite can also form on land in a number of environments. Tufa forms at springs (Figure 6.12) and
travertine (which is less porous) forms at hot springs. Similar material precipitates within limestone
caves to form stalactites, stalagmites, and a wide range of other speleothems.

Figure 6.12 Tufa formed at a spring at Johnston

Creek, Alberta. The rock to the left is limestone.

Dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) is another carbonate mineral, but dolomite is also the name for a rock
composed of the mineral dolomite (although some geologists use the term dolostone to avoid
confusion). Dolomite rock is quite common (there’s a whole Italian mountain range named after it),
 Physical Geology 160

which is surprising since marine organisms don’t make dolomite. All of the dolomite found in ancient
rocks has been formed through magnesium replacing some of the calcium in the calcite in carbonate
muds and sands. This process is known as dolomitization, and it is thought to take place where
magnesium-rich water percolates through the sediments in carbonate tidal flat environments.

Chert and Banded Iron Formation

As we’ve seen, not all marine organisms make their hard parts out of calcite; some, like radiolaria and
diatoms, use silica, and when they die their tiny shells (or tests) settle slowly to the bottom where they
accumulate as chert. In some cases, chert is deposited along with limestone in the moderately deep
ocean, but the two tend to remain separate, so chert beds within limestone are quite common (Figure
6.13), as are nodules, link the flint nodules of the Cretaceous chalk of southeastern England. In other
situations, and especially in very deep water, chert accumulates on its own, commonly in thin beds.

Figure 6.13 Chert (brown layers) interbedded with

Triassic Quatsino Fm. limestone on Quadra Island,
B.C. All of the layers have been folded, and the
chert, being insoluble and harder than limestone,
stands out.

Some ancient chert beds — most dating to between 1800 and 2400 Ma — are also combined with a rock
known as banded iron formation (BIF), a deep sea-floor deposit of iron oxide that is a common ore of
iron (Figure 6.14). BIF forms when iron dissolved in seawater is oxidized, becomes insoluble, and sinks
to the bottom in the same way that silica tests do to form chert. The prevalence of BIF in rocks dating
from 2400 to 1800 Ma is due to the changes in the atmosphere and oceans that took place over that time
period. Photosynthetic bacteria (i.e., cyanobacteria, a.k.a. blue-green algae) consume carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere and use solar energy to convert it to oxygen. These bacteria first evolved around
3500 Ma, and for the next billion years, almost all of that free oxygen was used up by chemical and
biological processes, but by 2400 Ma free oxygen levels started to increase in the atmosphere and the
oceans. Over a period of 600 million years, that oxygen gradually converted soluble ferrous iron (Fe2+)
to insoluble ferric iron (Fe3+), which combined with oxygen to form the mineral hematite (Fe2O3),
leading to the accumulation of BIFs. After 1800 Ma, little dissolved iron was left in the oceans and the
formation of BIF essentially stopped.
161 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Figure 6.14 Banded iron formation (red) interbedded with chert

(white), Dales Gorge, Australia

Evaporites

In arid regions, lakes and inland seas typically have no stream outlet and the water that flows into them
is removed only by evaporation. Under these conditions, the water becomes increasingly concentrated
with dissolved salts, and eventually some of these salts reach saturation levels and start to crystallize
(Figure 6.15). Although all evaporite deposits are unique because of differences in the chemistry of
the water, in most cases minor amounts of carbonates start to precipitate when the solution is reduced
to about 50% of its original volume. Gypsum (CaSO4·H2O) precipitates at about 20% of the original
volume and halite (NaCl) precipitates at 10%. Other important evaporite minerals include sylvite (KCl)
and borax (Na2B4O7·10H2O). Sylvite is mined at numerous locations across Saskatchewan (Figure 6.16)
from evaporites that were deposited during the Devonian (~385 Ma) when an inland sea occupied much
of the region.

Figure 6.15 Spotted Lake, near Osoyoos, B.C. This

photo was taken in May when the water was
relatively fresh because of winter rains. By the end of
the summer the surface of this lake is typically fully
encrusted with salt deposits.
 Physical Geology 162

Figure 6.16 A mining machine at the face of potash

ore (sylvite) in the Lanigan Mine near Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan. The mineable potash layer is about 3
m thick.

Exercises

Exercise 6.3 Making Evaporite

This is an easy experiment that you can do at home. Pour about 50 mL (just less than 1/4 cup) of very hot
water into a cup and add 2 teaspoons (10 mL) of salt. Stir until all or almost all of the salt has dissolved, then
pour the salty water (leaving any undissolved salt behind) into a shallow wide dish or a small plate. Leave it
to evaporate for a few days and observe the result.
It may look a little like the photo here. These crystals are up to about 3 mm across.

Attributions

Figure 6.11
JoultersCayOoids By Wilson44691 under Public domain.

Figure 6.14
Dales Goge by Graeme Churchard under CC BY 2.0.
163 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Figure 6.16
Photo courtesy of PotashCorp, used with permission
6.3 Depositional Environments and Sedimentary Basins

Sediments accumulate in a wide variety of environments, both on the continents and in the oceans. Some
of the more important of these environments are illustrated in Figure 6.17.

Figure 6.17 Some of the important depositional environments for

sediments and sedimentary rocks

Table 6.3 provides a summary of the processes and sediment types that pertain to the various
depositional environments illustrated in Figure 6.17. We’ll look more closely at the types of sediments
that accumulate in these environments in the last section of this chapter. The characteristics of these
various environments, and the processes that take place within them, are also discussed in later chapters
on glaciation, mass wasting, streams, coasts, and the sea floor.

164
165 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Table 6.3 The important terrestrial and marine depositional environments and their characteristics

Important Transport Depositional

Environment Typical Sediment Types
Processes Environments

Terrestrial Environments

gravity, moving ice, valleys, plains, streams,

Glacial glacial till, gravel, sand, silt, and clay
moving water lakes

Colluvial gravity steep-sided valleys coarse angular fragments

Fluvial moving water streams gravel, sand, silt, and OM*

deserts and coastal

Aeolian wind sand, silt
regions

Lacustrine moving water lakes sand, silt, clay, and OM*

Evaporite moving water lakes in arid regions salts, clay

Marine Environments

Deltaic moving water deltas sand, silt, clay, and OM*

waves, longshore
Beach beaches, spits, sand bars gravel, sand
currents

Tidal tidal currents tidal flats silt, clay

waves and tidal

Reefs reefs and adjacent basins carbonates
currents

Shallow water waves and tidal shelves and slopes, carbonates (in tropical climates); sand/
marine currents lagoons silt/clay (elsewhere)

Lagoonal little transportation lagoon bottom carbonates (in tropical climates)

underwater gravity continental slopes and

Submarine fan gravel, sand, mud
flows abyssal plains

Deep water deep-ocean abyssal

ocean currents clay, carbonate mud, silica mud
marine plains

* OM (organic matter) only accumulates in swampy parts of these environments.

Most of the sediments that you might see around you, including talus on steep slopes, sand bars in
streams, or gravel in road cuts, will never become sedimentary rocks because they have only been
deposited relatively recently — perhaps a few centuries or millennia ago — and will be re-eroded
before they are buried deep enough beneath other sediments to be lithified. In order for sediments to be
preserved long enough to be turned into rock, a process that takes millions or tens of millions of years,
they need to have been deposited in a basin that will last that long. Most such basins are formed by plate
tectonic processes, and some of the more important examples are shown in Figure 6.18.
 Physical Geology 166

Figure 6.18 Some of the more important types of tectonically produced

basins: (a) trench basin, (b) forearc basin, (c) foreland basin, and (d)
rift basin

Trench basins form where a subducting oceanic plate dips beneath the overriding continental or oceanic
crust. They can be several kilometres deep, and in many cases, host thick sequences of sediments from
eroding coastal mountains. There is a well-developed trench basin off the west coast of Vancouver
Island. A forearc basin lies between the subduction zone and the volcanic arc, and may be formed in
part by friction between the subducting plate and the overriding plate, which pulls part of the overriding
plate down. The Strait of Georgia is a forearc basin. A foreland basin is caused by the mass of the
volcanic range depressing the crust on either side. Foreland basins are not only related to volcanic
ranges, but can form adjacent to fold belt mountains like the Canadian Rockies. A rift basin forms where
continental crust is being pulled apart, and the crust on both sides the rift subsides. As rifting continues
this eventually becomes a narrow sea, and then an ocean basin. The East African rift basin represents an
early stage in this process.

Attributions

Figure 6.17
Adaptation based on Schematic diagram showing types of depositional environment by Mike Norton
under CC BY SA 3.0
6.4 Sedimentary Structures and Fossils

Through careful observation over the past few centuries, geologists have discovered that the
accumulation of sediments and sedimentary rocks takes place according to some important geological
principles, as follows:

• The principle of original horizontality states that sediments accumulate in essentially

horizontal layers. The implication is that tilted sedimentary layers observed to day must
have been subjected to tectonic forces.
• The principle of superposition states that sedimentary layers are deposited in sequence,
and that unless the entire sequence has been turned over by tectonic processes, the layers
at the bottom are older than those at the top.
• The principle of inclusions states that any rock fragments in a sedimentary layer must
be older than the layer. For example, the cobbles in a conglomerate must have been
formed before the conglomerate.
• The principle of faunal succession states that there is a well-defined order in which
organisms have evolved through geological time, and therefore the identification of
specific fossils in a rock can be used to determine its age.

In addition to these principles that apply to all sedimentary rocks, a number of other important
characteristics of sedimentary processes lead to the development of distinctive sedimentary features in
specific sedimentary environments. By understanding the origins of these features, we can make some
very useful inferences about the processes that led to deposition the rocks that we are studying.

Bedding, for example, is the separation of sediments into layers that either differ from one another in
textures, composition, colour, or weathering characteristics, or are separated by partings — narrow gaps
between adjacent beds (Figure 6.19). Bedding is an indication of changes in depositional processes that
may be related to seasonal differences, changes in climate, changes in locations of rivers or deltas, or
tectonic changes. Partings may represent periods of non-deposition that could range from a few decades
to a few centuries. Bedding can form in almost any depositional environment.

167
 Physical Geology 168

Figure 6.19 The Triassic Sulphur Mt. Formation near Exshaw, Alberta.
Bedding is defined by differences in colour and texture, and also by
partings (gaps) between beds that may otherwise appear to be similar.

Cross-bedding is bedding that contains angled layers and forms when sediments are deposited by
flowing water or wind. Some examples are shown in Figures 6.1, 6.8b, and 6.20. Cross-beds in streams
tend to be on the scale of centimetres to tens of centimetres, while those in aeolian (wind deposited)
sediments can be on the scale of metres to several metres.

Figure 6.20 Cross-bedded Jurassic Navajo Formation aeolian

sandstone at Zion National Park, Utah. In most of the layers the
cross-beds dip down toward the right, implying wind direction from
right to left during deposition. One bed dips in the opposite direction,
implying an abnormal wind.

Cross-beds form as sediments are deposited on the leading edge of an advancing ripple or dune. Each
169 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

layer is related to a different ripple that advances in the flow direction, and is partially eroded by the
following ripple (Figure 6.21). Cross-bedding is a very important sedimentary structure to recognize
because it can provide information on the direction of current flows and, when analyzed in detail, on
other features like the rate of flow and the amount of sediment available.

Figure 6.21 Formation of cross-beds as a series of ripples or dunes

migrates with the flow. Each ripple advances forward (right to left in
this view) as more sediment is deposited on its leading face.

Graded bedding is characterized by a gradation in grain size from bottom to top within a single bed.
“Normal” graded beds are coarse at the bottom and become finer toward the top, a product of deposition
from a slowing current (Figure 6.22). Some graded beds are reversed (coarser at the top), and this
normally results from deposition by a fast-moving debris flow (see Chapter 15). Most graded beds form
in a submarine-fan environment (see Figure 6.17), where sediment-rich flows descend periodically from
a shallow marine shelf down a slope and onto the deeper sea floor.

Figure 6.22 A graded turbidite bed in Cretaceous

Spray Formation rocks on Gabriola Island, B.C. The
lower several centimetres of sand and silt probably
formed over the duration of an hour. The upper few
centimetres of fine clay may have accumulated over
a few hundred years.

Ripples, which are associated with the formation of cross-bedding, may be preserved on the surfaces of
sedimentary beds. Ripples can also help to determine flow direction as they tend to have their steepest
surface facing down flow.

In a stream environment, boulders, cobbles, and pebbles can become imbricated, meaning that they
are generally tilted in the same direction. Clasts in streams tend to tilt with their upper ends pointing
downstream because this is the most stable position with respect to the stream flow (Figure 6.23 and
Figure 6.8c).
 Physical Geology 170

Figure 6.23 An illustration of imbrication of clasts in a fluvial

environment.

Mud cracks form when a shallow body of water (e.g., a tidal flat or pond), into which muddy sediments
have been deposited, dries up and cracks (Figure 6.24). This happens because the clay in the upper mud
layer tends to shrink on drying, and so it cracks because it occupies less space when it is dry.

The various structures described above are critical to understanding and interpreting the formation
of sedimentary rocks. In addition to these, geologists also look very closely at sedimentary grains to
determine their mineralogy or lithology (in order to make inferences about the type of source rock and
the weathering processes), their degree of rounding, their sizes, and the extent to which they have been
sorted by transportation and depositional processes.

Figure 6.24 Mudcracks in volcanic mud at a

hot-spring area near Myvatn, Iceland [SE]

We won’t be covering fossils in any detail in this book, but they are extremely important for
understanding sedimentary rocks. Of course, fossils can be used to date sedimentary rocks, but equally
importantly, they tell us a great deal about the depositional environment of the sediments and the climate
at the time. For example, they can help to differentiate marine, aquatic, and terrestrial environments;
estimate the depth of the water; detect the existence of currents; and estimate average temperature and
precipitation.

The tests of tiny marine organisms (mostly foraminifera) have been recovered from deep-ocean sediment
cores from all over the world, and their isotopic signatures have been measured. As we’ll see in Chapter
171 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

19, this provides us with information about the changes in average global temperatures over the past 65
million years.

Exercises

Exercise 6.4 Interpretation of Past Environments

Sedimentary rocks can tell us a great deal about the environmental conditions that existed during the time of
their formation. Make some inferences about the source rock, weathering, sediment transportation, and
deposition conditions that existed during the formation of the following rocks.
Quartz sandstone: no feldspar, well-sorted and well-rounded quartz grains, cross-bedding
Feldspathic sandstone and mudstone: feldspar, volcanic fragments, angular grains, repetitive graded
bedding from sandstone upwards to mudstone
Conglomerate: well-rounded pebbles and cobbles of granite and basalt; imbrication
Breccia: poorly sorted, angular limestone fragments; orange-red matrix

Type and Distance of

Possible Source Rock(s) Weathering Environment Depositional Environment
Transportation
6.5 Groups, Formations, and Members

Geologists who study sedimentary rocks need ways to divide them into manageable units, and they
also need to give those units names so that they can easily be referred to and compared with other
rocks deposited in other places. The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS)
(http://www.stratigraphy.org/) has established a set of conventions for grouping, describing, and naming
sedimentary rock units.

The main stratigraphic unit is a formation, which according to the ICS, should be established with the
following principles in mind:

The contrast in lithology between formations required to justify their establishment varies with the
complexity of the geology of a region and the detail needed for geologic mapping and to work out
its geologic history. No formation is considered justifiable and useful that cannot be delineated at
the scale of geologic mapping practiced in the region. The thickness of formations may range from
less than a meter to several thousand meters.

In other words, a formation is a series of beds that is distinct from other beds above and below, and is
thick enough to be shown on the geological maps that are widely used within the area in question. In
most parts of the world, geological mapping is done at a relatively coarse scale, and so most formations
are in the order of a few hundred metres thick. At that thickness, a typical formation would appear on a
typical geological map as an area that is at least a few millimetres thick.

A series of formations can be classified together to define a group, which could be as much as a few
thousand metres thick, and represents a series of rocks that were deposited within a single basin (or a
series of related and adjacent basins) over a few million to a few tens of millions of years.

In areas where detailed geological information is needed (for example, within a mining or petroleum
district) a formation might be divided into members, where each member has a specific and distinctive
lithology. For example, a formation that includes both shale and sandstone might be divided into
members, each of which is either shale or sandstone. In some areas, where particular detail is needed,
members may be divided into beds, but this is only applicable to beds that have a special geological
significance. Groups, formations, and members are typically named for the area where they are found.

The sedimentary rocks of the Nanaimo Group provide a useful example for understanding groups,
formations, and members. During the latter part of the Cretaceous Period, from about 90 Ma to 65 Ma, a
thick sequence of clastic rocks was deposited in a foreland basin between what is now Vancouver Island
and the B.C. mainland (Figure 6.25). The Nanaimo Group strata comprise a 5000 m thick sequence
of conglomerate, sandstone, and mudstone layers. Coal was mined from Nanaimo Group rocks from
around 1850 to 1950 in the Nanaimo region, and is still being mined in the Campbell River area.

172
173 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Figure 6.25 The distribution of the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group

rocks on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and in the Vancouver
area.

The Nanaimo Group is divided into 11 formations as described in Table 6.4. In general, the boundaries
between formations are based on major lithological differences. As can be seen in the far-right column
of Table 6.4, a wide range of depositional environments existed during the accumulation of the Nanaimo
Group rocks, from nearshore marine for the Comox and Haslam Formation, to fluvial and deltaic with
backwater swampy environments for the coal-bearing Extension, Pender, and Protection Formations,
to a deep-water submarine fan environment for the upper six formations. The differences in the
depositional environments are probably a product of variations in tectonic-related uplift over time.
 Physical Geology 174

Table 6.4 The formations of the Nanaimo Group. Formations that are
predominantly fine-grained are shaded. In tables like this one the
layers are always listed with the oldest at the bottom and the youngest
at the top. [Based on data in Mustard, P., 1994, The Upper Cretaceous
Nanaimo Group, Georgia Basin, in J. Monger (ed) Geology and
Geological Hazards of the Vancouver Region, Geol. Survey of Canada,
Bull. 481, p. 27-95.]

The five lower formations of the Nanaimo Group are all exposed in the Nanaimo area, and were well
studied during the coal mining era between 1850 and 1950. All of these formations (except Haslam)
have been divided into members, as that was useful for understanding the rocks in the areas where coal
mining was taking place.

Although there is a great deal of variety in the Nanaimo Group rocks, and it would take hundreds of
photographs to illustrate all of the different types of rocks, a few representative examples are provided
in Figure 6.26.
175 Chapter 6 Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks

Figure 6.26 Representative photos of Nanaimo Group rocks. (a)

Turbidite layers in the Spray Formation on Gabriola Island. Each
turbidite set consists of a lower sandstone layer (light colour) that
grades upward into siltstone, and then into mudstone. (See Figure 6.21
for detail.)

(b) Two separate layers of fluvial sandstone with a thin (approx. 75

cm) coal seam in between. Pender Formation in Nanaimo.
 Physical Geology 176

(c) Comox Formation conglomerate at the very base of the Nanaimo

Group in Nanaimo. The metal object is the end of a rock hammer that
is 3 cm wide. Almost all of the clasts in this view are well-rounded
basalt pebbles cobbles eroded from the Triassic Karmutsen Formation
which makes up a major part of Vancouver Island.

Attributions

Figure 6.25
Redrawn based on Mustard, P., 1994, The Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group, Georgia Basin, in J.
Monger (ed) Geology and Geological Hazards of the Vancouver Region, Geol. Survey of Canada, Bull.
481, pp. 27-95
Chapter 6 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Sedimentary clasts are classified based on their size, and variations in clast size have
Clastic important implications for transportation and deposition. Clastic sedimentary rocks range
6.1 Sedimentary from conglomerate to mudstone. Clast size, sorting, composition, and shape are
Rocks important features that allow us to differentiate clastic rocks and understand the
processes that took place during their deposition.

Chemical sedimentary rocks form from ions that were transported in solution, and then
converted into minerals by biological and/or chemical processes. The most common
Chemical
chemical rock, limestone, typically forms in shallow tropical environments, where
6.2 Sedimentary
biological activity is a very important factor. Chert and banded iron formation are
Rocks
deep-ocean sedimentary rocks. Evaporites form where the water of lakes and inland seas
becomes supersaturated due to evaporation.

Depositional
There is a wide range of depositional environments, both on land (glaciers, lakes, rivers,
Environments
etc.) and in the ocean (deltas, reefs, shelves, and the deep-ocean floor). In order to be
6.3 and
preserved, sediments must accumulate in long-lasting sedimentary basins, most of which
Sedimentary
form through plate-tectonic processes.
Basins

The deposition of sedimentary rocks takes place according to a series of important

Sedimentary principles, including original horizontality, superposition, and faunal succession.
6.4 Structures Sedimentary rocks can also have distinctive structures that are important in determining
and Fossils their depositional environments. Fossils are useful for determining the age of a rock, the
depositional environment, and the climate at the time of deposition.

Groups,
Sedimentary sequences are classified into groups, formations, and members so that they
6.5 Formations,
can be referred to easily and without confusion.
and Members

Questions for Review

1. What are the minimum and maximum sizes of sand grains?

2. How can you easily distinguish between a silty deposit and one that has only clay-sized material?
3. What factors control the rate at which a clast settles in water?
4. The material that makes up a rock such as conglomerate cannot be deposited by a slow-flowing
river. Why not?
5. Describe the two main processes of lithification.
6. What is the difference between a lithic arenite and a lithic wacke?

177
 Physical Geology 178

7. How does a feldspathic arenite differ from a quartz arenite?

8. What can we say about the source area lithology and the weathering and transportation history of
a sandstone that is primarily composed of rounded quartz grains?
9. What is the original source of the carbon that is present within carbonate deposits such as
limestone?
10. What long-term environmental change on Earth led to the deposition of banded iron formations?
11. Name two important terrestrial depositional environments and two important marine ones.
12. What is the origin of a foreland basin, and how does it differ from a forearc basin?
13. Explain the origin of (a) bedding, (b) cross-bedding, (c) graded bedding, and (d) mud cracks.
14. Under what conditions is reverse graded bedding likely to form?
15. What are the criteria for the application of a formation name to a series of sedimentary rocks?
16. Explain why some of the Nanaimo Group formations have been divided into members, while
others have not.
Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Summarize the factors that influence the nature of metamorphic rocks and explain why each one
is important
• Describe the mechanisms for the formation of foliation in metamorphic rocks
• Classify metamorphic rocks on the basis of their texture and mineral content, and explain the
origins of these differences
• Describe the various settings in which metamorphic rocks are formed and explain the links
between plate tectonics and metamorphism
• Summarize the important processes of regional metamorphism, and explain how rocks that were
metamorphosed at depths of 10 km or 20 km can now be found on Earth’s surface
• Summarize the important processes of contact metamorphism and metasomatism, and explain the
key role hydrothermal fluids

Metamorphism is the change that takes place within a body of rock as a result of it being subjected to
conditions that are different from those in which it formed. In most cases, but not all, this involves the
rock being deeply buried beneath other rocks, where it is subjected to higher temperatures and pressures
than those under which it formed. Metamorphic rocks typically have different mineral assemblages and
different textures from their parent rocks (Figure 7.1) but they may have the same overall composition.

179
 Physical Geology 180

Figure 7.1 Metamorphic rock (gneiss) of the Okanagan Metamorphic

and Igneous Complex at Skaha Lake, B.C. The dark bands are
amphibole-rich, the light bands are feldspar-rich. [SE photo]

Most metamorphism results from the burial of igneous, sedimentary, or pre-existing metamorphic to
the point where they experience different pressures and temperatures than those at which they formed
(Figure 7.2). Metamorphism can also take place if cold rock near the surface is intruded and heated
by a hot igneous body. Although most metamorphism involves temperatures above 150°C, some
metamorphism takes place at temperatures lower than those at which the parent rock formed.

Figure 7.2 The rock cycle. The processes related to metamorphic rocks
are at the bottom of the cycle. [SE]
7.1 Controls over Metamorphic Processes

The main factors that control metamorphic processes are:

• The mineral composition of the parent rock

• The temperature at which metamorphism takes place
• The amount and type of pressure during metamorphism
• The types of fluids (mostly water) that are present during metamorphism
• The amount of time available for metamorphism

Parent Rock

The parent rock is the rock that exists before metamorphism starts. In most cases, this is sedimentary or
igneous rock, but metamorphic rock that reaches the surface and is then reburied can also be considered
a parent rock. On the other hand, if, for example, a mudstone is metamorphosed to slate and then
buried deeper where it is metamorphosed to schist, the parent rock of the schist is mudstone, not slate.
The critical feature of the parent rock is its mineral composition because it is the stability of minerals
that counts when metamorphism takes place. In other words, when a rock is subjected to increased
temperatures, certain minerals may become unstable and start to recrystallize into new minerals.

Temperature

The temperature that the rock is subjected to is a key variable in controlling the type of metamorphism
that takes place. As we learned in the context of igneous rocks, mineral stability is a function of
temperature, pressure, and the presence of fluids (especially water). All minerals are stable over a
specific range of temperatures. For example, quartz is stable from environmental temperatures (whatever
the weather can throw at it) all the way up to about 1800°C. If the pressure is higher, that upper limit
will be higher. If there is water present, it will be lower. On the other hand, most clay minerals are only
stable up to about 150° or 200°C; above that, they transform into micas. Most other common minerals
have upper limits between 150°C and 1000°C.

Some minerals will crystallize into different polymorphs (same composition, but different crystalline
structure) depending on the temperature and pressure. Quartz is a good example as slightly different
forms are stable between 0°C and 1800°C. The minerals kyanite, andalusite, and sillimanite are
polymorphs with the composition Al2SiO5. They are stable at different pressures and temperatures, and,
as we will see later, they are important indicators of pressures and temperatures in metamorphic rocks
(Figure 7.3).

181
 Physical Geology 182

Figure 7.3 The temperature and pressure stability fields of the three
polymorphs of Al2SiO5 (Pressure is equivalent to depth. Kyanite is
stable at low to moderate temperatures and low to high pressures,
andalusite at moderate temperatures and low pressures, and
sillimanite at higher temperatures.) [SE]

Pressure

Pressure is important in metamorphic processes for two main reasons. First, it has implications for
mineral stability (Figure 7.3). Second, it has implications for the texture of metamorphic rocks. Rocks
that are subjected to very high confining pressures are typically denser than others because the mineral
grains are squeezed together (Figure 7.4a), and because they may contain mineral polymorphs in
which the atoms are more closely packed. Because of plate tectonics, pressures within the crust are
typically not applied equally in all directions. In areas of plate convergence, the pressure in one direction
(perpendicular to the direction of convergence) is typically greater than in the other directions (Figure
7.4b). In situations where different blocks of the crust are being pushed in different directions, the rocks
will be subjected to sheer stress (Figure 7.4c).

One of the results of directed pressure and sheer stress is that rocks become foliated — meaning that
they’ll have a directional fabric. Foliation is described in more detail later in this chapter.
183 Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

Figure 7.4 An illustration of different types of pressure on rocks. (a)

confining pressure, where the pressure is essentially equal in all
directions, (b) directed pressure, where the pressure form the sides is
greater than that from the top and bottom, and (c) sheer stress caused
by different blocks of rock being pushed in different directions. (In a
and b there is also pressure in and out of the page.) [SE]

Fluids

Water is the main fluid present within rocks of the crust, and the only one that we’ll consider here. The
presence of water is important for two main reasons. First, water facilitates the transfer of ions between
minerals and within minerals, and therefore increases the rates at which metamorphic reactions take
place. So, while the water doesn’t necessarily change the outcome of a metamorphic process, it speeds
the process up so metamorphism might take place over a shorter time period, or metamorphic processes
that might not otherwise have had time to be completed are completed.

Secondly, water, especially hot water, can have elevated concentrations of dissolved substances, and
therefore it is an important medium for moving certain elements around within the crust. So not only
does water facilitate metamorphic reactions on a grain-to-grain basis, it also allows for the transportation
of ions from one place to another. This is very important in hydrothermal processes, which are discussed
toward the end of this chapter, and in the formation of mineral deposits.

Time

Most metamorphic reactions take place at very slow rates. For example, the growth of new minerals
within a rock during metamorphism has been estimated to be about 1 mm per million years. For this
reason, it is very difficult to study metamorphic processes in a lab.

While the rate of metamorphism is slow, the tectonic processes that lead to metamorphism are also very
slow, so in most cases, the chance for metamorphic reactions to be completed is high. For example, one
important metamorphic setting is many kilometres deep within the roots of mountain ranges. A mountain
range takes tens of millions of years to form, and tens of millions of years more to be eroded to the extent
that we can see the rocks that were metamorphosed deep beneath it.
 Physical Geology 184

Exercises

Exercise 7.1 How Long Did It Take?

This photo shows a sample of garnet-mica schist from

the Greek island of Syros. The large reddish crystals are garnet, and the surrounding light coloured rock is
dominated by muscovite mica. The Euro coin is 23 mm in diameter. Assume that the diameters of the garnets
increased at a rate of 1 mm per million years.
Based on the approximate average diameter of the garnets visible, estimate how long this metamorphic
process might have taken.
[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Garnet_Mica_Schist_Syros_Greece.jpg]
7.2 Classification of Metamorphic Rocks

There are two main types of metamorphic rocks: those that are foliated because they have formed in
an environment with either directed pressure or shear stress, and those that are not foliated because
they have formed in an environment without directed pressure or relatively near the surface with very
little pressure at all. Some types of metamorphic rocks, such as quartzite and marble, which also form
in directed-pressure situations, do not necessarily exhibit foliation because their minerals (quartz and
calcite respectively) do not tend to show alignment (see Figure 7.12).

When a rock is squeezed under directed pressure during metamorphism it is likely to be deformed, and
this can result in a textural change such that the minerals are elongated in the direction perpendicular to
the main stress (Figure 7.5). This contributes to the formation of foliation.

Figure 7.5 The textural effects of squeezing during metamorphism.

[SE]

When a rock is both heated and squeezed during metamorphism, and the temperature change is enough
for new minerals to form from existing ones, there is a likelihood that the new minerals will be forced
to grow with their long axes perpendicular to the direction of squeezing. This is illustrated in Figure 7.6,
where the parent rock is shale, with bedding as shown. After both heating and squeezing, new minerals
have formed within the rock, generally parallel to each other, and the original bedding has been largely
obliterated.

Figure 7.6 The textural effects of squeezing and aligned mineral

growth during metamorphism. The left-hand diagram represents shale
with bedding in the direction shown. The right-hand diagram
represents schist (derived from that shale), with the mica crystals
orientated perpendicular to the main stress direction and the original
bedding no longer easily visible. [SE]

185
 Physical Geology 186

Figure 7.7 shows an example of this effect. This large boulder has bedding still visible as dark and light
bands sloping steeply down to the right. The rock also has a strong slaty foliation, which is horizontal in
this view, and has developed because the rock was being squeezed during metamorphism. The rock has
split from bedrock along this foliation plane, and you can see that other weaknesses are present in the
same orientation.

Squeezing and heating alone (as shown in Figure 7.5) and squeezing, heating, and formation of new
minerals (as shown in Figure 7.6) can contribute to foliation, but most foliation develops when new
minerals are forced to grow perpendicular to the direction of greatest stress (Figure 7.6). This effect
is especially strong if the new minerals are platy like mica or elongated like amphibole. The mineral
crystals don’t have to be large to produce foliation. Slate, for example, is characterized by aligned flakes
of mica that are too small to see.

Figure 7.7 A slate boulder on the side of Mt. Wapta in the Rockies near
Field, BC. Bedding is visible as light and dark bands sloping steeply to
the right. Slaty cleavage is evident from the way the rock has broken
and also from lines of weakness that same trend. [SE]

The various types of foliated metamorphic rocks, listed in order of the grade or intensity of
metamorphism and the type of foliation are slate, phyllite, schist, and gneiss (Figure 7.8). As already
noted, slate is formed from the low-grade metamorphism of shale, and has microscopic clay and mica
crystals that have grown perpendicular to the stress. Slate tends to break into flat sheets. Phyllite is
similar to slate, but has typically been heated to a higher temperature; the micas have grown larger and
are visible as a sheen on the surface. Where slate is typically planar, phyllite can form in wavy layers. In
the formation of schist, the temperature has been hot enough so that individual mica crystals are visible,
and other mineral crystals, such as quartz, feldspar, or garnet may also be visible. In gneiss, the minerals
may have separated into bands of different colours. In the example shown in Figure 7.8d, the dark bands
are largely amphibole while the light-coloured bands are feldspar and quartz. Most gneiss has little or no
mica because it forms at temperatures higher than those under which micas are stable. Unlike slate and
phyllite, which typically only form from mudrock, schist, and especially gneiss, can form from a variety
of parent rocks, including mudrock, sandstone, conglomerate, and a range of both volcanic and intrusive
igneous rocks.

Schist and gneiss can be named on the basis of important minerals that are present. For example a schist
187 Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

derived from basalt is typically rich in the mineral chlorite, so we call it chlorite schist. One derived
from shale may be a muscovite-biotite schist, or just a mica schist, or if there are garnets present it might
be mica-garnet schist. Similarly, a gneiss that originated as basalt and is dominated by amphibole, is an
amphibole gneiss or, more accurately, an amphibolite.

Figure 7.8 Examples of foliated metamorphic rocks

[a, b, and d: SE, c: Michael C. Rygel,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schist#mediaviewer/
File:Schist_detail.jpg]

If a rock is buried to a great depth and encounters temperatures that are close to its melting point, it will
partially melt. The resulting rock, which includes both metamorphosed and igneous material, is known
as a migmatite (Figure 7.9).

Figure 7.9 Migmatite from Prague, Czech Republic

[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Migmatite_in_Geopark_on_Albertov.JPG]
As already noted, the nature of the parent rock controls the types of metamorphic rocks that can form
from it under differing metamorphic conditions. The kinds of rocks that can be expected to form at
different metamorphic grades from various parent rocks are listed in Table 7.1. Some rocks, such as
 Physical Geology 188

granite, do not change much at the lower metamorphic grades because their minerals are still stable up
to several hundred degrees.

Table 7.1 A rough guide to the types of metamorphic rocks that form from different parent rocks at
different grades of regional metamorphism

Very Low Grade Low Grade Medium Grade High Grade

Approximate Temperature Ranges

Parent Rock 150-300°C 300-450°C 450-550°C Above 550°C

Mudrock slate phyllite schist gneiss

Granite no change no change no change granite gneiss

Basalt chlorite schist chlorite schist amphibolite amphibolite

Sandstone no change little change quartzite quartzite

Limestone little change marble marble marble

Metamorphic rocks that form under either low-pressure conditions or just confining pressure do not
become foliated. In most cases, this is because they are not buried deeply, and the heat for the
metamorphism comes from a body of magma that has moved into the upper part of the crust. This is
contact metamorphism. Some examples of non-foliated metamorphic rocks are marble, quartzite, and
hornfels.

Marble is metamorphosed limestone. When it forms, the calcite crystals tend to grow larger, and any
sedimentary textures and fossils that might have been present are destroyed. If the original limestone
was pure calcite, then the marble will likely be white (as in Figure 7.10), but if it had various impurities,
such as clay, silica, or magnesium, the marble could be “marbled” in appearance.

Figure 7.10 Marble with visible calcite crystals (left) and an outcrop of
banded marble (right) [SE (left) and http://gallery.usgs.gov/images/
08_11_2010/a1Uh83Jww6_08_11_2010/large/DSCN2868.JPG
(right)]

Quartzite is metamorphosed sandstone (Figure 7.11). It is dominated by quartz, and in many cases,
the original quartz grains of the sandstone are welded together with additional silica. Most sandstone
189 Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

contains some clay minerals and may also include other minerals such as feldspar or fragments of rock,
so most quartzite has some impurities with the quartz.

Figure 7.11 Quartzite from the Rocky Mountains, found in the

Bow River at Cochrane, Alberta [SE]

Even if formed during regional metamorphism, quartzite does not tend to be foliated because quartz
crystals don’t align with the directional pressure. On the other hand, any clay present in the original
sandstone is likely to be converted to mica during metamorphism, and any such mica is likely to align
with the directional pressure. An example of this is shown in Figure 7.12. The quartz crystals show no
alignment, but the micas are all aligned, indicating that there was directional pressure during regional
metamorphism of this rock.

Figure 7.12 Magnified thin section of quartzite in polarized

light. The irregular-shaped white, grey, and black crystals are
all quartz. The small, thin, brightly coloured crystals are
mica. This rock is foliated, even though it might not appear to
be if examined without a microscope, and so it must have
formed under directed-pressure conditions.
[Photo by Sandra Johnstone, used with permission]
 Physical Geology 190

Hornfels is another non-foliated metamorphic rock that normally forms during contact metamorphism
of fine-grained rocks like mudstone or volcanic rock (Figure 7.13). In some cases, hornfels has visible
crystals of minerals like biotite or andalusite. If the hornfels formed in a situation without directed
pressure, then these minerals would be randomly orientated, not foliated as they would be if formed with
directed pressure.

Figure 7.13 Hornfels from the Novosibirsk region of Russia.

The dark and light bands are bedding. The rock has been
recrystallized during contact metamorphism and does not
display foliation. (scale in cm)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornfels#mediaviewer/
File:Hornfels.jpg]

Exercises

Exercise 7.2 Naming Metamorphic Rocks

Provide reasonable names for the following metamorphic rocks:
191 Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

Rock Description Name

A rock with visible minerals of mica and with small crystals of andalusite. The mica crystals are consistently
parallel to one another.

A very hard rock with a granular appearance and a glassy lustre. There is no evidence of foliation.

A fine-grained rock that splits into wavy sheets. The surfaces of the sheets have a sheen to them.

A rock that is dominated by aligned crystals of amphibole.

7.3 Plate Tectonics and Metamorphism

All of the important processes of metamorphism that we are familiar with can be directly related
to geological processes caused by plate tectonics. The relationships between plate tectonics and
metamorphism are summarized in Figure 7.14, and in more detail in Figures 7.15, 7.16, 7.17, and 7.19.

Figure 7.14 Environments of metamorphism in the context of plate

tectonics: (a) regional metamorphism related to mountain building at a
continent-continent convergent boundary, (b) regional metamorphism
of oceanic crust in the area on either side of a spreading ridge, (c)
regional metamorphism of oceanic crustal rocks within a subduction
zone, (d) contact metamorphism adjacent to a magma body at a high
level in the crust, and (e) regional metamorphism related to mountain
building at a convergent boundary. [SE]

Most regional metamorphism takes place within continental crust. While rocks can be metamorphosed
at depth in most areas, the potential for metamorphism is greatest in the roots of mountain ranges where
there is a strong likelihood for burial of relatively young sedimentary rock to great depths, as depicted
in Figure 7.15. An example would be the Himalayan Range. At this continent-continent convergent
boundary, sedimentary rocks have been both thrust up to great heights (nearly 9,000 m above sea level)
and also buried to great depths. Considering that the normal geothermal gradient (the rate of increase
in temperature with depth) is around 30°C per kilometre, rock buried to 9 km below sea level in this
situation could be close to 18 km below the surface of the ground, and it is reasonable to expect
temperatures up to 500°C. Metamorphic rocks formed there are likely to be foliated because of the strong
directional pressure of converging plates.

192
193 Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

Figure 7.15 a: Regional metamorphism beneath a mountain range

related to continent-continent collision (typical geothermal gradient).
(Example: Himalayan Range) [SE]

At an oceanic spreading ridge, recently formed oceanic crust of gabbro and basalt is slowly moving
away from the plate boundary (Figure 7.16). Water within the crust is forced to rise in the area close
to the source of volcanic heat, and this draws more water in from farther out, which eventually creates
a convective system where cold seawater is drawn into the crust and then out again onto the sea
floor near the ridge. The passage of this water through the oceanic crust at 200° to 300°C promotes
metamorphic reactions that change the original pyroxene in the rock to chlorite and serpentine. Because
this metamorphism takes place at temperatures well below the temperature at which the rock originally
formed (~1200°C), it is known as retrograde metamorphism. The rock that forms in this way is
known as greenstone if it isn’t foliated, or greenschist if it is. Chlorite ((Mg5Al)(AlSi3)O10(OH)8)
and serpentine ((Mg, Fe)3Si2O5(OH)4) are both “hydrated minerals” meaning that they have water (as
OH) in their chemical formulas. When metamorphosed ocean crust is later subducted, the chlorite and
serpentine are converted into new non-hydrous minerals (e.g., garnet and pyroxene) and the water that
is released migrates into the overlying mantle, where it contributes to flux melting (Chapter 3, section
3.2).
 Physical Geology 194

Figure 7.16 b: Regional metamorphism of oceanic crustal rock on

either side of a spreading ridge. (Example: Juan de Fuca spreading
ridge) [SE]

At a subduction zone, oceanic crust is forced down into the hot mantle. But because the oceanic
crust is now relatively cool, especially along its sea-floor upper surface, it does not heat up quickly,
and the subducting rock remains several hundreds of degrees cooler than the surrounding mantle
(Figure 7.17). A special type of metamorphism takes place under these very high-pressure but relatively
low-temperature conditions, producing an amphibole mineral known as glaucophane
(Na2(Mg3Al2)Si8O22(OH)2), which is blue in colour, and is a major component of a rock known as
blueschist.

If you’ve never seen or even heard of blueschist, it’s not surprising. What is surprising is that anyone
has seen it! Most blueschist forms in subduction zones, continues to be subducted, turns into eclogite at
about 35 km depth, and then eventually sinks deep into the mantle — never to be seen again. In only
a few places in the world, where the subduction process has been interrupted by some tectonic process,
has partially subducted blueschist rock returned to the surface. One such place is the area around San
Francisco; the rock is known as the Franciscan Complex (Figure 7.18).
195 Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

Figure 7.17 c: Regional metamorphism of oceanic crust at a

subduction zone. (Example: Cascadia subduction zone. Rock of this
type is exposed in the San Francisco area.) [SE]

Figure 7.18 Franciscan Complex blueschist rock

exposed north of San Francisco. The blue colour of
rock is due to the presence of the amphibole mineral
glaucophane. [SE]

Magma is produced at convergent boundaries and rises toward the surface, where it can form magma
bodies in the upper part of the crust. Such magma bodies, at temperatures of around 1000°C, heat up
the surrounding rock, leading to contact metamorphism (Figure 7.19). Because this happens at relatively
shallow depths, in the absence of directed pressure, the resulting rock does not normally develop
foliation. The zone of contact metamorphism around an intrusion is very small (typically metres to tens
of metres) compared with the extent of regional metamorphism in other settings (tens of thousands of
square kilometres).
 Physical Geology 196

Figure 7.19 d: Contact metamorphism around a high-level crustal

magma chamber (Example: the magma chamber beneath Mt. St.
Helens.) e: Regional metamorphism in a volcanic-arc related
mountain range (volcanic-region temperature gradient) (Example: The
southern part of the Coast Range, B.C.) [SE]

Regional metamorphism also takes place within volcanic-arc mountain ranges, and because of the extra
heat associated with the volcanism, the geothermal gradient is typically a little steeper in these settings
(somewhere between 40° and 50°C/km). As a result higher grades of metamorphism can take place
closer to surface than is the case in other areas (Figure 7.19).

Another way to understand metamorphism is by using a diagram that shows temperature on one axis
and depth (which is equivalent to pressure) on the other (Figure 7.20). The three heavy dotted lines on
this diagram represent Earth’s geothermal gradients under different conditions. In most areas, the rate of
increase in temperature with depth is 30°C/km. In other words, if you go 1,000 m down into a mine, the
temperature will be roughly 30°C warmer than the average temperature at the surface. In most parts of
southern Canada, the average surface temperature is about 10°C, so at 1,000 m depth, it will be about
40°C. That’s uncomfortably hot, so deep mines must have effective ventilation systems. This typical
geothermal gradient is shown by the green dotted line in Figure 7.20. At 10 km depth, the temperature
is about 300°C and at 20 km it’s about 600°C.

In volcanic areas, the geothermal gradient is more like 40° to 50°C/km, so the temperature at 10 km
depth is in the 400° to 500°C range. Along subduction zones, as described above, the cold oceanic
crust keeps temperatures low, so the gradient is typically less than 10°C/km. The various types of
metamorphism described above are represented in Figure 7.20 with the same letters (a through e) used
in Figures 7.14 to 7.17 and 7.19.
 197 Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

Figure 7.20 Types of metamorphism shown in the

context of depth and temperature under different
conditions. The metamorphic rocks formed from
mudrock under regional metamorphosis with a
typical geothermal gradient are listed. The letters a
through e correspond with those shown in Figures
7.14 to 7.17 and 7.19. [SE]

By way of example, if we look at regional metamorphism in areas with typical geothermal gradients, we
1
can see that burial in the 5 km to 10 km range puts us in the zeolite and clay mineral zone (see Figure
7.20), which is equivalent to the formation of slate. At 10 km to 15 km, we are in the greenschist zone
(where chlorite would form in mafic volcanic rock) and very fine micas form in mudrock, to produce
phyllite. At 15 km to 20 km, larger micas form to produce schist, and at 20 km to 25 km amphibole,
feldspar, and quartz form to produce gneiss. Beyond 25 km depth in this setting, we cross the partial
melting line for granite (or gneiss) with water present, and so we can expect migmatite to form.

Exercises

Exercise 7.3 Metamorphic Rocks in Areas with Higher Geothermal Gradients

Metamorphic Rock Type Depth (km)

Slate

Phyllite

Schist

Gneiss

Migmatite

1. Zeolites are silicate minerals that typically form during low-grade metamorphism of volcanic rocks.
 Physical Geology 198

Figure 7.20 shows the types of rock that might form from mudrock at various points along the curve of the
“typical” geothermal gradient (dotted green line). Looking at the geothermal gradient for volcanic regions
(dotted yellow line in Figure 7.20), estimate the depths at which you would expect to find the same types of
rock forming from a mudrock parent.
 7.4 Regional Metamorphism

As described above, regional metamorphism occurs when rocks are buried deep in the crust. This is
commonly associated with convergent plate boundaries and the formation of mountain ranges. Because
burial to 10 km to 20 km is required, the areas affected tend to be large.

Rather than focusing on metamorphic rock textures (slate, schist, gneiss, etc.), geologists tend to look
at specific minerals within the rocks that are indicative of different grades of metamorphism. Some
common minerals in metamorphic rocks are shown in Figure 7.21, arranged in order of the temperature
ranges within which they tend to be stable. The upper and lower limits of the ranges are intentionally
vague because these limits depend on a number of different factors, such as the pressure, the amount of
water present, and the overall composition of the rock.

Figure 7.21 Metamorphic index minerals and their approximate

temperature ranges [SE]

The southern and southwestern parts of Nova Scotia were regionally metamorphosed during the
Devonian Acadian Orogeny (around 400 Ma), when a relatively small continental block (the Meguma
1
Terrane ) was pushed up against the existing eastern margin of North America. As shown in Figure
7.22, clastic sedimentary rocks within this terrane were variably metamorphosed, with the strongest
metamorphism in the southwest (the sillimanite zone), and progressively weaker metamorphism toward
the east and north. The rocks of the sillimanite zone were likely heated to over 700°C, and therefore must
have buried to depths between 20 km and 25 km. The surrounding lower-grade rocks were not buried as
deep, and the rocks within the peripheral chlorite zone were likely not buried to more than about 5 km.

1. No, it’s not a spelling mistake! A terrane is a distinctive block of crust that is now part of a continent, but is thought to have come from
elsewhere, and was added on by plate-tectonic processes.

199
 Physical Geology 200

Figure 7.22 Regional metamorphic zones in the

Meguma Terrane of southwestern Nova Scotia [SE,
after Keppie, D, and Muecke, G, 1979, Metamorphic
map of Nova Scotia, N.S. Dept. of Mines and Energy,
Map 1979-006., and from White, C and Barr, S.,
2012, Meguma Terrane revisted, Stratigraphy,
metamorphism, paleontology and provenance,
Geoscience Canada, V. 39, No.1]

A probable explanation for this pattern is that the area with the highest-grade rocks was buried beneath
the central part of a mountain range formed by the collision of the Meguma Terrane with North America.
As is the case with all mountain ranges, the crust became thickened as the mountains grew, and it was
pushed farther down into the mantle than the surrounding crust. This happens because Earth’s crust is
floating on the underlying mantle. As the formation of mountains adds weight, the crust in that area sinks
farther down into the mantle to compensate for the added weight. The likely pattern of metamorphism in
this situation is shown in cross-section in Figure 7.23a. The mountains were eventually eroded (over tens
of millions of years), allowing the crust to rebound upward and exposing the metamorphic rock (Figure
7.23b).
201 Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

Figure 7.23 (a) Schematic cross-section through the Meguma Terrane

during the Devonian.
The crust is thickened underneath the mountain range to compensate
for the added weight of the mountains above.
Temperature contours are shown, and the metamorphic zones are
depicted using colours similar to those in Figure 7.22.

Figure 7.23 (b) Schematic present-day cross-section through the

Meguma Terrane.
The mountains have been eroded. As they lost mass the base of the
crust gradually rebounded, pushing up the core of the metamorphosed
region so that the once deeply buried metamorphic zones are now
exposed at surface.

The metamorphism in Nova Scotia’s Meguma Terrane is just one example of the nature of regional
metamorphism. Obviously many different patterns of regional metamorphism exist, depending on the
 Physical Geology 202

parent rocks, the geothermal gradient, the depth of burial, the pressure regime, and the amount of time
available. The important point is that regional metamorphism happens only at significant depths. The
greatest likelihood of attaining those depths, and then having the once-buried rocks eventually exposed
at the surface, is where mountain ranges existed and have since been largely eroded away. As this
happens typically at convergent plate boundaries, directed pressures can be strong, and regionally altered
rocks are almost always foliated.

Exercises

Exercise 7.4 Scottish Metamorphic Zones

The map shown here represents the part of western Scotland between the Great Glen Fault and the Highland
Boundary Fault. The shaded areas are metamorphic rock, and the three metamorphic zones represented are
garnet, chlorite, and biotite.
Label the three coloured areas of the map with the appropriate zone names (garnet, chlorite, and biotite).
Indicate which part of the region was likely to have been buried the deepest during metamorphism.
British Geologist George Barrow studied this area in the 1890s and was the first person anywhere to map
metamorphic zones based on their mineral assemblages. This pattern of metamorphism is sometimes referred
to as “Barrovian.”
7.5 Contact Metamorphism and Hydrothermal Processes

Contact metamorphism takes place where a body of magma intrudes into the upper part of the crust.
Any type of magma body can lead to contact metamorphism, from a thin dyke to a large stock. The type
and intensity of the metamorphism, and width of the metamorphic aureole will depend on a number of
factors, including the type of country rock, the temperature of the intruding body and the size of the body
(Figure 7.24). A large intrusion will contain more thermal energy and will cool much more slowly than
a small one, and therefore will provide a longer time and more heat for metamorphism. That will allow
the heat to extend farther into the country rock, creating a larger aureole.

Figure 7.24 Schematic cross-section of the middle and upper crust

showing two magma bodies.
The upper body, which has intruded into cool unmetamorphosed rock,
has created a zone of contact metamorphism.
The lower body is surrounded by rock that is already hot (and probably
already metamorphosed), and so it does not have a significant
metamorphic aureole. [SE]

Contact metamorphic aureoles are typically quite small, from just a few centimetres around small dykes
and sills, to as much as 100 m around a large stock. As was shown in Figure 7.20, contact metamorphism
can take place over a wide range of temperatures — from around 300° to over 800°C — and of course
the type of metamorphism, and new minerals formed, will vary accordingly. The nature of the country

203
 Physical Geology 204

rock is also important. Mudrock or volcanic rock will be converted to hornfels. Limestone will be
metamorphosed to marble, and sandstone to quartzite.

A hot body of magma in the upper crust can create a very dynamic situation that may have geologically
interesting and economically important implications. In the simplest cases, water does not play a big
role, and the main process is transfer of heat from the pluton to the surrounding rock, creating a zone
of contact metamorphism (Figure 7.25a). In many cases, however, water is released from the magma
body as crystallization takes place, and this water is dispersed along fractures in the country rock (Figure
7.25b). The water released from a magma chamber is typically rich in dissolved minerals. As this water
cools, is chemically changed by the surrounding rocks, or boils because of a drop in pressure, minerals
are deposited, forming veins within the fractures in the country rock. Quartz veins are common in this
situation, and they might also include pyrite, hematite, calcite, and even silver and gold.

Figure 7.25 Depiction of metamorphism and alteration around a

pluton in the upper crust.
(a) Thermal metamorphism only (within the purple zone)
(b) Thermal metamorphism plus veining (white) related to dispersal of
magmatic fluids into the overlying rock
(c) Thermal metamorphism plus veining from magmatic fluids plus
alteration and possible formation of metallic minerals (hatched yellow
areas) from convection of groundwater

Heat from the magma body will cause surrounding groundwater to expand and then rise toward the
surface. In some cases, this may initiate a convection system where groundwater circulates past the
pluton. Such a system could operate for thousands of years, resulting in the circulation of millions of
tonnes of groundwater from the surrounding region past the pluton. Hot water circulating through the
rocks can lead to significant changes in the mineralogy of the rock, including alteration of feldspars to
clays, and deposition of quartz, calcite, and other minerals in fractures and other open spaces (Figure
7.26). As with the magmatic fluids, the nature of this circulating groundwater can also change adjacent
to, or above, the pluton, resulting in deposition of other minerals, including ore minerals. Metamorphism
in which much of the change is derived from fluids passing through the rock is known as metasomatism.
When hot water contributes to changes in rocks, including mineral alteration and formation of veins, it
is known as hydrothermal alteration.
205 Chapter 7 Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks

Figure 7.26 Calcite veins in limestone of the Comox

Formation, Nanaimo, B.C. [SE]

A special type of metasomatism takes place where a hot pluton intrudes into carbonate rock such as
limestone. When magmatic fluids rich in silica, calcium, magnesium, iron, and other elements flow
through the carbonate rock, their chemistry can change dramatically, resulting in the deposition of
minerals that would not normally exist in either the igneous rock or limestone. These include garnet,
epidote (another silicate), magnetite, pyroxene, and a variety of copper and other minerals (Figure 7.27).
This type of metamorphism is known as skarn.

Figure 7.27 A skarn rock from Mount Monzoni, Northern

Italy, with recrystallized calcite (blue), garnet (brown), and
pyroxene (green). The rock is 6 cm across. [by Siim Sepp,
from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:00031_6_cm_grossular_calcite_augite_skarn.jpg]
 Physical Geology 206

Exercises

Exercise 7.5 Contact Metamorphism and Metasomatism

This diagram shows a pluton that has intruded into a series of sedimentary rocks.
What type of metamorphic rock would you expect to see at each location: a, b, and c?

[SE]
Chapter 7 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Metamorphism is controlled by five main factors: the composition of the parent rock,
Controls over
the temperature to which the rock is heated, the amount and type of pressure, the
7.1 Metamorphic
volumes and compositions of aqueous fluids that are present, and the amount of time
Processes
available for metamorphic reactions to take place.

Metamorphic rocks are classified on the basis of texture and mineral composition.
Classification
Foliation is a key feature of metamorphic rocks formed under directed pressure; foliated
of
7.2 metamorphic rocks include slate, phyllite, schist, and gneiss. Metamorphic rocks
Metamorphic
formed in environments without strong directed pressure include hornfels, marble, and
Rocks
quartzite.

Almost all metamorphism can be explained by plate-tectonic processes. Oceanic crustal

rock can be metamorphosed near the spreading ridge where it was formed, but most
Plate Tectonics
other regional metamorphism takes place in areas where mountain ranges have formed,
7.3 and
which are most common at convergent boundaries. Contact metamorphism takes place
Metamorphism
around magma bodies in the upper part of the crust, which are also most common above
convergent boundaries.

Geologists classify metamorphic rocks based on some key minerals — such as chlorite,
garnet, andalusite, and sillimanite — that only form at specific temperatures and
Regional
7.4 pressures. Most regional metamorphism takes place beneath mountain ranges because
Metamorphism
the crust becomes thickened and rocks are pushed down to great depths. When
mountains erode, those metamorphic rocks are uplifted by crustal rebound.

Contact metamorphism takes place around magma bodies that have intruded into cool
Contact
rocks at high levels in the crust. Heat from the magma is transferred to the surrounding
Metamorphism
country rock, resulting in mineralogical and textural changes. Water from a cooling
7.5 and
body of magma, or from convection of groundwater produced by the heat of the pluton,
Hydrothermal
can also lead to metasomatism, hydrothermal alteration, and accumulation of valuable
Processes
minerals in the surrounding rocks.

Exercises

1. What are the two main agents of metamorphism, and what are their respective roles in producing
metamorphic rocks?
2. Into what metamorphic rocks will a mudrock be transformed at very low, low, medium, and high
metamorphic grades?
3. Why doesn’t granite change very much at lower metamorphic grades?
4. Describe the main process of foliation development in a metamorphic rock such as schist.

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 Physical Geology 208

5. What process contributes to metamorphism of oceanic crust at a spreading ridge?

6. How do variations in the geothermal gradient affect the depth at which different metamorphic
rocks form?
7. Blueschist metamorphism takes place within subduction zones. What are the particular
temperature and pressure characteristics of this geological setting?
8. Rearrange the following minerals in order of increasing metamorphic grade: biotite, garnet,
sillimanite, chlorite.
9. Why does contact metamorphism not normally take place at significant depth in the crust?
10. What is the role of magmatic fluids in metamorphism that takes place adjacent to a pluton?
11. How does metasomatism differ from regional metamorphism?
12. How does the presence of a hot pluton contribute to the circulation of groundwater that facilitates
metasomatism and hydrothermal processes?
13. What must be present in the country rock to produce a skarn?
14. Two things that a geologist first considers when looking at a metamorphic rock are what the
parent rock might have been, and what type of metamorphism has taken place. This can be
difficult to do, even if you have the actual rock in your hand, but give it a try for the following:

Metamorphic Rock Likely Parent Rock Grade and/or Type of Metamorphism

Chlorite schist

Slate

Mica-garnet schist

Amphibolite

Marble
Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Apply basic geological principles to the determination of the relative ages of rocks
• Explain the difference between relative and absolute age-dating techniques
• Summarize the history of the geological time scale and the relationships between eons, eras,
periods, and epochs
• Understand the importance and significance of unconformities
• Estimate the age of a rock based on the fossils that it contains
• Describe some applications and limitations of isotopic techniques for geological dating
• Use isotopic data to estimate the age of a rock
• Describe the techniques for dating geological materials using tree rings and magnetic data
• Explain why an understanding of geological time is critical to both geologists and the public in
general

Time is the dimension that sets geology apart from most other sciences. Geological time is vast, and
Earth has changed enough over that time that some of the rock types that formed in the past could
not form today. Furthermore, as we’ve discussed, even though most geological processes are very, very
slow, the vast amount of time that has passed has allowed for the formation of extraordinary geological
features, as shown in Figure 8.1.

Figure 8.1 Arizona’s Grand Canyon is an icon for geological time;

1,450 million years are represented by this photo. The light-coloured
layered rocks at the top formed at around 250 Ma, and the dark ones
at the bottom (within the steep canyon) at around 1,700 Ma. [SE]

209
 Physical Geology 210

We have numerous ways of measuring geological time. We can tell the relative ages of rocks (for
example, whether one rock is older than another) based on their spatial relationships; we can use fossils
to date sedimentary rocks because we have a detailed record of the evolution of life on Earth; and we
can use a range of isotopic techniques to determine the actual ages (in millions of years) of igneous and
metamorphic rocks.

But just because we can measure geological time doesn’t mean that we understand it. One of the biggest
hurdles faced by geology students, and geologists as well, in understanding geology, is to really come to
grips with the slow rates at which geological processes happen and the vast amount of time involved.
8.1 The Geological Time Scale

William “Strata” Smith worked as a surveyor in the coal-mining and canal-building industries in
southwestern England in the late 1700s and early 1800s. While doing his work, he had many
opportunities to look at the Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks of the region, and he did so in a
way that few had done before. Smith noticed the textural similarities and differences between rocks in
different locations, and more importantly, he discovered that fossils could be used to correlate rocks of
the same age. Smith is credited with formulating the principle of faunal succession (the concept that
specific types of organisms lived during different time intervals), and he used it to great effect in his
monumental project to create a geological map of England and Wales, published in 1815. (For more on
William Smith, including a large-scale digital copy of the famous map, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
William_Smith_%28geologist%29.)

Inset into Smith’s great geological map is a small diagram showing a schematic geological cross-section
extending from the Thames estuary of eastern England all the way to the west coast of Wales. Smith
shows the sequence of rocks, from the Paleozoic rocks of Wales and western England, through the
Mesozoic rocks of central England, to the Cenozoic rocks of the area around London (Figure 8.2).
Although Smith did not put any dates on these — because he didn’t know them — he was aware of
the principle of superposition (the idea, developed much earlier by the Danish theologian and scientist
Nicholas Steno, that young sedimentary rocks form on top of older ones), and so he knew that this
diagram represented a stratigraphic column. And because almost every period of the Phanerozoic is
represented along that section through Wales and England, it is a primitive geological time scale.

Figure 8.2 William Smith’s “Sketch of the succession of strata and their relative
altitudes,” an inset on his geological map of England and Wales (with era names
added). [SE after: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WilliamSmith/images/
sketch_of_the_succession_of_strata.jpg]

Smith’s work set the stage for the naming and ordering of the geological periods, which was initiated
around 1820, first by British geologists, and later by other European geologists. Many of the periods are
named for places where rocks of that age are found in Europe, such as Cambrian for Cambria (Wales),
Devonian for Devon in England, Jurassic for the Jura Mountains in France and Switzerland, and Permian
for the Perm region of Russia. Some are named for the type of rock that is common during that age, such

211
 Physical Geology 212

as Carboniferous for the coal- and carbonate-bearing rocks of England, and Cretaceous for the chalks of
England and France.

The early time scales were only relative because 19th century geologists did not know the ages of the
rocks. That information was not available until the development of isotopic dating techniques early in
the 20th century.

The geological time scale is currently maintained by the International Commission on Stratigraphy
(ICS), which is part of the International Union of Geological Sciences. The time scale is continuously
being updated as we learn more about the timing and nature of past geological events. You can view the
ICS time scale at http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-chart-timescale. It would be a good idea to
print a copy (in colour) to put on your wall while you are studying geology.

Geological time has been divided into four eons: Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic, and
as shown in Figure 8.3, the first three of these represent almost 90% of Earth’s history. The last one,
the Phanerozoic (meaning “visible life”), is the time that we are most familiar with because Phanerozoic
rocks are the most common on Earth, and they contain evidence of the life forms that we are all
somewhat familiar with.

Figure 8.3 The eons of Earth’s history [SE]

The Phanerozoic — the past 540 Ma of Earth’s history — is divided into three eras: the Paleozoic (“early
life”), the Mesozoic (“middle life”), and the Cenozoic (“new life”), and each of these is divided into a
number of periods (Figure 8.4). Most of the organisms that we share Earth with evolved at various times
during the Phanerozoic.

Figure 8.4 The eras (middle row) and periods (bottom row) of the Phanerozoic [SE]

The Cenozoic, which represents the past 65.5 Ma, is divided into three periods: Paleogene, Neogene, and
Quaternary, and seven epochs (Figure 8.5). Dinosaurs became extinct at the start of the Cenozoic, after
which birds and mammals radiated to fill the available habitats. Earth was very warm during the early
Eocene and has steadily cooled ever since. Glaciers first appeared on Antarctica in the Oligocene and
then on Greenland in the Miocene, and covered much of North America and Europe by the Pleistocene.
The most recent of the Pleistocene glaciations ended around 11,700 years ago. The current epoch is
known as the Holocene. Epochs are further divided into ages (a.k.a. stages), but we won’t be going into
that level of detail here.
213 Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

Figure 8.5 The periods (middle row) and epochs (bottom row) of the Cenozoic [SE]

Most of the boundaries between the periods and epochs of the geological time scale have been fixed on
the basis of significant changes in the fossil record. For example, as already noted, the boundary between
the Cretaceous and the Paleogene coincides exactly with the extinction of the dinosaurs. That’s not a
coincidence. Many other types of organisms went extinct at this time, and the boundary between the two
periods marks the division between sedimentary rocks with Cretaceous organisms below, and Paleogene
organisms above.
8.2 Relative Dating Methods

The simplest and most intuitive way of dating geological features is to look at the relationships between
them. There are a few simple rules for doing this, some of which we’ve already looked at in Chapter 6.
For example, the principle of superposition states that sedimentary layers are deposited in sequence, and,
unless the entire sequence has been turned over by tectonic processes or disrupted by faulting, the layers
at the bottom are older than those at the top. The principle of inclusions states that any rock fragments
that are included in rock must be older than the rock in which they are included. For example, a xenolith
in an igneous rock or a clast in sedimentary rock must be older than the rock that includes it (Figure 8.6).

Figure 8.6a A xenolith of diorite incorporated into a basalt lava flow,

Mauna Kea volcano, Hawaii. The lava flow took place some time after
the diorite cooled, was uplifted, and then eroded. (Hammerhead for
scale) [SE]

214
215 Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

Figure 8.6b Rip-up clasts of shale embedded in Gabriola Formation

sandstone, Gabriola Island, B.C. The pieces of shale were eroded as
the sandstone was deposited, so the shale is older than the sandstone.
[SE]

The principle of cross-cutting relationships states that any geological feature that cuts across, or
disrupts another feature must be younger than the feature that is disrupted. An example of this is given
in Figure 8.7, which shows three different sedimentary layers. The lower sandstone layer is disrupted
by two faults, so we can infer that the faults are younger than that layer. But the faults do not appear to
continue into the coal seam, and they certainly do not continue into the upper sandstone. So we can infer
that coal seam is younger than the faults (because it disrupts them), and of course the upper sandstone is
youngest of all, because it lies on top of the coal seam.

Figure 8.7 Superposition and cross-cutting

relationships in Cretaceous Nanaimo Group rocks in
Nanaimo, B.C. The coal seam is about 50 cm thick.
[SE ]

Exercises

Exercise 8.1 Cross-Cutting Relationships

 Physical Geology 216

The outcrop shown here (at Horseshoe Bay, B.C.) has three main rock types:
1. Buff/pink felsic intrusive igneous rock present as somewhat irregular masses trending from lower right to
upper left
2. Dark grey metamorphosed basalt
3. A 50 cm wide light-grey felsic intrusive igneous dyke extending from the lower left to the middle right –
offset in several places
Using the principle of cross-cutting relationships outlined above, determine the relative ages of these three
rock types.
(The near-vertical stripes are blasting drill holes. The image is about 7 m across.) [SE photo]

An unconformity represents an interruption in the process of deposition of sedimentary rocks.

Recognizing unconformities is important for understanding time relationships in sedimentary sequences.
An example of an unconformity is shown in Figure 8.8. The Proterozoic rocks of the Grand Canyon
Group have been tilted and then eroded to a flat surface prior to deposition of the younger Paleozoic
rocks. The difference in time between the youngest of the Proterozoic rocks and the oldest of the
Paleozoic rocks is close to 300 million years. Tilting and erosion of the older rocks took place during
this time, and if there was any deposition going on in this area, the evidence of it is now gone.
217 Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

Figure 8.8 The great angular unconformity in the Grand Canyon,

Arizona. The tilted rocks at the bottom are part of the Proterozoic
Grand Canyon Group (aged 825 to 1,250 Ma). The flat-lying rocks at
the top are Paleozoic (540 to 250 Ma). The boundary between the two
represents a time gap of nearly 300 million years. [SE ]

There are four types of unconformities, as summarized in Table 8.1, and illustrated in Figure 8.9.

Table 8.1 The characteristics of the four types of unconformities

Unconformity
Description
Type

Nonconformity A boundary between non-sedimentary rocks (below) and sedimentary rocks (above)

Angular A boundary between two sequences of sedimentary rocks where the underlying ones have
unconformity been tilted (or folded) and eroded prior to the deposition of the younger ones (as in Figure 8.8)

A boundary between two sequences of sedimentary rocks where the underlying ones have
Disconformity
been eroded (but not tilted) prior to the deposition of the younger ones (as in Figure 8.7)

A time gap in a sequence of sedimentary rocks that does not show up as an angular
Paraconformity
unconformity or a disconformity
 Physical Geology 218

Figure 8.9 The four types of unconformities: (a) a nonconformity

between non-sedimentary rock and sedimentary rock, (b) an angular
unconformity, (c) a disconformity between layers of sedimentary rock,
where the older rock has been eroded but not tilted, and (d) a
paraconformity where there is a long period (millions of years) of
non-deposition between two parallel layers. [SE ]
8.3 Dating Rocks Using Fossils

Geologists get a wide range of information from fossils. They help us to understand evolution and life
in general; they provide critical information for understanding depositional environments and changes
in Earth’s climate; and, of course, they can be used to date rocks.

Although the recognition of fossils goes back hundreds of years, the systematic cataloguing and
assignment of relative ages to different organisms from the distant past — paleontology — only dates
back to the earliest part of the 19th century. The oldest undisputed fossils are from rocks dated around
3.5 Ga, and although fossils this old are typically poorly preserved and are not useful for dating rocks,
they can still provide important information about conditions at the time. The oldest well-understood
fossils are from rocks dating back to around 600 Ma, and the sedimentary record from that time forward
is rich in fossil remains that provide a detailed record of the history of life. However, as anyone who has
gone hunting for fossils knows, that does not mean that all sedimentary rocks have visible fossils or that
they are easy to find. Fossils alone cannot provide us with numerical ages of rocks, but over the past
century geologists have acquired enough isotopic dates from rocks associated with fossil-bearing rocks
(such as igneous dykes cutting through sedimentary layers) to be able to put specific time limits on most
fossils.

A very selective history of life on Earth over the past 600 million years is provided in Figure 8.10.
The major groups of organisms that we are familiar with evolved between the late Proterozoic and
the Cambrian (~600 Ma to ~520 Ma). Plants, which evolved in the oceans as green algae, came onto
land during the Ordovician (~450 Ma). Insects, which evolved from marine arthropods, came onto land
during the Devonian (400 Ma), and amphibians (i.e., vertebrates) came onto land about 50 million years
later. By the late Carboniferous, trees had evolved from earlier plants, and reptiles had evolved from
amphibians. By the mid-Triassic, dinosaurs and mammals had evolved from very different branches
of the reptiles; birds evolved from dinosaurs during the Jurassic. Flowering plants evolved in the late
Jurassic or early Cretaceous. The earliest primates evolved from other mammals in the early Paleogene,
and the genus Homo evolved during the late Neogene (~2.8 Ma).

Figure 8.10 A summary of life on Earth during the late Proterozoic and the Phanerozoic. The top row
shows geological eras, and the lower row shows the periods. [SE]

219
 Physical Geology 220

If we understand the sequence of evolution on Earth, we can apply knowledge to determining the relative
ages of rocks. This is William Smith’s principle of faunal succession, although of course it doesn’t just
apply to “fauna” (animals); it can also apply to fossils of plants and those of simple organisms.

The Phanerozoic has seen five major extinctions, as indicated in Figure 8.10. The most significant of
these was at the end of the Permian, which saw the extinction of over 80% of all species and over 90%
of all marine species. Most well-known types of organisms were decimated by this event, but only a
few became completely extinct, including trilobites. The second most significant extinction was at the
Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (K-Pg, a.k.a. the K-T extinction). At that time, about 75% of marine
species disappeared. Again, a few well-known types of organisms disappeared altogether, including
dinosaurs (but not birds) and the pterosaurs. Other types were badly decimated but survived, and then
flourished in the Paleogene. The K-Pg extinction is thought to have been caused by the impact of a large
extraterrestrial body (10 km to 15 km across), but it is generally agreed that the other four Phanerozoic
extinctions had other causes, although their exact nature is not clearly understood.

As already stated, it is no coincidence that the major extinctions all coincide with boundaries of
geological periods and even eras. Paleontologists have placed most of the divisions of the geological
time scale at points in the fossil record where there are major changes in the type of organisms observed.

If we can identify a fossil to the species level, or at least to the genus level, and we know the time period
when the organism lived, we can assign a range of time to the rock. That range might be several million
years because some organisms survived for a very long time. If the rock we are studying has several
types of fossils in it, and we can assign time ranges to those fossils, we might be able to narrow the time
range for the age of the rock considerably. An example of this is given in Figure 8.11.
221 Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

Figure 8.11 The application of bracketing to

constrain the age of a rock based on several fossils.
In this diagram, the coloured bar represents the time
range during which each of the four species (A – D)
existed on Earth. Although each species lived for
several million years, we can narrow down the likely
age of the rock to just 0.7 Ma during which all four
species coexisted. [SE]

Some organisms survived for a very long time, and are not particularly useful for dating rocks. Sharks,
for example, have been around for over 400 million years, and the great white shark has survived for
16 million years, so far. Organisms that lived for relatively short time periods are particularly useful
for dating rocks, especially if they were distributed over a wide geographic area and so can be used to
compare rocks from different regions. These are known as index fossils. There is no specific limit on
how short the time span has to be to qualify as an index fossil. Some lived for millions of years, and
others for much less than a million years.

Some well-studied groups of organisms qualify as biozone fossils because, although the genera and
families lived over a long time, each species lived for a relatively short time and can be easily
distinguished from others on the basis of specific features. For example, ammonites have a distinctive
feature known as the suture line — where the internal shell layers that separate the individual chambers
(septae) meet the outer shell wall, as shown in Figure 8.12. These suture lines are sufficiently variable
to identify species that can be used to estimate the relative or absolute ages of the rocks in which they
are found.
 Physical Geology 222

Figure 8.12 The septum of an ammonite (white part, left), and the
suture lines where the septae meet the outer shell (right). [SE]

Foraminifera (small, carbonate-shelled marine organisms that originated during the Triassic and are still
around today) are also useful biozone fossils. As shown in Figure 8.13, numerous different foraminifera
lived during the Cretaceous. Some lasted for over 10 million years, but others for less than 1 million
years. If the foraminifera in a rock can be identified to the species level, we can get a good idea of its
age.

Figure 8.13 Time ranges for Cretaceous foraminifera (left) and modern foraminifera from the Ambergris
area of Belize (right) [left: SE, from data in Scott, R, 2014, A Cretaceous chronostratigraphic database:
construction and applications, Carnets de Géologie, Vol. 14., right : SE]

Exercises

Exercise 8.2 Dating Rocks Using Index Fossils

223 Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

This diagram shows the age ranges for some late Cretaceous
inoceramid clams in the genus Mytiloides. Using the bracketing method described above, determine the
possible age range of the rock that these five organisms were found in.
How would that change if M. subhercynius was not present in these rocks?
[SE from data at: http://www.fuhrmann-hilbrecht.de/Heinz/geology/InoIntro/InoIntro.html]
8.4 Isotopic Dating Methods

Originally fossils only provided us with relative ages because, although early paleontologists understood
biological succession, they did not know the absolute ages of the different organisms. It was only in the
early part of the 20th century, when isotopic dating methods were first applied, that it became possible
to discover the absolute ages of the rocks containing fossils. In most cases, we cannot use isotopic
techniques to directly date fossils or the sedimentary rocks they are found in, but we can constrain their
ages by dating igneous rocks that cut across sedimentary rocks, or volcanic ash layers that lie within
sedimentary layers.

Isotopic dating of rocks, or the minerals in them, is based on the fact that we know the decay rates of
certain unstable isotopes of elements and that these rates have been constant over geological time. It is
also based on the premise that when the atoms of an element decay within a mineral or a rock, they stay
there and don’t escape to the surrounding rock, water, or air. One of the isotope pairs widely used in
geology is the decay of 40K to 40Ar (potassium-40 to argon-40). 40K is a radioactive isotope of potassium
that is present in very small amounts in all minerals that have potassium in them. It has a half-life of 1.3
billion years, meaning that over a period of 1.3 Ga one-half of the 40K atoms in a mineral or rock will
decay to 40Ar, and over the next 1.3 Ga one-half of the remaining atoms will decay, and so on (Figure
8.14).

Figure 8.14 The decay of 40K over time. Each

half-life is 1.3 billion years, so after 3.9 billion years
(three half-lives) 12.5% of the original 40K will
remain. The red-blue bars represent 40K and the
green-yellow bars represent 40Ar. [SE]

In order to use the K-Ar dating technique, we need to have an igneous or metamorphic rock that includes
a potassium-bearing mineral. One good example is granite, which normally has some potassium feldspar
(Figure 8.15). Feldspar does not have any argon in it when it forms. Over time, the 40K in the feldspar
decays to 40Ar. Argon is a gas and the atoms of 40Ar remain embedded within the crystal, unless the
rock is subjected to high temperatures after it forms. The sample must be analyzed using a very sensitive
mass-spectrometer, which can detect the differences between the masses of atoms, and can therefore

224
225 Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

distinguish between 40K and the much more abundant 39K. Biotite and hornblende are also commonly
used for K-Ar dating.

Figure 8.15 Crystals of potassium feldspar (pink) in a granitic rock are

candidates for isotopic dating using the K-Ar method because they
contained potassium and no argon when they formed. [SE]

Why can’t we use isotopic dating techniques with sedimentary rocks?

An important assumption that we have to be able to make when using isotopic dating is that when the
rock formed none of the daughter isotope was present (e.g., 40Ar in the case of the K-Ar method). A
clastic sedimentary rock is made up of older rock and mineral fragments, and when the rock forms
it is almost certain that all of the fragments already have daughter isotopes in them. Furthermore, in
almost all cases, the fragments have come from a range of source rocks that all formed at different
times. If we dated a number of individual grains in the sedimentary rock, we would likely get a range of
different dates, all older than the age of the rock. It might be possible to date some chemical sedimentary
rocks isotopically, but there are no useful isotopes that can be used on old chemical sedimentary rocks.
 Physical Geology 226

Radiocarbon dating can be used on sediments or sedimentary rocks that contain carbon, but it cannot be
used on materials older than about 60 ka.

Exercises

Exercise 8.3 Isotopic Dating

Assume that a feldspar crystal from the granite shown in Figure 8.15 was analyzed for 40K and 40Ar. The
proportion of 40K remaining is 0.91. Using the decay curve shown on this graph, estimate the age of the rock.

An example is provided (in blue) for a 40K proportion of

0.95, which is equivalent to an age of approximately 96 Ma. This is determined by drawing a horizontal line
from 0.95 to the decay curve line, and then a vertical line from there to the time axis. [SE]

K-Ar is just one of many isotope-pairs that are useful for dating geological materials. Some of the
other important pairs are listed in Table 8.2, along with the age ranges that they apply to and some
comments on their applications. When radiometric techniques are applied to metamorphic rocks, the
results normally tell us the date of metamorphism, not the date when the parent rock formed.

Table 8.2 A few of the isotope systems that are widely used for dating geological materials

Useful
Isotope System Half-Life Comments
Range

10 Ka – Widely applicable because most rocks have some

Potassium-argon 1.3 Ga
4.57 Ga potassium

1 Ma –
Uranium-lead 4.5 Ga The rock must have uranium-bearing minerals
4.57 Ga

10 Ma –
Rubidium-strontium 47 Ga Less precision than other methods at old dates
4.57 Ga

Carbon-nitrogen (a.k.a. 100 y to Sample must contain wood, bone, or carbonate minerals;
5,730 y
radiocarbon dating) 60,000 y can be applied to young sediments

Radiocarbon dating (using 14C) can be applied to many geological materials, including sediments and
sedimentary rocks, but the materials in question must be younger than 60 ka. Fragments of wood
227 Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

incorporated into young sediments are good candidates for carbon dating, and this technique has been
used widely in studies involving late Pleistocene glaciers and glacial sediments. An example is shown
in Figure 8.16; radiocarbon dates from wood fragments in glacial sediments have been used to estimate
the time of the last glacial advance along the Strait of Georgia.

Figure 8.16 Radiocarbon dates on wood fragments in glacial

sediments in the Strait of Georgia [SE after Clague, J, 1976, Quadra
Sand and its relation to late Wisconsin glaciation of southeast British
Columbia, Can. J. Earth Sciences, V. 13, p. 803-815]
8.5 Other Dating Methods

There are numerous other techniques for dating geological materials, but we will examine just two
of them here: tree-ring dating (i.e., dendrochronology) and dating based on the record of reversals of
Earth’s magnetic field.

Dendrochronology can be applied to dating very young geological materials based on reference records
of tree-ring growth going back many millennia. The longest such records can take us back over 25 ka,
to the height of the last glaciation. One of the advantages of dendrochronology is that, providing reliable
reference records are available, the technique can be used to date events to the nearest year.

Dendrochronology has been used to date the last major subduction zone earthquake on the coast of
B.C., Washington, and Oregon. When large earthquakes strike in this setting, there is a tendency for
some coastal areas to subside by one or two metres. Seawater then rushes in, flooding coastal flats and
killing trees and other vegetation within a few months. There are at least four locations along the coast
of Washington that have such dead trees (and probably many more in other areas). Wood samples from
these trees have been studied and the ring patterns have been compared with patterns from old living
trees in the region (Figure 8.17).

Figure 8.17 Example of tree-ring dating of dead trees [SE]

At all of the locations studied, the trees were found to have died either in the year 1699, or very
shortly thereafter (Figure 8.18). On the basis of these results, it was concluded that a major earthquake
took place in this region sometime between the end of growing season in 1699 and the beginning of
the growing season in 1700. Evidence from a major tsunami that struck Japan on January 27, 1700,
narrowed the timing of the earthquake to sometime in the evening of January 26, 1700. (For more
information, see https://web.viu.ca/earle/1700-quake/)

228
229 Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

Figure 8.18 Sites in Washington where dead trees are present

in coastal flats. The outermost wood of eight trees was dated
using dendrochronology, and of these, seven died during the
year 1699, suggesting that the land was inundated by water at
that time. [SE from data in Yamaguchi, D.K., B.F. Atwater,
D.E. Bunker, B.E. Benson, and M.S. Reid. 1997. Tree-ring
dating the 1700 Cascadia earthquake. Nature, Vol. 389, pp.
922 – 923, 30 October 1997.]

Changes in Earth’s magnetic field can also be used to date events in geologic history. The magnetic
field makes compasses point toward the North Pole, but, as we’ll see in Chapter 10, this hasn’t always
been the case. At various times in the past, Earth’s magnetic field has reversed itself completely,
and during those times a compass would have pointed to the South Pole. By studying magnetism in
volcanic rocks that have been dated isotopically, geologists have been able to delineate the chronology
of magnetic field reversals going back for some 250 Ma. About 5 Ma of this record is shown in Figure
8.19, where the black bands represent periods of normal magnetism (“normal” meaning similar to the
current magnetic field) and the white bands represent periods of reversed magnetism. These periods
of consistent magnetic polarity are given names to make them easier to reference. The current normal
 Physical Geology 230

magnetic field, known as Brunhes, has lasted for the past 780,000 years. Prior to that there was a short
reversed period and then a short normal period known as Jaramillo.

Figure 8.19 The last 5 Ma of magnetic field reversals. [SE after U.S.
Geological Survey, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/
13/Geomagnetic_polarity_late_Cenozoic.svg.]

Oceanic crust becomes magnetized by the magnetic field that exists as the crust forms from magma. As it
cools, tiny crystals of magnetite that form within the magma become aligned with the existing magnetic
field and then remain that way after all of the rock has hardened, as shown in Figure 8.20. Crust that is
forming today is being magnetized in a “normal” sense, but crust that formed 780,000 to 900,000 years
ago, in the interval between the Brunhes and Jaramillo normal periods, was magnetized in the “reversed”
sense.

Chapter 9 has a discussion of Earth’s magnetic field, including where and how it is generated and why
its polarity changes periodically.

Figure 8.20 Depiction of the formation of magnetized oceanic crust at

a spreading ridge. Coloured bars represent periods of normal
magnetism, and the small capital letters denote the Brunhes,
Jaramillio, Olduvai, and Gauss normal magnetic periods (see Figure
8.19). [SE]

Magnetic chronology can be used as a dating technique because we can measure the magnetic field of
rocks using a magnetometer in a lab, or of entire regions by towing a magnetometer behind a ship or
an airplane. For example, the Juan de Fuca Plate, which lies off of the west coast of B.C., Washington,
and Oregon, is being and has been formed along the Juan de Fuca spreading ridge (Figure 8.21). The
parts of the plate that are still close to the ridge have normal magnetism, while parts that are farther
away (and formed much earlier) have either normal or reversed magnetism, depending on when the rock
formed. By carefully matching the sea-floor magnetic stripes with the known magnetic chronology, we
can determine the age at any point on the plate. We can see, for example, that the oldest part of the Juan
de Fuca Plate that has not subducted (off the coast of Oregon) is just over 8 million years old, while the
part that is subducting underneath Vancouver Island is between 0 and about 6 million years old.
231 Chapter 8 Measuring Geological Time

Figure 8.21 The pattern of magnetism within the area of the Juan de
Fuca Plate, off the west coast of North America. The coloured shapes
represent parts of the sea floor that have normal magnetism, and the
magnetic time scale is shown using the same colours. The blue bands
represent Brunhes, Jaramillo, and Olduvai; the green represents
Gauss; and so on. (Note that in this diagram, sea-floor magnetism is
only shown for the Juan de Fuca Plate, although similar patterns exist
on the Pacific Plate.) [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 8.4 Magnetic Dating

The fact that magnetic intervals can only be either normal or reversed places significant limits on the
applicability of magnetic dating. If we find a rock with normal magnetism, we can’t know which normal
magnetic interval it represents, unless we have some other information.
 Physical Geology 232

Using Figure 8.19 for reference, determine the age of a rock with normal magnetism that has been found to
be between 1.5 and 2.0 Ma based on fossil evidence.
How about a rock that is limited to 2.6 to 3.2 Ma by fossils and has reversed magnetism?
 8.6 Understanding Geological Time

It’s one thing to know the facts about geological time — how long it is, how we measure it, how
we divide it up, and what we call the various periods and epochs — but it is quite another to really
understand geological time. The problem is that our lives are short and our memories are even shorter.
Our experiences span only a few decades, so we really don’t have a way of knowing what 11,700 years
means. What’s more, it’s hard for us to understand how 11,700 years differs from 65.5 Ma, or even from
1.8 Ga. It’s not that we can’t comprehend what the numbers mean — we can all get that figured out with
a bit of practice — but even if we do know the numerical meaning of 65.5 Ma, we can’t really appreciate
how long ago it was.

You may be wondering why it’s so important to really “understand” geological time. There are some
very good reasons. One is so that we can fully understand how geological processes that seem
impossibly slow can produce anything of consequence. For example, we are familiar with the concept of
driving from one major city to another: a journey of several hours at around 100 km/h. Continents move
toward each other at rates of a fraction of a millimetre per day, or something in the order of 0.00000001
km/h, and yet, at this impossibly slow rate (try walking at that speed!), they can move thousands of
kilometres. Sediments typically accumulate at even slower rates — less than a millimetre per year —
but still they are thick enough to be thrust up into monumental mountains and carved into breathtaking
canyons.

Another reason is that for our survival on this planet, we need to understand issues like extinction
of endangered species and anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change. Some people, who don’t
understand geological time, are quick to say that the climate has changed in the past, and that what is
happening now is no different. And it certainly has changed in the past. For example, from the Eocene
(50 Ma) to the present day, Earth’s climate cooled by about 12°C. That’s a huge change that ranks up
there with many of the important climate changes of the distant past, and yet the rate of change over
that time was only 0.000024°C/century. Anthropogenic climate change has been 1.1°C over the past 100
1
years, and that is 45,800 times faster than the rate of natural climate change since the Eocene!

One way to wrap your mind around geological time is to put it into the perspective of single year,
because we all know how long it is from one birthday to the next. At that rate, each hour of the year is
equivalent to approximately 500,000 years, and each day is equivalent to 12.5 million years.

If all of geological time is compressed down to a single year, Earth formed on January 1, and the first
life forms evolved in late March (~3,500 Ma). The first large life forms appeared on November 13 (~600
Ma), plants appeared on land around November 24, and amphibians on December 3. Reptiles evolved
from amphibians during the first week of December and dinosaurs and early mammals evolved from
reptiles by December 13, but the dinosaurs, which survived for 160 million years, were gone by Boxing
Day (December 26). The Pleistocene Glaciation got started at around 6:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, and
the last glacial ice left southern Canada by 11:59 p.m.

It’s worth repeating: on this time scale, the earliest ancestors of the animals and plants with which we
1. Climate change data from NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata_v3/GLB.Ts.txt

233
 Physical Geology 234

are familiar did not appear on Earth until mid-November, the dinosaurs disappeared after Christmas,
and most of Canada was periodically locked in ice from 6:30 to 11:59 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. As
for people, the first to inhabit B.C. got here about one minute before midnight, and the first Europeans
arrived about two seconds before midnight.

It is common for the popular press to refer to distant past events as being “prehistoric.” For example,
dinosaurs are reported as being “prehistoric creatures,” even by the esteemed National Geographic
2
Society. The written records of our history date back to about 6,000 years ago, so anything prior to that
is considered “prehistoric.” But to call the dinosaurs prehistoric is equivalent to — and about as useful
as — saying that Singapore is beyond the city limits of Kamloops! If we are going to become literate
about geological time, we have to do better than calling dinosaurs, or early horses (54 Ma), or even early
humans (2.8 Ma), “prehistoric.”

Exercises

Exercise 8.5 What Happened on Your Birthday?

Using the “all of geological time compressed to one year” concept, determine the geological date that is
equivalent to your birthday. First go here: http://mistupid.com/calendar/dayofyear.htm to find out which day
of the year your birth date is. Then divide that number by 365, and multiply that number by 4,570 to
determine the time (in millions since the beginning of geological time). Finally subtract that number from
4,570 to determine the date back from the present.
For example, April Fool’s Day (April 1) is day 91 of the year: 91/365 = 0.2493. 0.2493 x 4,570 = 1,139
million years from the start of time, and 4,570 – 1,193 = 3,377 Ma is the geological date.
Finally, go to the Foundation for Global Community’s “Walk through Time” website at
http://www.globalcommunity.org/wtt/walk_menu/ to find out what was happening on your day. The nearest
date to 3,377 Ma is 3,400 Ma. Bacteria ruled the world at 3,400 Ma, and there’s a discussion about their
lifestyles.

2. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/
Chapter 8 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

The work of William Smith was critical to the establishment of the first geological time
The scale early in the 19th century, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that geologists were
8.1 Geological able to assign reliable dates to the various time periods. The geological time scale is now
Time Scale maintained by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Geological time is divided
into eons, eras, periods, and epochs.

Relative We can determine the relative ages of different rocks by observing and interpreting
8.2 Dating relationships among them, such as superposition, cross-cutting, and inclusions. Gaps in
Methods the geological record are represented by various types of unconformities.

Fossils are useful for dating rocks date back to about 600 Ma. If we know the age range
Dating Rocks of a fossil, we can date the rock, but some organisms lived for many millions of years.
8.3
Using Fossils Index fossils represent shorter geological times, and if a rock has several different fossils
with known age ranges, we can normally narrow the time during which the rock formed.

Radioactive isotopes decay at predictable and known rates, and can be used to date
Isotopic igneous and metamorphic rocks. Some of the more useful isotope systems are
8.4 Dating potassium-argon, rubidium-strontium, uranium-lead, and carbon-nitrogen. Radiocarbon
Methods dating can be applied to sediments and sedimentary rocks, but only if they are younger
than 60 ka.

There are many other methods for dating geological materials. Two that are widely used
Other Dating are dendrochronology and magnetic chronology. Dendrochronology, based on studies of
8.5
Methods tree rings, is widely applied to dating glacial events. Magnetic chronology is based on
the known record of Earth’s magnetic field reversals.

While knowing about geological time is relatively easy, actually comprehending the
Understanding
significance of the vast amounts of geological time is a great challenge. To be able to
8.6 Geological
solve important geological problems and critical societal challenges, like climate
Time
change, we need to really understand geological time.

Questions for Review

1. A granitic rock contains inclusions (xenoliths) of basalt. What can you say about the relative ages of the
granite and the basalt?
2. Explain the differences between:
(a) a disconformity and a paraconformity
(b) a nonconformity and an angular unconformity
3. What are the features of a useful index fossil?

235
 Physical Geology 236

4. This diagram shows a geological cross-section. The granitic rock “f” at the bottom is the one that you
estimated the age of in Exercise 8.3. A piece of wood from layer “d” has been sent for radiocarbon dating and
the result was 0.55 14C remaining. How old is layer “d”?

5. Based on your answer to question 4, what can you say about the age of layer “c” in the figure above?
6. What type of unconformity exists between layer “c” and rock “f”?
7. What about between layer “c” and layer “b”?
8. We can’t use magnetic chronology to date anything younger than 780,000 years. Why not?
9. How did William Smith apply the principle of faunal succession to determine the relative ages of the
sedimentary rocks of England and Wales?
10. Access a copy of the geological time scale at http://www.stratigraphy.org/index.php/ics-chart-timescale.
What are the names of the last age (or stage) of the Cretaceous and the first age of the Paleogene? Print out
the time scale and stick it on the wall above your desk!
Chapter 9 Earth’s Interior

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Explain the variations in the composition and characteristics of Earth’s different layers
• Compare the characteristics and behaviour of the two types of seismic body waves
• Summarize the variations in seismic-wave velocity as a function of rock type and temperature and
pressure conditions
• Explain some of the ways that seismic data can be used to understand planetary interiors
• Describe the temperature variations within Earth and their implications for internal processes
such as mantle convection
• Explain the origins of Earth’s magnetic field and the timing of magnetic field reversals
• Describe the isostatic relationship between the crust and the mantle, and the implications of that
relationship for geological processes on Earth

In order to understand how Earth works, and especially the mechanisms of plate tectonics (covered in
Chapter 10), we need to know something about the inside of our planet — what it’s made of, and what
goes on in there. We have a variety of ways of knowing, and these will be discussed in this chapter, but
the one thing we can’t do is go down and look! Fortunately there are a few places where mantle rock is
exposed on Earth’s surface, and we have some samples of material from the insides of other planetary
bodies, in the form of meteorites that have landed on Earth (Figure 9.1). We also have a great deal of
seismic information that can help us understand the nature of Earth’s interior.

237
 Physical Geology 238

Figure 9.1 Left: a fragment of the Tagish Lake meteorite, discovered in

2000 on the ice of Tagish Lake, B.C. It is a “stony” meteorite that is
dominated by ferromagnesian silicate minerals, and is similar in
composition to Earth’s mantle. Right: part of the Elbogen meteorite
discovered in Germany around 1400. It is an iron meteorite, similar in
composition to Earth’s core. Both samples are a few centimetres
across. [left from: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/images/
content/557996main_tagish-lake-meteorite.jpg] right from:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/
Elbogen_meteorite%2C_8.9g.jpg]

Earth’s interior is broadly divided by composition and depth into crust, mantle, and core (Figure
9.2). The crust is primarily (~95%) made up of igneous rock and metamorphic rock with an overall
composition between intermediate and felsic. The remaining 5% is made up of sedimentary rock, which
is dominated by mudstone.

The mantle includes several layers, all with the same overall ultramafic composition. The upper mantle
is typically composed of peridotite, a rock dominated by olivine and pyroxene. The lower mantle has
a similar chemical composition, but because of the extreme pressures, different minerals are present,
including spinels and garnets. The properties of the mantle also vary with depth, as follows:

• Lithosphere: solid
• Asthenosphere: partially liquid
• Upper and lower mantle: solid but plastic (the difference between the two is in the type of
minerals)
• “D” layer (the part of the mantle within 200 km of the core): partially liquid
• The core-mantle boundary (CMB) is at a depth of 2,900 km.

The core is primarily composed of iron, with lesser amounts of nickel (about 5%) and several percent
oxygen. It is extremely hot (~3500° to 5000°C). The outer core is liquid while the inner core is solid —
even though it is hotter — because the pressure is so much greater at that depth.

Although the CMB is a little less than half of the way to Earth’s centre, the mantle, being on the outside,
is by far the major component of Earth. The mantle makes up 82.5% of the volume, the core 16.1%, and
the crust only 1.4%.

In the remainder of this chapter, we’ll look first at how we know about Earth’s interior structure, and
then at the properties of the different layers and the processes that take place within them.
239 Steven Earle

Figure 9.2
Earth’s layers:
crust is pink,
mantle is
green, core is
blue [SE]
9.1 Understanding Earth through Seismology

Seismology is the study of vibrations within Earth. These vibrations are caused by various events,
including earthquakes, extraterrestrial impacts, explosions, storm waves hitting the shore, and tidal
effects. Of course, seismic techniques have been most widely applied to the detection and study of
earthquakes, but there are many other applications, and arguably seismic waves provide the most
important information that we have concerning Earth’s interior. Before going any deeper into Earth,
however, we need to take a look at the properties of seismic waves. The types of waves that are useful
for understanding Earth’s interior are called body waves, meaning that, unlike the surface waves on the
ocean, they are transmitted through Earth materials.

Imagine hitting a large block of strong rock (e.g., granite) with a heavy sledgehammer (Figure 9.3).
At the point where the hammer strikes it, a small part of the rock will be compressed by a fraction of
a millimetre. That compression will transfer to the neighbouring part of the rock, and so on through
to the far side of the rock, from where it will bounce back to the top — all in a fraction of a second.
This is known as a compression wave, and it can be illustrated by holding a loose spring (like a Slinky)
that is attached to something (or someone) at the other end. If you give it a sharp push so the coils are
compressed, the compression propagates (travels) along the length of the spring and back (Figure 9.4).
You can think of a compression wave as a “push” wave — it’s called a P-wave (although the “P” stands
for “primary” because P-waves arrive first at seismic stations).

Figure 9.3 Hitting a large block of rock with a heavy hammer will
create seismic waves within the rock. Please don’t try this at home!
[SE]

When we hit a rock with a hammer, we also create a different type of body wave, one that is
characterized by back-and-forth vibrations (as opposed to compressions). This is known as a shear wave
(S-wave, where the “S” stands for “secondary”), and an analogy would be what happens when you flick
240
241 Chapter 9 Earth’s Interior

a length of rope with an up-and-down motion. As shown in Figure 9.4, a wave will form in the rope,
which will travel to the end of the rope and back.

Compression waves and shear waves travel very quickly through geological materials. As shown in
Figure 9.5, typical P-wave velocities are between 0.5 km/s and 2.5 km/s in unconsolidated sediments,
and between 3.0 km/s and 6.5 km/s in solid crustal rocks. Of the common rocks of the crust, velocities
are greatest in basalt and granite. S-waves are slower than P-waves, with velocities between 0.1 km/s
and 0.8 km/s in soft sediments, and between 1.5 km/s and 3.8 km/s in solid rocks.

Figure 9.4 A compression wave can be illustrated by a spring (like a

Slinky) that is given a sharp push at one end. A shear wave can be
illustrated by a rope that is given a quick flick. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 9.1 How Soon Will Seismic Waves Get Here?

Imagine that a strong earthquake takes place on Vancouver Island within Strathcona Park (west of
Courtenay). Assuming that the crustal average P-wave velocity is 5 km/s, how long will it take for the first
seismic waves (P-waves) to reach you in the following places (distances from the epicentre are shown)?

Location/distance Time (s)

Nanaimo (120 km)

Surrey (200 km)

Kamloops (390 km)

Mantle rock is generally denser and stronger than crustal rock and both P- and S-waves travel faster
through the mantle than they do through the crust. Moreover, seismic-wave velocities are related to how
 Physical Geology 242

tightly compressed a rock is, and the level of compression increases dramatically with depth. Finally,
seismic waves are affected by the phase state of rock. They are slowed if there is any degree of melting in
the rock. If the material is completely liquid, P-waves are slowed dramatically and S-waves are stopped
altogether.

Figure 9.5 Typical velocities of P-waves (red) and S-waves (blue) in

sediments and in solid crustal rocks [SE after: US Env. Prot. Agency
http://www.epa.gov/esd/cmb/GeophysicsWebsite/ pages/reference/
properties/Geomechanical_ (Engineering)_ Properties.htm]

Figure 9.6a P-wave and S-wave velocity variations with depth in

Earth. [SE]
243 Chapter 9 Earth’s Interior

Figure 9.6b P-wave and S-wave velocity variations in the upper mantle
and crust (This is an expanded view of the upper 600 km of the curves
in Figure 9.6a)

Accurate seismometers have been used for earthquake studies since the late 1800s, and systematic use
of seismic data to understand Earth’s interior started in the early 1900s. The rate of change of seismic
waves with depth in Earth (as shown in Figure 9.6) has been determined over the past several decades by
analyzing seismic signals from large earthquakes at seismic stations around the world. Small differences
in arrival time of signals at different locations have been interpreted to show that:

• Velocities are greater in mantle rock than in the crust.

• Velocities generally increase with pressure, and therefore with depth.
• Velocities slow in the area between 100 km and 250 km depth (called the “low-velocity
zone”; equivalent to the asthenosphere).
• Velocities increase dramatically at 660 km depth (because of a mineralogical transition).
• Velocities slow in the region just above the core-mantle boundary (the D” layer or “ultra-low-
velocity zone”).
• S-waves do not pass through the outer part of the core.
• P-wave velocities increase dramatically at the boundary between the liquid outer core and the
solid inner core.

One of the first discoveries about Earth’s interior made through seismology was in the early 1900s
when Croatian seismologist Andrija Mohorovičić (pronounced Moho-ro-vi-chich) realized that at certain
distances from an earthquake, two separate sets of seismic waves arrived at a seismic station within a few
seconds of each other. He reasoned that the waves that went down into the mantle, travelled through the
mantle, and then were bent upward back into the crust, reached the seismic station first because although
they had farther to go, they travelled faster through mantle rock (as shown in Figure 9.7). The boundary
between the crust and the mantle is known as the Mohorovičić discontinuity (or Moho). Its depth is
 Physical Geology 244

between 60 km and 80 km beneath major mountain ranges, around 30 km to 50 km beneath most of the
continental crust, and between 5 km and 10 km beneath the oceanic crust.

Figure 9.7 Depiction of seismic waves emanating

from an earthquake (red star). Some waves travel
through the crust to the seismic station (at about 6
km/s), while others go down into the mantle (where
they travel at around 8 km/s) and are bent upward
toward the surface, reaching the station before the
ones that travelled only through the crust. [SE]

Our current understanding of the patterns of seismic wave transmission through Earth is summarized in
Figure 9.8. Because of the gradual increase in density (and therefore rock strength) with depth, all waves
are refracted (toward the lower density material) as they travel through homogenous parts of Earth and
thus tend to curve outward toward the surface. Waves are also refracted at boundaries within Earth, such
as at the Moho, at the core-mantle boundary (CMB), and at the outer-core/inner-core boundary.

S-waves do not travel through liquids — they are stopped at the CMB — and there is an S-wave shadow
on the side of Earth opposite a seismic source. The angular distance from the seismic source to the
shadow zone is 103° on either side, so the total angular distance of the shadow zone is 154°. We can use
this information to infer the depth to the CMB.

P-waves do travel through liquids, so they can make it through the liquid part of the core. Because of
the refraction that takes place at the CMB, waves that travel through the core are bent away from the
surface, and this creates a P-wave shadow zone on either side, from 103° to 150°. This information can
be used to discover the differences between the inner and outer parts of the core.

Figure 9.8 Patterns of seismic wave propagation

through Earth’s mantle and core. S-waves do not
travel through the liquid outer core, so they leave a
shadow on Earth’s far side. P-waves do travel
through the core, but because the waves that enter
the core are refracted, there are also P-wave shadow
zones. [SE]

Exercises
245 Chapter 9 Earth’s Interior

Exercise 9.2 Liquid Cores in Other Planets

We know that other planets must have (or at least did have) liquid cores like ours, and we could use seismic
data to find out how big they are. The S-wave shadow zones on planets A and B are shown. Using the same
method used for Earth (on the left), sketch in the outlines of the cores for these two other planets.

Using data from many seismometers and hundreds of earthquakes, it is possible to create a two- or three-
dimensional image of the seismic properties of part of the mantle. This technique is known as seismic
tomography, and an example of the result is shown in Figure 9.9.

Figure 9.9 P-wave tomographic profile of area in the southern Pacific

Ocean from southeast of Tonga to Fiji. Blue represents rock that has
relatively high seismic velocities, while yellow and red represent rock
with low velocities. Open circles are earthquakes used in the study.
[from: Zhao, D., Y. Xu, D.A. Wiens, L. Dorman, J. Hildebrand, and S.
Webb, Depth extent of the Lau back-arc spreading center and its
relationship to the subduction process, Science, 278, 254-257, 1997,
used with permission]

The Pacific Plate subducts beneath Tonga and appears in Figure 9.9 as a 100 km thick slab of cold (blue-
coloured) oceanic crust that has pushed down into the surrounding hot mantle. The cold rock is more
rigid than the surrounding hot mantle rock, so it is characterized by slightly faster seismic velocities.
There is volcanism in the Lau spreading centre and also in the Fiji area, and the warm rock in these areas
has slower seismic velocities (yellow and red colours).
9.2 The Temperature of Earth’s Interior

As we’ve discussed in the context of metamorphism, Earth’s internal temperature increases with depth.
However, as shown in Figure 9.10, that rate of increase is not linear. The temperature gradient is around
15° to 30°C/km within the upper 100 km; it then drops off dramatically through the mantle, increases
more quickly at the base of the mantle, and then increases slowly through the core. The temperature is
around 1000°C at the base of the crust, around 3500°C at the base of the mantle, and around 5,000°C
at Earth’s centre. The temperature gradient within the lithosphere (upper 100 km) is quite variable
depending on the tectonic setting. Gradients are lowest in the central parts of continents, higher in the
vicinity of subduction zones, and higher still at divergent boundaries.

Figure 9.10 Generalized rate of

temperature increase with depth
within Earth. Temperature increases
to the right, so the flatter the line, the
steeper the temperature gradient. Our
understanding of the temperature
gradient comes from seismic wave
information and knowledge of the
melting points of Earth’s materials.
[SE]

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247 Chapter 9 Earth’s Interior

Figure 9.11 Rate of temperature increase with depth

in Earth’s upper 500 km, compared with the dry
mantle rock melting curve (red dashed line). LVZ=
low-velocity zone [SE]

Figure 9.11 shows a typical temperature curve for the upper 500 km of the mantle, in comparison
with the melting curve for dry mantle rock. Within the depth interval between 100 and 250 km, the
temperature curve comes very close to the melting boundary for dry mantle rock. At these depths,
therefore, mantle rock is either very nearly melted or partially melted. In some situations, where extra
heat is present and the temperature line crosses over the melting line, or where water is present, it may be
completely molten. This region of the mantle is known as the low-velocity zone because seismic waves
are slowed within rock that is near its melting point, and of course it is also known as the asthenosphere.
Below 250 km, the temperature stays on the left side of the melting line; in other words, the mantle is
solid from here all the way down to the core-mantle boundary.

The fact that the temperature gradient is much less in the main part of the mantle than in the lithosphere
has been interpreted to indicate that the mantle is convecting, and therefore that heat from depth is being
brought toward the surface faster than it would be with only heat conduction. As we’ll see in Chapter
10, a convecting mantle is an essential feature of plate tectonics.

The convection of the mantle is a product of the transfer of heat from the core to the lower mantle. As in
a pot of soup on a hot stove (Figure 9.12), the material near the heat source becomes hot and expands,
making it lighter than the material above. The force of buoyancy causes it to rise, and cooler material
flows in from the sides. The mantle convects in this way because the heat transfer from below is not
perfectly even, and also because, even though mantle material is solid rock, it is sufficiently plastic to
slowly flow (at rates of centimetres per year) as long as a steady force is applied to it.

As in the soup pot example, Earth’s mantle will no longer convect once the core has cooled to the point
where there is not enough heat transfer to overcome the strength of the rock. This has already happened
on smaller planets like Mercury and Mars, as well as on Earth’s Moon.
 Physical Geology 248

Figure 9.12 Convection in a pot of soup on a hot stove (left). As long

as heat is being transferred from below, the liquid will convect. If the
heat is turned off (right), the liquid remains hot for a while, but
convection will cease. [SE]

Why is the inside of Earth hot?

The heat of Earth’s interior comes from two main sources, each contributing about 50% of the heat.
One of those is the frictional heat left over from the collisions of large and small particles that created
Earth in the first place, plus the subsequent frictional heat of redistribution of material within Earth by
gravitational forces (e.g., sinking of iron to form the core).

The other source is radioactivity, specifically the spontaneous radioactive decay of 235U, 238U, 40K,
and 232Th, which are primarily present in the mantle. As shown on this figure, the total heat produced
that way has been decreasing over time (because these isotopes are getting used up), and is now roughly
25% of what it was when Earth formed. This means that Earth’s interior is slowly becoming cooler.

[Image by SE, after Arevalo, R, McDonough, W and Luong, M, 2009, The K/U ratio of Earth: insights
into mantle composition, structure and thermal evolution, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, V 278, p.
361-369.]
9.3 Earth’s Magnetic Field

Heat is also being transferred from the solid inner core to the liquid outer core, and this leads to
convection of the liquid iron of the outer core. Because iron is a metal and conducts electricity (even
when molten), its motion generates a magnetic field.

Earth’s magnetic field is defined by the North and South Poles that align generally with the axis of
rotation (Figure 9.13). The lines of magnetic force flow into Earth in the northern hemisphere and out
of Earth in the southern hemisphere. Because of the shape of the field lines, the magnetic force trends at
different angles to the surface in different locations (red arrows of Figure 9.13). At the North and South
Poles, the force is vertical. Anywhere on the equator the force is horizontal, and everywhere in between,
the magnetic force is at some intermediate angle to the surface. As we’ll see in Chapter 10, the variations
in these orientations provide a critical piece of evidence to the understanding of continental drift as an
aspect of plate tectonics.

Earth’s magnetic field is generated within the outer core by the convective movement of liquid iron, but
as we discovered in Chapter 8, the magnetic field is not stable over geological time. For reasons that
are not completely understood, the magnetic field decays periodically and then becomes re-established.
When it does re-establish, it may be oriented the way it was before the decay, or it may be oriented with
the reversed polarity. Over the past 250 Ma, there have a few hundred magnetic field reversals, and their
timing has been anything but regular. The shortest ones that geologists have been able to define lasted
only a few thousand years, and the longest one was more than 30 million years, during the Cretaceous
(Figure 9.14).

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 Physical Geology 250

Figure 9.13 Depiction of Earth’s magnetic field as a bar magnet

coinciding with the core. The south pole of such a magnet points to
Earth’s North Pole. The red arrows represent the orientation of the
magnetic field at various locations on Earth’s surface. [SE after:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/ 1/17/
Earths_Magnetic_Field_ Confusion.svg]

Exercises

Exercise 9.3 What Does Your Magnetic Dip Meter Tell You?
Regular compasses point only to the north magnetic pole, but if you have a magnetic dip meter (or an iPhone
with the appropriate app*), you could also measure the angle of the magnetic field at your location in the up-
and-down sense. You don’t need to get the app (or an iPhone) to do this exercise!
Using Figure 9.13 as a guide, describe where you’d be on Earth if the vertical angles are as follows:
Up at a shallow angle Parallel to the ground

Vertical orientation General location Vertical orientation General location

Straight down

Down at a steep angle

*See the magnetic inclination app at: http://www.hotto.de/mobileapps/iphonemagneticinclinationmeter.html

251 Chapter 9 Earth’s Interior

Figure 9.14 Magnetic field reversal chronology for the past 170 Ma.
The first 5 Ma of the magnetic chronology are shown in more detail in
Figure 9.15. [SE after: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/
Geomagnetic_polarity_0-169_Ma.svg]

Changes in Earth’s magnetic field have been studied using a mathematical model, and reversals have
been shown to take place when the model was run to simulate a period of several hundred thousand
years. The fact that field reversals took place shows that the model is a reasonably accurate
representation of the Earth. According to the lead author of the study, Gary Glatzmaier, of University
of California Santa Cruz: “Our solution shows how convection in the fluid outer core is continually
trying to reverse the field but that the solid inner core inhibits magnetic reversals because the field in the
inner core can only change on the much longer time scale of diffusion. Only once in many attempts is
a reversal successful, which is probably the reason why the times between reversals of the Earth’s field
are long and randomly distributed.” A depiction of Earth’s magnetic field lines during a stable period
and during a reversal is shown in Figure 9.15. To read more about these phenomena see Glatzmaier’s
Geodynamo website at: http://es.ucsc.edu/~glatz/geodynamo.html.

Figure 9.15 Depiction of Earth’s magnetic field

between reversals (left) and during a reversal (right).
The lines represent magnetic field lines: blue where
the field points toward Earth’s centre and yellow
where it points away. The rotation axis of Earth is
vertical, and the outline of the core is shown as a
dashed white circle. [from: http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal]
9.4 Isostasy

Theory holds that the mantle is able to convect because of its plasticity, and this property also allows
for another very important Earth process known as isostasy. The literal meaning of the word isostasy is
“equal standstill,” but the importance behind it is the principle that Earth’s crust is floating on the mantle,
like a raft floating in the water, rather than resting on the mantle like a raft sitting on the ground.

The relationship between the crust and the mantle is illustrated in Figure 9.16. On the right is an example
of a non-isostatic relationship between a raft and solid concrete. It’s possible to load the raft up with lots
of people, and it still won’t sink into the concrete. On the left, the relationship is an isostatic one between
two different rafts and a swimming pool full of peanut butter. With only one person on board, the raft
floats high in the peanut butter, but with three people, it sinks dangerously low. We’re using peanut butter
here, rather than water, because its viscosity more closely represents the relationship between the crust
and the mantle. Although it has about the same density as water, peanut butter is much more viscous
(stiff), and so although the three-person raft will sink into the peanut butter, it will do so quite slowly.

Figure 9.16 Illustration of a non-isostatic relationship between a raft

and solid ground (right) and of isostatic relationships between rafts
and peanut butter (left). [SE]

The relationship of Earth’s crust to the mantle is similar to the relationship of the rafts to the peanut
butter. The raft with one person on it floats comfortably high. Even with three people on it the raft is
less dense than the peanut butter, so it floats, but it floats uncomfortably low for those three people. The
crust, with an average density of around 2.6 grams per cubic centimetre (g/cm3), is less dense than the
mantle (average density of approximately 3.4 g/cm3 near the surface, but more than that at depth), and
so it is floating on the “plastic” mantle. When more weight is added to the crust, through the process
of mountain building, it slowly sinks deeper into the mantle and the mantle material that was there is
pushed aside (Figure 9.17, left). When that weight is removed by erosion over tens of millions of years,
the crust rebounds and the mantle rock flows back (Figure 9.17, right).

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253 Chapter 9 Earth’s Interior

Figure 9.17 Illustration of the isostatic relationship

between the crust and the mantle. Following a period
of mountain building, mass has been added to a part
of the crust, and the thickened crust has pushed
down into the mantle (left). Over the following tens
of millions of years, the mountain chain is eroded
and the crust rebounds (right). The green arrows
represent slow mantle flow. [SE]

The crust and mantle respond in a similar way to glaciation. Thick accumulations of glacial ice add
weight to the crust, and as the mantle beneath is squeezed to the sides, the crust subsides. This process is
illustrated for the current ice sheet on Greenland in Figure 9.18. The Greenland Ice Sheet at this location
is over 2,500 m thick, and the crust beneath the thickest part has been depressed to the point where it
is below sea level over a wide area. When the ice eventually melts, the crust and mantle will slowly
rebound, but full rebound will likely take more than 10,000 years.

Figure 9.18a A cross-section through the crust in the northern part of

Greenland (The ice thickness is based on data from NASA and the
Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, but the crust thickness is less
than it should be for the sake of illustration.) The maximum ice
thickness is over 2,500 m. The red arrows represent downward
pressure on the mantle because of the mass of the ice.
 Physical Geology 254

Figure 9.18b Depiction of the situation after complete melting of the

ice sheet, a process that could happen within 2,000 years if people and
their governments continue to ignore climate change. The isostatic
rebound of the mantle would not be able to keep up with this rate of
melting, so for several thousand years the central part of Greenland
would remain close to sea level, in some areas even below sea level.

Figure 9.18c It is likely that complete rebound of the mantle beneath

Greenland would take more than 10,000 years.

How can the mantle be b1oth solid and plastic?

255 Chapter 9 Earth’s Interior

You might be wondering how it is possible that Earth’s mantle is rigid enough to break during an
earthquake, and yet it convects and flows like a very viscous liquid. The explanation is that the mantle
behaves as a non-Newtonian fluid, meaning that it responds differently to stresses depending on how
quickly the stress is applied. A good example of this is the behaviour of the material known as Silly
Putty, which can bounce and will break if you pull on it sharply, but will deform in a liquid manner
if stress is applied slowly. In this photo, Silly Putty was placed over a hole in a glass tabletop, and in
response to gravity, it slowly flowed into the hole. The mantle will flow when placed under the slow but
steady stress of a growing (or melting) ice sheet.

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Silly_putty_dripping.jpg]

Figure 9.19 The current rates of post-glacial

isostatic uplift (green, blue, and purple shades) and
subsidence (yellow and orange). Subsidence is taking
place where the mantle is slowly flowing back toward
areas that are experiencing post-glacial uplift.
[From: Paulson, A., S. Zhong, and J. Wahr. Inference
of mantle viscosity from GRACE and relative sea
level data, Geophys. J. Int. (2007) 171, 497–508.
Accessed at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hudson_Bay#/media/
File:PGR_Paulson2007_Rate_of_Lithospheric_Uplif
t_due_to_PGR.png]

Large parts of Canada are still rebounding as a result of the loss of glacial ice over the past 12 ka, and
as shown in Figure 9.19, other parts of the world are also experiencing isostatic rebound. The highest
rate of uplift is in within a large area to the west of Hudson Bay, which is where the Laurentide Ice
Sheet was the thickest (over 3,000 m). Ice finally left this region around 8,000 years ago, and the crust is
currently rebounding at a rate of nearly 2 cm/year. Strong isostatic rebound is also occurring in northern
Europe where the Fenno-Scandian Ice Sheet was thickest, and in the eastern part of Antarctica, which
also experienced significant ice loss during the Holocene.

There are also extensive areas of subsidence surrounding the former Laurentide and Fenno-Scandian Ice
Sheets. During glaciation, mantle rock flowed away from the areas beneath the main ice sheets, and this
material is now slowly flowing back, as illustrated in Figure 9.18b.
 Physical Geology 256

Exercises

Exercise 9.4 Rock Density and Isostasy

The densities (also known as “specific gravity”) of a number of common minerals are given in the table
below. The approximate proportions of these minerals in the continental crust (typified by granite), oceanic
crust (mostly basalt) and mantle (mainly the rock known as peridotite) are also given. Assuming that you
have 1,000 cm3 of each rock type, estimate the respective rock-type densities. For each rock type, you will
need to multiply the volume of the different minerals in the rock by their density, and then add those numbers
to get the total weight for 1,000 cm3 of that rock. The density is that number divided by 1,000. The first one
is done for you.

If continental crust (represented by granite) and oceanic crust (represented by basalt) are like rafts floating on
the mantle, what does this tell you about how high or low they should float?
This concept is illustrated below. The dashed line is for reference, showing points at equal distance from
Earth’s centre.
Chapter 9 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Seismic waves that travel through Earth are either P-waves (compression, or “push”
Understanding
waves) or S-waves (shear waves). P-waves are faster than S-waves, and can pass
9.1 Earth through
through fluids. By studying seismic waves, we can discover the nature and temperature
Seismology
characteristics of the various parts of Earth’s interior.

The Earth’s temperature increases with depth (to around 5000°C at the centre), but there are
Temperature significant variations in the rate of temperature increase. These variations are related to
9.2
of Earth’s differences in composition and the existence of convection in the mantle and liquid part
Interior of the core.

Because of outer-core convection, Earth has a magnetic field. The magnetic force
Earth’s
directions are different at different latitudes. The polarity of the field is not constant, and
9.3 Magnetic
has flipped from “normal” (as it is now) to reversed and back to normal hundreds of
Field
times in the past.

The “plastic” nature of the mantle, which allows for mantle convection, also determines
the nature of the relationship between the crust and the mantle. The crust floats on the
9.4 Isostasy mantle in an isostatic relationship. Where the crust becomes thicker because of
mountain building, it pushes farther down into the mantle. Oceanic crust, being heavier
than continental crust, floats lower on the mantle.

Questions for Review

1. What parts of Earth are most closely represented by typical stony meteorites and typical iron
meteorites?
2. On the diagram shown here, draw (from memory) and label the approximate locations of the
following boundaries: crust/mantle, mantle/core, outer core/inner core.

257
 Physical Geology 258

3. Describe the important differences between P-waves and S-waves.

4. Why does P-wave velocity decrease dramatically at the core-mantle boundary?
5. Why do both P-waves and S-waves gradually bend as they move through the mantle?
6. What is the evidence for mantle convection, and what is the mechanism that causes it?
7. Where and how is Earth’s magnetic field generated?
8. When were the last two reversals of Earth’s magnetic field?
9. What property of the mantle is essential for the isostatic relationship between the crust and the
mantle?
10. How would you expect the depth to the crust-mantle boundary in the area of the Rocky
Mountains to differ from that in central Saskatchewan?
11. As you can see in Figure 9.19, British Columbia is still experiencing weak post-glacial isostatic
uplift, especially in the interior, but also along the coast. Meanwhile offshore areas are
experiencing weak isostatic subsidence. Why?
Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Discuss some of the early evidence for continental drift and Alfred Wegener’s role in promoting
this theory
• Explain some of the other models that were used early in the 20th century to understand global
geological features
• Describe the numerous geological advances made in the middle part of the 20th century that
provided the basis for understanding the mechanisms of plate tectonics and the evidence that
plates have moved and lithosphere is created and destroyed
• List the seven major plates, their extents, and their direction of motion, and identify the types of
boundaries between them
• Describe the geological processes that take place at divergent and convergent plate boundaries,
and explain why transform faults exist
• Explain how supercontinents form and how they break apart
• Describe the mechanisms for plate movement

As we discovered in Chapter 1, plate tectonics is the model or theory that we use to understand how our
planet works. More specifically it is a model that explains the origins of continents and oceans, folded
rocks and mountain ranges, igneous and metamorphic rocks, earthquakes and volcanoes, and continental
drift. Plate tectonics was first proposed just over 100 years ago, but did not become an accepted part
of geology until about 50 years ago. It took 50 years for this theory to become accepted for a few
reasons. First, it was a true revolution in thinking about Earth, which was difficult for many established
geologists. Second, there was a political gulf between the main proponent of the theory Alfred Wegener
(from Germany) and the geological establishment of the day, which was mostly centred in Britain and
the United States. Third, the evidence and understanding of Earth that would have supported plate
tectonic theory simply didn’t exist until the middle of the 20th century.

259
10.1 Alfred Wegener — the Father of Plate Tectonics

Alfred Wegener (1880-1930) (Figure 10.1) earned a PhD in astronomy at the University of Berlin
in 1904, but he had always been interested in geophysics and meteorology and spent most of his
academic career working in meteorology. In 1911 he happened on a scientific publication that included
a description of the existence of matching Permian-aged terrestrial fossils in various parts of South
America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia (Figure 10.2).

Wegener concluded that this distribution of fossils could only exist if these continents were joined
together during the Permian, and he coined the term Pangea (“all land”) for the supercontinent that he
thought included all of the present-day continents.

Figure 10.1 Alfred Wegener a few years

before his death in 1930
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/6/65/
Alfred_Wegener_ca.1924-30.jpg]

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261 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

Figure 10.2 The distribution of several Permian terrestrial fossils that

are present in various parts of continents that are now separated by
oceans. During the Permian, the supercontinent Pangea included the
supercontinent Gondwana, shown here, along with North America and
Eurasia.

Wegener pursued his theory with determination — combing the libraries, consulting with colleagues,
and making observations — looking for evidence to support it. He relied heavily on matching geological
patterns across oceans, such as sedimentary strata in South America matching those in Africa (Figure
10.3), North American coalfields matching those in Europe, and the mountains of Atlantic Canada
matching those of northern Britain — both in morphology and rock type. Wegener also referred to the
evidence for the Carboniferous and Permian (~300 Ma) Karoo Glaciation in South America, Africa,
India, Antarctica, and Australia (Figure 10.4). He argued that this could only have happened if these
continents were once all connected as a single supercontinent. He also cited evidence (based on his own
astronomical observations) that showed that the continents were moving with respect to each other, and
determined a separation rate between Greenland and Scandinavia of 11 m per year, although he admitted
that the measurements were not accurate. In fact they weren’t even close — the separation rate is actually
about 2.5 cm per year!
 Physical Geology 262

Figure 10.3 A cross-section showing the geological similarities

between parts of Brazil on the left and Angola (Africa) on the right.
The pink layer is a salt deposit, which is now known to be common in
areas of continental rifting. [Source: U.S. Energy Information
Administration (March 2015) http://www.eia.gov/countries/
analysisbriefs/Angola/angola.pdf]

Figure 10.4 The distribution of the Carboniferous and Permian Karoo

Glaciation (in blue) [SE, after http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/9/96/Karoo_Glaciation.png]

Wegener first published his ideas in 1912 in a short book called Die Entstehung der Kontinente (The
Origin of Continents), and then in 1915 in Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane (The Origin of
Continents and Oceans). He revised this book several times up to 1929. It was translated into French,
English, Spanish, and Russian in 1924.

In fact the continental fits were not perfect and the geological matchups were not always consistent, but
the most serious problem of all was that Wegener could not conceive of a good mechanism for moving
the continents around. It was understood by this time that the continents were primarily composed
of sialic material (SIAL: silicon and aluminum dominated), and that the ocean floors were primarily
simatic (SIMA: silicon and magnesium dominated). Wegener proposed that the continents were like
icebergs floating on the heavier SIMA crust, but the only forces that he could invoke to propel continents
around were poleflucht, the effect of Earth’s rotation pushing objects toward the equator, and the lunar
and solar tidal forces, which tend to push objects toward the west. It was quickly shown that these
263 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

forces were far too weak to move continents, and without any reasonable mechanism to make it work,
Wegener’s theory was quickly dismissed by most geologists of the day.

Alfred Wegener died in Greenland in 1930 while carrying out studies related to glaciation and climate.
At the time of his death, his ideas were tentatively accepted by only a small minority of geologists,
and soundly rejected by most. However, within a few decades that was all to change. For more
about his extremely important contributions to Earth science, visit this NASA website:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Wegener/
10.2 Global Geological Models of the Early 20th Century

The untimely death of Alfred Wegener didn’t solve any problems for those who opposed his ideas
because they still had some inconvenient geological truths to deal with. One of those was explaining
the distribution of terrestrial species across five continents that are currently separated by hundreds or
thousands of kilometres of ocean water (Figure 10.2), and another was explaining the origin of extensive
fold-belt mountains, such as the Appalachians, the Alps, the Himalayas, and the Canadian Rockies.

Before we go any further, it is important to know what was generally believed about global geology
before plate tectonics. At the beginning of the 20th century, geologists had a good understanding of how
most rocks were formed and understood their relative ages through interpretation of fossils, but there
was considerable controversy regarding the origin of mountain chains, especially fold-belt mountains.
At the end of the 19th century, one of the prevailing views on the origin of mountains was the theory of
contractionism — the idea that since Earth is slowly cooling, it must also be shrinking. In this scenario,
mountain ranges had formed like the wrinkles on a dried-up apple, and the oceans had submerged parts
of former continents. While this theory helped to address the dilemma of the terrestrial fossils, it came
with its own set of problems, one being that the amount of cooling couldn’t produce the necessary
amount of shrinking, and the other being the principle of isostasy (which had already been around for
several decades), which wouldn’t allow continents to sink. (See Section 9.4 for a review of the important
principle of isostasy.)

Another widely held view was permanentism, in which it was believed that the continents and oceans
have always been generally as they are today. This view incorporated a mechanism for creation of
mountain chains known as the geosyncline theory. A geosyncline is a thick deposit of sediments and
sedimentary rocks, typically situated along the edge of a continent (Figure 10.5).

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265 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

Figure 10.5 The development of a geosyncline along a continental

margin. (Note that a geosyncline is not related to a syncline, which is a
downward fold in sedimentary rocks.) [SE]

The idea of geosynclines developing into fold-belt mountains originated in the middle of the 19th
century, proposed first by James Hall and later elaborated by Dwight Dana, both of whom worked
extensively in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. The process of converting
a geosyncline into a mountain belt was never really adequately explained, although it was widely
believed that mountain belts formed when geosynclines were compressed by forces pushing from either
side. The problem is that, without the lateral forces related to plate tectonics, no one was able to
adequately describe what would do the pushing. The sediments that accumulate within a geosyncline are
derived from erosion of the adjacent continent. Geosynclinal sediments — which eventually turn into
sedimentary rocks — may be many thousands of metres thick. As they accumulate, they push down the
pre-existing crustal rocks. Extensive geosynclinal deposits exist around much of the coastline of most of
the continents; there is a large geosyncline along the eastern edge of North America.

Proponents of the geosyncline theory of mountain formation, and there were many well into the
1960s, also had the problem of explaining the intercontinental terrestrial fossil matchups. The simple
explanation was that there were “land bridges” across the Atlantic along which animals and plants
could migrate back and forth. One proponent of this idea was the American naturalist Ernest Ingersoll.
Referring to evidence of past climate changes, Ingersoll contributed the following to the Encyclopedia
Americana in 1920: “The most interesting feature of these changes, however, is that by which, now and
again, the Old World was connected with the New by necks or spaces of land, known as “land-bridges”;
 Physical Geology 266

especially as these permitted an interchange of plants and animals, giving to us many new ones from the
1
other side of the ocean, including, finally, man himself.”

There are many problems with the land-bridge theory, one being that it is completely inconsistent with
isostasy, and another that there is no evidence of the remnants of the land bridges. The Atlantic Ocean is
several thousand metres deep over wide areas, and so the underwater slopes leading up to a land bridge
would have to have been at least tens of kilometres wide in most places, and many times that in others.
A land bridge of that size would certainly have left some trace.

Exercises

Exercise 10.1 Fitting the Continents Together

The main continents around the Atlantic Ocean are depicted here in the shapes that they might have had
during the Mesozoic, including the extents of their continental shelves. Cut these shapes out and see how well
you can fit them together in the positions that these areas occupied within Pangea. You can refer to a map of
Pangea to help you make the fit.

1. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Encyclopedia_Americana_(1920)/Land-Bridges_Across_the_Oceans
 10.3 Geological Renaissance of the Mid-20th Century

As the mineral magnetite (Fe3O4) crystallizes from magma, it becomes magnetized with an orientation
parallel to that of Earth’s magnetic field at that time. This is called remnant magnetism. Rocks like
basalt, which cool from a high temperature and commonly have relatively high levels of magnetite, are
particularly susceptible to being magnetized in this way, but even sediments and sedimentary rocks, as
long as they have small amounts of magnetite, will take on remnant magnetism because the magnetite
grains gradually become reoriented following deposition. By studying both the horizontal and vertical
components of the remnant magnetism, one can tell not only the direction to magnetic north at the time
of the rock’s formation, but also the latitude where the rock formed relative to magnetic north.

In the early 1950s, a group of geologists from Cambridge University, including Keith Runcorn, Ted
1
Irving, and several others, started looking at the remnant magnetism of Phanerozoic British and
European volcanic rocks, and collecting paleomagnetic data. They found that rocks of different ages
sampled from generally the same area showed quite different apparent magnetic pole positions (Figure
10.6). They initially assumed that this meant that Earth’s magnetic field had, over time, departed
significantly from its present position — which is close to the rotational pole.

Figure 10.6 Apparent polar-wandering paths (APWP) for Eurasia and

North America. The view is from the North Pole (black dot) looking
down. The outer circle is the equator. In the diagram to the right the
curve locations have been corrected taking continental drift into
account. [SE]

The curve defined by the paleomagnetic data was called a polar wandering path because Runcorn and
his students initially thought that their data represented actual movement of the magnetic poles (since
geophysical models of the time suggested that the magnetic poles did not need to be aligned with the
rotational poles). We now know that the magnetic data define movement of continents, and not of the
magnetic poles, so we call it an apparent polar wandering path (APWP).

1. Ted Irving later set up a paleomagnetic lab at the Geological Survey of Canada in Sidney, B.C., and did a great deal of important work on
understanding the geology of western North America.

267
 Physical Geology 268

What is a polar wandering path?

At around 500 Ma, what we now call Europe was south of the equator, and so European rocks formed
then would have acquired an upward-pointing magnetic field orientation (see Figure 9.13 and the figure
shown here). Between then and now, Europe gradually moved north, and the rocks forming at various
times acquired steeper and steeper downward-pointing magnetic orientations.

When researchers evaluated magnetic data in this way in the 1950s, they plotted where the North Pole
would have appeared to be based on the magnetic data and assumed that the continent was always where
it is now. That means that the 500 Ma “apparent” north pole would have been somewhere in the South
Pacific, and that over the following 500 million years it would have gradually moved north.

Of course we now know that the magnetic poles don’t move around much (although polarity reversals
do take place) and that the reason Europe had a magnetic orientation characteristic of the southern
hemisphere is that it was in the southern hemisphere at 500 Ma.

Runcorn and colleagues soon extended their work to North America, and this also showed apparent
polar wandering, but the results were not consistent with those from Europe. For example, the 200
Ma pole for North America plotted somewhere in China, while the 200 Ma pole for Europe plotted
in the Pacific Ocean. Since there could only have been one pole position at 200 Ma, this evidence
strongly supported the idea that North America and Europe had moved relative to each other since
200 Ma. Subsequent paleomagnetic work showed that South America, Africa, India, and Australia also
have unique polar wandering curves. In 1956, Runcorn changed his mind and became a proponent of
continental drift.

This paleomagnetic work of the 1950s was the first new evidence in favour of continental drift, and it
led a number of geologists to start thinking that the idea might have some merit. Nevertheless, for a
majority of geologists working on global geology at the time, this type of evidence was not sufficiently
convincing to get them to change their views.

During the 20th century, our knowledge and understanding of the ocean basins and their geology
increased dramatically. Before 1900, we knew virtually nothing about the bathymetry and geology of
the oceans. By the end of the 1960s, we had detailed maps of the topography of the ocean floors, a clear
269 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

picture of the geology of ocean floor sediments and the solid rocks underneath them, and almost as much
information about the geophysical nature of ocean rocks as of continental rocks.

Up until about the 1920s, ocean depths were measured using weighted lines dropped overboard. In deep
water this is a painfully slow process and the number of soundings in the deep oceans was probably
fewer than 1,000. That is roughly one depth sounding for every 350,000 square kilometres of the ocean.
To put that in perspective, it would be like trying to describe the topography of British Columbia with
elevation data for only a half a dozen points! The voyage of the Challenger in 1872 and the laying of
trans-Atlantic cables had shown that there were mountains beneath the seas, but most geologists and
oceanographers still believed that the oceans were essentially vast basins with flat bottoms, filled with
thousands of metres of sediments.

Following development of acoustic depth sounders in the 1920s (Figure 10.7), the number of depth
readings increased by many orders of magnitude, and by the 1930s, it had become apparent that there
were major mountain chains in all of the world’s oceans. During and after World War II, there was
a well-organized campaign to study the oceans, and by 1959, sufficient bathymetric data had been
collected to produce detailed maps of all the oceans (Figure 10.8).

Figure 10.7 Depiction of a ship-borne acoustic depth sounder. The

instrument emits a sound (black arcs) that bounces off the sea floor
and returns to the surface (white arcs). The travel time is proportional
to the water depth. [SE]
 Physical Geology 270

Figure 10.8 Ocean floor bathymetry (and continental

topography). Inset (a): the mid-Atlantic ridge, (b):
the Newfoundland continental shelf, (c): the Nazca
trench adjacent to South America, and (d): the
Hawaiian Island chain. [SE after NOAA,
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/
93/Elevation.jpg]

The important physical features of the ocean floor are:

• Extensive linear ridges (commonly in the central parts of the oceans) with water depths in the
order of 2,000 to 3,000 m (Figure 10.8, inset a)
• Fracture zones perpendicular to the ridges (inset a)
• Deep-ocean plains at depths of 5,000 to 6,000 m (insets a and d)
• Relatively flat and shallow continental shelves with depths under 500 m (inset b)
• Deep trenches (up to 11,000 m deep), most near the continents (inset c)
• Seamounts and chains of seamounts (inset d)

Seismic reflection sounding involves transmitting high-energy sound bursts and then measuring the
echos with a series of geophones towed behind a ship. The technique is related to acoustic sounding as
described above; however, much more energy is transmitted and the sophistication of the data processing
is much greater. As the technique evolved, and the amount of energy was increased, it became possible
to see through the sea-floor sediments and map the bedrock topography and crustal thickness. Hence
sediment thicknesses could be mapped, and it was soon discovered that although the sediments were up
to several thousands of metres thick near the continents, they were relatively thin — or even non-existent
— in the ocean ridge areas (Figure 10.9). The seismic studies also showed that the crust is relatively thin
under the oceans (5 km to 6 km) compared to the continents (30 km to 60 km) and geologically very
consistent, composed almost entirely of basalt.
271 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

Figure 10.9 Topographic section at an ocean ridge based on reflection

seismic data. Sediments are not thick enough to be detectable near the
ridge, but get thicker on either side. The diagram represents
approximately 50 km width, and has a 10x vertical exaggeration. [SE]

In the early 1950s, Edward Bullard, who spent time at the University of Toronto but is mostly associated
with Cambridge University, developed a probe for measuring the flow of heat from the ocean floor.
Bullard and colleagues found the rate to be higher than average along the ridges, and lower than average
in the trench areas. Although Bullard was a plate-tectonics sceptic, these features were interpreted to
indicate that there is convection within the mantle — the areas of high heat flow being correlated
with upward convection of hot mantle material, and the areas of low heat flow being correlated with
downward convection.

With developments of networks of seismographic stations in the 1950s, it became possible to plot the
locations and depths of both major and minor earthquakes with great accuracy. It was found that there
is a remarkable correspondence between earthquakes and both the mid-ocean ridges and the deep ocean
trenches. In 1954 Gutenberg and Richter showed that the ocean-ridge earthquakes were all relatively
shallow, and confirmed what had first been shown by Benioff in the 1930s — that earthquakes in
the vicinity of ocean trenches were both shallow and deep, but that the deeper ones were situated
progressively farther inland from the trenches (Figure 10.10).

Figure 10.10 Cross-section through the Aleutian subduction zone with

a depiction of the increasing depth of earthquakes “inshore” from the
trench. [SE]

In the 1950s, scientists from the Scripps Oceanographic Institute in California persuaded the U.S. Coast
Guard to include magnetometer readings on one of their expeditions to study ocean floor topography.
The first comprehensive magnetic data set was compiled in 1958 for an area off the coast of B.C. and
Washington State. This survey revealed a bewildering pattern of low and high magnetic intensity in
sea-floor rocks (Figure 10.11). When the data were first plotted on a map in 1961, nobody understood
them — not even the scientists who collected them. Although the patterns made even less sense than
the stripes on a zebra, many thousands of kilometres of magnetic surveys were conducted over the next
several years.
 Physical Geology 272

Figure 10.11 Pattern of sea-floor magnetism

off of the west coast of British Columbia and
Washington [SE after
http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/noca/
nocageol4c.html, adapted from: Raff, A and
Mason, R, 1961, Magnetic survey off the
west coast of North America, 40˚ N to 52˚ N
latitude, Geol. Soc. America Bulletin, V. 72,
p. 267-270.]

The wealth of new data from the oceans began to significantly influence geological thinking in the
1960s. In 1960, Harold Hess, a widely respected geologist from Princeton University, advanced a theory
with many of the elements that we now accept as plate tectonics. He maintained some uncertainty
about his proposal however, and in order to deflect criticism from mainstream geologists, he labelled it
geopoetry. In fact, until 1962, Hess didn’t even put his ideas in writing — except internally to the U.S.
Navy (which funded his research) — but presented them mostly in lectures and seminars. Hess proposed
that new sea floor was generated from mantle material at the ocean ridges, and that old sea floor was
dragged down at the ocean trenches and re-incorporated into the mantle. He suggested that the process
was driven by mantle convection currents, rising at the ridges and descending at the trenches (Figure
10.12). He also suggested that the less-dense continental crust did not descend with oceanic crust into
trenches, but that colliding land masses were thrust up to form mountains. Hess’s theory formed the
basis for our ideas on sea-floor spreading and continental drift, but it did not deal with the concept
that the crust is made up of specific plates. Although the Hess model was not roundly criticized, it was
not widely accepted (especially in the U.S.), partly because it was not well supported by hard evidence.

Figure 10.12 A representation of Harold Hess’s model for sea-floor

spreading and subduction [SE]
273 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

Collection of magnetic data from the oceans continued in the early 1960s, but still nobody could explain
the origin of the zebra-like patterns. Most assumed that they were related to variations in the composition
of the rocks — such as variations in the amount of magnetite — as this is a common explanation for
magnetic variations in rocks of the continental crust. The first real understanding of the significance
of the striped anomalies was the interpretation by Fred Vine, a Cambridge graduate student. Vine was
examining magnetic data from the Indian Ocean and, like others before, he noted the symmetry of the
magnetic patterns with respect to the oceanic ridge.

At the same time, other researchers, led by groups in California and New Zealand, were studying the
phenomenon of reversals in Earth’s magnetic field. They were trying to determine when such reversals
had taken place over the past several million years by analyzing the magnetic characteristics of hundreds
of samples from basaltic flows. As discussed in Chapter 9, it is evident that Earth’s magnetic field
becomes weakened periodically and then virtually non-existent, before becoming re-established with the
reverse polarity. During periods of reversed polarity, a compass would point south instead of north.

The time scale of magnetic reversals is irregular. For example, the present “normal” event, known as the
Bruhnes magnetic chron, has persisted for about 780,000 years. This was preceded by a 190,000-year
reversed event; a 50,000-year normal event known as Jaramillo; and then a 700,000-year reversed event
(see Figure 9.15).

In a paper published in September 1963, Vine and his PhD supervisor Drummond Matthews proposed
that the patterns associated with ridges were related to the magnetic reversals, and that oceanic crust
created from cooling basalt during a normal event would have polarity aligned with the present magnetic
field, and thus would produce a positive anomaly (a black stripe on the sea-floor magnetic map), whereas
oceanic crust created during a reversed event would have polarity opposite to the present field and thus
would produce a negative magnetic anomaly (a white stripe). The same idea had been put forward a few
months earlier by Lawrence Morley, of the Geological Survey of Canada; however, his papers submitted
earlier in 1963 to Nature and The Journal of Geophysical Research were rejected. Many people refer to
the idea as the Vine-Matthews-Morley (VMM) hypothesis.

Vine, Matthews, and Morley were the first to show this type of correspondence between the relative
widths of the stripes and the periods of the magnetic reversals. The VMM hypothesis was confirmed
within a few years when magnetic data were compiled from spreading ridges around the world. It was
shown that the same general magnetic patterns were present straddling each ridge, although the widths
of the anomalies varied according to the spreading rates characteristic of the different ridges. It was
also shown that the patterns corresponded with the chronology of Earth’s magnetic field reversals. This
global consistency provided strong support for the VMM hypothesis and led to rejection of the other
explanations for the magnetic anomalies.

In 1963, J. Tuzo Wilson of the University of Toronto proposed the idea of a mantle plume or hot
spot — a place where hot mantle material rises in a stationary and semi-permanent plume, and affects
the overlying crust. He based this hypothesis partly on the distribution of the Hawaiian and Emperor
Seamount island chains in the Pacific Ocean (Figure 10.13). The volcanic rock making up these islands
gets progressively younger toward the southeast, culminating with the island of Hawaii itself, which
consists of rock that is almost all younger than 1 Ma. Wilson suggested that a stationary plume of hot
upwelling mantle material is the source of the Hawaiian volcanism, and that the ocean crust of the
 Physical Geology 274

Pacific Plate is moving toward the northwest over this hot spot. Near the Midway Islands, the chain
takes a pronounced change in direction, from northwest-southeast for the Hawaiian Islands and to nearly
north-south for the Emperor Seamounts. This change is widely ascribed to a change in direction of the
Pacific Plate moving over the stationary mantle plume, but a more plausible explanation is that the
Hawaiian mantle plume has not actually been stationary throughout its history, and in fact moved at least
2
2,000 km south over the period between 81 and 45 Ma.

Figure 10.13 The ages of the Hawaiian Islands and the Emperor
Seamounts in relation to the location of the Hawaiian mantle plume
[SE. Basemap from the National Geophysical Data Centre, accessed
at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotspot_(geology)#/ media/
File:Hawaii_hotspot.jpg.]

Exercises

Exercise 10.2 Volcanoes and the Rate of Plate Motion

The Hawaiian and Emperor volcanoes shown in Figure 10.13 are listed in the table below along with their
ages and their distances from the centre of the mantle plume under Hawaii (the Big Island).

2. J. A. Tarduno et al., 2003, The Emperor Seamounts: Southward Motion of the Hawaiian Hotspot Plume in Earth’s
Mantle, Science 301 (5636): 1064–1069.
275 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

Age (Ma) Distance (km) Rate (cm/y)

Hawaii 0 0 –

Necker 10.3 1,058 10.2

Midway 27.7 2,432

Koko 48.1 3,758

Suiko 64.7 4,860

Plot the data on the graph provided here, and use the numbers in the table to estimate the rates of plate motion
for the Pacific Plate in cm/year. (The first two are plotted for you.)

There is evidence of many such mantle plumes around the world (Figure 10.14). Most are within the
ocean basins — including places like Hawaii, Iceland, and the Galapagos Islands — but some are under
continents. One example is the Yellowstone hot spot in the west-central United States, and another
is the one responsible for the Anahim Volcanic Belt in central British Columbia. It is evident that
mantle plumes are very long-lived phenomena, lasting for at least tens of millions of years, possibly for
hundreds of millions of years in some cases.
 Physical Geology 276

Figure 10.14 Mantle plume locations [Ingo Wölbern at:

http://commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Hotspots.jpg] Selected
Mantle plumes: 1: Azores, 3: Bowie, 5: Cobb, 8: Eifel, 10: Galapagos,
12: Hawaii, 14: Iceland, 17: Cameroon, 18: Canary, 19: Cape Verde,
35: Samoa, 38: Tahiti, 42: Tristan, 44: Yellowstone, 45: Anahim

Although oceanic spreading ridges appear to be curved features on Earth’s surface, in fact the ridges are
composed of a series of straight-line segments, offset at intervals by faults perpendicular to the ridge
(Figure 10.15). In a paper published in 1965, Tuzo Wilson termed these features transform faults. He
described the nature of the motion along them, and showed why there are earthquakes only on the section
of a transform fault between two adjacent ridge segments. The San Andreas Fault in California is a very
long transform fault that links the southern end of the Juan de Fuca spreading ridge to the East Pacific
Rise spreading ridges situated in the Gulf of California (see Figure 10.23). The Queen Charlotte Fault,
which extends north from the northern end of the Juan de Fuca spreading ridge (near the northern end of
Vancouver Island) toward Alaska, is also a transform fault.

Figure 10.15 A part of the mid-Atlantic ridge near

the equator. The double white lines are spreading
ridges. The solid white lines are fracture zones. As
shown by the yellow arrows, the relative motion of
the plates on either side of the fracture zones can be
similar (arrows pointing the same direction) or
opposite (arrows pointing opposite directions).
Transform faults (red lines) are in between the ridge
segments, where the yellow arrows point in opposite
directions. [SE]
277 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

In the same 1965 paper, Wilson introduced the idea that the crust can be divided into a series of rigid
plates, and thus he is responsible for the term plate tectonics.

Exercises

Exercise 10.3 Paper Transform Fault Model

Tuzo Wilson used a paper model, a little bit like the one shown here, to explain transform faults to his
colleagues. To use this model print this page, cut around the outside, and then slice along the line A-B (the
fracture zone) with a sharp knife. Fold down the top half where shown, and then pinch together in the middle.
Do the same with the bottom half. When you’re done, you should have something like the example below,
with two folds of paper extending underneath. Find someone else to pinch those folds with two fingers just
below each ridge crest, and then gently pull apart where shown. As you do, the oceanic crust will emerge
from the middle, and you’ll see that the parts of the fracture zone between the ridge crests will be moving in
opposite directions (this is the transform fault) while the parts of the fracture zone outside of the ridge crests
 Physical Geology 278

will be moving in the same direction. You’ll also see that the oceanic crust is being magnetized as it forms at
the ridge. The magnetic patterns shown are accurate, and represent the last 2.5 Ma of geological time.

There are other versions of this model available at https://web.viu.ca/earle/transform-model/. For more
information see: Earle, S., 2004, A simple paper model of a transform fault at a spreading ridge, J. Geosc.
Educ. V. 52, p. 391-2.
10.4 Plates, Plate Motions, and Plate-Boundary Processes

Continental drift and sea-floor spreading became widely accepted around 1965 as more and more
geologists started thinking in these terms. By the end of 1967, Earth’s surface had been mapped into a
series of plates (Figure 10.16). The major plates are Eurasia, Pacific, India, Australia, North America,
South America, Africa, and Antarctic. There are also numerous small plates (e.g., Juan de Fuca, Nazca,
Scotia, Philippine, Caribbean), and many very small plates or sub-plates. For example the Juan de Fuca
Plate is actually three separate plates (Gorda, Juan de Fuca, and Explorer) that all move in the same
general direction but at slightly different rates.

Figure 10.16 A map showing 15 of the Earth’s tectonic plates and the
approximate rates and directions of plate motions. [SE after USGS,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics#/media/
File:Plates_tect2_en.svg]

Rates of motions of the major plates range from less than 1 cm/y to over 10 cm/y. The Pacific Plate is the
fastest at over 10 cm/y in some areas, followed by the Australian and Nazca Plates. The North American
Plate is one of the slowest, averaging around 1 cm/y in the south up to almost 4 cm/y in the north.

Plates move as rigid bodies, so it may seem surprising that the North American Plate can be moving at
different rates in different places. The explanation is that plates move in a rotational manner. The North
American Plate, for example, rotates counter-clockwise; the Eurasian Plate rotates clockwise.

Boundaries between the plates are of three types: divergent (i.e., moving apart), convergent (i.e.,
moving together), and transform (moving side by side). Before we talk about processes at plate
boundaries, it’s important to point out that there are never gaps between plates. The plates are made
up of crust and the lithospheric part of the mantle (Figure 10.17), and even though they are moving all
the time, and in different directions, there is never a significant amount of space between them. Plates

279
 Physical Geology 280

are thought to move along the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary, as the asthenosphere is the zone of
partial melting. It is assumed that the relative lack of strength of the partial melting zone facilitates the
sliding of the lithospheric plates.

Figure 10.17 The crust and upper mantle. Tectonic plates consist of
lithosphere, which includes the crust and the lithospheric (rigid) part
of the mantle. [SE]

At spreading centres, the lithospheric mantle may be very thin because the upward convective motion of
hot mantle material generates temperatures that are too high for the existence of a significant thickness
of rigid lithosphere (Figure 10.12). The fact that the plates include both crustal material and lithospheric
mantle material makes it possible for a single plate to be made up of both oceanic and continental
crust. For example, the North American Plate includes most of North America, plus half of the northern
Atlantic Ocean. Similarly the South American Plate extends across the western part of the southern
Atlantic Ocean, while the European and African plates each include part of the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
The Pacific Plate is almost entirely oceanic, but it does include the part of California west of the San
Andreas Fault.

Divergent Boundaries

Divergent boundaries are spreading boundaries, where new oceanic crust is created from magma
derived from partial melting of the mantle caused by decompression as hot mantle rock from depth is
moved toward the surface (Figure 10.18). The triangular zone of partial melting near the ridge crest
is approximately 60 km thick and the proportion of magma is about 10% of the rock volume, thus
producing crust that is about 6 km thick. Most divergent boundaries are located at the oceanic ridges
(although some are on land), and the crustal material created at a spreading boundary is always oceanic
in character; in other words, it is mafic igneous rock (e.g., basalt or gabbro, rich in ferromagnesian
minerals). Spreading rates vary considerably, from 1 cm/y to 3 cm/y in the Atlantic, to between 6 cm/y
and 10 cm/y in the Pacific. Some of the processes taking place in this setting include:

• Magma from the mantle pushing up to fill the voids left by divergence of the two plates
• Pillow lavas forming where magma is pushed out into seawater (Figure 10.19)
• Vertical sheeted dykes intruding into cracks resulting from the spreading
281 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

• Magma cooling more slowly in the lower part of the new crust and forming gabbro bodies

Figure 10.18 The general processes that take place at a divergent

boundary. The area within the dashed white rectangle is shown in
Figure 10.19. [SE]

Figure 10.19 Depiction of the processes and materials formed at a

divergent boundary [SE after Keary and Vine, 1996, Global Tectonics
(2ed), Blackwell Science Ltd., Oxford]

Spreading is hypothesized to start within a continental area with up-warping or doming related to an
underlying mantle plume or series of mantle plumes. The buoyancy of the mantle plume material creates
a dome within the crust, causing it to fracture in a radial pattern, with three arms spaced at approximately
120° (Figure 10.20). When a series of mantle plumes exists beneath a large continent, the resulting rifts
may align and lead to the formation of a rift valley (such as the present-day Great Rift Valley in eastern
Africa). It is suggested that this type of valley eventually develops into a linear sea (such as the present-
day Red Sea), and finally into an ocean (such as the Atlantic). It is likely that as many as 20 mantle
plumes, many of which still exist, were responsible for the initiation of the rifting of Pangea along what
is now the mid-Atlantic ridge (see Figure 10.14).
 Physical Geology 282

Figure 10.20 Depiction of the process of dome and three-part rift

formation (left) and of continental rifting between the African and
South American parts of Pangea at around 200 Ma (right) [SE]

Convergent Boundaries

Convergent boundaries, where two plates are moving toward each other, are of three types, depending on
the type of crust present on either side of the boundary — oceanic or continental. The types are ocean-
ocean, ocean-continent, and continent-continent.

At an ocean-ocean convergent boundary, one of the plates (oceanic crust and lithospheric mantle) is
pushed, or subducted, under the other. Often it is the older and colder plate that is denser and subducts
beneath the younger and hotter plate. There is commonly an ocean trench along the boundary. The
subducted lithosphere descends into the hot mantle at a relatively shallow angle close to the subduction
zone, but at steeper angles farther down (up to about 45°). As discussed in the context of subduction-
related volcanism in Chapter 4, the significant volume of water within the subducting material is released
as the subducting crust is heated. This water is mostly derived from alteration of pyroxene and olivine to
serpentine near the spreading ridge shortly after the rock’s formation. It mixes with the overlying mantle,
and the addition of water to the hot mantle lowers the crust’s melting point and leads to the formation of
magma (flux melting). The magma, which is lighter than the surrounding mantle material, rises through
the mantle and the overlying oceanic crust to the ocean floor where it creates a chain of volcanic islands
known as an island arc. A mature island arc develops into a chain of relatively large islands (such as
Japan or Indonesia) as more and more volcanic material is extruded and sedimentary rocks accumulate
around the islands.

As described above in the context of Benioff zones (Figure 10.10), earthquakes take place close to the
boundary between the subducting crust and the overriding crust. The largest earthquakes occur near the
surface where the subducting plate is still cold and strong.
283 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

Figure 10.21 Configuration and processes of an ocean-ocean

convergent boundary [SE]

Examples of ocean-ocean convergent zones are subduction of the Pacific Plate south of Alaska (Aleutian
Islands) and west of the Philippines, subduction of the India Plate south of Indonesia, and subduction of
the Atlantic Plate beneath the Caribbean Plate (Figure 10.21).

At an ocean-continent convergent boundary, the oceanic plate is pushed under the continental plate in
the same manner as at an ocean-ocean boundary. Sediment that has accumulated on the continental
slope is thrust up into an accretionary wedge, and compression leads to thrusting within the continental
plate (Figure 10.22). The mafic magma produced adjacent to the subduction zone rises to the base of the
continental crust and leads to partial melting of the crustal rock. The resulting magma ascends through
the crust, producing a mountain chain with many volcanoes.

Figure 10.22 Configuration and processes of an ocean-continent

convergent boundary [SE]

Examples of ocean-continent convergent boundaries are subduction of the Nazca Plate under South
America (which has created the Andes Range) and subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate under North
America (creating the mountains Garibaldi, Baker, St. Helens, Rainier, Hood, and Shasta, collectively
known as the Cascade Range).

A continent-continent collision occurs when a continent or large island that has been moved along
with subducting oceanic crust collides with another continent (Figure 10.23). The colliding continental
 Physical Geology 284

material will not be subducted because it is too light (i.e., because it is composed largely of light
continental rocks [SIAL]), but the root of the oceanic plate will eventually break off and sink into
the mantle. There is tremendous deformation of the pre-existing continental rocks, and creation of
mountains from that rock, from any sediments that had accumulated along the shores (i.e., within
geosynclines) of both continental masses, and commonly also from some ocean crust and upper mantle
material.

Figure 10.23 Configuration and processes of a continent-continent

convergent boundary [SE]

Examples of continent-continent convergent boundaries are the collision of the India Plate with the
Eurasian Plate, creating the Himalaya Mountains, and the collision of the African Plate with the Eurasian
Plate, creating the series of ranges extending from the Alps in Europe to the Zagros Mountains in Iran.
The Rocky Mountains in B.C. and Alberta are also a result of continent-continent collisions.

Transform boundaries exist where one plate slides past another without production or destruction of
crustal material. As explained above, most transform faults connect segments of mid-ocean ridges and
are thus ocean-ocean plate boundaries (Figure 10.15). Some transform faults connect continental parts
of plates. An example is the San Andreas Fault, which connects the southern end of the Juan de Fuca
Ridge with the northern end of the East Pacific Rise (ridge) in the Gulf of California (Figures 10.24 an
10.25). The part of California west of the San Andreas Fault and all of Baja California are on the Pacific
Plate. Transform faults do not just connect divergent boundaries. For example, the Queen Charlotte Fault
connects the north end of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, starting at the north end of Vancouver Island, to the
Aleutian subduction zone.
285 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

Figure 10.24 The San Andreas Fault extends from

the north end of the East Pacific Rise in the Gulf of
California to the southern end of the Juan de Fuca
Ridge. All of the red lines on this map are transform
faults. [SE]

Figure 10.25 The San Andreas Fault at Parkfield in central

California. The person with the orange shirt is standing on
the Pacific Plate and the person at the far side of the bridge is
on the North American Plate. The bridge is designed to slide
on its foundation. [SE]
 Physical Geology 286

Exercises

Exercise 10.4 A Different Type of Transform Fault

This map shows the Juan de Fuca (JDF) and Explorer Plates off the coast of Vancouver Island. We know that
the JDF Plate is moving toward the North American Plate at around 4 cm/y to 5 cm/y. We think that the
Explorer Plate is also moving east, but we don’t know the rate, and there is evidence that it is slower than the
JDF Plate.
The boundary between the two plates is the Nootka Fault, which is the location of frequent small-to-medium
earthquakes (up to magnitude ~5), as depicted by the red stars. Explain why the Nootka Fault is a transform
fault, and show the relative sense of motion along the fault with two small arrows.

As originally described by Wegener in 1915, the present continents were once all part of a
supercontinent, which he termed Pangea (all land). More recent studies of continental matchups and the
magnetic ages of ocean-floor rocks have enabled us to reconstruct the history of the break-up of Pangea.

Pangea began to rift apart along a line between Africa and Asia and between North America and South
America at around 200 Ma. During the same period, the Atlantic Ocean began to open up between
northern Africa and North America, and India broke away from Antarctica. Between 200 and 150 Ma,
rifting started between South America and Africa and between North America and Europe, and India
moved north toward Asia. By 80 Ma, Africa had separated from South America, most of Europe had
separated from North America, and India had separated from Antarctica. By 50 Ma, Australia had
separated from Antarctic, and shortly after that, India collided with Asia. To see the timing of these
processes for yourself go to: http://barabus.tru.ca/geol1031/plates.html.

Within the past few million years, rifting has taken place in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, and also
within the Gulf of California. Incipient rifting has begun along the Great Rift Valley of eastern Africa,
extending from Ethiopia and Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden (Red Sea) all the way south to Malawi.

Over the next 50 million years, it is likely that there will be full development of the east African rift and
creation of new ocean floor. Eventually Africa will split apart. There will also be continued northerly
287 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

movement of Australia and Indonesia. The western part of California (including Los Angeles and part of
San Francisco) will split away from the rest of North America, and eventually sail right by the west coast
of Vancouver Island, en route to Alaska. Because the oceanic crust formed by spreading on the mid-
Atlantic ridge is not currently being subducted (except in the Caribbean), the Atlantic Ocean is slowly
getting bigger, and the Pacific Ocean is getting smaller. If this continues without changing for another
couple hundred million years, we will be back to where we started, with one supercontinent.

Pangea, which existed from about 350 to 200 Ma, was not the first supercontinent. It was preceded by
Pannotia (600 to 540 Ma), by Rodinia (1,100 to 750 Ma), and by others before that.

In 1966, Tuzo Wilson proposed that there has been a continuous series of cycles of continental rifting and
collision; that is, break-up of supercontinents, drifting, collision, and formation of other supercontinents.
At present, North and South America, Europe, and Africa are moving with their respective portions of
the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern margins of North and South America and the western margins of Europe
and Africa are called passive margins because there is no subduction taking place along them.

This situation may not continue for too much longer, however. As the Atlantic Ocean floor gets weighed
down around its margins by great thickness of continental sediments (i.e., geosynclines), it will be
pushed farther and farther into the mantle, and eventually the oceanic lithosphere may break away from
the continental lithosphere (Figure 10.26). A subduction zone will develop, and the oceanic plate will
begin to descend under the continent. Once this happens, the continents will no longer continue to move
apart because the spreading at the mid-Atlantic ridge will be taken up by subduction. If spreading along
the mid-Atlantic ridge continues to be slower than spreading within the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic
Ocean will start to close up, and eventually (in a 100 million years or more) North and South America
will collide with Europe and Africa.
 Physical Geology 288

Figure 10.26 Development of a subduction zone at a passive margin.

Times A, B, and C are separated by tens of millions of years. Once the
oceanic crust breaks off and starts to subduct the continental crust
(North America in this case) will no longer be pushed to the west and
will likely start to move east because the rate of spreading in the
Pacific basin is faster than that in the Atlantic basin. [SE]

There is strong evidence around the margins of the Atlantic Ocean that this process has taken place
before. The roots of ancient mountain belts, which are present along the eastern margin of North
America, the western margin of Europe, and the northwestern margin of Africa, show that these land
masses once collided with each other to form a mountain chain, possibly as big as the Himalayas. The
apparent line of collision runs between Norway and Sweden, between Scotland and England, through
Ireland, through Newfoundland, and the Maritimes, through the northeastern and eastern states, and
across the northern end of Florida. When rifting of Pangea started at approximately 200 Ma, the fissuring
was along a different line from the line of the earlier collision. This is why some of the mountain chains
formed during the earlier collision can be traced from Europe to North America and from Europe to
Africa.

That the Atlantic Ocean rift may have occurred in approximately the same place during two separate
events several hundred million years apart is probably no coincidence. The series of hot spots that has
been identified in the Atlantic Ocean may also have existed for several hundred million years, and thus
may have contributed to rifting in roughly the same place on at least two separate occasions (Figure
10.27).
289 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

Figure 10.27 A scenario for the Wilson cycle. The cycle starts with
continental rifting above a series of mantle plumes (A). The continents
separate (B), and then re-converge some time later, forming a fold-belt
mountain chain. Eventually rifting is repeated, possibly because of the
same set of mantle plumes (D), but this time the rift is in a different
place. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 10.5 Getting to Know the Plates and Their Boundaries

This map shows the boundaries between the major plates. Without referring to the plate map in Figure 10.16,
or any other resources, write in the names of as many of the plates as you can. Start with the major plates, and
then work on the smaller ones. Don’t worry if you can’t name them all.

Once you’ve named most of the plates, draw arrows to show the general plate motions. Finally, using a
 Physical Geology 290

highlighter or coloured pencil, label as many of the boundaries as you can as divergent, convergent, or
transform. [map by SE]
 10.5 Mechanisms for Plate Motion

It has been often repeated in this text and elsewhere that convection of the mantle is critical to plate
tectonics, and while this is almost certainly so, there is still some debate about the actual forces that
make the plates move. One side in the argument holds that the plates are only moved by the traction
caused by mantle convection. The other side holds that traction plays only a minor role and that two other
forces, ridge-push and slab-pull, are more important (Figure 10.28). Some argue that the real answer lies
somewhere in between.

Figure 10.28 Models for plate motion mechanisms [SE]

1
Kearey and Vine (1996) have listed some compelling arguments in favour of the ridge-push/slab-pull
model, as follows: (a) plates that are attached to subducting slabs (e.g., Pacific, Australian, and Nazca
Plates) move the fastest, and plates that are not (e.g., North American, South American, Eurasian, and
African Plates) move significantly slower; (b) in order for the traction model to apply, the mantle would
have to be moving about five times faster than the plates are moving (because the coupling between
the partially liquid asthenosphere and the plates is not strong), and such high rates of convection are
not supported by geophysical models; and (c) although large plates have potential for much higher
convection traction, plate velocity is not related to plate area.

In the ridge-push/slab-pull model, which is the one that has been adopted by most geologists working
on plate-tectonic problems, the lithosphere is the upper surface of the convection cells, as is illustrated
in Figure 10.29.

1. Kearey and Vine , 1996, Global Tectonics (2ed), Blackwell Science Ltd., Oxford

291
 Physical Geology 292

Figure 10.29 The ridge-push/slab-pull model for plate motion, in

which the lithosphere is the upper surface of the convective systems.
[SE]

Although ridge-push/slab-pull is the favoured mechanism for plate motion, it’s important not to
underestimate the role of mantle convection. Without convection, there would be no ridges to push from
because upward convection brings hot buoyant rock to surface. Furthermore, many plates, including our
own North American Plate, move along nicely — albeit slowly — without any slab-pull happening.
Chapter 10 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Alfred
The evidence for continental drift in the early 20th century included the matching of
Wegener – the
10.1 continental shapes on either side of the Atlantic and the geological and fossil
Father of Plate
matchups between continents that are now thousands of kilometres apart.
Tectonics

Global
Geological The established theories of global geology were permanentism and contractionism,
10.2 Models of the but neither of these theories was able to explain some of the evidence that supported
Early 20th the idea of continental drift.
Century

Giant strides were made in understanding Earth during the middle decades of the 20th
Geological century, including discovering magnetic evidence of continental drift, mapping the
Renaissance of topography of the ocean floor, describing the depth relationships of earthquakes along
10.3
the Mid-20th ocean trenches, measuring heat flow differences in various parts of the ocean floor,
Century and mapping magnetic reversals on the sea floor. By the mid-1960s, the fundamentals
of the theory of plate tectonics were in place.

Earth’s lithosphere is made up of over 20 plates that are moving in different directions
at rates of between 1 cm/y and 10 cm/y. The three types of plate boundaries are
divergent (plates moving apart and new crust forming), convergent (plates moving
Plates, Plate
together and one being subducted), and transform (plates moving side by side).
Motions, and
10.4 Divergent boundaries form where existing plates are rifted apart, and it is
Plate-Boundary
hypothesized that this is caused by a series of mantle plumes. Subduction zones are
Processes
assumed to form where accumulation of sediment at a passive margin leads to
separation of oceanic and continental lithosphere. Supercontinents form and break up
through these processes.

Mechanisms It is widely believed that ridge-push and slab-pull are the main mechanisms for plate
10.5 for Plate motion, as opposed to traction by mantle convection. Mantle convection is a key
Motion factor for producing the conditions necessary for ridge-push and slab-pull.

Exercises

1. List some of the evidence used by Wegener to support his idea of moving continents.
2. What was the primary technical weakness with Wegener’s continental drift theory?
3. How were mountains thought to be formed (a) by contractionists and (b) by permanentists?

293
 Physical Geology 294

4. How were the trans-Atlantic paleontological matchups explained in the late 19th century?
5. In the context of isostasy, what would prevent an area of continental crust from becoming part of
an ocean?
6. How did we learn about the topography of the sea floor in the early part of the 20th century?
7. How does the temperature profile of the crust and the mantle indicate that part of the mantle must
be convecting?
8. What evidence from paleomagnetic studies provided support for continental drift?
9. Which parts of the oceans are the deepest?
10. Why is there less sediment in the ocean ridge areas than in other parts of the sea floor?
11. How were the oceanic heat-flow data related to mantle convection?
12. Describe the spatial and depth distribution of earthquakes at ocean ridges and ocean trenches.
13. In the model for ocean basins developed by Harold Hess, what took place at oceanic ridges and
what took place at oceanic trenches?
14. What aspect of plate tectonics was not included in the Hess theory?
15. The diagram here shows the pattern of sea-floor magnetic anomalies in the area of a spreading
ridge. Draw in the likely location of the ridge.

16. What is a mantle plume and what is its expected lifespan?

17. Describe the nature of movement at an ocean ridge transform fault (a) between the ridge
segments, and (b) outside the ridge segments.
18. How is it possible for a plate to include both oceanic and continental crust?
19. What is the likely relationship between mantle plumes and the development of a continental rift?
20. Why does subduction not take place at a continent-continent convergent zone?
21. On this map of the west coast, divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries are shown in
different colours. Which colours are the divergent boundaries, which are the convergent
295 Chapter 10 Plate Tectonics

boundaries, and which are the transform boundaries?

22. Name the plates on this map and show their approximate motion directions.
23. Show the sense of motion on either side of the plate boundary to the west of Haida Gwaii (Queen
Charlotte Islands).
24. Where are Earth’s most recent sites of continental rifting and creation of new ocean floor?
25. What is likely to happen to western California over the next 50 million years?
26. What geological situation might eventually lead to the generation of a subduction zone at a
passive ocean-continent boundary such as the eastern coast of North America?
Chapter 11 Earthquakes

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Explain how the principle of elastic deformation applies to earthquakes

• Describe how the main shock and the immediate aftershocks define the rupture surface of an
earthquake, and explain how stress transfer is related to aftershocks
• Explain the process of episodic tremor and slip
• Describe the relationship between earthquakes and plate tectonics, including where we should
expect earthquakes to happen at different types of plate boundaries and at what depths
• Distinguish between earthquake magnitude and intensity, and explain some of the ways of
estimating magnitude
• Explain the importance of collecting intensity data following an earthquake
• Describe how earthquakes lead to the destruction of buildings and other infrastructure, fires, slope
failures, liquefaction, and tsunami
• Discuss the value of earthquake predictions, and describe some of the steps that governments and
individuals can take to minimize the impacts of large earthquakes

Earthquakes scare people … a lot! That’s not surprising because time and time again earthquakes
have caused massive damage and many, many casualties. Anyone who has lived through a damaging
earthquake cannot forget the experience (Figure 11.1). But geoscientists and engineers are getting better
at understanding earthquakes, minimizing the amount of damage they cause, and reducing the number
of people affected. People living in western Canada don’t need to be frightened by earthquakes, but they
do need to be prepared.

296
297 Steven Earle

Figure 11.1 A schoolroom in Courtenay damaged by the 1946

Vancouver Island earthquake. If the earthquake had not happened on a
Sunday, the casualties would have been much greater. [from
Earthquakes Canada, http://www.earthquakes canada. nrcan.gc.ca/
historic-historique/ events/ images/19460623_1946. school.inside.jpg ]
11.1 What Is an Earthquake?

An earthquake is the shaking caused by the rupture (breaking) and subsequent displacement of rocks
(one body of rock moving with respect to another) beneath Earth’s surface.

A body of rock that is under stress becomes deformed. When the rock can no longer withstand the
deformation, it breaks and the two sides slide past each other. Most earthquakes take place near plate
boundaries, but not necessarily right on a boundary, and not necessarily even on a pre-existing fault.

The engineering principle of elastic deformation, which can be used to understand earthquakes, is
illustrated in Figure 11.2. The stress applied to a rock — typically because of ongoing plate movement
— results in strain or deformation of the rock (Figure 11.2b). Because most rock is strong (unlike loose
sand, for example), it can withstand a significant amount of deformation without breaking. But every
rock has a deformation limit and will rupture (break) once that limit is reached. At that point, in the case
of rocks within the crust, the rock breaks and there is displacement along the rupture surface (Figure
11.2c). The magnitude of the earthquake depends on the extent of the area that breaks (the area of the
rupture surface) and the average amount of displacement (sliding).

Figure 11.2 Depiction of the concept of elastic deformation and

rupture, looking down. [SE]

The concept of a rupture surface, which is critical to understanding earthquakes, is illustrated in Figure
11.3. An earthquake does not happen at a point, it happens over an area within a plane, although not
necessarily a flat plane. Within the area of the rupture surface, the amount of displacement is variable
(Figure 11.3), and, by definition, it decreases to zero at the edges of the rupture surface because the rock
beyond that point isn’t displaced at all. The extent of a rupture surface and the amount of displacement
will depend on a number of factors, including the type and strength of the rock, and the degree to which
it was stressed beforehand.

298
299 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

Figure 11.3 A rupture surface (dark pink), on a steeply dipping fault

plane (light pink). The diagram represents a part of the crust that may
be up to tens or hundreds of kilometres long. The rupture surface is the
part of the fault plane along which displacement occurred. In this
example, the near side of the fault is moving to the left, and the lengths
of the arrows within the rupture surface represent relative amounts of
displacement. [SE]

Earthquake rupture doesn’t happen all at once; it starts at a single point and spreads rapidly from there.
Depending on the extent of the rupture surface, the propagation of failures out from the point of initiation
is typically completed within seconds to several tens of seconds (Figure 11.4). The initiation point isn’t
necessarily in the centre of the rupture surface; it may be close to one end, near the top, or near the
bottom.

Figure 11.4 Propagation of failure on a rupture surface. In this case,

the failure starts at the dark blue heavy arrow and propagates
outward, reaching the left side first (green arrows) and the right side
last (yellow arrows). [SE]

Figure 11.5 shows the distribution of immediate aftershocks associated with the 1989 Loma Prieta
earthquake. Panel (b) is a section along the San Andreas Fault; this view is equivalent to what is shown
in Figures 11.3 and 11.4. The area of red dots is the rupture surface; each red dot is a specific aftershock
that was recorded on a seismometer. The hexagon labelled “main earthquake” represents the first or main
shock. When that happened, the rock at that location broke and was displaced. That released the stress
 Physical Geology 300

on that particular part of the fault, but it resulted in an increase of the stress on other nearby parts of the
fault, and contributed to a cascade of smaller ruptures (aftershocks), in this case, over an area about 60
km long and 15 km wide.

Figure 11.5 Distribution of the aftershocks of the 1989 M 6.9 Loma

Prieta earthquake (a: plan view, b: section along the fault, c: section
across the fault.) [from Open University under CC Sharealike,
http://www.open.edu/openlearnworks/mod/page/view.php?id=45426]

So, what exactly is an aftershock then? An aftershock is an earthquake just like any other, but it is one
that can be shown to have been triggered by stress transfer from a preceding earthquake. Within a few
tens of seconds of the main Loma Prieta earthquake, there were hundreds of smaller aftershocks; their
distribution defines the area of the rupture surface.

Aftershocks can be of any magnitude. Most are smaller than the earthquake that triggered them, but
they can be bigger. The aftershocks shown in Figure 11.5 all happened within seconds or minutes of
the main shock, but aftershocks can be delayed for hours, days, weeks, or even years. As already noted,
aftershocks are related to stress transfer. For example, the main shock of the Loma Prieta earthquake
triggered aftershocks in the immediate area, which triggered more in the surrounding area, eventually
extending for 30 km along the fault in each direction and for 15 km toward the surface. But the
earthquake as a whole also changed the stress on adjacent parts of the San Andreas Fault. This effect,
which has been modelled for numerous earthquakes and active faults around the world, is depicted in
Figure 11.6. Stress was reduced in the area of the rupture (blue), but was increased at either end of the
rupture surface (red and yellow).
301 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

Figure 11.6 Depiction of stress changes related to an earthquake.

Stress decreases in the area of the rupture surface, but increases on
adjacent parts of the fault. [by SE based on data from 2010 Laguna
Salada earthquake by Stein and Toda at:
http://supersites.earthobservations.org/Baja_stress.png]

Stress transfer isn’t necessarily restricted to the fault along which an earthquake happened. It will affect
the rocks in general around the site of the earthquake and may lead to increased stress on other faults
in the region. The effects of stress transfer don’t necessarily show up right away. Segments of faults are
typically in some state of stress, and the transfer of stress from another area is only rarely enough to
push a fault segment beyond its limits to the point of rupture. The stress that is added by stress transfer
accumulates along with the ongoing buildup of stress from plate motion and eventually leads to another
earthquake.

Episodic tremor and slip

Episodic tremor and slip (ETS) is periodic slow sliding along part of a subduction boundary. It does
not produce recognizable earthquakes, but does produce seismic tremor (rapid seismic vibrations on a
seismometer). It was first discovered on the Vancouver Island part of the Cascadia subduction zone by
Geological Survey of Canada geologists Herb Dragert and Gary Rogers.*

The boundary between the subducting Juan de Fuca Plate and the North America Plate can be divided
into three segments, as shown below. The cold upper part of the boundary is locked. The plates are stuck
and don’t move, except with very large earthquakes that happen approximately every 500 years (the
last one was M8.5+ in January 26, 1700). The warm lower part of the boundary is sliding continuously
because the warm rock is weaker. The central part of the boundary isn’t cold enough to be stuck, but
isn’t warm enough to slide continuously. Instead it slips episodically, approximately every 14 months for
about 2 weeks, moving a few centimetres each time.
 Physical Geology 302

You might be inclined to think that it’s a good thing that there is periodic slip on this part of the plate
because it releases some of the tension and reduces the risk of a large earthquake. In fact, the opposite
is likely the case. The movement along the ETS part of the plate boundary acts like a medium-sized
earthquake and leads to stress transfer to the adjacent locked part of the plate. Approximately every 14
months, during the two-week ETS period, there is a transfer of stress to the shallow locked part of the
Cascadia subduction zone, and therefore an increased chance of a large earthquake.

Since 2003, ETS processes have also been observed on subduction zones in Mexico and Japan. [SE
drawing]

*Rogers, G. and Dragert, H., 2003, Episodic tremor and slip on the Cascadia subduction zone: the chatter
of silent slip, Science, V. 300, p. 1942-1943.
11.2 Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics

The distribution of earthquakes across the globe is shown in Figure 11.7. It is relatively easy to see the
relationships between earthquakes and the plate boundaries. Along divergent boundaries like the mid-
Atlantic ridge and the East Pacific Rise, earthquakes are common, but restricted to a narrow zone close
to the ridge, and consistently at less than 30 km depth. Shallow earthquakes are also common along
transform faults, such as the San Andreas Fault. Along subduction zones, as we saw in Chapter 10,
earthquakes are very abundant, and they are increasingly deep on the landward side of the subduction
zone.

Figure 11.7 General distribution of global earthquakes of magnitude 4

and greater from 2004 to 2011, colour coded by depth (red: 0-33 km,
orange 33-70 km, green: 70-300 km, blue: 300-700 km) [from Dale
Sawyer, Rice University, http://plateboundary.rice.edu ,used with
permission]

Earthquakes are also relatively common at a few intraplate locations. Some are related to the buildup
of stress due to continental rifting or the transfer of stress from other regions, and some are not well
understood. Examples of intraplate earthquake regions include the Great Rift Valley area of Africa, the
Tibet region of China, and the Lake Baikal area of Russia.

Earthquakes at Divergent and Transform Boundaries

Figure 11.8 provides a closer look at magnitude (M) 4 and larger earthquakes in an area of divergent
boundaries in the mid-Atlantic region near the equator. Here, as we saw in Chapter 10, the segments
of the mid-Atlantic ridge are offset by some long transform faults. Most of the earthquakes are located
along the transform faults, rather than along the spreading segments, although there are clusters of
earthquakes at some of the ridge-transform boundaries. Some earthquakes do occur on spreading ridges,

303
 Physical Geology 304

but they tend to be small and infrequent because of the relatively high rock temperatures in the areas
where spreading is taking place.

Figure 11.8 Distribution of earthquakes of M4 and

greater in the area of the mid-Atlantic ridge near the
equator from 1990 to 1996. All are at a depth of 0 to
33 km [SE after Dale Sawyer, Rice University,
http://plateboundary.rice.edu]

Earthquakes at Convergent Boundaries

The distribution and depths of earthquakes in the Caribbean and Central America area are shown in
Figure 11.9. In this region, the Cocos Plate is subducting beneath the North America and Caribbean
Plates (ocean-continent convergence), and the South and North America Plates are subducting beneath
the Caribbean Plate (ocean-ocean convergence). In both cases, the earthquakes get deeper with distance
from the trench. In Figure 11.9, the South America Plate is shown as being subducted beneath the
Caribbean Plate in the area north of Colombia, but since there is almost no earthquake activity along this
zone, it is questionable whether subduction is actually taking place.

Figure 11.9 Distribution of earthquakes of M4 and

greater in the Central America region from 1990 to
1996 (red: 0-33 km, orange: 33-70 km, green:
70-300 km, blue: 300-700 km) (Spreading ridges are
heavy lines, subduction zones are toothed lines, and
transform faults are light lines.) [SE after Dale
Sawyer, Rice University,
http://plateboundary.rice.edu]
305 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

There are also various divergent and transform boundaries in the area shown in Figure 11.9, and as we’ve
seen in the mid-Atlantic area, most of these earthquakes occur along the transform faults.

The distribution of earthquakes with depth in the Kuril Islands of Russia in the northwest Pacific is
shown in Figure 11.10. This is an ocean-ocean convergent boundary. The small red and yellow dots
show background seismicity over a number of years, while the larger white dots are individual shocks
associated with a M6.9 earthquake in April 2009. The relatively large earthquake took place on the
upper part of the plate boundary between 60 km and 140 km inland from the trench. As we saw for the
Cascadia subduction zone, this is where large subduction earthquakes are expected to occur.

In fact, all of the very large earthquakes — M9 or higher — take place at subduction boundaries because
there is the potential for a greater width of rupture zone on a gently dipping boundary than on a steep
transform boundary. The largest earthquakes on transform boundaries are in the order of M8.

Figure 11.10 Distribution of earthquakes in the area of the Kuril

Islands, Russia (just north of Japan) (White dots represent the April
2009 M6.9 earthquake. Red and yellow dots are from background
seismicity over several years prior to 2009.) [SE after Gavin Hayes,
from data at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/
subduction_zone/us2009fdak/szgc/ku6_trench.pdf]

The background seismicity at this convergent boundary, and on other similar ones, is predominantly near
the upper side of the subducting plate. The frequency of earthquakes is greatest near the surface and
especially around the area where large subduction quakes happen, but it extends to at least 400 km depth.
There is also significant seismic activity in the overriding North America Plate, again most commonly
near the region of large quakes, but also extending for a few hundred kilometres away from the plate
boundary.

The distribution of earthquakes in the area of the India-Eurasia plate boundary is shown in Figure 11.11.
This is a continent-continent convergent boundary, and it is generally assumed that although the India
 Physical Geology 306

Plate continues to move north toward the Asia Plate, there is no actual subduction taking place. There
are transform faults on either side of the India Plate in this area.

Figure 11.11 Distribution of earthquakes in the area where

the India Plate is converging with the Asia Plate (data from
1990 to 1996, red: 0-33 km, orange: 33-70 km, green: 70-300
km). (Spreading ridges are heavy lines, subduction zones are
toothed lines, and transform faults are light lines. The double
line along the northern edge of the India Plate indicates
convergence, but not subduction. Plate motions are shown in
mm/y.) [SE after Dale Sawyer, Rice University,
http://plateboundary.rice.edu]

The entire northern India and southern Asia region is very seismically active. Earthquakes are common
in northern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and adjacent parts of China, and throughout Pakistan and
Afghanistan. Many of the earthquakes are related to the transform faults on either side of the India
Plate, and most of the others are related to the significant tectonic squeezing caused by the continued
convergence of the India and Asia Plates. That squeezing has caused the Asia Plate to be thrust over
top of the India Plate, building the Himalayas and the Tibet Plateau to enormous heights. Most of the
earthquakes of Figure 11.11 are related to the thrust faults shown in Figure 11.12 (and to hundreds of
other similar ones that cannot be shown at this scale). The southernmost thrust fault in Figure 11.12 is
equivalent to the Main Boundary Fault in Figure 11.11.
307 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

Figure 11.12 Schematic diagram of the India-Asia convergent

boundary, showing examples of the types of faults along
which earthquakes are focussed. The devastating Nepal
earthquake of May 2015 took place along one of these thrust
faults. [SE after D. Vouichard, from a United Nations
University document at: http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/
unupbooks/80a02e/80A02E05.htm]

There is a very significant concentration of both shallow and deep (greater than 70 km) earthquakes in
the northwestern part of Figure 11.11. This is northern Afghanistan, and at depths of more than 70 km,
many of these earthquakes are within the mantle as opposed to the crust. It is interpreted that these deep
earthquakes are caused by northwestward subduction of part of the India Plate beneath the Asia Plate in
this area.

Exercises

Exercise 11.1 Earthquakes in British Columbia

This map shows the incidence and magnitude of earthquakes in British Columbia over a one-month period in
March and April 2015.
 Physical Geology 308

1. What is the likely origin of the earthquakes between the Juan de Fuca (JDF) and Explorer Plates?
2. The string of small earthquakes adjacent to Haida Gwaii (H.G.) coincides closely with the rupture surface
of the 2012 M7.7 earthquake in that area. How might these earthquakes be related to that one?
3. Most of the earthquakes around Vancouver Island (V.I.) are relatively shallow. What is their likely origin?
4. Some of the earthquakes in B.C. are interpreted as being caused by natural gas extraction (including
fracking). Which of the earthquakes here could fall into this category?
11.3 Measuring Earthquakes

There are two main ways to measure earthquakes. The first of these is an estimate of the energy released,
and the value is referred to as magnitude. This is the number that is typically used by the press when
a big earthquake happens. It is often referred to as “Richter magnitude,” but that is a misnomer, and it
should be just “magnitude.” There are many ways to measure magnitude — including Charles Richter’s
method developed in 1935 — but they are all ways to estimate the same number: the amount of energy
released.

The other way of assessing the impact of an earthquake is to assess what people felt and how much
damage was done. This is known as intensity. Intensity values are assigned to locations, rather than
to the earthquake itself, and therefore intensity can vary widely, depending on the proximity to the
earthquake and the types of materials and conditions of the subsurface.

Earthquake Magnitude

Before we look more closely at magnitude we need to review what we know about body waves, and
look at surface waves. Body waves are of two types, P-waves, or primary or compression waves (like
the compression of the coils of a spring), and S-waves, or secondary or shear waves (like the flick of a
rope). An example of P and S seismic wave records is shown in Figure 11.13. The critical parameters
for the measurement of Richter magnitude are labelled, including the time interval between the arrival
of the P- and S-waves — which is used to determine the distance from the earthquake to the seismic
station, and the amplitude of the S waves — which is used to estimate the magnitude of the earthquake.

Figure 11.13 P-waves and S-waves from a small (M4) earthquake that
took place near Vancouver Island in 1997. [SE]

When body waves (P or S) reach Earth’s surface, some of their energy is transformed into surface waves,
of which there are two main types, as illustrated in Figure 11.14. Rayleigh waves are characterized
by vertical motion of the ground surface, like waves on water, while Love waves are characterized by
horizontal motion. Both Rayleigh and Love waves are about 10% slower than S-waves (so they arrive

309
 Physical Geology 310

later at a seismic station). Surface waves typically have greater amplitudes than body waves, and they
do more damage.

Figure 11.14 Depiction of seismic surface waves [SE after:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_wave#/media/
File:Rayleigh_wave.jpg and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Love_wave#/media/File:Love_wave.jpg]

Other important terms for describing earthquakes are hypocentre (or focus) and epicentre. The
hypocentre is the actual location of an individual earthquake shock at depth in the ground, and the
epicentre is the point on the land surface directly above the hypocentre (Figure 11.15).

Figure 11.15 Epicentre and hypocentre [SE]

A number of methods for estimating magnitude are listed in Table 11.1. Local magnitude (ML) was
widely used until late in the 20th century, but moment magnitude (MW) is now more commonly
used because it gives more accurate estimates (especially with larger earthquakes) and can be applied
to earthquakes at any distance from a seismometer. Surface-wave magnitudes can also be applied to
measure distant large earthquakes.

Because of the increasing size of cities in earthquake-prone areas (e.g., China, Japan, California) and
the increasing sophistication of infrastructure, it is becoming important to have very rapid warnings
and magnitude estimates of earthquakes that have already happened. This can be achieved by using
P-wave data to determine magnitude because P-waves arrive first at seismic stations, in many cases
several seconds ahead of the more damaging S-waves and surface waves. Operators of electrical grids,
pipelines, trains, and other infrastructure can use the information to automatically shut down systems so
that damage and casualties can be limited.
311 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

Table 11.1 A summary of some of the different methods for estimating earthquake magnitude. [SE]

M Dist.
Type Comments
Range Range

The original magnitude relationship defined in 1935 by Richter and Gutenberg. It

Local or is based on the maximum amplitude of S-waves recorded on a Wood‑Anderson
0‑400
Richter 2 to 6 torsion seismograph. ML values can be calculated using data from modern
km
(ML) instruments. L stands for local because it only applies to earthquakes relatively
close to the seismic station.

Based on the seismic moment of the earthquake, which is equal to the average
Moment amount of displacement on the fault times the fault area that slipped. It can also be
> 3.5 All
(MW) estimated from seismic data if the seismometer is tuned to detect long-period body
waves.

Surface
20 to A magnitude for distant earthquakes based on the amplitude of surface waves
wave 5 to 8
180° measured at a period near 20 s.
(MS)

Based on the amplitude of P-waves. This technique is being increasingly used to

provide very rapid magnitude estimates so that early warnings can be sent to
P-wave 2 to 8 Local
utility and transportation operators to shut down equipment before the larger (but
slower) S-waves and surface waves arrive.

Exercises

Exercise 11.2 Moment Magnitude Estimates from Earthquake Parameters

A moment magnitude calculation tool is available at: http://solr.bccampus.ca:8001/bcc/items/
24da5970-c4f3-4ab9-98ed-089a7caca242/1/. You can use it to estimate the moment magnitude based on the
approximate length, width, and displacement values provided in the following table:

Length Width Displacement

Comments MW?
(km) (km) (m)

60 15 4 The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake

The small Vancouver Island earthquake shown in Figure

0.4 0.2 .5
11.13

20 8 4 The 2001 Nisqually earthquake described in Exercise 11.3

1,100 120 10 The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

30 11 4 The 2010 Haiti earthquake

The largest recorded earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5. Could there be a 10? You can answer that question
using this tool. See what numbers are needed to make MW = 10. Are they reasonable?

The magnitude scale is logarithmic; in fact, the amount of energy released by an earthquake of M4 is
 Physical Geology 312

32 times higher than that released by one of M3, and this ratio applies to all intervals in the scale. If we
assign an arbitrary energy level of 1 unit to a M1 earthquake the energy for quakes up to M8 will be as
shown on the following chart:

Magnitude Energy

1 1

2 32

3 1,024

4 32,768

5 1,048,576

6 33,554,432

7 1,073,741,824

8 34,359,738,368

In any given year, when there is a large earthquake on Earth (M8 or M9), the amount of energy released
by that one event will likely exceed the energy released by all smaller earthquake events combined.

Earthquake Intensity

The intensity of earthquake shaking at any location is determined not only by the magnitude of the
earthquake and its distance, but also by the type of underlying rock or unconsolidated materials. If
buildings are present, the size and type of buildings (and their inherent natural vibrations) are also
important.

Intensity scales were first used in the late 19th century, and then adapted in the early 20th century
by Giuseppe Mercalli and modified later by others to form what we know call the modified Mercalli
intensity scale (Table 11.2). Intensity estimates are important because they allow us to characterize parts
of any region into areas that are especially prone to strong shaking versus those that are not. The key
factor in this regard is the nature of the underlying geological materials, and the weaker those are,
the more likely it is that there will be strong shaking. Areas underlain by strong solid bedrock tend to
experience much less shaking than those underlain by unconsolidated river or lake sediments.
313 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

Table 11.2 The modified Mercalli intensity scale. [from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Mercalli_intensity_scale]

I Not felt Not felt except by a very few under especially favourable conditions

II Weak Felt only by a few persons at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings

Felt quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings; many people do
III Weak not recognize it as an earthquake; standing motor cars may rock slightly; vibrations similar to the
passing of a truck; duration estimated

Felt indoors by many, outdoors by few during the day; at night, some awakened; dishes, windows,
IV Light doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound; sensation like heavy truck striking building; standing
motor cars rocked noticeably

V Felt by nearly everyone; many awakened; some dishes, windows broken; unstable objects
Moderate overturned; pendulum clocks may stop

VI Felt by all, many frightened; some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster; damage
Strong slight

Damage negligible in buildings of good design and construction; slight to moderate in well-built
VII Very
ordinary structures; considerable damage in poorly built or badly designed structures; some
Strong
chimneys broken

Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable damage in ordinary substantial

VIII
buildings with partial collapse; damage great in poorly built structures; fall of chimneys, factory
Severe
stacks, columns, monuments, walls; heavy furniture overturned

Damage considerable in specially designed structures; well-designed frame structures thrown out of
IX
plumb; damage great in substantial buildings, with partial collapse; buildings shifted off
Violent
foundations

X Some well-built wooden structures destroyed; most masonry and frame structures destroyed with
Extreme foundations; rails bent

Few, if any (masonry), structures remain standing; bridges destroyed; broad fissures in ground;
XI
underground pipelines completely out of service; earth slumps and land slips in soft ground; rails
Extreme
bent greatly

XII Damage total; waves seen on ground surfaces; lines of sight and level distorted; objects thrown
Extreme upward into the air

An example of this effect is the 1985 M8 earthquake that struck the Michoacán region of western
Mexico, southwest of Mexico City. There was relatively little damage in the area around the epicentre,
but there was tremendous damage and about 5,000 deaths in heavily populated Mexico City some
350 km from the epicentre. The key reason for this is that Mexico City was built largely on the
unconsolidated and water-saturated sediment of former Lake Texcoco. These sediments resonate at a
frequency of about two seconds, which was similar to the frequency of the body waves that reached
the city. For the same reason that a powerful opera singer can break a wine glass by singing the right
note, the amplitude of the seismic waves was amplified by the lake sediments. Survivors of the disaster
recounted that the ground in some areas moved up and down by about 20 cm every two seconds for
over two minutes. Damage was greatest to buildings between 5 and 15 storeys tall, because they also
resonated at around two seconds, which amplified the shaking.
 Physical Geology 314

Exercises

Exercise 11.3 Estimating Intensity from Personal Observations

The following observations were made by residents of the Nanaimo area during the M6.8 Nisqually
earthquake near Olympia, Washington, in 2001. Estimate the Mercalli intensities using Table 11.2.

Building Shaking Lasted

Floor Description of Motion Intensity?
Type Felt (seconds)

Heard a large rumble lasting not even 10 s, mirror

House 1 no 10
swayed

Candles, pictures and CDs on bookshelf moved, towels

House 2 moderate 60
fell off racks

House 1 no Pots hanging over stove moved and crashed together

Rolling feeling with a sudden stop, picture fell off

House 1 weak
mantle, chair moved

Sounded like a big truck then everything shook for a

Apartment 1 weak 10
short period

House 1 moderate 20-30 Teacups rattled but didn’t fall off

Institution 2 moderate 15 Creaking sounds, swaying movement of shelving

Bed banging against the wall with me in it, dog barking

House 1 moderate 15-30
aggressively

An intensity map for the 1946 M7.3 Vancouver Island earthquake is shown in Figure 11.16. The intensity
was greatest in the central island region where, in some communities, chimneys were damaged on
more than 75% of buildings, some roads were made impassable, and a major rock slide occurred. The
earthquake was felt as far north as Prince Rupert, as far south as Portland Oregon, and as far east as the
Rockies
315 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

Figure 11.16 Intensity map for the 1946 M7.3 Vancouver Island earthquake. [from:
http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/historic-historique/events/19460623-eng.php]
11.4 The Impacts of Earthquakes

Some of the common impacts of earthquakes include structural damage to buildings, fires, damage
to bridges and highways, initiation of slope failures, liquefaction, and tsunami. The types of impacts
depend to a large degree on where the earthquake is located: whether it is predominantly urban or rural,
densely or sparsely populated, highly developed or underdeveloped, and of course on the ability of the
infrastructure to withstand shaking.

As we’ve seen from the example of the 1985 Mexico earthquake, the geological foundations on which
structures are built can have a significant impact on earthquake shaking. When an earthquake happens,
the seismic waves produced have a wide range of frequencies. The energy of the higher frequency waves
tends to be absorbed by solid rock, while the lower frequency waves (with periods slower than one
second) pass through the solid rock without being absorbed, but are eventually absorbed and amplified
by soft sediments. It is therefore very common to see much worse earthquake damage in areas underlain
by soft sediments than in areas of solid rock. A good example of this is in the Oakland area near San
Francisco, where parts of a two-layer highway built on soft sediments collapsed during the 1989 Loma
Prieta earthquake (Figure 11.17).

Figure 11.17 A part of the Cypress Freeway in Oakland California that

collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. [from:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ commons/9/91/
Cypress_collapsed.jpg]

Building damage is also greatest in areas of soft sediments, and multi-storey buildings tend to be more
seriously damaged than smaller ones. Buildings can be designed to withstand most earthquakes, and this
practice is increasingly applied in earthquake-prone regions. Turkey is one such region, and even though
Turkey had a relatively strong building code in the 1990s, adherence to the code was poor, as builders
did whatever they could to save costs, including using inappropriate materials in concrete and reducing

316
317 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

the amount of steel reinforcing. The result was that there were over 17,000 deaths in the 1999 M7.6 Izmit
earthquake (Figure 11.18). After two devastating earthquakes that year, Turkish authorities strengthened
the building code further, but the new code has been applied only in a few regions, and enforcement of
the code is still weak, as revealed by the amount of damage from a M7.1 earthquake in eastern Turkey
in 2011.

Figure 11.18 Buildings damaged by the 1999 earthquake in the Izmit

area, Turkey. [from U.S. Geological Survey at: http://gallery.usgs.gov/
sets/1999_Izmit,_Turkey_Earthquake/thumb/_/1]

Fires are commonly associated with earthquakes because fuel pipelines rupture and electrical lines are
damaged when the ground shakes (Figure 11.19). Most of the damage in the great 1906 San Francisco
earthquake was caused by massive fires in the downtown area of the city (Figure 11.20). Some 25,000
buildings were destroyed by those fires, which were fuelled by broken gas pipes. Fighting the fires was
difficult because water mains had also ruptured. The risk of fires can be reduced through P-wave early
warning systems if utility operators can reduce pipeline pressure and close electrical circuits.

Figure 11.19 Some of the effects of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in the
Sendai area of Japan. An oil refinery is on fire, and a vast area has
been flooded by a tsunami. [from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami#/media/
File:SH-60B_helicopter_flies_over_Sendai.jpg]
 Physical Geology 318

Figure 11.20 Fires in San Francisco following the 1906 earthquake.

[from: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/
San_francisco_fire_1906.jpg]

Earthquakes are important triggers for failures on slopes that are already weak. An example is the Las
Colinas slide in the city of Santa Tecla, El Salvador, which was triggered by a M7.6 offshore earthquake
in January 2001 (Figure 11.21).
319 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

Figure 11.21 The Las Colinas debris flow at Santa Tecla (a suburb of
the capital San Salvador) triggered by the January 2001 El Salvador
earthquake. This is just one of many hundreds of slope failures that
resulted from that earthquake. Over 500 people died in the area
affected by this slide. [from: http://landslides.usgs.gov/learning/
images/foreign/ElSalvadorslide.jpg]

Ground shaking during an earthquake can be enough to weaken rock and unconsolidated materials to
the point of failure, but in many cases the shaking also contributes to a process known as liquefaction,
in which an otherwise solid body of sediment is transformed into a liquid mass that can flow. When
water-saturated sediments are shaken, the grains become rearranged to the point where they are no
longer supporting one another. Instead, the water between the grains is holding them apart and the
material can flow. Liquefaction can lead to the collapse of buildings and other structures that might be
otherwise undamaged. A good example is the collapse of apartment buildings during the 1964 Niigata
earthquake (M7.6) in Japan (Figure 11.22). Liquefaction can also contribute to slope failures and to
fountains of sandy mud (sand volcanoes) in areas where there is loose saturated sand beneath a layer of
more cohesive clay.
 Physical Geology 320

Figure 11.22 Collapsed apartment buildings in the Niigata area of Japan. The material
beneath the buildings was liquefied to varying degrees by the 1964 earthquake.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_ Niigata_earthquake#/media/File:
Liquefaction_at_Niigata.JPG

Parts of the Fraser River delta are prone to liquefaction-related damage because the region is
characterized by a 2 m to 3 m thick layer of fluvial silt and clay over top of at least 10 m of water-
saturated fluvial sand (Figure 11.23). Under these conditions, it can be expected that seismic shaking will
be amplified and, the sandy sediments will liquefy. This could lead to subsidence and tilting of buildings,
and to failure and sliding of the silt and clay layer. Current building-code regulations in the Fraser delta
area require that measures be taken to strengthen the ground underneath multi-storey buildings prior to
construction.

Figure 11.23 Recent unconsolidated sedimentary layers in the

Fraser River delta area (top) and the potential consequences
in the event of a damaging earthquake. [SE]

Exercises
321 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

Exercise 11.4 Creating Liquefaction and Discovering the Harmonic Frequency

There are a few ways that you can demonstrate the process of liquefaction for yourself. The simplest is to go
to a sandy beach (lake, ocean, or river) and find a place near the water’s edge where the sand is wet. This is
best done with your shoes off, so let’s hope it’s not too cold! While standing in one place on a wet part of the
beach, start moving your feet up and down at a frequency of about once per second. Within a few seconds the
previously firm sand will start to lose strength, and you’ll gradually sink in up to your ankles.
If you can’t get to a beach, or if the weather isn’t cooperating, put some sand (sandbox sand will do) into a
small container, saturate it with water, and then pour the excess water off. You can shake it gently to get the
water to separate and then pour the excess water away, and you may have to do that more than once. Place a
small rock on the surface of the sand; it should sit there for hours without sinking in. Now, holding the
container in one hand gently thump the side or the bottom with your other hand, about twice a second. The
rock should gradually sink in as the sand around it becomes liquefied.

As you were moving your feet up and down or thumping the pot, it’s likely that you soon discovered the most
effective rate for getting the sand to liquefy; this would have been close to the natural harmonic frequency for
that body of material. Stepping up and down as fast as you can (several times per second) on the wet beach
would not have been effective, nor would you have achieved much by stepping once every several seconds.
The body of sand vibrates most readily in response to shaking that is close to its natural harmonic frequency,
and liquefaction is also most likely to occur at that frequency.

Earthquakes that take place beneath the ocean have the potential to generate tsunami.[footnote]Tsunami
is the Japanese word for harbour wave. It is the same in both singular and plural.[/footnote] The most
likely situation for a significant tsunami is a large (M7 or greater) subduction-related earthquake. As
shown in Figure 11.24, during the time between earthquakes the overriding plate becomes distorted by
elastic deformation; it is squeezed laterally (Figure 11.24B) and pushed up.

When an earthquake happens (Figure 11.24C), the plate rebounds and there is both uplift and subsidence
on the sea floor, in some cases by as much as several metres vertically over an area of thousands of
square kilometres. This vertical motion is transmitted through the water column where it generates a
wave that then spreads across the ocean.
 Physical Geology 322

Figure 11.24 Elastic deformation and rebound of overriding plate at a

subduction setting (B). The release of the locked zone during an
earthquake (C) results in both uplift and subsidence on the sea floor,
and this is transmitted to the water overhead, resulting in a tsunami.
[SE]

Subduction earthquakes with magnitude less than 7 do not typically generate significant tsunami because
the amount of vertical displacement of the sea floor is minimal. Sea-floor transform earthquakes, even
large ones (M7 to M8), don’t typically generate tsunami either, because the motion is mostly side to side,
not vertical.

Tsunami waves travel at velocities of several hundred kilometres per hour and easily make it to the far
side of an ocean in about the same time as a passenger jet. The simulated one shown in Figure 11.25 is
similar to that created by the 1700 Cascadia earthquake off the coast of British Columbia, Washington,
and Oregon, which was recorded in Japan nine hours later.
323 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

Figure 11.25 Model of the tsunami from the 1700 Cascadia earthquake
(~M9) showing open-ocean wave heights (colours) and travel time
contours. Tsunami wave amplitudes typically increase in shallow
water. [from NOAA/PMEL/Center for Tsunami Research, at:
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/cascadia_simulated/]

Tsunami are discussed further in Chapter 17 under the topic of waves and coasts.
11.5 Forecasting Earthquakes and Minimizing Damage and Casualties

It has long been a dream of seismologists, geologists, and public safety officials to be able to accurately
predict the location, magnitude, and timing of earthquakes on time scales that would be useful for
minimizing danger to the public and damage to infrastructure (e.g., weeks, days, hours). Many different
avenues of prediction have been explored, such as using observations of warning foreshocks, changes
in magnetic fields, seismic tremor, changing groundwater levels, strange animal behaviour, observed
periodicity, stress transfer considerations, and others. So far, none of the research into earthquake
prediction has provided a reliable method. Although there are some reports of successful earthquake
predictions, they are rare, and many are surrounded by doubtful circumstances.

The problem with earthquake predictions, as with any other type of prediction, is that they have to
be accurate most of the time, not just some of the time. We have come to rely on weather predictions
because they are generally (and increasingly) accurate. But if we try to predict earthquakes and are only
accurate 10% of the time (and even that isn’t possible with the current state of knowledge), the public
will lose faith in the process very quickly, and then will ignore all of the predictions. Efforts are currently
focused on forecasting earthquake probabilities, rather than predicting their occurrence.

There was great hope for earthquake predictions late in the 1980s when attention was focused on part of
the San Andreas Fault at Parkfield, about 200 km south of San Francisco. Between 1881 and 1965 there
were five earthquakes at Parkfield, most spaced at approximately 20-year intervals, all confined to the
same 20 km-long segment of the fault, and all very close to M6 (Figure 11.26). Both the 1934 and 1966
earthquakes were preceded by small foreshocks exactly 17 minutes before the main quake.

Figure 11.26 Earthquakes on the Parkfield segment of the San Andreas

Fault between 1881 and 2004. [SE]

The U.S. Geological Survey recognized this as an excellent opportunity to understand earthquakes and
earthquake prediction, so they armed the Parkfield area with a huge array of geophysical instruments and
waited for the next quake, which was expected to happen around 1987. Nothing happened! The “1987
Parkfield earthquake” finally struck in September 2004. Fortunately all of the equipment was still there,
but it was no help from the perspective of earthquake prediction. There were no significant precursors
to the 2004 Parkfield earthquake in any of the parameters measured, including seismicity, harmonic

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325 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

tremor, strain (rock deformation), magnetic field, the conductivity of the rock, or creep, and there was
no foreshock. In other words, even though every available technique was used to monitor it, the 2004
earthquake came as a complete surprise, with no warning whatsoever.

The hope for earthquake prediction is not dead, but it was hit hard by the Parkfield experiment. The
current focus in earthquake-prone regions is to provide forecasts of the probability of an earthquake of
a certain magnitude within a certain time period — typically a number of decades — while officials
focus on ensuring that the population is educated about earthquake risks and that buildings and other
infrastructure are as safe as can be. An example of this approach for the San Francisco Bay region of
California is shown in Figure 11.27. Based on a wide range of information, including past earthquake
history, accumulated stress from plate movement, and known stress transfer, seismologists and
geologists have predicted the likelihood of a M6.7 or greater earthquake on each of eight major faults
that cut through the region. The greatest probabilities are on the San Andreas, Rogers Creek, and
Hayward Faults. As shown in Figure 11.27, there is a 63% chance that a major and damaging earthquake
will take place somewhere in the region prior to 2036.
 Physical Geology 326

Figure 11.27 Probabilities of a M6.7 or larger earthquake over the

period 2007 to 2036 on various faults in the San Francisco Bay region
of California. [from USGS at: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/
ucerf/]

As we’ve discussed already, it’s not sufficient to have strong building codes, they have to be enforced.
Building code compliance is quite robust in most developed countries, but is sadly inadequate in many
developing countries.

It’s also not enough just to focus on new buildings; we have to make sure that existing buildings —
especially schools and hospitals — and other structures such as bridges and dams, are as safe as they can
be. An example of how this is applied to schools in B.C. is described in Box 11.2.

Making the seismic upgrade in B.C.’s schools

British Columbia is in the middle of a multi-billion-dollar program to make schools safer for students.
The program is focused on older schools, because, according to the government, those built since 1992
already comply with modern seismic codes. Some schools would require too much work to make
327 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

upgrading economically feasible and they are replaced. Where upgrading is feasible, the school is
assessed carefully before any upgrade work is initiated.

An example is Sangster Elementary in Colwood on southern Vancouver Island. The school was
originally built in 1957, with a major addition in 1973. Ironically, the newer part of the school, built
of concrete blocks, required strengthening with the addition of a steel framework, while the 1957 part,
which is a wood-frame building, did not require seismic upgrading. The work was completed in 2014.

[Sangster Elementary image from Google Maps – street view]

As of January 2015, upgrades had been completed at 145 B.C. schools, 11 were underway, and
an additional 57 were ready to proceed with funding identified.* Another 129 schools were listed
as needing upgrades. In May 2015, the provincial government announced that the target date for
completion of the upgrades, originally set for 2020, had been delayed to 2030.* http://www2.gov.bc.ca/
gov/topic.page?id=00C5FFBE51C44325A845819C007A01E7

Exercises

Exercise 11.5 Is Your Local School on the Seismic Upgrade List?

The B.C. Ministry of Education’s list of schools in the seismic mitigation program as of January 2015 is
available here: seismic-mitigation-progress-report.pdf. If you live in B.C., you can check to see if any of the
schools in your area are on the list. If so, you might be able to find out, either from the school or on the
Internet, what type of work has been done or is planned.
The seismic mitigation program has a strong focus on the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Why do
you think that is the case, and is it reasonable?

The final part of earthquake preparedness involves the formulation of public emergency plans, including
escape routes, medical facilities, shelters, and food and water supplies. It also includes personal
planning, such as emergency supplies (food, water, shelter, and warmth), escape routes from houses and
offices, and communication strategies (with a focus on ones that don’t involve the cellular network).
Chapter 11 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

An earthquake is the shaking that results when a body of rock that has been deformed
breaks and the two sides quickly slide past each other. The rupture is initiated at a point
What Is an
11.1 but quickly spreads across an area of a fault, via a series of aftershocks initiated by stress
Earthquake?
transfer. Episodic tremor and slip is a periodic slow movement, accompanied by
harmonic tremors, along the middle part of a subduction zone boundary.

Most earthquakes take place at or near plate boundaries, especially at transform

Earthquakes boundaries (where most quakes are at less than 30 km depth) and at convergent
11.2 and Plate boundaries (where they can be at well over 100 km depth). The largest earthquakes
Tectonics happen at subduction zones, typically in the upper section where the rock is relatively
cool.

Magnitude is a measure of the amount of energy released by an earthquake, and it is

proportional to the area of the rupture surface and to the amount of displacement.
Although any earthquake has only one magnitude value, it can be estimated in various
Measuring
11.3 ways, mostly involving seismic data. Intensity is a measure of the amount of shaking
Earthquakes
experienced and damage done at a particular location around the earthquake. Intensity
will vary depending on the distance to the epicentre, the depth of the earthquake, and the
geological nature of the material below surface.

Damage to buildings is the most serious consequence of most large earthquakes. The
amount of damage is related to the type and size of buildings, how they are constructed,
The Impacts
and the nature of the material on which they are built. Other important consequences are
11.4 of
fires, damage to bridges and highways, slope failures, liquefaction, and tsunami.
Earthquakes
Tsunami, which are almost all related to large subduction earthquakes, can be
devastating.

Forecasting
There is no reliable technology for predicting earthquakes, but the probability of one
Earthquakes
happening within a certain time period can be forecast. We can minimize earthquake
and
11.5 impacts by ensuring that citizens are aware of the risk, that building codes are enforced,
Minimizing
that existing buildings like schools and hospitals are seismically sound, and that both
Damage and
public and personal emergency plans are in place.
Casualties

Questions for Review

1. Define the term earthquake.

2. How does elastic rebound theory help to explain how earthquakes happen?
3. What is a rupture surface, and how does the area of a rupture surface relate to earthquake magnitude?

328
329 Chapter 11 Earthquakes

4. What is an aftershock and what is the relationship between aftershocks and stress transfer?
5. Episodic slip on the middle part of the Cascadia subduction zone is thought to result in an increase in the
stress on the upper part where large earthquakes take place. Why?
6. Explain the difference between magnitude and intensity as expressions of the size of an earthquake.

7. How much more energy is released by an M7.3 earthquake compared with an M5.3 earthquake?
8. The map shows earthquake locations with the depths coded according the colour scheme used in Figure
11.11. What type of plate boundary is this?
9. Draw a line on the map to show approximately where the plate boundary is situated.
10. In which directions are the plates moving, and where in the world might this be?
11. Earthquakes are relatively common along the mid-ocean ridges. At what type of plate boundary do most
such quakes occur?
12. The northward motion of the Pacific Plate relative to the North America Plate takes place along two
major transform faults. What are they called?
13. Why is earthquake damage likely to be more severe for buildings built on unconsolidated sediments as
opposed to solid rock?
14. Why are fires common during earthquakes?
15. What type of earthquake is likely to lead to a tsunami?
16. What did we learn about earthquake prediction from the 2004 Parkfield earthquake?
17. What are some of the things we should know about an area in order to help minimize the impacts of an
earthquake?
18. What is the difference between earthquake prediction and forecasting?
Chapter 12 Geological Structures

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Describe the types of stresses that exist within the Earth’s crust
• Explain how rocks respond to those stresses by brittle, elastic, or plastic deformation, or by
fracturing
• Summarize how rocks become folded and know the terms used to describe the features of folds
• Describe the conditions under which rocks fracture
• Summarize the different types of faults, including normal, reverse, thrust, and strike-slip
• Measure the strike and dip of a geological feature
• Plot strike and dip information on a map

Figure 12.1 Folds in sedimentary rocks near Golden and the

Kickinghorse River, B.C. [SE]

Observing and understanding geological structures helps us to determine the kinds of stresses that
have existed within Earth in the past. This type of information is critical to our understanding of plate
tectonics, earthquakes, the formation of mountains, metamorphism, and Earth resources. Some of the

330
331 Steven Earle

types of geological structures that are important to study include fractures, faults, and folds. Structural
geologists make careful observations of the orientations of these structures and the amount and direction
of offset along faults.
12.1 Stress and Strain

Rocks are subject to stress —mostly related to plate tectonics but also to the weight of overlying
rocks—and their response to that stress is strain (deformation). In regions close to where plates are
converging stress is typically compressive—the rocks are being squeezed. Where plates are diverging
the stress is extensive—rocks are being pulled apart. At transform plate boundaries, where plates are
moving side by side there is sideways or shear stress—meaning that there are forces in opposite
directions parallel to a plane. Rocks have highly varying strain responses to stress because of their
different compositions and physical properties, and because temperature is a big factor and rock
temperatures within the crust can vary greatly.

We can describe the stress applied to a rock by breaking it down into three dimensions—all at right
angles to one-another (Figure 12.2). If the rock is subject only to the pressure of burial, the stresses in all
three directions will likely be the same. If it is subject to both burial and tectonic forces, the pressures
will be different in different directions.

Figure 12.2 Depiction of the stress applied to rocks within the

crust. The stress can be broken down into three components. Assuming
that we’re looking down in this case, the green arrows represent
north-south stress, the red arrows represent east-west stress, and the
blue arrows (the one underneath is not visible) represent up-down
stress. On the left, all of the stress components are the same. On the
right, the north-south stress is least and the up-down stress is greatest.
[SE]

Rock can respond to stress in three ways: it can deform elastically, it can deform plastically, and it
can break or fracture. Elastic strain is reversible; if the stress is removed, the rock will return to its
original shape just like a rubber band that is stretched and released. Plastic strain is not reversible. As
already noted, different rocks at different temperatures will behave in different ways to stress. Higher
temperatures lead to more plastic behaviour. Some rocks or sediments are also more plastic when they
are wet. Another factor is the rate at which the stress is applied. If the stress is applied quickly (for
example, because of an extraterrestrial impact or an earthquake), there will be an increased tendency for
the rock to fracture. Some different types of strain response are illustrated in Figure 12.3.

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333 Chapter 12 Geological Structures

Figure 12.3 The varying types of response of geological materials to

stress. The straight dashed parts are elastic strain and the curved parts
are plastic strain. In each case the X marks where the material
fractures. A, the strongest material, deforms relatively little and breaks
at a high stress level. B, strong but brittle, shows no plastic
deformation and breaks after relatively little elastic deformation. C,
the most deformable, breaks only after significant elastic and plastic
strain. The three deformation diagrams on the right show A and C
before breaking and B after breaking. [SE]

The outcomes of placing rock under stress are highly variable, but they include fracturing, tilting and
folding, stretching and squeezing, and faulting. A fracture is a simple break that does not involve
significant movement of the rock on either side. Fracturing is particularly common in volcanic rock,
which shrinks as it cools. The basalt columns in Figure 12.4a are a good example of fracture. Beds are
sometimes tilted by tectonic forces, as shown in Figure 12.4b, or folded as shown in Figure 12.1.
 Physical Geology 334

Figure 12.4 Rock structures caused by various

types of strain within rocks that have been
stressed [all by SE]

When a body of rock is compressed in one direction it is typically extended (or stretched) in another.
This is an important concept because some geological structures only form under compression, while
others only form under tension. Most of the rock in Figure 12.4c is limestone, which is relatively easily
deformed when heated. The dark rock is chert, which remains brittle. As the limestone stretched (parallel
to the hammer handle) the brittle chert was forced to break into fragments to accommodate the change
in shape of the body of rock. A fault is a rock boundary along which the rocks on either side have been
displaced relative to each other (Figure 12.4d).
12.2 Folding

When a body of rock, especially sedimentary rock, is squeezed from the sides by tectonic forces, it is
likely to fracture and/or become faulted if it is cold and brittle, or become folded if it is warm enough to
behave in a plastic manner.

The nomenclature and geometry of folds are summarized on Figure 12.5. An upward fold is called an
anticline, while a downward fold is called a syncline. In many areas it’s common to find a series of
anticlines and synclines (as in Figure 12.5), although some sequences of rocks are folded into a single
anticline or syncline. A plane drawn through the crest of a fold in a series of beds is called the axial
plane of the fold. The sloping beds on either side of an axial plane are limbs. An anticline or syncline is
described as symmetrical if the angles between each of limb and the axial plane are generally similar,
and asymmetrical if they are not. If the axial plane is sufficiently tilted that the beds on one side have
been tilted past vertical, the fold is known as an overturned anticline or syncline.

Figure 12.5 Examples of different types of folds and fold

nomenclature. Axial planes are only shown for the anticlines, but
synclines also have axial planes. [SE]

A very tight fold, in which the limbs are parallel or nearly parallel to one another is called an isoclinal
fold (Figure 12.6). Isoclinal folds that have been overturned to the extent that their limbs are nearly
horizontal are called recumbent folds.

Figure 12.6 An isoclinal recumbent fold [SE]

Folds can be of any size, and it’s very common to have smaller folds within larger folds (Figure 12.7).

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 Physical Geology 336

Large folds can have wavelengths of tens of kilometres, and very small ones might be visible only under
a microscope. Anticlines are not necessarily, or even typically, expressed as ridges in the terrain, nor
synclines as valleys. Folded rocks get eroded just like all other rocks and the topography that results is
typically controlled mostly by the resistance of different layers to erosion (Figure 12.8).

Figure 12.7 Folded limestone (grey) and chert (rust-coloured) in

Triassic Quatsino Formation rocks on Quadra Island, B.C. The image
is about 1 m across. [SE]

Figure 12.8 Example of the topography in an area of folded rocks that

has been eroded. In this case the green and grey rocks are most
resistant to erosion, and are represented by hills. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 12.1 Folding Style

This photograph shows folding in the same area of the Rocky Mountains as Figure 12.1. Describe the types
of folds using the appropriate terms from above (symmetrical, asymmetrical, isoclinal, overturned, recumbent
etc.). You might find it useful to first sketch in the axial planes.
337 Chapter 12 Geological Structures
12.3 Fracturing and Faulting

A body of rock that is brittle—either because it is cold or because of its composition, or both— is likely
to break rather than fold when subjected to stress, and the result is fracturing or faulting.

Fracturing

Fracturing is common in rocks near the surface, either in volcanic rocks that have shrunk on cooling
(Figure 12.4a), or in other rocks that have been exposed by erosion and have expanded (Figure 12.9).

Figure 12.9 Granite in the Coquihalla Creek area,

B.C. (left) and sandstone at Nanoose, B.C. (right),
both showing fracturing that has resulted from
expansion due to removal of overlying rock. [SE]

A fracture in a rock is also called a joint. There is no side-to-side movement of the rock on either side
of a joint. Most joints form where a body of rock is expanding because of reduced pressure, as shown by
the two examples in Figure 12.9, or where the rock itself is contracting but the body of rock remains the
same size (the cooling volcanic rock in Figure 12.4a). In all of these cases, the pressure regime is one
of tension as opposed to compression. Joints can also develop where rock is being folded because, while
folding typically happens during compression, there may be some parts of the fold that are in tension
(Figure 12.10).

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339 Chapter 12 Geological Structures

Figure 12.10 A depiction of joints developed in the hinge area of

folded rocks. Note that in this situation some rock types are more likely
to fracture than others. [SE]

Finally joints can also develop when rock is under compression as shown on Figure 12.11, where there
is differential stress on the rock, and joint sets develop at angles to the compression directions.

Figure 12.11 A depiction of joints developed in a rock that is under

stress. [SE]

Faulting

A fault is boundary between two bodies of rock along which there has been relative motion (Figure
12.4d). As we discussed in Chapter 11, an earthquake involves the sliding of one body of rock past
another. Earthquakes don’t necessarily happen on existing faults, but once an earthquake takes place a
fault will exist in the rock at that location. Some large faults, like the San Andreas Fault in California
or the Tintina Fault, which extends from northern B.C. through central Yukon and into Alaska, show
evidence of hundreds of kilometres of motion, while others show less than a millimetre. In order to
 Physical Geology 340

estimate the amount of motion on a fault, we need to find some geological feature that shows up on both
sides and has been offset (Figure 12.12).

Figure 12.12 A fault (white dashed line) in intrusive rocks on Quadra

Island, B.C. The pink dyke has been offset by the fault and the extent of
the offset is shown by the white arrow (approximately 10 cm). Because
the far side of the fault has moved to the right, this is a right-lateral
fault. If the photo were taken from the other side, the fault would still
appear to have a right-lateral offset. [SE]

There are several kinds of faults, as illustrated on Figure 12.13, and they develop under different stress
conditions. The terms hanging wall and footwall in the diagrams apply to situations where the fault is
not vertical. The body of rock above the fault is called the hanging wall, and the body of rock below it
is called the footwall. If the fault develops in a situation of compression, then it will be a reverse fault
because the compression causes the hanging wall to be pushed up relative to the footwall. If the fault
develops in a situation of extension, then it will be a normal fault, because the extension allows the
hanging wall to slide down relative to the footwall in response to gravity.

The third situation is where the bodies of rock are sliding sideways with respect to each other, as is
the case along a transform fault (see Chapter 10). This is known as a strike-slip fault because the
displacement is along the “strike” or the length of the fault. On strike-slip faults the motion is typically
only horizontal, or with a very small vertical component, and as discussed above the sense of motion can
be right lateral (the far side moves to the right), as in Figures 12.12 and 12.13, or it can be left lateral
(the far side moves to the left). Transform faults are strike-slip faults.
341 Chapter 12 Geological Structures

Figure 12.13 Depiction of reverse, normal, and strike-slip

faults. Reverse faults happen during compression while normal faults
happen during extension. Most strike-slip faults are related to
transform boundaries. [SE after: http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/
education/images/GRAPHICS/fault_types_2.jpg]

In areas that are characterized by extensional tectonics, it is not uncommon for a part of the upper crust
to subside with respect to neighbouring parts. This is typical along areas of continental rifting, such as
the Great Rift Valley of East Africa or in parts of Iceland, but it is also seen elsewhere. In such situations
a down-dropped block is known as a graben (German for ditch), while an adjacent block that doesn’t
subside is called a horst (German for heap) (Figure 12.14). There are many horsts and grabens in the
Basin and Range area of the western United States, especially in Nevada. Part of the Fraser Valley region
of B.C., in the area around Sumas Prairie is a graben.

Figure 12.14 Depiction of graben and horst structures that form in

extensional situations. All of the faults are normal faults. [SE]

A special type of reverse fault, with a very low-angle fault plane, is known as a thrust fault. Thrust
faults are relatively common in areas where fold-belt mountains have been created during continent-
continent collision. Some represent tens of kilometres of thrusting, where thick sheets of sedimentary
rock have been pushed up and over top of other rock (Figure 12.15).
 Physical Geology 342

Figure 12.15 Depiction a thrust fault. Top: prior to

faulting. Bottom: after significant fault offset. [SE]

There are numerous thrust faults in the Rocky Mountains, and a well-known example is the McConnell
Thrust, along which a sequence of sedimentary rocks about 800 m thick has been pushed for about 40
km from west to east (Figure 12.16). The thrusted rocks range in age from Cambrian to Cretaceous, so
in the area around Mt. Yamnuska Cambrian-aged rock (around 500 Ma) has been thrust over, and now
lies on top of Cretaceous-aged rock (around 75 Ma) (Figure 12.17).

Figure 12.16 Depiction of the McConnell Thrust in the eastern part of

the Rockies. The rock within the faded area has been eroded. [SE]

Figure 12.17 The McConnell Thrust at Mt. Yamnuska near Exshaw,

Alberta. Carbonate rocks (limestone) of Cambrian age have been
thrust over top of Cretaceous mudstone. [SE]

Exercises
343 Chapter 12 Geological Structures

Exercise 12.2 Types of Faults

The four images are faults that formed in different tectonic settings. Identifying the type of fault allows us to
determine if the body of rock was under compression or extension at the time of faulting. Complete the table
below the images, identifying the types of faults (normal or reversed) and whether each one formed under

compression or extension.

Type of Fault and Tectonic Situation Type of Fault and Tectonic Situation

Top Top

left: right:

Bottom Bottom

left: right:

[All by SE except bottom left: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fault_%28geology%29#/media/

File:Moab_fault.JPG]
12.4 Measuring Geological Structures

Geologists take great pains to measure and record geological structures because they are critically
important to understanding the geological history of a region. One of the key features to measure is the
orientation, or attitude, of bedding. We know that sedimentary beds are deposited in horizontal layers,
so if the layers are no longer horizontal, then we can infer that they have been affected by tectonic
forces and have become either tilted, or folded. We can express the orientation of a bed (or any other
planar feature) with two values: first, the compass orientation of a horizontal line on the surface—the
strike—and second, the angle at which the surface dips from the horizontal, (perpendicular to the
strike)—the dip (Figure 12.18).

It may help to imagine a vertical surface, such as a wall in your house. The strike is the compass
orientation of the wall and the dip is 90˚ from horizontal. If you could push the wall so it’s leaning over,
but still attached to the floor, the strike direction would be the same, but the dip angle would be less
than 90˚. If you pushed the wall over completely so it was lying on the floor, it would no longer have a
strike direction and its dip would be 0˚. When describing the dip it is important to include the direction.
In other words. if the strike is 0˚ (i.e., north) and the dip is 30˚, it would be necessary to say “to the west”
or “to the east.” Similarly if the strike is 45˚ (i.e., northeast) and the dip is 60˚, it would be necessary to
say “to the northwest” or “to the southeast.”

Measurement of geological features is done with a special compass that has a built-in clinometer, which
is a device for measuring vertical angles. An example of how this is done is shown on Figure 12.19.

Figure 12.18 A depiction of the strike and dip of some tilted

sedimentary beds partially covered with water. The notation for
expressing strike and dip on a map is shown. [SE]

344
345 Chapter 12 Geological Structures

Figure 12.19 Measurement of strike (left) and dip (right) using a geological compass with a clinometer.
[SE]

Strike and dip are also used to describe any other planar features, including joints, faults, dykes, sills,
and even the foliation planes in metamorphic rocks. Figure 12.20 shows an example of how we would
depict the beds that make up an anticline on a map.

Figure 12.20 A depiction of an anticline and a dyke in cross-section

(looking from the side) and in map view (a.k.a. plan view) with the
appropriate strike-dip and anticline symbols. [SE]

The beds on the west (left) side of the map are dipping at various angles to the west. The beds on the east
side are dipping to the east. The middle bed (light grey) is horizontal; this is denoted by a cross within
a circle. The dyke is dipping at 80˚ to the west. The hinge of the fold is denoted with a dashed line with
two arrows point away from it. If it were a syncline, the arrows would point towards the line.
 Physical Geology 346

Exercises

Exercise 12.3 Putting Strike and Dip on a Map

This cross-section shows seven tilted sedimentary layers (a to g), a fault, and a steeply dipping dyke. Place
strike and dip symbols on the map to indicate the orientations of the beds shown, the fault, and the
dyke. Then answer the questions.

1. What type of fault is this, and is this an extensional or compressional situation?

2. What are the relative ages of the nine geological features shown here (seven beds, dyke, and fault)?
youngest

oldest
Chapter 12 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Stress within rocks, which includes compression, extension and shearing, typically
originates from plate-boundary processes. Rock that is stressed responds with either elastic
Stress and
12.1 or plastic strain, and will eventually break. The way a rock responds to stress depends on its
Strain
composition and structure, the rate at which strain is applied, and also to the temperature of
the rock body and the presence of water.

Folding is generally a plastic response to compressive stress, although some brittle

behaviour can happen during folding. An upward fold is an anticline. A downward fold is
12.2 Folding a syncline. The axis of a fold can be vertical, inclined, or even horizontal. If we know that
the folded beds have not been overturned, then we can use the more specific terms:
anticline and syncline.

Fractures (joints) typically form during extension, but can also form during
Fracturing
compression. Faulting, which involves the displacement of rock, can take place during
12.3 and
compression or extension, as well as during shearing at transform boundaries. Thrust
Faulting
faulting is a special form of reverse faulting.

Measuring It is important to be able to measure the strike and dip of planar surfaces, such as a bedding
12.4 Geological planes, fractures or faults. Special symbols are used to show the orientation of structural
Structures features on geological maps.

Questions for Review

1. What types of plate boundaries are most likely to contribute to (a) compression, (b) extension, and (c)
shearing?
2. Explain the difference between elastic strain and plastic strain.
3. List some of the factors that influence whether a rock will deform (in either an elastic or plastic manner) or
break when placed under stress.

347
 Physical Geology 348

4. Label the types of folds in this diagram, and label any of the important features of the folds.

5. Explain why fractures are common in volcanic rocks.

6. What is the difference between a normal fault and a reverse fault, and under what circumstances would you
expect these to form?
7. What type of fault would you expect to see near to a transform plate boundary?
8. This diagram is a plan view (map) of the geology of a region. The coloured areas represent sedimentary
beds.
(i) Describe in words the general attitude (strike and dip) of these beds.
( ii) Which of these beds is the oldest?
(iii) What is “a” and what is its attitude?
(iv) What is “b” and what is its attitude?
(v) Which of these terms applies to “b”: “left lateral” or “right lateral”?
Chapter 13 Streams and Floods

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you
should be able to:

• Explain the hydrological cycle and its relevance to streams and what residence time means in this
context
• Describe a drainage basin and explain the origins of different types of drainage patterns
• Explain how streams become graded and how certain geological and anthropogenic changes can
result in a stream losing its gradation
• Describe the formation of stream terraces
• Describe the processes by which sediments are moved by streams and the flow velocities that are
necessary to erode them from the stream bed and keep them suspended in the water
• Explain the origins of natural stream levées
• Describe the process of stream evolution and the types of environments where one would expect
to find straight-channel, braided, and meandering streams
• Describe the annual flow characteristics of typical streams in Canada and the processes that lead
to flooding
• Describe some of the important historical floods in Canada
• Determine the probability of a flood of a particular size based on the flood history of a stream
• Explain some of the steps that we can take to limit the damage from flooding

349
 Physical Geology 350

Figure 13.1 A small waterfall on Johnston Creek in Johnston Canyon,

Banff National Park, AB [SE]

Streams are the most important agents of erosion and transportation of sediments on Earth’s surface.
They are responsible for the creation of much of the topography that we see around us. They are also
places of great beauty and tranquility, and of course, they provide much of the water that is essential
to our existence. But streams are not always peaceful and soothing. During large storms and rapid
snowmelts, they can become raging torrents capable of moving cars and houses and destroying roads
and bridges. When they spill over their banks, they can flood huge areas, devastating populations and
infrastructure. Over the past century, many of the most damaging natural disasters in Canada have been
floods, and we can expect them to become even more severe as the climate changes.
13.1 The Hydrological Cycle

Water is constantly on the move. It is evaporated from the oceans, lakes, streams, the surface of the land,
and plants (transpiration) by solar energy (Figure 13.2). It is moved through the atmosphere by winds
and condenses to form clouds of water droplets or ice crystals. It comes back down as rain or snow
and then flows through streams, into lakes, and eventually back to the oceans. Water on the surface and
in streams and lakes infiltrates the ground to become groundwater. Groundwater slowly moves through
the rock and surficial materials. Some groundwater returns to other streams and lakes, and some goes
directly back to the oceans.

Figure 13.2 The various components of the water cycle. Black or white
text indicates the movement or transfer of water from one reservoir to
another. Yellow text indicates the storage of water. [SE after
Wikipedia: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/
Water_cycle_blank.svg]

Even while it’s moving around, water is stored in various reservoirs. The largest, by far, is the oceans,
accounting for 97% of the volume (Figure 13.3). Of course, that water is salty. The remaining 3% is fresh
water. Two-thirds of our fresh water is stored in ice and one-third is stored in the ground. The remaining
fresh water — about 0.03% of the total — is stored in lakes, streams, vegetation, and the atmosphere.

351
 Physical Geology 352

Figure 13.3a The storage reservoirs for

water on Earth. Glacial ice is represented by
the white band, groundwater the red band,
and surface water the very thin blue band at
the top. The 0.001% stored in the
atmosphere is not shown. [SE using data
from: https://web.archive.org/web/
20180518215745/https://water.usgs.gov/edu/
watercyclefreshstorage.html]

To put that in perspective, let’s think about putting all of Earth’s water into a 1 L jug (Figure 13.3b). We
start by almost filling the jug with 970 ml of water and 34 g of salt. Then we add one regular-sized (~20
mL) ice cube (representing glacial ice) and two teaspoons (~10 mL) of groundwater. All of the water
that we see around us in lakes and streams and up in the sky can be represented by adding three more
drops from an eyedropper.
353 Chapter 13 Streams and Floods

Figure 13.3b Representation of

the Earth’s water as a 1 L jug.
The three drops represent all of
the fresh water in lakes, streams,
and wetlands, plus all of the
water in the atmosphere. [SE]

Although the proportion of Earth’s water that is in the atmosphere is tiny, the actual volume is huge. At
any given time, there is the equivalent of approximately 13,000 km3 of water in the air in the form of
water vapour and water droplets in clouds. Water is evaporated from the oceans, vegetation, and lakes
at a rate of 1,580 km3 per day, and just about exactly the same volume falls as rain and snow every
day — over both the oceans and land. The precipitation that falls on land goes back to the ocean in the
form of stream flow (117 km3/day) and groundwater flow (6 km3/day). Most of the rest of this chapter
is about that 117 km3/day of streamflow. The average discharge of the Fraser River into the ocean is
approximately 0.31 km3/day, or 0.26% of the world’s total.

Exercises

Exercise 13.1 How Long Does Water Stay in the Atmosphere?

The residence time of a water molecule in the atmosphere (or any of the other reservoirs) can be estimated by
dividing the amount that is there by the rate at which it is transferred in and out. For the atmosphere, we know
that the reservoir size is 13,000 km3, and the rate of flux is 1,580 km3/day. If we divide 13,000 by 1,580, we
get 8.22 days. This means that, on average, a molecule of water stays in the atmosphere for just over
eight days. “Average” needs to be emphasized here because obviously some molecules stay in the air for only
a few hours, while others may stay up there for weeks.
The volume of the oceans is 1,338,000,000 km3 and the flux rate is approximately the same (1,580 km3/day).
What is the average residence time of a water molecule in the ocean?
Physical Geology 354
13.2 Drainage Basins

A stream is a body of flowing surface water of any size, ranging from a tiny trickle to a mighty river. The
area from which the water flows to form a stream is known as its drainage basin. All of the precipitation
(rain or snow) that falls within a drainage basin eventually flows into its stream, unless some of that
water is able to cross into an adjacent drainage basin via groundwater flow. An example of a drainage
basin is shown in Figure 13.4.

Figure 13.4 Cawston Creek near Keremeos, B.C. The

blue line shows the extent of the drainage basin. The
dashed red line is the drainage basin of one of its
tributaries. [SE]

Figure 13.5 Profile of the main stem of Cawston Creek near Keremeos,
B.C. The maximum elevation of the drainage basin is about 1,840 m,
near Mount Kobau. The base level is 275 m, at the Similkameen River.
As shown, the gradient of the stream can be determined by dividing the
change in elevation between any two points (rise) by the distance
between those two points (run). [SE]

Cawston Creek is a typical small drainage basin (approximately 25 km2) within a very steep glaciated
valley. As shown in Figure 13.5, the upper and middle parts of the creek have steep gradients (averaging
about 200 m/km but ranging from 100 to 350 m/km), and the lower part, within the valley of the
355
 Physical Geology 356

Similkameen River, is relatively flat (<5 m/km). The shape of the valley has been controlled first by
tectonic uplift (related to plate convergence), then by pre-glacial stream erosion and mass wasting, then
by several episodes of glacial erosion, and finally by post-glacial stream erosion. The lowest elevation of
Cawston Creek (275 m at the Similkameen River) is its base level. Cawston Creek cannot erode below
that level unless the Similkameen River erodes deeper into its flood plain (the area that is inundated
during a flood).

Metro Vancouver’s water supply comes from three large drainage basins on the north shore of Burrard
Inlet, as shown in Figure 13.6. This map illustrates the concept of a drainage basin divide. The boundary
between two drainage basins is the height of land between them. A drop of water falling on the boundary
between the Capilano and Seymour drainage basins (a.k.a., watersheds), for example, could flow into
either one of them.

Figure 13.6 The three drainage basins that are used for the Metro
Vancouver water supply. [Used with permission of Metro Vancouver]

The pattern of tributaries within a drainage basin depends largely on the type of rock beneath, and
on structures within that rock (folds, fractures, faults, etc.). The three main types of drainage patterns
are illustrated in Figure 13.7. Dendritic patterns, which are by far the most common, develop in areas
where the rock (or unconsolidated material) beneath the stream has no particular fabric or structure and
can be eroded equally easily in all directions. Examples would be granite, gneiss, volcanic rock, and
sedimentary rock that has not been folded. Most areas of British Columbia have dendritic patterns, as
do most areas of the prairies and the Canadian Shield. Trellis drainage patterns typically develop where
sedimentary rocks have been folded or tilted and then eroded to varying degrees depending on their
strength. The Rocky Mountains of B.C. and Alberta are a good example of this, and many of the drainage
systems within the Rockies have trellis patterns. Rectangular patterns develop in areas that have very
little topography and a system of bedding planes, fractures, or faults that form a rectangular network.
Rectangular drainage patterns are rare in Canada.

In many parts of Canada, especially relatively flat areas with thick glacial sediments, and throughout
much of Canadian Shield in eastern and central Canada, drainage patterns are chaotic, or what is known
as deranged (Figure 13.8, left). Lakes and wetlands are common in this type of environment.
357 Chapter 13 Streams and Floods

Figure 13.7 Typical dendritic, trellis, and rectangular stream drainage

patterns. [SE]

A fourth type of drainage pattern, which is not specific to a drainage basin, is known as radial (Figure
13.8, right). Radial patterns form around isolated mountains (such as volcanoes) or hills, and the
individual streams typically have dendritic drainage patterns.

Figure 13.8 Left: a typical deranged pattern; right: a

typical radial drainage pattern developed around a
mountain or hill. [SE]

Over geological time, a stream will erode its drainage basin into a smooth profile similar to that shown in
Figure 13.9. If we compare this with an ungraded stream like Cawston Creek (Figure 13.5), we can see
that graded streams are steepest in their headwaters and their gradient gradually decreases toward their
mouths. Ungraded streams have steep sections at various points, and typically have rapids and waterfalls
at numerous locations along their lengths.

Figure 13.9 The topographic profile of a typical graded stream. [SE]

A graded stream can become ungraded if there is renewed tectonic uplift, or if there is a change in the
base level, either because of tectonic uplift or some other reason. As stated earlier, the base level of
Cawston Creek is defined by the level of the Similkameen River, but this can change, and has done so
in the past. Figure 13.10 shows the valley of the Similkameen River in the Keremeos area. The river
channel is just beyond the row of trees. The green field in the distance is underlain by material eroded
 Physical Geology 358

from the hills behind and deposited by a small creek (not Cawston Creek) adjacent to the Similkameen
River when its level was higher than it is now. Sometime in the past several centuries, the Similkameen
River eroded down through these deposits (forming the steep bank on the other side of the river), and
the base level of the small creek was lowered by about 10 m. Over the next few centuries, this creek will
seek to become graded again by eroding down through its own alluvial fan.

Figure 13.10 An example of a change in the base level of a small

stream that flows into the Similkameen river near Keremeos. The
previous base level was near the top of the sandy bank. The current
base level is the river. [SE]

Another example of a change in base level can be seen along the Juan de Fuca Trail on southwestern
Vancouver Island. As shown in Figure 13.11, many of the small streams along this part of the coast flow
into the ocean as waterfalls. It is evident that the land in this area has risen by about 5 m in the past
few thousand years, probably in response to deglaciation. The streams that used to flow directly into the
ocean now have a lot of down-cutting to do to become regraded.

Figure 13.11 Two streams with a lowered base level

on the Juan de Fuca Trail, southwestern Vancouver
Island. [SE]

The ocean is the ultimate base level, but lakes and other rivers act as base levels for many smaller
streams. We can create an artificial base level on a stream by constructing a dam.

Exercises
359 Chapter 13 Streams and Floods

Exercise 13.2 The Effect of a Dam on Base Level

Revelstoke Dam and Revelstoke Lake on the

Columbia River at Revelstoke, BC [SE]

When a dam is built on a stream, a reservoir (artificial lake) forms behind the dam, and this temporarily (for
many decades at least) creates a new base level for the part of the stream above the reservoir. How does the
formation of a reservoir affect the stream where it enters the reservoir, and what happens to the sediment it
was carrying? The water leaving the dam has no sediment in it. How does this affect the stream below the
dam?

Sediments accumulate within the flood plain of a stream, and then, if the base level changes, or if there
is less sediment to deposit, the stream may cut down through those existing sediments to form terraces.
A terrace on the Similkameen River is shown in Figure 13.10 and some on the Fraser River are shown
in Figure 13.12. The Fraser River photo shows at least two levels of terraces.

Figure 13.12 Terraces on the Fraser River at High Bar. [Marie Betcher photo, used with permission]

In the late 19th century, American geologist William Davis proposed that streams and the surrounding
terrain develop in a cycle of erosion (Figure 13.13). Following tectonic uplift, streams erode quickly,
 Physical Geology 360

developing deep V-shaped valleys that tend to follow relatively straight paths. Gradients are high, and
profiles are ungraded. Rapids and waterfalls are common. During the mature stage, streams erode wider
valleys and start to deposit thick sediment layers. Gradients are slowly reduced and grading increases.
In old age, streams are surrounded by rolling hills, and they occupy wide sediment-filled valleys.
Meandering patterns are common.

Davis’s work was done long before the idea of plate tectonics, and he was not familiar with the impacts
of glacial erosion on streams and their environments. While some parts of his theory are out of date, it is
still a useful way to understand streams and their evolution.

Figure 13.13 A depiction of the Davis cycle of erosion: a: initial stage, b: youthful stage, c: mature stage,
and d: old age. [SE]
13.3 Stream Erosion and Deposition

As we discussed in Chapter 6, flowing water is a very important mechanism for both erosion and
deposition. Water flow in a stream is primarily related to the stream’s gradient, but it is also controlled
by the geometry of the stream channel. As shown in Figure 13.14, water flow velocity is decreased by
friction along the stream bed, so it is slowest at the bottom and edges and fastest near the surface and in
the middle. In fact, the velocity just below the surface is typically a little higher than right at the surface
because of friction between the water and the air. On a curved section of a stream, flow is fastest on the
outside and slowest on the inside.

Figure 13.14 The relative velocity of stream flow

depending on whether the stream channel is straight
or curved (left), and with respect to the water depth
(right). [SE]

Other factors that affect stream-water velocity are the size of sediments on the stream bed — because
large particles tend to slow the flow more than small ones — and the discharge, or volume of water
passing a point in a unit of time (e.g., m3/second). During a flood, the water level always rises, so there
is more cross-sectional area for the water to flow in; however, as long as a river remains confined to its
channel, the velocity of the water flow also increases.

Figure 13.15 shows the nature of sediment transportation in a stream. Large particles rest on the bottom
— bedload — and may only be moved during rapid flows under flood conditions. They can be moved
by saltation (bouncing) and by traction (being pushed along by the force of the flow).

Smaller particles may rest on the bottom some of the time, where they can be moved by saltation and
traction, but they can also be held in suspension in the flowing water, especially at higher velocities. As
you know from intuition and from experience, streams that flow fast tend to be turbulent (flow paths
are chaotic and the water surface appears rough) and the water may be muddy, while those that flow
more slowly tend to have laminar flow (straight-line flow and a smooth water surface) and clear water.
Turbulent flow is more effective than laminar flow at keeping sediments in suspension.

Stream water also has a dissolved load, which represents (on average) about 15% of the mass of material
transported, and includes ions such as calcium (Ca+2) and chloride (Cl-) in solution. The solubility of
these ions is not affected by flow velocity.

361
 Physical Geology 362

Figure 13.15 Modes of transportation of sediments and dissolved ions

(represented by red dots with + and – signs) in a stream. [SE]

The faster the water is flowing, the larger the particles that can be kept in suspension and transported
within the flowing water. However, as Swedish geographer Filip Hjulström discovered in the 1940s, the
relationship between grain size and the likelihood of a grain being eroded, transported, or deposited is
not as simple as one might imagine (Figure 13.16). Consider, for example, a 1 mm grain of sand. If it is
resting on the bottom, it will remain there until the velocity is high enough to erode it, around 20 cm/s.
But once it is in suspension, that same 1 mm particle will remain in suspension as long as the velocity
doesn’t drop below 10 cm/s. For a 10 mm gravel grain, the velocity is 105 cm/s to be eroded from the
bed but only 80 cm/s to remain in suspension.

Figure 13.16 The Hjulström-Sundborg diagram

showing the relationships between particle size and
the tendency to be eroded, transported, or deposited
at different current velocities

On the other hand, a 0.01 mm silt particle only needs a velocity of 0.1 cm/s to remain in suspension, but
requires 60 cm/s to be eroded. In other words, a tiny silt grain requires a greater velocity to be eroded
than a grain of sand that is 100 times larger! For clay-sized particles, the discrepancy is even greater. In
a stream, the most easily eroded particles are small sand grains between 0.2 mm and 0.5 mm. Anything
smaller or larger requires a higher water velocity to be eroded and entrained in the flow. The main reason
for this is that small particles, and especially the tiny grains of clay, have a strong tendency to stick
together, and so are difficult to erode from the stream bed.
363 Chapter 13 Streams and Floods

It is important to be aware that a stream can both erode and deposit sediments at the same time. At 100
cm/s, for example, silt, sand, and medium gravel will be eroded from the stream bed and transported in
suspension, coarse gravel will be held in suspension, pebbles will be both transported and deposited, and
cobbles and boulders will remain stationary on the stream bed.

Exercises

Exercise 13.3 Understanding the Hjulström-Sundborg Diagram

Refer to the Hjulström-Sundborg diagram (Figure 13.16) to answer these questions.
1. A fine sand grain (0.1 mm) is resting on the bottom of a stream bed.
(a) What stream velocity will it take to get that sand grain into suspension?
(b) Once the particle is in suspension, the velocity starts to drop. At what velocity will it finally come back to
rest on the stream bed?
2. A stream is flowing at 10 cm/s (which means it takes 10 s to go 1 m, and that’s pretty slow).
(a) What size of particles can be eroded at 10 cm/s?
(b) What is the largest particle that, once already in suspension, will remain in suspension at 10 cm/s?

A stream typically reaches its greatest velocity when it is close to flooding over its banks. This is known
as the bank-full stage, as shown in Figure 13.17. As soon as the flooding stream overtops its banks
and occupies the wide area of its flood plain, the water has a much larger area to flow through and the
velocity drops significantly. At this point, sediment that was being carried by the high-velocity water is
deposited near the edge of the channel, forming a natural bank or levée.
 Physical Geology 364

Figure 13.17 The development of natural levées during

flooding of a stream. The sediments of the levée become
increasingly fine away from the stream channel, and even
finer sediments — clay, silt, and fine sand — are deposited
across most of the flood plain. [SE]
13.4 Stream Types

Stream channels can be straight or curved, deep and slow, or rapid and choked with coarse sediments.
The cycle of erosion has some influence on the nature of a stream, but there are several other factors that
are important.

Youthful streams that are actively down-cutting their channels tend to be relatively straight and are
typically ungraded (meaning that rapids and falls are common). As shown in Figures 13.1 and 13.18,
youthful streams commonly have a step-pool morphology, meaning that the stream consists of a series
of pools connected by rapids and waterfalls. They also have steep gradients and steep and narrow V-
shaped valleys — in some cases steep enough to be called canyons.

Figure 13.18 The Cascade Falls area of the Kettle

River, near Christina Lake, B.C. This stream has a
step-pool morphology and a deep bedrock channel.
[SE]

In mountainous terrain, such as that in western Alberta and B.C., steep youthful streams typically
flow into wide and relatively low-gradient U-shaped glaciated valleys. The youthful streams have high
sediment loads, and when they flow into the lower-gradient glacial valleys where the velocity isn’t
high enough to carry all of the sediment, braided patterns develop, characterized by a series of narrow
channels separated by gravel bars (Figure 13.19).

365
 Physical Geology 366

Figure 13.19 The braided channel of the Kicking Horse River

at Field, B.C. [SE]

Braided streams can develop anywhere there is more sediment than a stream is able to transport.
One such environment is in volcanic regions, where explosive eruptions produce large amounts of
unconsolidated material that gets washed into streams. The Coldwater River next to Mt. St. Helens in
Washington State is a good example of this (Figure 13.20).

Figure 13.20 The braided Coldwater River, Mt. St. Helens,

Washington. [SE]

A stream that occupies a wide, flat flood plain with a low gradient typically carries only sand-sized
and finer sediments and develops a sinuous flow pattern. As you saw in Figure 13.14, when a stream
flows around a corner, the water on the outside has farther to go and tends to flow faster. This leads
to erosion of the banks on the outside of the curve, deposition on the inside, and formation of a point
bar (Figure 13.21). Over time, the sinuosity of the stream becomes increasingly exaggerated, and the
channel migrates around within its flood plain, forming a meandering pattern.
367 Chapter 13 Streams and Floods

Figure 13.21 The meandering channel of the Bonnell Creek,

Nanoose, B.C. The stream is flowing toward the viewer. The
sand and gravel point bar must have formed when the creek
was higher and the flow faster than it was when the photo was
taken. [SE]

A well-developed meandering river is shown in Figure 13.22. The meander in the middle of the photo
has reached the point where the thin neck of land between two parts of the channel is about to be eroded
through. When this happens, another oxbow lake will form like the others in the photo.

Figure 13.22 The meandering channel of the Nowitna River,

Alaska. Numerous oxbow lakes are present and another
meander cutoff will soon take place. [Oliver Kumis,
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nowitna_river.jpg]

Exercises

Exercise 13.4 Determining Stream Gradients

 Physical Geology 368

Gradient is the key factor controlling stream velocity, and of course, velocity controls sediment erosion and
deposition. This map shows the elevations of Priest Creek in the Kelowna area. The length of the creek
between 1,600 m and 1,300 m elevation is 2.4 km, so the gradient is 300/2.4 = 125 m/km.
1. Use the scale bar to estimate the distance between 1,300 m and 600 m and then calculate that gradient.
2. Estimate the gradient between 600 and 400 m.
3. Estimate the gradient between 400 m on Priest Creek and the point where Mission Creek enters Okanagan
Lake.

At the point where a stream enters a still body of water — a lake or the ocean — sediment is deposited
and a delta forms. The Fraser River has created a large delta, which extends out into the Strait of Georgia
(Figure 13.23). Much of the Fraser delta is very young in geological terms. Shortly after the end of
the last glaciation (10,000 years ago), the delta did not extend past New Westminster. Since that time,
all of the land that makes up Richmond, Delta, and parts of New Westminster and south Surrey has
formed from sediment from the Fraser River. (You can see this in more detail at Geoscape Vancouver
http://www.cgenarchive.org/vancouver-fraserdelta.html.)
369 Chapter 13 Streams and Floods

Figure 13.23 The delta of the Fraser River and the plume of
sediment that extends across the Strait of Georgia. The land
outlined in red has formed over the past 10,000 years.
[September 2011, SE after NASA:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77368]
13.5 Flooding

The discharge levels of streams are highly variable depending on the time of year and on specific
variations in the weather from one year to the next. In Canada, most streams show discharge variability
similar to that of the Stikine River in northwestern B.C., as illustrated in Figure 13.24. The Stikine River
has its lowest discharge levels in the depths of winter when freezing conditions persist throughout most
of its drainage basin. Discharge starts to rise slowly in May, and then rises dramatically through the late
spring and early summer as a winter’s worth of snow melts. For the year shown, the minimum discharge
on the Stikine River was 56 m3/s in March, and the maximum was 37 times higher, 2,470 m3/s, in May.

Figure 13.24 Variations in discharge of the Stikine River during 2013.

[SE from data at Water Survey of Canada, Environment Canada,
http://www.ec.gc.ca/rhc-wsc/]

Streams in coastal areas of southern British Columbia show a very different pattern from those in most
of the rest of the country because their drainage basins do not remain entirely frozen and because they
receive a lot of rain (rather than snow) during the winter. The Qualicum River on Vancouver Island
typically has its highest discharge levels in January or February and its lowest levels in late summer
(Figure 13.25). In 2013, the minimum discharge was 1.6 m3/s, in August, and the maximum was 34
times higher, 53 m3/s, in March.

Figure 13.25 Variations in discharge of the Qualicum River during

2013. [SE from data at Water Survey of Canada, Environment Canada,
http://www.ec.gc.ca/rhc-wsc/]

When a stream’s discharge increases, both the water level (stage) and the velocity increase as well.
Rapidly flowing streams become muddy and large volumes of sediment are transported both in
suspension and along the stream bed. In extreme situations, the water level reaches the top of the
stream’s banks (the bank-full stage, see Figure 13.17), and if it rises any more, it floods the surrounding
370
 371 Chapter 13 Streams and Floods

terrain. In the case of mature or old-age streams, this could include a vast area of relatively flat ground
known as a flood plain, which is the area that is typically covered with water during a major flood.
Because fine river sediments are deposited on flood plains, they are ideally suited for agriculture, and
thus are typically occupied by farms and residences, and in many cases, by towns or cities. Such
infrastructure is highly vulnerable to damage from flooding, and the people that live and work there are
at risk.

Most streams in Canada have the greatest risk of flooding in the late spring and early summer when
stream discharges rise in response to melting snow. In some cases, this is exacerbated by spring storms.
In years when melting is especially fast and/or spring storms are particularly intense, flooding can be
very severe.

One of the worst floods in Canadian history took place in the Fraser Valley in late May and early June
of 1948. The early spring of that year had been cold, and a large snow pack in the interior was slow
to melt. In mid-May, temperatures rose quickly and melting was accelerated by rainfall. Fraser River
discharge levels rose rapidly over several days during late May, and the dykes built to protect the valley
were breached in a dozen places. Approximately one-third of the flood plain was inundated and many
homes and other buildings were destroyed, but there were no deaths. The Fraser River flood of 1948,
which was the highest in the past century, was followed by very high river levels in 1950 and 1972 and
by relatively high levels several times since then, the most recent being 2007 (Table 13.1). In the years
following 1948, millions of dollars were spent repairing and raising the existing dykes and building new
ones; since then damage from flooding in the Fraser Valley has been relatively limited.

Table13.1 Ranking of the maximum stage and discharge

values for the Fraser River at Hope between 1948 and 2008.
Typical discharge levels are around 1,000 m3/s. [From date in
1
Mannerstrom, 2008 ]

Rank Year Month Date Stage (m) Discharge (m3/s)

1 1948 May 31 11.0 15,200

2 1972 Jun 16 10.1 12,900

3 1950 Jun 20 9.9 12,500

4 1964 Jun 21 9.6 11,600

5 1997 Jun 5 9.5 11,300

6 1955 Jun 29 9.4 11,300

7 1999 Jun 22 9.4 11,000

8 2007 Jun 10 9.3 10,850

9 1974 Jun 22 9.3 10,800

10 2002 Jun 21 9.2 10,600

1. Mannerström, M, 2008, Comprehensive Review of Fraser River at Hope Flood Hydrology and Flows Scoping Study, Report prepared for the B.C.
Ministry of the Environment. Available at: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/public_safety/flood/pdfs_word/review_fraser_flood_flows_hope.pdf
 Physical Geology 372

Table13.1 Ranking of the maximum stage and discharge values for the Fraser River at Hope between
2
1948 and 2008. Typical discharge levels are around 1,000 m3/s. [From date in Mannerstrom, 2008 ]

Serious flooding happened in July in 1996 in the Saguenay-Lac St. Jean region of Quebec. In this case,
the floods were caused by two weeks of heavy rainfall followed by one day of exceptional rainfall. July
19 saw 270 mm of rain, equivalent to the region’s normal rainfall for the entire month of July. Ten deaths
were attributed to the Saguenay floods, and the economic toll was estimated at $1.5 billion.

Just a year after the Saguenay floods, the Red River in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Manitoba reached
its highest level since 1826. As is typical for the Red River, the 1997 flooding was due to rapid snowmelt.
Because of the south to north flow of the river, the flooding starts in Minnesota and North Dakota, where
melting starts earlier, and builds toward the north. The residents of Manitoba had plenty of warning that
the 1997 flood was coming because there was severe flooding at several locations on the U.S. side of the
border.

After the 1950 Red River flood, the Manitoba government built a channel around the city of Winnipeg
to reduce the potential of flooding in the city (Figure 13.26). Known as the Red River Floodway, the
channel was completed in 1964 at a cost of $63 million. Since then it has been used many times to
alleviate flooding in Winnipeg, and is estimated to have saved many billions of dollars in flood damage.
The massive 1997 flood was almost too much for the floodway; in fact the amount of water diverted was
greater than the designed capacity. The floodway has recently been expanded so that it can be used to
divert more of the Red River’s flow away from Winnipeg.

Figure 13.26 Map of the Red River Floodway around

Winnipeg, Manitoba (left), and aerial view of the
southern (inlet) end of the floodway (right). [Map
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
1997_Red_River_Flood#/media/
File:Rednorthfloodwaymap.png and photo from
Natural Resources Canada 2012, courtesy of the
Geological Survey of Canada (Photo 2000-118 by
G.R. Brooks).]

Canada’s most costly flood ever was the June 2013 flood in southern Alberta. The flooding was initiated
by snowmelt and worsened by heavy rains in the Rockies due to an anomalous flow of moist air from
the Pacific and the Caribbean. At Canmore, rainfall amounts exceeded 200 mm in 36 hours, and at High
River, 325 mm of rain fell in 48 hours.

2. Mannerström, M, 2008, Comprehensive Review of Fraser River at Hope Flood Hydrology and Flows Scoping Study, Report prepared for
the B.C. Ministry of the Environment. Available at: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/public_safety/flood/pdfs_word/
review_fraser_flood_flows_hope.pdf
373 Chapter 13 Streams and Floods

Figure 13.27 Map of the communities most affected by the

2013 Alberta floods (in orange) [SE]

In late June and early July, the discharges of several rivers in the area, including the Bow River in Banff,
Canmore, and Exshaw, the Bow and Elbow Rivers in Calgary, the Sheep River in Okotoks, and the
Highwood River in High River, reached levels that were 5 to 10 times higher than normal for the time
of year (see Exercise 13.5). Large areas of Calgary, Okotoks, and High River were flooded and five
people died (see Figures 13.27 and 13.28). The cost of the 2013 flood is estimated to be approximately
$5 billion. For more about Alberta’s flood of the century, visit: http://www.ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/
default.asp?lang=En&n=5BA5EAFC-1&offset=2&toc=hide.

Figure 13.28 Flooding in Calgary (June 21, left) and

Okotoks (June 20, right) during the 2013 southern
Alberta flood [http://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/6/6a/
Riverfront_Ave_Calgary_Flood_2013.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/
Okotoks_-_June_20%2C_2013_-_Flood_waters_in_
local_campground_playground-03.JPG]

Exercises

Exercise 13.5 Flood Probability on the Bow River

The graph below shows the highest discharge per year between 1915 and 2014 on the Bow River at Calgary.
Using this data set, we can calculate the recurrence interval (Ri) for any particular flood magnitude using the
equation: Ri = (n+1)/r (where n is the number of floods in the record being considered, and r is the rank of the
particular flood). There are a few years missing in this record, and the actual number of data points is 95.
 Physical Geology 374

The largest flood recorded on the Bow River over that period was the one in 2013, 1,840 m3/s on June 21. Ri
for that flood is (95+1)/1 = 96 years. The probability of such a flood in any future year is 1/Ri, which is 1%.
The fifth largest flood was just a few years earlier in 2005, at 791 m3/s. Ri for that flood is (95+1)/5 = 19.2
years. The recurrence probability is 5%.
1. Calculate the recurrence interval for the second largest flood (1932, 1,520 m3/s).
2. What is the probability that a flood of 1,520 m3/s will happen next year?
3. Examine the 100-year trend for floods on the Bow River. If you ignore the major floods (the labelled ones),
what is the general trend of peak discharges over that time?

[SE, from data at Water Surveys of Canada, Environment Canada,

http://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/search/searchDownload_e.html]

One of the things that the 2013 flood on the Bow River teaches us is that we can’t predict when a flood
will occur or how big it will be, so in order to minimize damage and casualties we need to be prepared.
Some of the ways of doing that are as follows:

• Mapping flood plains and not building within them

• Building dykes or dams where necessary
• Monitoring the winter snowpack, the weather, and stream discharges
• Creating emergency plans
• Educating the public
Chapter 13 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

The
Water is stored in the oceans, glacial ice, the ground, lakes, rivers, and the atmosphere.
13.1 Hydrological
Its movement is powered by the sun and gravity.
Cycle

All of the precipitation that falls within a drainage basin flows into the stream that drains
that area. Stream drainage patterns are determined by the type of rock within the basin.
Drainage
13.2 Over geological time, streams change the landscape that they flow within, and eventually
Basins
they become graded, meaning their profile is a smooth curve. A stream can lose that
gradation if there is renewed uplift or if their base level changes for some reason.

Erosion and deposition of particles within streams is primarily determined by the velocity
of the water. Erosion and deposition of different-sized particles can happen at the same
Stream time. Some particles are moved along the bottom of a river while some are suspended in
13.3 Erosion and the water. It takes a greater velocity of water to erode a particle from a stream bed than it
Deposition does to keep it in suspension. Ions are also transported in solution. When a stream rises
and then occupies its flood plain, the velocity slows and natural levées form along the
edges of the channel.

Youthful streams in steep areas erode rapidly, and they tend to have steep, rocky, and
relatively straight channels. Where sediment-rich streams empty into areas with lower
Stream
13.4 gradients, braided streams can form. In areas with even lower gradients, and where silt
Types
and sand are the dominant sediments, meanders are common. Deltas form where streams
flow into standing water.

Most streams in Canada have their highest discharge rates in spring and early summer,
although many of B.C.’s coastal streams are highest in the winter. Floods happen when a
stream rises high enough to spill over its banks and spread across its flood plain. Some of
13.5 Flooding the more significant floods in Canada include the Fraser River flood of 1948, the
Saguenay River flood of 1996, the Red River flood of 1997, and the Alberta floods of
2013. We can estimate the probability of a specific flood level based on the record of past
floods, and we can take steps to minimize the impacts of flooding.

Questions for Review

1. What is the proportion of liquid (not frozen) fresh water on Earth expressed as a percentage of all
water on Earth?
2. What percentage of that fresh water is groundwater?
3. What type of rock, and what processes, can lead to the formation of a trellis drainage pattern?

375
 Physical Geology 376

4. Why do many of the streams in the southwestern part of Vancouver Island flow to the ocean as
waterfalls?
5. Where would you expect to find the fastest water flow on a straight stretch of a stream?
6. Sand grains can be moved by traction and saltation. What minimum stream velocities might be
required to move 1 mm sand grains?
7. If the flow velocity of a stream is 1 cm/s, what sizes of particles can be eroded, what sizes can be
transported if they are already in suspension, and what sizes of particles cannot be moved at all?
8. Under what circumstances might a braided stream develop?
9. How would the gradient of a stream be affected if a meander is cut off?
10. The elevation of the Fraser River at Hope is 41 m. From there it flows approximately 147 km to
the sea. What is the average gradient of the river (m/km) over that distance?
11. How do B.C.’s coastal streams differ from most of the rest of the streams in Canada in terms of
their annual flow patterns? Why?
12. Why do most serious floods in Canada happen in late May, June, or early July?
13. There is a 65-year record of peak annual discharges on the Ashnola River near Princeton, B.C.
During this time, the second highest discharge was 175 m3/s. Based on this information, what is
the recurrence interval (Ri) for that discharge level, and what is the probability that there will be a
similar peak discharge next year?
Chapter 14 Groundwater

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you
should be able to:

• Explain the concepts of porosity and permeability and the importance of these to groundwater
storage and movement
• Describe the relative porosities and permeabilities of some common geological materials
• Define aquifers, aquitards, confining layers, and the differences between confined and unconfined
aquifers
• Explain the concepts of hydraulic head, the water table, potentiometric surface, and hydraulic
gradient, and apply the Darcy equation for estimating groundwater flow
• Describe the flow of groundwater from recharge areas to discharge areas
• Describe the nature of groundwater flow in karst systems
• Explain how wells are used to extract groundwater and the implications of over-pumping a well
• Describe how observation wells are used to monitor groundwater levels and the importance of
protecting groundwater resources
• Distinguish between natural and anthropogenic contamination of groundwater
• Describe some of the ways that groundwater can become contaminated, and how contamination
can be minimized

Figure 14.1 A spring flowing from a limestone cave on Quadra Island,

B.C. [SE]

377
 Physical Geology 378

As we saw in Chapter 13, fresh water makes up only 3% of the water on Earth. Approximately two-
thirds of that is glacial ice and most of the rest is groundwater. We can’t live without water, and it’s easy
to see that groundwater represents a critically important component of our water supply. Groundwater is
not as easily accessed as surface water, but it is also not as easily contaminated as surface water. If more
than 7 billion of us want to continue living comfortably here on Earth, we have to take great care of our
groundwater and learn how to use it sustainably.
14.1 Groundwater and Aquifers

Groundwater is stored in the open spaces within rocks and within unconsolidated sediments. Rocks and
sediments near the surface are under less pressure than those at significant depth and therefore tend
to have more open space. For this reason, and because it’s expensive to drill deep wells, most of the
groundwater that is accessed by individual users is within the first 100 m of the surface. Some municipal,
agricultural, and industrial groundwater users get their water from greater depth, but deeper groundwater
tends to be of lower quality than shallow groundwater, so there is a limit as to how deep we can go.

Porosity is the percentage of open space within an unconsolidated sediment or a rock. Primary porosity
is represented by the spaces between grains in a sediment or sedimentary rock. Secondary porosity is
porosity that has developed after the rock has formed. It can include fracture porosity — space within
fractures in any kind of rock. Some volcanic rock has a special type of porosity related to vesicles, and
some limestone has extra porosity related to cavities within fossils.

Porosity is expressed as a percentage calculated from the volume of open space in a rock compared with
the total volume of rock. The typical ranges in porosity of a number of different geological materials
are shown in Figure 14.2. Unconsolidated sediments tend to have higher porosity than consolidated ones
because they have no cement, and most have not been strongly compressed. Finer-grained materials
(e.g., silt and clay) tend to have greater porosity — some as high as 70% — than coarser materials
(e.g., gravel). Primary porosity tends to be higher in well-sorted sediments compared to poorly sorted
sediments, where there is a range of smaller particles to fill the spaces made by the larger particles.
Glacial till, which has a wide range of grain sizes and is typically formed under compression beneath
glacial ice, has relatively low porosity.

Consolidation and cementation during the process of lithification of unconsolidated sediments into
sedimentary rocks reduces primary porosity. Sedimentary rocks generally have porosities in the range of
10% to 30%, some of which may be secondary (fracture) porosity. The grain size, sorting, compaction,
and degree of cementation of the rocks all influence primary porosity. For example, poorly sorted
and well-cemented sandstone and well-compressed mudstone can have very low porosity. Igneous or
metamorphic rocks have the lowest primary porosity because they commonly form at depth and have
interlocking crystals. Most of their porosity comes in the form of secondary porosity in fractures. Of the
consolidated rocks, well-fractured volcanic rocks and limestone that has cavernous openings produced
by dissolution have the highest potential porosity, while intrusive igneous and metamorphic rocks, which
formed under great pressure, have the lowest.

379
 Physical Geology 380

Figure 14.2 Variations in porosity of unconsolidated materials (in red)

and rocks (in blue) [SE]

Porosity is a measure of how much water can be stored in geological materials. Almost all rocks contain
some porosity and therefore contain groundwater. Groundwater is found under your feet and everywhere
on the planet. Considering that sedimentary rocks and unconsolidated sediments cover about 75% of the
continental crust with an average thickness of a few hundred metres, and that they are likely to have
around 20% porosity on average, it is easy to see that a huge volume of water can be stored in the ground.

Porosity is a description of how much space there could be to hold water under the ground, and
permeability describes how those pores are shaped and interconnected. This determines how easy it is
for water to flow from one pore to the next. Larger pores mean there is less friction between flowing
water and the sides of the pores. Smaller pores mean more friction along pore walls, but also more
twists and turns for the water to have to flow-through. A permeable material has a greater number of
larger, well-connected pores spaces, whereas an impermeable material has fewer, smaller pores that are
poorly connected. Permeability is the most important variable in groundwater. Permeability describes
how easily water can flow through the rock or unconsolidated sediment and how easy it will be to extract
the water for our purposes. The characteristic of permeability of a geological material is quantified by
geoscientists and engineers using a number of different units, but the most common is the hydraulic
conductivity. The symbol used for hydraulic conductivity is K. Although hydraulic conductivity can be
expressed in a range of different units, in this book, we will always use m/s.

The materials in Figure 14.3 show that there is a wide range of permeability in geological materials
from 10-12 m/s (0.000000000001 m/s) to around 1 m/s. Unconsolidated materials are generally more
permeable than the corresponding rocks (compare sand with sandstone, for example), and the coarser
materials are much more permeable than the finer ones. The least permeable rocks are unfractured
intrusive igneous and metamorphic rocks, followed by unfractured mudstone, sandstone, and limestone.
The permeability of sandstone can vary widely depending on the degree of sorting and the amount
of cement that is present. Fractured igneous and metamorphic rocks, and especially fractured volcanic
rocks, can be highly permeable, as can limestone that has been dissolved along fractures and bedding
planes to create solutional openings.
381 Chapter 14 Groundwater

Figure 14.3 Variations in hydraulic conductivity (in metres/second) of

unconsolidated materials (in red) and of rocks (in blue) [SE]

Why is clay porous but not permeable?

Both sand and clay deposits (and sandstone and mudstone) are quite porous (30% to 50% for sand and
40% to 70% for silt and clay), but while sand can be quite permeable, clay and mudstone are not.

The surface of most silicate mineral grains has a slight negative charge due to imperfections in the
mineral structure. Water (H2O) is a polar molecule. This means that while it has no overall electrical
charge, one side of the molecule has a slight positive charge (the side with the two hydrogens), compared
to a slight negative charge on the other side. Water is strongly attracted to all mineral grains and water
within that bound water layer (a few microns around each grain) is not able to move and flow along with
the rest of the groundwater. In the lower diagrams shown here, the bound water is represented by dark
blue lines around each grain and the water that can move is light blue. In the sand, there is still a lot of
water that is able to move through the sediment, but in the clay/silt almost all of the water is held tightly
to the grains and this reduces the permeability. [SE]

We have now seen that there is a wide range of porosity in geological materials and an even wider range
of permeability. Groundwater exists everywhere there is porosity. However, whether that groundwater
 Physical Geology 382

is able to flow in significant quantities depends on the permeability. An aquifer is defined as a body
of rock or unconsolidated sediment that has sufficient permeability to allow water to flow through it.
Unconsolidated materials like gravel, sand, and even silt make relatively good aquifers, as do rocks
like sandstone. Other rocks can be good aquifers if they are well fractured. An aquitard is a body that
does not allow transmission of a significant amount of water, such as a clay, a till, or a poorly fractured
igneous or metamorphic rock. These are relative terms, not absolute, and are usually defined based on
someone’s desire to pump groundwater; what is an aquifer to someone who does not need a lot of water,
may be an aquitard to someone else who does. An aquifer that is exposed at the ground surface is called
an unconfined aquifer. An aquifer where there is a lower permeability material between the aquifer and
the ground surface is known as a confined aquifer, and the aquitard separating ground surface and the
aquifer is known as the confining layer.

Figure 14.4 shows a cross-section of a series of rocks and unconsolidated materials, some of which might
serve as aquifers and others as aquitards or confining layers. The granite is much less permeable than
the other materials, and so is an aquitard in this context. The yellow layer is very permeable and would
make an ideal aquifer. The overlying grey layer is a confining layer.

The upper buff-coloured layer (K = 10-2 m/s) does not have a confining layer and is an unconfined
aquifer. The yellow layer (K = 10-1 m/s) is “confined” by the confining layer (K = 10-4 m/s), and is a
confined aquifer. The confined aquifer gets most of its water from the upper part of the hill where it is
exposed at the surface, and relatively little by seepage through the fine silt layer.

Figure 14.4 A cross-section showing materials that might serve as

aquifers and confining layers. The relative permeabilities are denoted
by hydraulic conductivity (K = m/s). The pink rock is granite; the other
layers are various sedimentary layers. [SE]
14.2 Groundwater Flow

If you go out into your garden or into a forest or a park and start digging, you will find that the soil
is moist (unless you’re in a desert), but it’s not saturated with water. This means that some of the pore
space in the soil is occupied by water, and some of the pore space is occupied by air (unless you’re in a
swamp). This is known as the unsaturated zone. If you could dig down far enough, you would get to
the point where all of the pore spaces are 100% filled with water (saturated) and the bottom of your hole
would fill up with water. The level of water in the hole represents the water table, which is the surface
of the saturated zone. In most parts of British Columbia, the water table is several metres below the
surface.

Water falling on the ground surface as precipitation (rain, snow, hail, fog, etc.) may flow off a hill slope
directly to a stream in the form of runoff, or it may infiltrate the ground, where it is stored in the
unsaturated zone. The water in the unsaturated zone may be used by plants (transpiration), evaporate
from the soil (evaporation), or continue past the root zone and flow downward to the water table, where
it recharges the groundwater.

A cross-section of a typical hillside with an unconfined aquifer is illustrated in Figure 14.5. In areas with
topographic relief, the water table generally follows the land surface, but tends to come closer to surface
in valleys, and intersects the surface where there are streams or lakes. The water table can be determined
from the depth of water in a well that isn’t being pumped, although, as described below, that only applies
if the well is within an unconfined aquifer. In this case, most of the hillside forms the recharge area,
where water from precipitation flows downward through the unsaturated zone to reach the water table.
The area at the stream or lake to which the groundwater is flowing is a discharge area.

What makes water flow from the recharge areas to the discharge areas? Recall that water is flowing in
pores where there is friction, which means it takes work to move the water. There is also some friction
between water molecules themselves, which is determined by the viscosity. Water has a low viscosity,
but friction is still a factor. All flowing fluids are always losing energy to friction with their surroundings.
Water will flow from areas with high energy to those with low energy. Recharge areas are at higher
elevations, where the water has high gravitational energy. It was energy from the sun that evaporated the
water into the atmosphere and lifted it up to the recharge area. The water loses this gravitational energy
as it flows from the recharge area to the discharge area.

In Figure 14.5, the water table is sloping; that slope represents the change in gravitational potential
energy of the water at the water table. The water table is higher under the recharge area (90 m) and lower
at the discharge area (82 m). Imagine how much work it would be to lift water 8 m high in the air. That
is the energy that was lost to friction as the groundwater flowed from the top of the hill to the stream.

383
 Physical Geology 384

Figure 14.5 A depiction of the water table in cross-section, with the

saturated zone below and the unsaturated zone above. The water table
is denoted with a small upside-down triangle. [SE]

The situation gets a lot more complicated in the case of confined aquifers, but they are important sources
of water so we need to understand how they work. As shown in Figure 14.6, there is always a water table,
and that applies even if the geological materials at the surface have very low permeability. Where there is
a confined aquifer — meaning one that is separated from the surface by a confining layer — this aquifer
will have its own “water table,” which is actually called a potentiometric surface, as it is a measure of
the total potential energy of the water. The red dashed line in Figure 14.6 is the potentiometric surface
for the confined aquifer, and it describes the total energy that water is under within the confined aquifer.
If we drill a well into the unconfined aquifer, the water will rise to the level of the water table (well
A in Figure 14.6). But if we drill a well through both the unconfined aquifer and the confining layer
and into the confined aquifer, the water will rise above the top of the confined aquifer to the level of
its potentiometric surface (well B in Figure 14.6). This is known as an artesian well, because the water
rises above the top of the aquifer. In some situations, the potentiometric surface may be above the ground
level. The water in a well drilled into the confined aquifer in this situation would rise above ground level,
and flow out, if it’s not capped (well C in Figure 14.6). This is known as a flowing artesian well.

Figure 14.6 A depiction of the water table and the potentiometric

surface of a confined aquifer. [SE]

In situations where there is an aquitard of limited extent, it is possible for a perched aquifer to exist as
shown in Figure 14.7. Although perched aquifers may be good water sources at some times of the year,
they tend to be relatively thin and small, and so can easily be depleted with over-pumping.
385 Chapter 14 Groundwater

Figure 14.7 A perched aquifer above a regular unconfined aquifer.

[SE]

In 1856, French engineer Henri Darcy carried out some experiments from which he derived a method
for estimating the rate of groundwater flow based on the hydraulic gradient and the permeability of an
aquifer, expressed using K, the hydraulic conductivity. Darcy’s equation, which has been used widely by
hydrogeologists ever since, looks like this:

V=K*i

(where V is the velocity of the groundwater flow, K is the hydraulic conductivity, and i is the hydraulic
gradient).

We can apply this equation to the scenario in Figure 14.5. If we assume that the permeability is 0.00001
m/s we get: V = 0.00001 * 0.08 = 0.0000008 m/s. That is equivalent to 0.000048 m/min, 0.0029 m/hour
or 0.069 m/day. That means it would take 1,450 days (nearly four years) for water to travel the 100 m
from the vicinity of the well to the stream. Groundwater moves slowly, and that is a reasonable amount
of time for water to move that distance. In fact it would likely take longer than that, because it doesn’t
travel in a straight line.

Exercises

Exercise 14.1 How Long Will It Take?

 Physical Geology 386

Sue, the owner of Joe’s 24-Hour Gas, has discovered that

her underground storage tank (UST) is leaking fuel. She calls in a hydrogeologist to find out how long it
might take for the fuel contamination to reach the nearest stream. They discover that the well at Joe’s has a
water level that is 37 m above sea level and the elevation of the stream is 21 m above sea level. The sandy
sediment in this area has a permeability of 0.0002 m/s.
Using V = K * i, estimate the velocity of groundwater flow from Joe’s to the stream, and determine how long
it might take for contaminated groundwater to flow the 80 m to the stream. [SE drawing]

It’s critical to understand that groundwater does not flow in underground streams, nor does it form
underground lakes. With the exception of karst areas, with caves in limestone, groundwater flows very
slowly through granular sediments, or through solid rock that has fractures in it. Flow velocities of
several centimetres per day are possible in significantly permeable sediments with significant hydraulic
gradients. But in many cases, permeabilities are lower than the ones we’ve used as examples here, and
in many areas, gradients are much lower. It is not uncommon for groundwater to flow at velocities of a
few millimetres to a few centimetres per year.

As already noted, groundwater does not flow in straight lines. It flows from areas of higher hydraulic
head to areas of lower hydraulic head, and this means that it can flow “uphill” in many situations.
This is illustrated in Figure 14.8. The dashed orange lines are equipotential, meaning lines of equal
pressure. The blue lines are the predicted groundwater flow paths. The dashed lines red lines are no-flow
boundaries, meaning that water cannot flow across these lines. That’s not because there is something
there to stop it, but because there’s no pressure gradient that will cause water to flow in that direction.

Groundwater flows at right angles to the equipotential lines in the same way that water flowing down
a slope would flow at right angles to the contour lines. The stream in this scenario is the location with
the lowest hydraulic potential, so the groundwater that flows to the lower parts of the aquifer has to flow
upward to reach this location. It is forced upward by the pressure differences, for example, the difference
between the 112 and 110 equipotential lines.
387 Chapter 14 Groundwater

Figure 14.8 Predicted equipotential lines (orange) and groundwater

flow paths (blue) in an unconfined aquifer. The orange numbers are the
elevations of the water table at the locations shown, and therefore they
represent the pressure along the equipotential lines. [SE]

Groundwater that flows through caves, including those in karst areas — where caves have been formed
in limestone because of dissolution — behaves differently from groundwater in other situations. Caves
above the water table are air-filled conduits, and the water that flows within these conduits is not under
pressure; it responds only to gravity. In other words, it flows downhill along the gradient of the cave
floor (Figure 14.9). Many limestone caves also extend below the water table and into the saturated zone.
Here water behaves in a similar way to any other groundwater, and it flows according to the hydraulic
gradient and Darcy’s law.

Figure 14.9 Groundwater in a limestone karst region. The water in the

caves above the water table does not behave like true groundwater
because its flow is not controlled by water pressure, only by gravity.
The water below the water table does behave like true groundwater.
[SE]
14.3 Groundwater Extraction

Except in areas where groundwater comes naturally to the surface at a spring (a place where the water
table intersects the ground surface), we have to construct wells in order to extract it. If the water table
is relatively close to the surface, a well can be dug by hand or with an excavator, but in most cases we
need to use a drill to go down deep enough. There are many types of drills that can be used; an example
is shown in Figure 14.10. A well has to be drilled at least as deep as the water table, but in fact must go
much deeper; first, because the water table may change from season to season and from year to year, and
second, because when water is being pumped, the water level will drop, at least temporarily.

Figure 14.10 A water-well drilling rig in operation in

the Cassidy area, near Nanaimo, B.C. In the photo
on the right the well is being test-pumped with air
pressure. The casing (yellow arrow) is about 40 cm
in diameter. [SE]

Where a well is drilled in unconsolidated sediments or relatively weak rock, it has to be lined with casing
(steel pipe in most cases) in order to ensure that it doesn’t cave in. A specially designed well screen is
installed at the bottom of the casing. The size of the holes in the screen is carefully chosen to make sure
that it allows the water to move into the well freely, but prevents aquifer particles from entering the well.
A submersible pump is typically used to lift water from within the well up to the where it is needed.
The well shown in Figure 14.10 has casing that is about 40 cm in diameter, which might be typical for a
municipal water supply well, or a very large well for irrigation. Most domestic wells have 15 cm casing.

Pumping water from the well removes water from inside the well at first. That lowers the water level
inside the well. This means that water will flow from the surrounding aquifer (higher groundwater head)
toward the pumping well where the groundwater head is now lower. That is how a well gets water from
the ground. The water table, or potentiometric surface, will slope in toward the well where the water is
being withdrawn. That indicates the energy gradient that is allowing water to flow toward the well. This
creates a shape known as a cone of depression surrounding the well, as illustrated in Figure 14.11. If
pumping from a well continues for hours to days, the cone of depression may result in a loss of water
in nearby wells. As shown in Figure 14.12, pumping of well C has contributed to well B going dry. If
pumping continues in well C, it too may go dry.

388
389 Chapter 14 Groundwater

Figure 14.11 Three wells in an unconfined aquifer. Well A is not being

pumped. Well B is being pumped at a slow rate and well C, which has
a larger cone of depression, is being pumped at a faster rate. [SE]

Figure 14.12 A similar scenario to that in Figure 14.11, but in this

case, wells B and C have been pumped unsustainably for a long time.
The cone of depression from well C has reached well B and has
contributed to it going dry. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 14.2 Cone of Depression

The two diagrams here show the same well before (left) and after (right) long-term pumping. A cone of
depression has developed. This provides the energy gradient for water to flow toward the well so that it can
be pumped out.
How will this likely affect the rate of flow into the well?
 Physical Geology 390

Like other provinces in Canada, British Columbia has a network of observation wells administered by
the Ministry of the Environment. These are wells that are installed to measure water levels; they are
not pumped. There are 145 active observation wells in B.C. (in 2015), most equipped with automatic
recorders that monitor water levels continuously. The main purpose of the observation wells is to
monitor water table levels so that we can see if there are long-term natural fluctuations in groundwater
quantity, and shorter-term fluctuations related to overuse of the resource. They are also sampled
regularly to monitor groundwater chemistry and quality.

An example of an observation well is illustrated in Figure 14.13. This one is situated at Cassidy on
Vancouver Island and is used to monitor an unconsolidated aquifer that is widely used by residents with
private wells.

Figure 14.13 B.C. observation well 232 near Cassidy

Airport, Vancouver Island. The installation also has
a solar panel, which is not visible in this view. [SE]

The water-level data from B.C.’s observation wells are available to the public, and an example data set is
illustrated in Figure 14.14. The water level in Ministry of Environment observation well 232 (OW-232),
situated in Lantzville on Vancouver Island, dropped significantly from 1979 (average depth ~1.5 m), to
2010 (average depth ~5.5 m), but has recovered a little since then.

Figure 14.14 Water level data for B.C. observation well 232 on Harby
Rd., Lantzville, Vancouver Island. From 1979 to 2003, depths were
recorded monthly. Automated equipment was installed in 2003, and the
depths were recorded hourly since that time. [SE from data at:
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/data_searches/obswell/map/]

The short-term variations in the level of well 232 are at a period of one year and are related to annual
cycles of recharge and discharge governed by the wet winter climate and drier summers. The data for
391 Chapter 14 Groundwater

part of the period are shown in more detail in Figure 14.15. On Vancouver Island, most wells drop to
their lowest levels in September or October after the long dry summer period. Levels increase rapidly
from October through February as high winter precipitation adds recharge to the aquifer, and water is
stored. The water table reaches a peak in March or April. Most wells then drop over the summer as
groundwater continues to flow, but no new recharge is added. The water is drained from storage into
streams or lakes and eventually into the ocean, and as a result, the water table decreases, reaching its
lowest level again in September or October. Similar fluctuations are observed at most observations wells
around the province, although the timing is slightly different from region to region.

Figure 14.15 Water level data for B.C. observation well 232 for the
period 1996 to 2000, showing seasonal variations [SE from data at:
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/data_searches/obswell/map/]

The long-term fluctuations in levels in observation wells around the province are also quite variable.
Long-term changes in climate can lead to gradual natural changes in water levels. These long-term
cycles lasting years or decades are mixed with the effects of well pumping. Some observation wells
show consistent decreases in water level that may indicate long-term over-extraction. Many others show
generally consistent levels over several decades, and some show increases in water level. One of the
important jobs performed by hydrogeologists working for different government ministries is to examine
these long-term records of water levels for indications of how sustainable the groundwater use might be.

Exercises

Exercise 14.3 What’s Your Water Table Doing?

Visit the B.C. Ministry of the Environment observation well website at: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/
data_searches/obswell/map/ and use the map to find an observation well near you. When you click on a point,
a window pops up with a link that says, “Click for details about this well.” Click on that link and then choose
one of the options available. The “Graphs” tab will show you a graph of the water levels, and you should be
able to tell if the level is generally increasing or decreasing. If there isn’t much data to see, choose a different
well.
(Similar data are available for Alberta and Saskatchewan. Search using terms like “Alberta observation
wells.”)
 Physical Geology 392

In 2014, the B.C. government introduced the Water Sustainability Act, which will require licensing
groundwater extraction for the first time. This comes into effect in January 2016. The new Act also
includes provisions for determining “environmental flow needs” — the amount of water that must be in
surface water streams at different times of the year to meet the needs of the ecosystem that depends on
the streamflow. For example, many streams in B.C. support populations of salmon that live in the stream
for part of their life cycle or return to their home stream for spawning. Groundwater forms a part of the
baseflow in a watershed, and is therefore an important part of the environmental flow needs. Careful
work is needed in the coming years to ensure that the amount of water licensed to be extracted from
surface water and groundwater for human use does not interfere with the amount of water needed for the
natural water-dependent ecosystems to function.

The situation in California, where groundwater extraction over large areas is leading to declining water
levels, is quite different from that in B.C. According to the state Department of Water Resources, 80%
of groundwater wells showed drops in water level of 0 m to 7.5 m between 2011 and 2013, another 6%
dropped by 7.5 m to 15 m, and 3% dropped by more than 15 m (Figure 14.16). Over the same time
period, only 10% of well levels increased by 0 m to 7.5 m, and 1% increased by more than 7.5 m. The
drought that gripped California in 2013 had worsened significantly by 2015, and California farmers —
and the people across North America that eat the food they produce — continue to have a prodigious
appetite for irrigation water. California, like B.C., is introducing new groundwater regulations to try to
control water usage and halt water table declines.

Figure 14.16 Changes in water levels in wells in California from 2011

to 2013 [SE from State of California Department of Water Resources
data]

Impermeable Surfaces

Even if groundwater supplies are not being depleted by overuse, or by a changing climate, we are
continuing to put stress on aquifers by covering vast areas with impermeable surfaces that don’t allow
rain and snowmelt to infiltrate and become groundwater. Instead, water that falls on these surfaces is
channelled into drainage systems, then into storm sewers, and then directly into rivers and the ocean. In
cities and their suburbs, the biggest culprits are parking lots, roads, and highways. While it would great
if we didn’t dedicate such huge areas to cars, that’s not about to change quickly, so we need to think
about ways that we can improve surface water infiltration in cities. One way is to use road and parking
surfaces that will allow water to seep through, although this is not practical in many cases. Another way
393 Chapter 14 Groundwater

is to ensure that runoff from pavement is channelled into existing or constructed wetlands that serve to
decontaminate the water, and then allow it to infiltrate into the ground.
14.4 Groundwater Quality

As was noted at the very beginning of this chapter, one of the good things about groundwater as a source
of water is that it is not as easily contaminated as surface water is. But there are two caveats to that:
one is that groundwater can become naturally contaminated because of its very close connection to the
materials of its aquifer, and the second is that once contaminated by human activities, groundwater is
very difficult to clean up.

Natural Contamination of Groundwater

Groundwater moves slowly through an aquifer, and unlike the surface water of a stream, it has a lot of
contact with the surrounding rock or sediment. In most aquifers, the geological materials that make up
the aquifer are relatively inert, or are made up of minerals that dissolve very slowly into the groundwater.
Over time, however, all groundwater gradually has more and more material dissolved within it as it
remains in contact with the aquifer. In some areas, that rock or sediment includes some minerals that
could potentially contaminate the water with elements that might make the water less than ideal for
human consumption or agricultural use. Examples include copper, arsenic, mercury, fluorine, sodium,
and boron. In some cases, contamination may occur because the aquifer material has particularly high
levels of the element in question. In other cases, the aquifer material is just normal rock or sediment,
but some particular feature of the water or the aquifer allows the contaminant to build up to significant
levels.

An example of natural contamination takes place in the bedrock aquifers of the east coast of Vancouver
Island and the adjacent Gulf Islands. The aquifer is the Cretaceous (90 Ma to 65 Ma) Nanaimo Group,
which is made up of sandstone, mudstone, and conglomerate (Figure 14.17).

Figure 14.17 Cretaceous Nanaimo Group sandstone exposed in a

Nanaimo parking lot [SE]

The rocks of the Nanaimo Group are not particularly enriched in any trace elements, but the submarine-
fan sandstone that makes up much of the group is a lithic wacke, and therefore has relatively high

394
 395 Chapter 14 Groundwater
1
levels of clay (for a sandstone). This clay is good at adsorbing some elements from the water and
desorbing others, and in the process, its pH goes up (it becomes alkaline). At high pH levels (some
as high as 9 in the Nanaimo Group), the element fluorine that is present naturally in the rock (as it
is in almost any rock) has an increased tendency to dissolve in the water. In some areas, groundwater
in the Nanaimo Group has fluorine levels that are well above recommended levels for drinking water.
The World Health Organization (WHO) maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) for fluorine is 1.5
mg/L (milligrams per litre). Between 5% and 10% of the domestic wells around Nanaimo and adjacent
Gabriola Island have more than that, some as much as 10 mg/L. A small amount of fluorine in the human
diet is considered important for maintaining dental health, but high levels can lead to malformation and
discolouration of teeth, and long-term exposure can lead to other more serious health effects such as
skeletal problems.

Nanaimo Group groundwater can also have elevated levels of boron, again related to pH and adsorption
from clay minerals. While boron at the levels found there is not toxic to humans, there is enough boron
in some wells to be toxic to plants, and the water cannot be used for irrigation.

Rural residents in the densely populated country of Bangladesh (over 1,000 residents/km2, compared
with 3.4/km2 in Canada) used to rely mostly on surface supplies for their drinking water, and many of
these were subject to bacterial contamination. Infant mortality rates were among the highest in the world
and other illnesses such as diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, cholera, and hepatitis were common. In the
1970s, international agencies, including UNICEF, started a program of drilling wells to access abundant
groundwater supplies at depths of 20 m to 100 m. Eventually over 8 million such wells were drilled.
Infant mortality and illness rates dropped dramatically, but it was later discovered that the water from a
high proportion of these wells has arsenic above safe levels (Figure 14.18).

1. “Adsorb” (with a “d”) is not the same as “absorb” (with a “b”). Water can be absorbed by a sponge. Ions dissolved in water can be
adsorbed onto — or desorbed from — the surfaces of clay minerals.
 Physical Geology 396

Figure 14.18 The distribution of arsenic in

groundwater in Bangladesh. The WHO
recommended safe level for arsenic is 10 μg/L. All of
the green, orange, and red areas on the map exceed
that limit.
[From: BGS and DPHE. 2001. Arsenic
contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh.
Kinniburgh, D G and Smedley, P L (Editors). British
Geological Survey Technical Report WC/00/19.
British Geological Survey: Keyworth.
(http://www.bgs.ac.uk/arsenic/bangladesh/) ]

Most of the wells in the affected areas are drilled into relatively recent sediments of the vast delta of the
Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers. While these sediments are not particularly enriched in arsenic, they
have enough organic matter in them to use up any oxygen present. This leads to water with a naturally
low oxidation potential (anoxic conditions); arsenic is highly soluble under these conditions, and so any
arsenic present in the sediments easily gets dissolved into the groundwater. Arsenic poisoning leads to
headaches, confusion, and diarrhea, and eventually to vomiting, stomach pain, and convulsions. If not
treated, the final outcomes are heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, coma, and death. There are ways to
treat arsenic-rich groundwater, but it is a challenge in Bangladesh to implement the simple and effective
technology that is available.

Anthropogenic Contamination of Groundwater

Groundwater can become contaminated by pollution at the surface (or at depth), and there are many
different anthropogenic (human-caused) sources of contamination.
397 Chapter 14 Groundwater

The vulnerability of aquifers to pollution depends on several factors, including the depth to the water
table, the permeability of the material between the surface and the aquifer, the permeability of the
aquifer, the slope of the surface, and the amount of precipitation. Confined aquifers tend to be much
less vulnerable than unconfined ones, and deeper aquifers are less vulnerable than shallow ones. Steeper
slopes mean that surface water tends to run off rather than infiltrate (and this can reduce the possibility
of contamination). Contamination risk is also less in dry areas than in areas with heavy rainfall.

Studies of groundwater vulnerability have been completed for various regions of British Columbia. A
groundwater vulnerability map for southern Vancouver Island is shown in Figure 14.19. The yellow to
red areas are considered to have high vulnerability to pollution from surface sources, and most of these
are where the aquifers are unconfined in quite permeable unconsolidated sediments of either glacial or
fluvial origin, where the water table is relatively shallow and the terrain is relatively flat.

Figure 14.19 The vulnerability to anthropogenic contamination of

aquifers on southern Vancouver Island. Much of the island is not
mapped (shown as white) because of a lack of aquifer information in
areas without wells. [From: Newton, P. and Gilchrist, A. 2010.
Technical summary of intrinsic vulnerability mapping methods of
Vancouver Island, Vancouver Island Water Resources Vulnerability
Mapping Project, Vancouver Island University, 45pp. Used with
permission. https://web.viu.ca/groundwater/PDF/
VI_DRASTIC_Summary_Phase2_2010.pdf]

The important sources of anthropogenic groundwater contamination include the following:

• Chemicals and animal waste related to agriculture, and chemicals applied to golf courses and
domestic gardens
• Landfills
• Industrial operations
• Mines, quarries, and other rock excavations
• Leaking fuel storage tanks (especially those at gas stations)
• Septic systems
• Runoff from roads (e.g., winter salting) or chemical spills of materials being transported
 Physical Geology 398

Agriculture

Intensive agricultural operations and golf courses can have a significant impact on the environment,
especially where chemicals and other materials are used to enhance growth or control pests. An example
of agricultural contamination is in the Abbotsford area of the Fraser Valley, where nitrate levels above
the 44 mg/L maximum acceptable level (expressed as nitrate) in the Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer have
been observed since the 1950s; however, the problem became much worse as agriculture intensity
increased in the 1980s. By 2004, groundwater with nitrate levels in excess of 44 mg/L was reported over
an area of about 75 km2 around Abbotsford, and the problem extended across the border into the Sumas
area of Washington State.

This region is intensively used for berry crops (especially raspberries and blueberries) and large poultry
operations, as well as lesser amounts of grazing and forage crops. Chicken manure is typically stored
in fields adjacent to chicken barns, and may release nitrogen to the environment from runoff water, and
from releases of ammonia gas. Over decades, both chemical fertilizers and chicken manure and other
manures have been applied to the berry crops to provide extra nitrogen to help maximize berry growth.
If the fertilizer added is in excess of what the plants need, or is poorly timed compared to when it is
needed, then the extra nitrogen may be leached into the groundwater below. Berry crops are irrigated
over the summer to help the crops grow. Summer irrigation and winter rainfall may carry excess nitrate
from the near surface to the aquifer below.

Since the 1990s, agricultural practices have been tightened up to reduce the rate of groundwater
contamination, but it will take decades for nitrate levels to drop in the Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and many others are conducting research on better irrigation and
nitrate management techniques to reduce the amount of nitrogen that leaches to groundwater.

Landfills

In the past, domestic and commercial refuse was commonly trucked to a “dump” (typically a hole in the
ground), and when the hole was filled, it was covered with soil and forgotten. In situations like this, rain
and melting snow can easily pass through the soil used to cover the refuse. This water passes into the
waste itself, and the resulting landfill leachate that flows from the bottom of the landfill can seriously
contaminate the surrounding groundwater and surface water. In the past few decades, regulations around
refuse disposal have been significantly strengthened, and important steps have been taken to reduce the
amount of landfill waste by diverting recyclable and compostable materials to other locations.

A modern engineered landfill has an impermeable liner (typically heavy plastic, although engineered
clay liners or natural clay may be adequate in some cases), a plumbing system for draining leachate (the
rainwater that flows through the refuse and becomes contaminated), and a network of monitoring wells
both within and around the landfill (Figure 14.20). Once part or all of a landfill site is full, it is sealed
over with a plastic cover, and a system is put in place to extract landfill gas (typically a mixture of
carbon dioxide and methane). That gas can be sent to a nearby location where it is burned to create heat
or used to generate electricity. The leachate must be treated, and that can be done in a normal sewage
treatment plant.
399 Chapter 14 Groundwater

Figure 14.20 A cross-section of a typical modern landfill [SE]

The monitoring wells are used to assess the level of the water table around the landfill and to collect
groundwater samples so that any leakage can be detected. Because some leakage is almost inevitable, the
ideal placement for landfills is in areas where the depth to the water table is significant (tens of metres if
possible) and where the aquifer material is relatively impermeable. Landfills should also be situated far
from streams, lakes, or wetlands so that contamination of aquatic habitats can be avoided.

Today there are hundreds of abandoned dumps scattered across the country; most have been left to
contaminate groundwater that we might wish to use sometime in the future. In many cases, it’s unlikely
that we’ll be able to do so.

Exercises

Exercise 14.4 What Goes on at Your Landfill?

Unless you live in a remote rural area, there’s a good chance that the refuse you can’t recycle is picked up at
the curb and taken to a landfill. Most landfills are operated by cities or regional districts, and you should be
able to find information about yours on the appropriate local government website. See if you can answer

some the following questions:

1. Which government body operates your landfill?
2. Where is the landfill situated?
3. Is your waste all placed in a landfill, or are there other processes in use (e.g., incineration or composting)?
4. Are landfill gases captured, and, if so, what is done with them?
 Physical Geology 400

5. What could be changed to improve the waste disposal situation in your community (e.g., more recycling,
compost collection, waste-to-energy technology)?
[SE photo]

Industrial Operations

Although western Canada doesn’t have the same extent of industrial pollution as other parts of the
country, there are still seriously contaminated sites in the west, most with the potential to contaminate
groundwater. One example is the lead and zinc smelter at Trail, B.C. The largest in the world, it has been
operating for over 100 years and has left a residue of metal contamination around the region (Figure
14.21). In some parts of Trail, the contamination is serious enough that existing soil has been removed
from residential properties and replaced with clean soil brought in from elsewhere. This contaminated
soil has contributed to contamination of groundwater in the Trail area. Groundwater beneath the actual
smelter site is contaminated, and the operator (Teck Resources) is currently working on plans to prevent
that water from reaching the nearby Columbia River.

Figure 14.21 The Trail lead-zinc smelter in 1929

[http://upload.wikimedia.org /wikipedia/commons/2/20
/Trail_Smelter_in_Year_1929.png]

Mines, Quarries, and Rock Excavations

Mines and other operations that involve the excavation of large amounts of rock (e.g., highway
construction) have the potential to create serious environmental damage. The exposure of rock that has
previously not been exposed to air and water can lead to the oxidation of sulphide-bearing minerals, such
a pyrite (FeS2), within the rock. The combination of pyrite, water, oxygen, and a special type of bacteria
(Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans) that thrives in acidic conditions leads to the generation of acidity, in
some cases to pH less than 2. Water that acidic is hazardous by itself, but the low pH also has the
401 Chapter 14 Groundwater

property of increasing the solubility of certain heavy metals. The water that is generated by this process
is known as acid rock drainage (ARD). ARD can occur naturally where sulphide-bearing rocks are near
the surface. The issue of ARD is a major environmental concern at both operating mines and abandoned
mines (see Chapter 20). In streams around the Mt. Washington Mine on Vancouver Island (Figure 14.22),
copper levels are high enough to be toxic to fish. Groundwater adjacent to the contaminated streams in
the area is very likely contaminated as well.

Figure 14.22 Acidic runoff at the abandoned Mt. Washington Mine

near Courtenay, B.C. [SE]

Leaking Fuel Tanks

Underground storage tanks (USTs) are used to store fuel at gas stations, industrial sites, airports, and
anywhere that large volumes of fuel are used. They do not last forever, and eventually they start to leak
their contents into the ground. This is a particular problem at older gas stations — although it may also
become a future problem at newer gas stations. You may have noticed gas stations that have been closed
and then surrounded by chain-link fence (Figure 14.23). In virtually all such cases the closure has been
triggered by the discovery of leaking USTs and the requirement to cease operations and remediate the
site.

Figure 14.23 A closed and fenced gas station site in Nanaimo, B.C.
The white pipes in the background are wells for monitoring
groundwater contamination on the site. [SE]
 Physical Geology 402

Petroleum fuels are complex mixtures of hydrocarbon compounds and the properties of their
components — such as density, viscosity, solubility in water, and volatility — tend to vary widely. As
a result, a petroleum spill is like several spills for the price of one. The petroleum liquid slowly settles
through the unsaturated zone and then tends to float on the surface of the groundwater (Figure 14.24).
The more readily soluble components of the spill dissolve in the groundwater and are dispersed along
with the normal groundwater flow, and the more volatile components of the spill rise toward the surface,
potentially contaminating buildings.

Figure 14.24 A depiction of the fate of different components of a

petroleum spill from an underground storage tank. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 14.5 Find a Leaking UST in Your Community

There is almost certainly a leaking UST at a former gas station near you. Look for an empty property that is
surrounded by a chain-link fence with “No Trespassing” signs. You might see evidence of monitoring wells
(like those shown in Figure 14.24), and there could be some petroleum barrels around that are being used to
store contaminated water. Once you’ve identified one of these, you’ll probably start seeing them everywhere!

Septic Systems

In areas that are not served by sewage networks leading to a central sewage treatment plant, most
homeowners rely on septic systems for disposal of sewage. There are two primary components to a
simple septic system, the septic tank and the drainage field (Figure 14.25). A typical septic tank is
constructed of either concrete or plastic and has a volume of 5,000 L to 10,000 L (5 m3 to 10 m3). This
forms the first treatment and is designed to be anaerobic (without oxygen). That promotes the activity
of certain bacteria that help break down the waste. As the waste is degraded, some portions tend to sink
to form sludge at the base of the tank, and others float to the surface, forming a scum layer. A septic tank
may be divided into two parts to keep the sludge at the bottom and the scum on the top from draining
403 Chapter 14 Groundwater

out. The water then moves to the drainage field, which provides the right conditions for a different set of
bacteria that operate in aerobic conditions. The drainage field includes an array of plastic pipes that are
perforated to allow the effluent to drain out over a large area and seep slowly into the ground. In order
to install a drainage field, it is first necessary to test the soil below, as it must be sufficiently permeable
to allow the effluent to percolate away, but not so permeable that it flows too quickly and the soil is not
able to filter out the pathogenic bacteria.

If they are properly installed and used, and if the sludge is periodically removed from the tank, a septic
system should be effective in treating the sewage for decades. The anaerobic and aerobic bacteria should
be able to break down the incoming waste and there should be little risk to the surface environment or
groundwater. But many things can go wrong with a septic system, including the following:

• If inappropriate chemicals are added to the waste stream, they may interfere with the natural
breakdown of the sewage.
• If the tank is not periodically pumped out, solids can get into the drainage field and
compromise the drainage, resulting in the flow of effluent toward the surface.
• If the soil is either not sufficiently permeable or too permeable, the effluent will not drain
away (and will start to pool at the surface) or it will drain too quickly.
• If the drainage field is constructed in an area where the water table is close to surface, some
of the effluent is likely to flow into the groundwater without being treated.

Figure 14.25 A typical septic system. [SE]

Prevention and Mitigation of Groundwater Contamination

As illustrated in the landfill example above, there are two fairly simple ways to significantly reduce
the chance and degree of groundwater contamination from surface sources. One is to prevent rainwater
from infiltrating down to the water table and picking up contaminants; this can be achieved by simply
capping or roofing over the landfill, mine tailings, or spill site. The second is to provide an impermeable
barrier beneath the contaminant. Modern landfills and mine tailings impoundments are all built using
some combination of clay and engineered plastic barriers. Both of these solutions — caps and liners —
are subject to failure due to leaks.
 Physical Geology 404

Once contaminants are in the groundwater, the main form of remediation is to pump out the
contaminated water and treat it at the surface. This can be a slow process, and preventing the
contaminant from travelling significantly during this process can be accomplished by manipulating local
groundwater flow through the extraction or injection of water at certain locations. Consider this in the
exercise below.

Exercises

Exercise 14.6 Manipulating a Contaminant Plume

This diagram shows a groundwater contaminant plume in red. The source of the contamination has been
removed but if the plume is not dealt with, it will eventually enter the stream and threaten the health of
wildlife. Pumping the contaminant from well B for treatment will not be sufficient to prevent some of the
contamination from making it to the stream.
What could you do at wells A and C to prevent this? Explain and use the diagram below to illustrate the
expected changes to the water table and the movement of the plume.
Chapter 14 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Porosity is the percentage of open space within a rock or unconsolidated sedimentary

deposit, while permeability is the facility with which water can be transmitted through
Groundwater that material. An aquifer is a body of rock or sediment that has sufficient permeability
14.1
and Aquifers for water to be extracted, while an aquitard is an impermeable body. An aquifer is
described as confined if it is overlain by an impermeable layer (confining layer), or
unconfined if it has no such confining layer.

The water table is the upper surface of the saturated zone in an unconfined aquifer. A
confined aquifer has a potentiometric surface (instead of a water table), which is defined
as the level to which water would rise if a well were drilled into the confined aquifer.
Change in groundwater head over distance is the hydraulic gradient. The theoretical
Groundwater
14.2 velocity of flow in an aquifer is defined by Darcy’s law as the hydraulic conductivity (a
Flow
measure of permeability) times the hydraulic gradient (V = K * i). It is possible to
predict groundwater flow paths if we can draw equipotential lines within an aquifer. In
areas where limestone has solutional openings (e.g., caves), water flow is determined by
gravity above the water table and by the hydraulic gradient below the water table.

Groundwater can be extracted at springs, but in most cases, wells are needed to ensure a
steady supply. Pumping groundwater from a well lowers groundwater head near the
well, creating flow toward the well. This creates a cone of depression around the well.
Groundwater
14.3 Excessive pumping can lead to a well running dry or to a lack of water in nearby wells.
Extraction
During extended periods of dry weather, or if consistent over-pumping occurs, aquifers
may be depleted. Observation wells are used to monitor short-term and long-term
changes in water levels that can indicate changes in aquifer health.

The quality of groundwater can be compromised by both natural and anthropogenic

contamination. Natural contamination can be caused by particularly high levels of
contaminants within the aquifer itself, but is more commonly a result of enhanced
Groundwater solubility of contaminants due to the aquifer chemistry. Some common sources of
14.4
Quality anthropogenic contamination include agriculture, industry, mining, landfills, and leaking
underground storage tanks. We can assess the vulnerability of aquifers to contamination
by mapping regional variations in parameters such as depth to the water table,
permeability, slope, and precipitation.

Questions for Review

1. What is the difference between porosity and permeability?2. Both sand and clay deposits can have high
porosity, but while most sand also has high permeability, clay does not. Why not?
3. Arrange the following types of rock in order of their likely permeability, as measured by the hydraulic
conductivity (K): mudstone, fractured granite, limestone in a karst region, sandstone, and unfractured gneiss.

405
 Physical Geology 406

4. Sue, the owner of Joe’s 24-Hour Gas, has a shallow well (15 m deep) as illustrated in the diagram. The
well can only produce 0.5 L per minute, but that’s enough for water to make coffee and supply a washroom
that gets used several times a day. Frank, who operates a raspberry farm next door, uses up to 250,000 L of
water per day to irrigate his crop during summer. He gets water from a deeper well that can produce 250 L/
minute. See the diagram below. (a) What type of aquifer does Sue use? (b) What type of aquifer does Frank
use? (c) It seems that what Sue calls an aquifer is an aquitard (confining layer) from Frank’s perspective.
How is that possible?

5. Two wells 70 m apart have water levels of 77 m and 83 m above sea level respectively. The aquifer has a
hydraulic conductivity of 0.0003 m/s. What is the likely velocity of groundwater flow in the region between
these two wells?
6. The well in question 5 with a water level of 83 m is heavily used and after several months the water level
has dropped by 9 m. How will that affect the flow of groundwater in the area between the two wells?
7. Explain why it is important for provincial governments to operate observation well networks.
8. What is the main difference between natural and anthropogenic contamination of groundwater?
9. Why is a highly permeable aquifer more vulnerable to anthropogenic contamination than a less permeable
aquifer?
10. How can a livestock operation lead to contamination of groundwater? What is the most likely
contaminant?
11. Which mineral in the rock of a mining operation is typically responsible for acid rock drainage?
12. Why is it necessary to test the permeability of the soil before constructing a septic field?
Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you
should be able to:

• Explain how slope stability is related to slope angle

• Summarize some of the factors that influence the strength of materials on slopes, including type
of rock, presence and orientation of planes of weakness such as bedding or fractures, type of
unconsolidated material, and the effects of water
• Explain what types of events can trigger mass wasting
• Summarize the types of motion that can happen during mass wasting
• Describe the main types of mass wasting — creep, slump, translational slide, rotational slide, fall,
and debris flow or mudflow — in terms of the types of materials involved, the type of motion,
and the likely rates of motion
• Explain what steps we can take to delay mass wasting, and why we cannot prevent it permanently
• Describe some of the measures that can be taken to mitigate the risks associated with mass
wasting

Figure 15.1 The site of the 1965 Hope Slide as seen in 2014. The initial
failure is thought to have taken place along the foliation planes and sill
within the area shown in the inset. [SE]

Early in the morning on January 9, 1965, 47 million cubic metres of rock broke away from the steep
upper slopes of Johnson Peak (16 km southeast of Hope) and roared 2,000 m down the mountain,

407
 Physical Geology 408

gouging out the contents of a small lake at the bottom, and continuing a few hundred metres up the other
side (Figure 15.1). Four people, who had been stopped on the highway by a snow avalanche, were killed.
Many more might have become victims, except that a Greyhound bus driver, en route to Vancouver,
turned his bus around on seeing the avalanche. The rock failed along weakened foliation planes of the
metamorphic rock on Johnson Peak, in an area that had been eroded into a steep slope by glacial ice.
There is no evidence that it was triggered by any specific event, and there was no warning that it was
about to happen. Even if there had been warning, nothing could have been done to prevent it. There are
hundreds of similar situations throughout British Columbia.

What can we learn from the Hope Slide? In general, we cannot prevent most mass wasting, and
significant effort is required if an event is to be predicted with any level of certainty. Understanding the
geology is critical to understanding mass wasting. Although failures are inevitable in a region with steep
slopes, larger ones happen less frequently than smaller ones, and the consequences vary depending on
the downslope conditions, such as the presence of people, buildings, roads, or fish-bearing streams.

An important reason for learning about mass wasting is to understand the nature of the materials that
fail, and how and why they fail so that we can minimize risks from similar events in the future. For
this reason, we need to be able to classify mass-wasting events, and we need to know the terms that
geologists, engineers, and others use to communicate about them.

Mass wasting, which is synonymous with “slope failure,” is the failure and downslope movement of
rock or unconsolidated materials in response to gravity. The term “landslide” is almost synonymous with
mass wasting, but not quite because some people reserve “landslide” for relatively rapid slope failures,
while others do not. Because of that ambiguity, we will avoid the use of “landslide” in this textbook.
15.1 Factors That Control Slope Stability

Mass wasting happens because tectonic processes have created uplift. Erosion, driven by gravity, is the
inevitable response to that uplift, and various types of erosion, including mass wasting, have created
slopes in the uplifted regions. Slope stability is ultimately determined by two factors: the angle of the
slope and the strength of the materials on it.

In Figure 15.2 a block of rock situated on a rock slope is being pulled toward Earth’s centre (vertically
down) by gravity. We can split the vertical gravitational force into two components relative to the slope:
one pushing the block down the slope (the shear force), and the other pushing into the slope (the normal
force). The shear force, which wants to push the block down the slope, has to overcome the strength of
the connection between the block and the slope, which may be quite weak if the block has split away
from the main body of rock, or may be very strong if the block is still a part of the rock. This is the shear
strength, and in Figure 15.2a, it greater than the shear force, so the block should not move. In Figure
15.2b the slope is steeper and the shear force is approximately equal to the shear strength. The block
may or may not move under these circumstances. In Figure 15.2c, the slope is steeper still, so the shear
force is considerably greater than the shear strength, and the block will very likely move.

Figure 15.2 Differences in the shear and normal components of the

gravitational force on slopes with differing steepness. The
gravitational force is the same in all three cases. In (a) the shear force
is substantially less than the shear strength, so the block should be
stable. In (b) the shear force and shear strength are about equal, so the
block may or may not move. In (c) the shear force is substantially
greater than the shear strength, so the block is very likely to move.
[SE]

409
 Physical Geology 410

As already noted, slopes are created by uplift followed by erosion. In areas with relatively recent uplift
(such as most of British Columbia and the western part of Alberta), slopes tend to be quite steep. This
is especially true where glaciation has taken place because glaciers in mountainous terrain create steep-
sided valleys. In areas without recent uplift (such as central Canada), slopes are less steep because
hundreds of millions of years of erosion (including mass wasting) has made them that way. However, as
we’ll see, some mass wasting can happen even on relatively gentle slopes.

The strength of the materials on slopes can vary widely. Solid rocks tend to be strong, but there is a very
wide range of rock strength. If we consider just the strength of the rocks, and ignore issues like fracturing
and layering, then most crystalline rocks — like granite, basalt, or gneiss — are very strong, while some
metamorphic rocks — like schist — are moderately strong. Sedimentary rocks have variable strength.
Dolostone and some limestone are strong, most sandstone and conglomerate are moderately strong, and
some sandstone and all mudstones are quite weak.

Fractures, metamorphic foliation, or bedding can significantly reduce the strength of a body of rock, and
in the context of mass wasting, this is most critical if the planes of weakness are parallel to the slope and
least critical if they are perpendicular to the slope. This is illustrated in Figure 15.3. At locations A and
B the bedding is nearly perpendicular to the slope and the situation is relatively stable. At location D the
bedding is nearly parallel to the slope and the situation is quite unstable. At location C the bedding is
nearly horizontal and the stability is intermediate between the other two extremes.

Figure 15.3 Relative stability of slopes as a function of the orientation

of weaknesses (in this case bedding planes) relative to the slope
orientations. [SE]

Internal variations in the composition and structure of rocks can significantly affect their strength. Schist,
for example, may have layers that are rich in sheet silicates (mica or chlorite) and these will tend to be
weaker than other layers. Some minerals tend to be more susceptible to weathering than others, and the
weathered products are commonly quite weak (e.g., the clay formed from feldspar). The side of Johnson
Peak that failed in 1965 (Hope Slide) is made up of chlorite schist (metamorphosed sea-floor basalt) that
has feldspar-bearing sills within it (they are evident within the inset area of Figure 15.1). The foliation
and the sills are parallel to the steep slope. The schist is relatively weak to begin with, and the feldspar
in the sills, which has been altered to clay, makes it even weaker.

Unconsolidated sediments are generally weaker than sedimentary rocks because they are not cemented
and, in most cases, have not been significantly compressed by overlying materials. This binding property
of sediment is sometimes referred to as cohesion. Sand and silt tend to be particularly weak, clay is
generally a little stronger, and sand mixed with clay can be stronger still. The deposits that make up the
cliffs at Point Grey in Vancouver include sand, silt, and clay overlain by sand. As shown in Figure 15.4
(left) the finer deposits are relatively strong (they maintain a steep slope), while the overlying sand is
411 Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

relatively weak, and has a shallower slope that has recently failed. Glacial till — typically a mixture of
clay, silt, sand, gravel, and larger clasts — forms and is compressed beneath tens to thousands of metres
of glacial ice so it can be as strong as some sedimentary rock (Figure 15.4, right).

Figure 15.4 Left: Glacial outwash deposits at Point

Grey, in Vancouver. The dark lower layer is made up
of sand, silt, and clay. The light upper layer is
well-sorted sand. Right: Glacial till on Quadra
Island, B.C. The till is strong enough to have formed
a near-vertical slope. [SE]

Apart from the type of material on a slope, the amount of water that the material contains is the most
important factor controlling its strength. This is especially true for unconsolidated materials, like those
shown in Figure 15.4, but it also applies to bodies of rock. Granular sediments, like the sand at Point
Grey, have lots of spaces between the grains. Those spaces may be completely dry (filled only with air);
or moist (often meaning that some spaces are water filled, some grains have a film of water around them,
and small amounts of water are present where grains are touching each other); or completely saturated
(Figure 15.5). Unconsolidated sediments tend to be strongest when they are moist because the small
amounts of water at the grain boundaries hold the grains together with surface tension. Dry sediments
are held together only by the friction between grains, and if they are well sorted or well rounded, or
both, that cohesion is weak. Saturated sediments tend to be the weakest of all because the large amount
of water actually pushes the grains apart, reducing the mount friction between grains. This is especially
true if the water is under pressure.

Figure 15.5 Depiction of dry, moist, and saturated sand [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 15.1 Sand and Water

 Physical Geology 412

If you’ve ever been to the beach, you’ll already know that sand behaves differently when it’s dry than it does
when it’s wet, but it’s worth taking a systematic look at the differences in its behaviour. Find about half a cup
of clean, dry sand (or get some wet sand and dry it out), and then pour it from your hand onto a piece of
paper. You should be able to make a cone-shaped pile that has a slope of around 30°. If you pour more sand
on the pile, it will get bigger, but the slope should remain the same. Now add some water to the sand so that it
is moist. An easy way to do this is to make it completely wet and then let the water drain away for a minute.
You should be able to form this moist sand into a steep pile (with slopes of around 80°). Finally, put the same
sand into a cup and fill the cup with water so the sand is just covered. Swirl it around so that the sand remains
in suspension, and then quickly tip it out onto a flat surface (best to do this outside). It should spread out over
a wide area, forming a pile with a slope of only a few degrees. [SE]

Water will also reduce the strength of solid rock, especially if it has fractures, bedding planes, or clay-
bearing zones. This effect is even more significant when the water is under pressure, which is why you’ll
often see holes drilled into rocks on road cuts to relieve this pressure. One of the hypotheses advanced to
explain the 1965 Hope Slide is that the very cold conditions that winter caused small springs in the lower
part of the slope to freeze over, preventing water from flowing out. It is possible that water pressure
gradually built up within the slope, weakening the rock mass to the extent that the shear strength was no
longer greater than the shear force.

Water also has a particular effect on clay-bearing materials. All clay minerals will absorb a little bit of
water, and this reduces their strength. The smectite clays (such as the bentonite used in cat litter) can
absorb a lot of water, and that water pushes the sheets apart at a molecular level and makes the mineral
swell. Smectite that has expanded in this way has almost no strength; it is extremely slippery.

And finally, water can significantly increase the mass of the material on a slope, which increases the
gravitational force pushing it down. A body of sediment that has 25% porosity and is saturated with
water weighs approximately 13% more than it does when it is completely dry, so the gravitational shear
force is also 13% higher. In the situation shown in Figure 15.2b, a 13% increase in the shear force could
easily be enough to tip the balance between shear force and shear strength.
413 Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

Mass-Wasting Triggers

In the previous section, we talked about the shear force and the shear strength of materials on slopes, and
about factors that can reduce the shear strength. Shear force is primarily related to slope angle, and this
does not change quickly. But shear strength can change quickly for a variety of reasons, and events that
lead to a rapid reduction in shear strength are considered to be triggers for mass wasting.

An increase in water content is the most common mass-wasting trigger. This can result from rapid
melting of snow or ice, heavy rain, or some type of event that changes the pattern of water flow on
the surface. Rapid melting can be caused by a dramatic increase in temperature (e.g., in spring or early
summer) or by a volcanic eruption. Heavy rains are typically related to storms. Changes in water flow
patterns can be caused by earthquakes, previous slope failures that dam up streams, or human structures
that interfere with runoff (e.g., buildings, roads, or parking lots). An example of this is the deadly 2005
debris flow in North Vancouver (Figure 15.6). The 2005 failure took place in an area that had failed
previously, and a report written in 1980 recommended that the municipal authorities and residents take
steps to address surface and slope drainage issues. Little was done to improve the situation.

Figure 15.6 The debris flow in the Riverside Drive area of North
Vancouver in January, 2005 happened during a rainy period, but was
likely triggered by excess runoff related to the roads at the top of this
slope and by landscape features, including a pool, in the area
surrounding the house visible here. [The Province, used with
permission]

In some cases, a decrease in water content can lead to failure. This is most common with clean sand
deposits (e.g., the upper layer in Figure 15.4 (left)), which lose strength when there is no more water
around the grains.

Freezing and thawing can also trigger some forms of mass wasting. More specifically, the thawing can
release a block of rock that was attached to a slope by a film of ice.

One other process that can weaken a body of rock or sediment is shaking. The most obvious source of
shaking is an earthquake, but shaking from highway traffic, construction, or mining will also do the job.
Several deadly mass-wasting events (including snow avalanches) were trigged by the M7.8 earthquake
in Nepal in April 2015.
15.2 Classification of Mass Wasting

It’s important to classify slope failures so that we can understand what causes them and learn how to
mitigate their effects. The three criteria used to describe slope failures are:

• The type of material that failed (typically either bedrock or unconsolidated sediment)
• The mechanism of the failure (how the material moved)
• The rate at which it moved

The type of motion is the most important characteristic of a slope failure, and there are three different
types of motion:

• If the material drops through the air, vertically or nearly vertically, it’s known as a fall.
• If the material moves as a mass along a sloping surface (without internal motion within the
mass), it’s a slide.
• If the material has internal motion, like a fluid, it’s a flow.

Unfortunately it’s not normally that simple. Many slope failures involve two of these types of motion,
some involve all three, and in many cases, it’s not easy to tell how the material moved. The types of
slope failure that we’ll cover here are summarized in Table 15.1.

414
415 Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

Table 15.1 Classification of slope failures based on type of material and type of motion [SE]

Failure
Type of Material Type of Motion Rate of Motion
Type

Vertical or near-vertical fall (plus

Rock fall Rock fragments Very fast (>10s m/s)
bouncing in many cases)

Typically very slow (mm/

Motion as a unit along a planar
Rock slide A large rock body y to cm/y), but some can
surface (translational sliding)
be faster

A large rock body that slides Flow (at high speeds, the mass of
Rock
and then breaks into small rock fragments is suspended on a Very fast (>10s m/s)
avalanche
fragments cushion of air)

Creep or Soil or other overburden; in Flow (although sliding motion may

Very slow (mm/y to cm/y)
solifluction some cases, mixed with ice also occur)

Thick deposits (m to 10s of

Motion as a unit along a curved
Slump m) of unconsolidated Slow (cm/y to m/y)
surface (rotational sliding)
sediment

Loose sediment with a

Flow (a mixture of sediment and Moderate to fast (cm/s to
Mudflow significant component of silt
water moves down a channel) m/s)
and clay

Debris Sand, gravel, and larger Flow (similar to a mudflow, but

Fast (m/s)
flow fragments typically faster)

Rock Fall

Rock fragments can break off relatively easily from steep bedrock slopes, most commonly due to frost-
wedging in areas where there are many freeze-thaw cycles per year. If you’ve ever hiked along a steep
mountain trail on a cool morning, you might have heard the occasional fall of rock fragments onto a
talus slope. This happens because the water between cracks freezes and expands overnight, and then
when that same water thaws in the morning sun, the fragments that had been pushed beyond their limit
by the ice fall to the slope below (Figure 15.7).

Figure 15.7 The contribution of freeze-thaw to rock fall [SE]

 Physical Geology 416

A typical talus slope, near Keremeos in southern B.C., is shown in Figure 15.8. In December 2014, a
large block of rock split away from a cliff in this same area. It broke into smaller pieces that tumbled
down the slope and crashed into the road, smashing the concrete barriers and gouging out large parts of
the pavement. Luckily no one was hurt.

Figure 15.8 Left: A talus slope near Keremeos, B.C.,

formed by rock fall from the cliffs above. Right: The
results of a rock fall onto a highway west of
Keremeos in December 2014. [SE]

Rock Slide

A rock slide is the sliding motion of rock along a sloping surface. In most cases, the movement is parallel
to a fracture, bedding, or metamorphic foliation plane, and it can range from very slow to moderately
fast. The word sackung describes the very slow motion of a block of rock (mm/y to cm/y) on a slope.
A good example is the Downie Slide north of Revelstoke, B.C., which is shown in Figure 15.9. In this
case, a massive body of rock is very slowly sliding down a steep slope along a plane of weakness that is
approximately parallel to the slope. The Downie Slide, which was recognized prior to the construction
of the Revelstoke Dam, was moving very slowly at the time (a few cm/year). Geological engineers were
concerned that the presence of water in the reservoir (visible in Figure 15.9) could further weaken the
plane of failure, leading to an acceleration of the motion. The result would have been a catastrophic
failure into the reservoir that would have sent a wall of water over the dam and into the community
of Revelstoke. During the construction of the dam, they tunnelled into the rock at the base of the slide
and drilled hundreds of drainage holes upward into the plane of failure. This allowed water to drain out
so that the pressure was reduced, which reduced the rate of movement of the sliding block. BC Hydro
monitors this site continuously; the slide block is currently moving more slowly than it was prior to the
construction of the dam.
417 Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

Figure 15.9 The Downie Slide, a sackung, on the shore of the

Revelstoke Reservoir (above the Revelstoke Dam). The head scarp is
visible at the top and a side-scarp along the left side. [from Google
Earth]

In the summer of 2008, a large block of rock slid rapidly from a steep slope above Highway 99
near Porteau Cove (between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish). The block slammed into the highway and
adjacent railway and broke into many pieces. The highway was closed for several days, and the slope
was subsequently stabilized with rock bolts and drainage holes. As shown in Figure 15.10, the rock is
fractured parallel to the slope, and this almost certainly contributed to the failure. However, it is not
actually known what triggered this event as the weather was dry and warm during the preceding weeks,
and there was no significant earthquake in the region.

Figure 15.10 Site of the 2008 rock slide at Porteau Cove. Notice the
prominent fracture set parallel to the surface of the slope. The slope
has been stabilized with rock bolts (top) and holes have been drilled
into the rock to improve drainage (one is visible in the lower right).
Risk to passing vehicles from rock fall has been reduced by hanging
mesh curtains (background). [SE photo 2012]
 Physical Geology 418

Rock Avalanche

If a rock slides and then starts moving quickly (m/s), the rock is likely to break into many small pieces,
and at that point it turns into a rock avalanche, in which the large and small fragments of rock move in
a fluid manner supported by a cushion of air within and beneath the moving mass. The 1965 Hope Slide
(Figure 15.1) was a rock avalanche, as was the famous 1903 Frank Slide in southwestern Alberta. The
2010 slide at Mt. Meager (west of Lillooet) was also a rock avalanche, and rivals the Hope Slide as the
largest slope failure in Canada during historical times (Figure 15.11).

Figure 15.11 The 2010 Mt. Meager rock avalanche, showing where the
slide originated (arrow, 4 km upstream). It then raced down a steep
narrow valley and out into the wider valley in the foreground. [Mika
McKinnon photo, http://www.geomika.com/blog/2011/01/05/
the-trouble-with-landslides/ Used with permission.]

Creep or Solifluction

The very slow — mm/y to cm/y — movement of soil or other unconsolidated material on a slope is
known as creep. Creep, which normally only affects the upper several centimetres of loose material, is
typically a type of very slow flow, but in some cases, sliding may take place. Creep can be facilitated
by freezing and thawing because, as shown in Figure 15.12, particles are lifted perpendicular to the
surface by the growth of ice crystals within the soil, and then let down vertically by gravity when the ice
melts. The same effect can be produced by frequent wetting and drying of the soil. In cold environments,
solifluction is a more intense form of freeze-thaw-triggered creep.
419 Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

Figure 15.12 A depiction of the contribution of freeze-thaw to creep.

The blue arrows represent uplift caused by freezing in the wet soil
underneath, while the red arrows represent depression by gravity
during thawing. The uplift is perpendicular to the slope, while the drop
is vertical. [SE]

Creep is most noticeable on moderate-to-steep slopes where trees, fence posts, or grave markers are
consistently leaning in a downhill direction (Figure 15.13). In the case of trees, they try to correct their
lean by growing upright, and this leads to a curved lower trunk known as a “pistol butt.”
 Physical Geology 420

Figure 15.13 Evidence of creep (tilted grave markers) at a cemetery in

Nanaimo, B.C. [SE]

Slump

Slump is a type of slide (movement as a mass) that takes place within thick unconsolidated deposits
(typically thicker than 10 m). Slumps involve movement along one or more curved failure surfaces, with
downward motion near the top and outward motion toward the bottom (Figure 15.14). They are typically
caused by an excess of water within these materials on a steep slope.

Figure 15.14 A depiction of the motion of unconsolidated sediments in

an area of slumping [SE]
421 Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

An example of a slump in the Lethbridge area of Alberta is shown in Figure 15.15. This feature has
likely been active for many decades, and moves a little more whenever there are heavy spring rains and
significant snowmelt runoff. The toe of the slump is failing because it has been eroded by the small
stream at the bottom.

Figure 15.15 A slump along the banks of a small coulee near

Lethbridge, Alberta. The main head-scarp is clearly visible at the top,
and a second smaller one is visible about one-quarter of the way
down. The toe of the slump is being eroded by the seasonal stream that
created the coulee. [SE 2005]

Mudflows and Debris Flows

As you saw in Exercise 15.1, when a mass of sediment becomes completely saturated with water, the
mass loses strength, to the extent that the grains are pushed apart, and it will flow, even on a gentle slope.
This can happen during rapid spring snowmelt or heavy rains, and is also relatively common during
volcanic eruptions because of the rapid melting of snow and ice. (A mudflow or debris flow on a volcano
or during a volcanic eruption is a lahar.) If the material involved is primarily sand-sized or smaller, it is
known as a mudflow, such as the one shown in Figure 15.16.
 Physical Geology 422

Figure 15.16 A slump (left) and an

associated mudflow (centre) at the same
location as Figure 15.15, near Lethbridge,
Alberta. [SE]

If the material involved is gravel sized or larger, it is known as a debris flow. Because it takes more
gravitational energy to move larger particles, a debris flow typically forms in an area with steeper slopes
and more water than does a mudflow. In many cases, a debris flow takes place within a steep stream
channel, and is triggered by the collapse of bank material into the stream. This creates a temporary dam,
and then a major flow of water and debris when the dam breaks. This is the situation that led to the fatal
debris flow at Johnsons Landing, B.C., in 2012. A typical west-coast debris flow is shown in Figure
15.17. This event took place in November 2006 in response to very heavy rainfall. There was enough
energy to move large boulders and to knock over large trees.

Figure 15.17 The lower part of debris flow within a

steep stream channel near Buttle Lake, B.C., in
November 2006. [SE]

Exercises
423 Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

Exercise 15.2 Classifying Slope Failures

These four photos show some of the different types of slope failures described above. Try to identify each
types and provide some criteria to support your choice. [SE]
15.3 Preventing, Delaying, Monitoring, and Mitigating Mass Wasting

As already noted, we cannot prevent mass wasting in the long term as it is a natural and ongoing process;
however, in many situations there are actions that we can take to reduce or mitigate its damaging effects
on people and infrastructure. Where we can neither delay nor mitigate mass wasting, we should consider
moving out of the way.

Preventing and Delaying Mass Wasting

It is comforting to think that we can prevent some effects of mass wasting by mechanical means, such
as the rock bolts in the road cut at Porteau Cove (Figure 15.10), or the drill holes used to drain water
out of a slope, as was done at the Downie Slide (Figure 15.9), or the building of physical barriers, such
as retaining walls. What we have to remember is that the works of humans are limited compared to
the works of nature. The rock bolts in the road cut at Porteau Cove will slowly start to corrode after
a few years, and within a few decades, many of them will begin to lose their strength. Unless they
are replaced, they will no longer support that slope. Likewise, drainage holes at the Downie Slide will
eventually become plugged with sediment and chemical precipitates, and unless they are periodically
unplugged, their effectiveness will decrease. Eventually, unless new holes are drilled, the drainage will
be so compromised that the slide will start to move again. This is why careful slope monitoring by
geological and geotechnical engineers is important at these sites. The point here is that our efforts to
“prevent” mass wasting are only as good as our resolve to maintain those preventive measures.

Delaying mass wasting is a worthy endeavour, of course, because during the time that the measures are
still effective they can save lives and reduce damage to property and infrastructure. The other side of the
coin is that we must be careful to avoid activities that could make mass wasting more likely. One of the
most common anthropogenic causes of mass wasting is road construction, and this applies both to remote
gravel roads built for forestry and mining and large urban and regional highways. Road construction
is a potential problem for two reasons. First, creating a flat road surface on a slope inevitably involves
creating a cut bank that is steeper than the original slope. This might also involve creating a filled bank
that is both steeper and weaker than the original slope (Figure 15.18). Second, roadways typically cut
across natural drainage features, and unless great care is taken to reroute the runoff water and prevent it
from forming concentrated flows, oversaturating fill of materials can result. A specific example of the
contribution of construction-related impeded drainage to slope instability was shown earlier in Figure
15.6.

424
425 Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

Figure 15.18 An example of a road constructed by cutting into

a steep slope and the use of the cut material as fill. [SE]

Apart from water issues, engineers building roads and other infrastructure on bedrock slopes have to be
acutely aware of the geology, and especially of any weaknesses or discontinuities in the rock related to
bedding, fracturing, or foliation. If possible, situations like that at Porteau Cove (Figure 15.10) should
be avoided — by building somewhere else — rather than trying to stitch the slope back together with
rock bolts.

It is widely believed that construction of buildings on the tops of steep slopes can contribute to the
instability of the slope. This is probably true, but not because of the weight of the building. As you’ll see
by completing Exercise 15.3, a typical house isn’t usually heavier than the fill that was removed from
the hole in the ground made to build it. A more likely contributor to instability of the slope around a
building is the effect that it and the changes made to the surrounding area have on drainage.

Exercises

Exercise 15.3 How Much Does a House Weigh and Can It Contribute to a Slope Failure?

It is commonly believed that building a house (or some other building) at the top of a slope will add a lot of
extra weight to the slope, which could contribute to slope failure. But what does a house actually weigh? A
 Physical Geology 426

typical 150 m2 (approximately 1,600 ft2) wood-frame house with a basement and a concrete foundation
weighs about 145 t (metric tonnes). But most houses are built on foundations that are excavated into the
ground. This involves digging a hole and taking some material away, so we need to subtract what that
excavated material weighs. Assuming our 150 m2 house required an excavation that was 15 m by 11 m by 1
m deep, that’s 165 m3 of “dirt,” which typically has a density of about 1.6 t per m3.
Calculate the weight of the soil that was removed and compare that with the weight of the house and its
foundation.
If you’re thinking that building a bigger building is going to add more weight, consider that bigger buildings
need bigger and deeper excavations, and in many cases the excavations will be into solid rock, which is much
heavier than surficial materials.
You may wish to consider how a building might change the drainage on a slope. There are a number ways.
Water can be collected by roofs, go into downspouts, and form concentrated flows that are directed onto or
into the slope. Likewise drainage from nearby access roads, lawn irrigation, leaking pools, and septic systems
can all alter the surface and groundwater flow in a slope.

Monitoring Mass Wasting

In some areas, it is necessary to establish warning systems so that we know if conditions have changed
at a known slide area, or if a rapid failure, such as a debris flow, is actually on its way downslope.
The Downie Slide above the Revelstoke Resevoir is monitored 24/7 with a range of devices, such
as inclinometers (slope-change detectors), bore-hole motion sensors, and GPS survey instruments. A
simple mechanical device for monitoring the nearby Checkerboard Slide (which is also above the
Revelstoke Reservoir) is shown in Figure 15.19. Both of these are very slow-moving rock slides, but it’s
very important to be able to detect changes in their rates of motion because at both of these locations a
rapid failure would result in large bodies of rock plunging into the reservoir and sending a wall of water
over the Revelstoke Dam, potentially destroying the nearby town of Revelstoke.
427 Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

Figure 15.19 Part of a motion-monitoring device at the

Checkerboard Slide near Revelstoke, B.C. The lower end of
the cable is attached to a block of rock that is unstable. Any
incremental motion of that block will move the cable, which
will be detectable on this device. [SE]

Mt. Rainier, a glacier-covered volcano in Washington State, has the potential to produce massive
mudflows or debris flows (lahars) with or without a volcanic eruption. Over 100,000 people in the
Tacoma, Puyallup, and Sumner areas are in harm’s way because they currently reside on deposits from
past lahars (Figure 15.20). In 1998, a network of acoustic monitors was established around Mt. Rainier.
The monitors are embedded in the ground adjacent to expected lahar paths. They are intended to provide
warnings to emergency officials, and when a lahar is detected, the residents of the area will have
anywhere from 40 minutes to three hours to get to safe ground.
 Physical Geology 428

Figure 15.20 Mt. Rainier, Washington, from Tacoma. [By Lynn

Topinka, US Geological Survey, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_
Rainier#/media/File:Mount_Rainier_over_Tacoma.jpg]

Mitigating the Impacts of Mass Wasting

In situations where we can’t predict, prevent, or delay mass-wasting hazards, some effective measures
can be taken to minimize the associated risk. For example, many highways in B.C. and western Alberta
have avalanche shelters like that shown in Figure 15.21. In some parts of the world, similar features have
been built to protect infrastructure from other types of mass wasting.

Figure 15.21 A snow avalanche shelter on the

Coquihalla Highway. The expected path of the
avalanche is the steep un-treed slope above. [SE]

Debris flows are inevitable, unpreventable, and unpredictable in many parts of B.C., but nowhere more
so than along the Sea-to-Sky Highway between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish. The results have been
deadly and expensive many times in the past. It would be very expensive to develop a new route in
this region, so provincial authorities have taken steps to protect residents and traffic on the highway
and the railway. Debris-flow defensive structures have been constructed in several drainage basins, as
shown in Figure 15.22. One strategy is to allow the debris to flow quickly through to the ocean along a
429 Chapter 15 Mass Wasting

smooth channel. Another is to capture the debris within a constructed basin that allows the excess water
to continue through, but catches the debris materials.

Figure 15.22 Two strategies for mitigating debris

flows on the Sea-to-Sky Highway. Left: A concrete
–lined channel on Alberta Creek allows debris to
flow quickly through to the ocean. Right: A
debris-flow catchment basin on Charles Creek. In
2010, a debris flow filled the basin to the level of the
dotted white line. [SE]

Finally, in situations where we can’t do anything to delay, predict, contain, or mitigate slope failures, we
simply have to have the sense to stay away. There is a famous example of this in B.C. at a site known
as Garibaldi, 25 km south of Whistler. In the early 1980s the village of Garibaldi had a population of
about 100, with construction underway on some new homes, and plans for many more. In the months
that followed the deadly 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State, the B.C. Ministry of
Transportation commissioned a geological study that revealed that a steep cliff known as The Barrier
(Figure 15.23) had collapsed in 1855, leading to a large rock avalanche, and that it was likely to collapse
again unpredictably, putting the village of Garibaldi at extreme risk. In an ensuing court case, it was
ruled that the Garibaldi site was not a safe place for people to live. Those who already had homes there
were compensated, and everyone else was ordered to leave.

Figure 15.23 The Barrier, south of Whistler, B.C., was the site of a
huge rock avalanche in 1855, which extended from the cliff visible here
4 km down the valley and across the current location of the Sea-to-Sky
Highway and the Cheakamus River. [SE]
Chapter 15 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Slope stability is controlled by the slope angle and the strength of the materials on the
slope. Slopes are a product of tectonic uplift, and their strength is determined by the type
Factors That of material on the slope and its water content. Rock strength varies widely and is
Control determined by internal planes of weakness and their orientation with respect to the slope.
15.1
Stability on In general, the more water, the greater the likelihood of failure. This is especially true for
Slopes unconsolidated sediments, where excess water pushes the grains apart. Addition of water
is the most common trigger of mass wasting, and can come from storms, rapid melting,
or flooding.

The key criterion for classifying mass wasting is the nature of the movement that takes
place. This may be a precipitous fall through the air, sliding as a solid mass along either
Classification
a plane or a curved surface, or internal flow as a viscous fluid. The type of material that
15.2 of Mass
moves is also important — specifically whether it is solid rock or unconsolidated
Wasting
sediments. The important types of mass wasting are creep, slump, translational slide,
rotational slide, fall, and debris flow or mudflow.

We cannot prevent mass wasting, but we can delay it through efforts to strengthen the
Preventing, materials on slopes. Strategies include adding mechanical devices such as rock bolts or
Delaying, ensuring that water can drain away. Such measures are never permanent, but may be
and effective for decades or even centuries. We can also avoid practices that make matters
15.3
Mitigating worse, such as cutting into steep slopes or impeding proper drainage. In some situations,
Mass the best approach is to mitigate the risks associated with mass wasting by constructing
Wasting shelters or diversionary channels. And in other cases, where slope failure is inevitable,
we should simply avoid building anything there.

Questions for Review

1. In the scenario shown here, the gravitational force on the

unconsolidated sediment overlying the point marked with an X is depicted by the black arrow. Draw in the

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two arrows that show how this force can be resolved into the shear force (along the slope) and the normal
force (into the slope).
2. The red arrow in the diagram depicts the shear strength of the sediment. Assuming that the relative lengths
of the shear force arrow (which you drew in question 1), and the shear strength arrow are indicative of the
likelihood of failure, predict whether this material is likely to fail or not.
3. After several days of steady rain, the sediment becomes saturated with water and its strength is reduced by
25%. What are the likely implications for the stability of this slope?
4. In the diagrams shown here, a road cut is constructed in sedimentary rock with well-developed bedding.
On the left, draw in the orientation of the bedding that would represent the greatest likelihood of slope failure.
On the right, show the orientation that would represent the least likelihood of slope failure.

5. Explain why moist sand is typically stronger than either dry sand or saturated sand.
6. In the context of mass wasting, how does a flow differ from a slide?
7. If a large rock slide starts moving at a rate of several metres per second, what is likely to happen to the
rock, and what would the resulting failure be called?
8. In what ways does a debris flow differ from a typical mudflow?
9. In the situation described in the chapter regarding lahar warnings at Mt. Rainier, the residents of the
affected regions have to assume some responsibility and take precautions for their own safety. What sort of
preparation should the residents make to ensure that they can respond appropriately when they hear lahar
warnings?
10. What factors are likely to be important when considering the construction of a house near the crest of a
slope that is underlain by glacial sediments?
Chapter 16 Glaciation

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you
should be able to:

• Describe the timing and extent of Earth’s past glaciations, going as far back as the early
Proterozoic
• Describe the important geological events that led up to the Pleistocene glaciations and how the
Milankovitch orbital variations along with positive feedback mechanisms have controlled the
timing of those glaciations
• Explain the differences between continental and alpine glaciation
• Summarize how snow and ice accumulate above the equilibrium line and are converted to ice
• Explain how basal sliding and internal flow facilitate the movement of ice from the upper part to
the lower part of a glacier
• Describe and identify the various landforms related to alpine glacial erosion, including U-shaped
valleys, arêtes, cols, horns, hanging valleys, truncated spurs, drumlins, roches moutonées, glacial
grooves, and striae
• Identify various types of glacial lakes, including tarns, finger lakes, moraine lakes, and kettle
lakes
• Describe the nature and origins of lodgement till, ablation till, and glaciofluvial, glaciolacustrine,
and glaciomarine sediments

Figure 16.1 Glaciers in the Alberta Rockies: Athabasca

Glacier (centre left), Dome Glacier (right), and the
Columbia Icefield (visible above both glaciers). The
Athabasca Glacier has prominent lateral moraines on both
sides. [SE]

A glacier is a long-lasting body of ice (decades or more) that is large enough (at least tens of metres

432
433 Steven Earle

thick and at least hundreds of metres in extent) to move under its own weight. About 10% of Earth’s
land surface is currently covered with glacial ice, and although the vast majority of that is in Antarctica
and Greenland, there are many glaciers in Canada, especially in the mountainous parts of B.C., Alberta,
and Yukon and in the far north (Figure 16.1). At various times during the past million years, glacial ice
has been much more extensive, covering at least 30% of the land surface at times.

Glaciers represent the largest repository of fresh water on Earth (~69% of all fresh water), and they
are highly sensitive to changes in climate. In the current warming climate, glaciers are melting rapidly
worldwide, and although some of the larger glacial masses will last for centuries more, many smaller
glaciers, including many in western Canada, will be gone within decades, and in some cases, within
years. That is more than just a troubling thought for western Canadians because we rely on glacial ice
for our water supplies — if not for water to drink, then for water to grow food. Irrigation systems in
B.C. and across Alberta and Saskatchewan are replenished by meltwater originating from glaciers in the
Coast Range and the Rocky Mountains.
16.1 Glacial Periods in Earth’s History

We are currently in the middle of a glacial period (although it’s less intense now than it was 20,000
years ago) but this is not the only period of glaciation in Earth’s history; there have been many in the
distant past, as illustrated in Figure 16.2. In general, however, Earth has been warm enough to be ice-free
for much more of the time than it has been cold enough to be glaciated.

Figure 16.2 The record of major past glaciations during Earth’s history. [SE]

The oldest known glacial period is the Huronian. Based on evidence of glacial deposits from the area
around Lake Huron in Ontario and elsewhere, it is evident that the Huronian Glaciation lasted from
approximately 2,400 to 2,100 Ma. Because rocks of that age are rare, we don’t know much about the
intensity or global extent of this glaciation.

Late in the Proterozoic, for reasons that are not fully understood, the climate cooled dramatically and
Earth was seized by what appears to be its most intense glaciation. The glaciations of the Cryogenian
Period (cryo is Latin for icy cold) are also known as the “Snowball Earth” glaciations, because it is
hypothesized that the entire planet was frozen — even in equatorial regions — with ice on the oceans
up to 1 km thick. A visitor to our planet at that time might not have held out much hope for its
inhabitability, although life still survived in the oceans. There were two main glacial periods within the
Cryogenian, each lasting for about 20 million years: the Sturtian at around 700 Ma and the Marinoan at
650 Ma. There is also evidence of some shorter glaciations both before and after these. The end of the
Cryogenian glaciations coincides with the evolution of relatively large and complex life forms on Earth.
This started during the Ediacaran Period, and then continued with the so-called explosion of life forms
in the Cambrian. Some geologists think that the changing environmental conditions of the Cryogenian
are what actually triggered the evolution of large and complex life.

There have been three major glaciations during the Phanerozoic (the past 540 million years), including
the Andean/Saharan (recorded in rocks of South America and Africa), the Karoo (named for rocks
in southern Africa), and the Cenozoic glaciations. The Karoo was the longest of the Phanerozoic
glaciations, persisting for much of the time that the supercontinent Gondwana was situated over the
South Pole (~360 to 260 Ma). It covered large parts of Africa, South America, Australia, and Antarctica
(see Figure 10.4). As you might recall from Chapter 10, this widespread glaciation, across continents
that are now far apart, was an important component of Alfred Wegener’s evidence for continental drift.

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435 Chapter 16 Glaciation

Unlike the Cryogenian glaciations, the Andean/Saharan, Karoo, and Cenozoic glaciations only affected
parts of Earth. During Karoo times, for example, what is now North America was near the equator and
remained unglaciated.

Earth was warm and essentially unglaciated throughout the Mesozoic. Although there may have been
some alpine glaciation at this time, there is no longer any record of it. The dinosaurs, which dominated
terrestrial habitats during the Mesozoic, did not have to endure icy conditions.

A warm climate persisted into the Cenozoic; in fact there is evidence that the Paleocene (~50 to 60
Ma) was the warmest part of the Phanerozoic since the Cambrian (Figure 16.3). A number of tectonic
events during the Cenozoic contributed to persistent and significant planetary cooling since 50 Ma. For
example, the collision of India with Asia and the formation of the Himalayan range and the Tibetan
Plateau resulted in a dramatic increase in the rate of weathering and erosion. Higher than normal rates
of weathering of rocks with silicate minerals, especially feldspar, consumes carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and therefore reduces the greenhouse effect, resulting in long-term cooling.

Figure 16.3 The global temperature trend over the

past 65 Ma (the Cenozoic). From the end of the
Paleocene to the height of the Pleistocene
Glaciation, global average temperature dropped by
about 14°C. (PETM is the Palecene-Eocene thermal
maximum) [SE after Routledge, 2013,
http://www.alpineanalytics.com/Climate/
DeepTime.html ]

At 40 Ma, ongoing plate motion widened the narrow gap between South America and Antarctica,
resulting in the opening of the Drake Passage. This allowed for the unrestricted west-to-east flow of
water around Antarctica, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (Figure 16.4), which effectively isolated the
southern ocean from the warmer waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. The region cooled
significantly, and by 35 Ma (Oligocene) glaciers had started to form on Antarctica.
 Physical Geology 436

Figure 16.4 The Antarctic Circumpolar Current

(red arrows) prevents warm water from the rest of
Earth’s oceans from getting close to Antarctica.
[SE]

Global temperatures remained relatively steady during the Oligocene and early Miocene, and the
Antarctic glaciation waned during that time. At around 15 Ma, subduction-related volcanism between
central and South America created the connection between North and South America, preventing water
from flowing between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This further restricted the transfer of heat from
the tropics to the poles, leading to a rejuvenation of the Antarctic glaciation. The expansion of that ice
sheet increased Earth’s reflectivity enough to promote a positive feedback loop of further cooling: more
reflective glacial ice, more cooling, more ice, etc. By the Pliocene (~5 Ma) ice sheets had started to grow
in North America and northern Europe (Figure 16.5). The most intense part of the current glaciation —
and the coldest climate — has been during the past million years (the last one-third of the Pleistocene),
but if we count Antarctic glaciation, it really extends from the Oligocene to the Holocene, and will likely
continue into the future.

The Pleistocene has been characterized by significant temperature variations (through a range of almost
10°C) on time scales of 40,000 to 100,000 years, and corresponding expansion and contraction of ice
sheets. These variations are attributed to subtle changes in Earth’s orbital parameters (Milankovitch
cycles), which are explained in more detail in Chapter 21. Over the past million years, the glaciation
cycles have been approximately 100,000 years; this variability is visible in Figure 16.5.
437 Chapter 16 Glaciation

Figure 16.5 Foram oxygen isotope record for the past 5 million years based on O isotope data from
sea-floor sediments [Created by SE using from data at http://www.lorraine-lisiecki.com/stack.html,
Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005]

Exercises

Exercise 16.1 Pleistocene Glacials and Interglacials

This diagram shows the past 500,000 years of the same data set as that shown in Figure 16.5. The last five
glacial periods are marked with snowflakes. The most recent one, which peaked at around 20 ka, is known as
the Wisconsin Glaciation. Describe the nature of temperature change that followed each of these glacial
periods.
 Physical Geology 438

The current interglacial (Holocene) is marked with an H. Point out the previous five interglacial periods.

At the height of the last glaciation (Wisconsin Glaciation), massive ice sheets covered almost all of
Canada and much of the northern United States (Figure 16.6). The massive Laurentide Ice Sheet
covered most of eastern Canada, as far west as the Rockies, and the smaller Cordilleran Ice Sheet
covered most of the western region. At various other glacial peaks during the Pleistocene and Pliocene,
the ice extent was similar to this, and in some cases, even more extensive. The combined Laurentide and
Cordilleran Ice Sheets were comparable in volume to the current Antarctic Ice Sheet.
439 Chapter 16 Glaciation

Figure 16.6 The extent of the Cordilleran and Laurentide Ice Sheets near the peak of the Wisconsin
Glaciation, around 15 ka. [redrawn by SE based on a map at: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/
glaciation.html]
16.2 How Glaciers Work

There are two main types of glaciers. Continental glaciers cover vast areas of land in extreme polar
regions, including Antarctica and Greenland (Figure 16.7). Alpine glaciers (a.k.a. valley glaciers)
originate on mountains, mostly in temperate and polar regions (Figure 16.1), but even in tropical regions
if the mountains are high enough.

Figure 16.7 Part of the continental ice sheet in Greenland, with some
outflow alpine glaciers in the foreground. [SE]

Earth’s two great continental glaciers, on Antarctica and Greenland, comprise about 99% of all of the
world’s glacial ice, and approximately 68% of all of Earth’s fresh water. As is evident from Figure 16.8,
the Antarctic Ice Sheet is vastly bigger than the Greenland Ice Sheet; it contains about 17 times as much
ice. If the entire Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt, sea level would rise by about 80 m and most of Earth’s
major cities would be submerged.

Figure 16.8 Simplified cross-sectional profiles the

continental ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica –
both drawn to the same scale. [SE]

Continental glaciers do not flow “downhill” because the large areas that they cover are generally flat.
Instead, ice flows from the region where it is thickest toward the edges where it is thinner, as shown in
Figure 16.9. This means that in the central thickest parts, the ice flows almost vertically down toward the

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441 Chapter 16 Glaciation

base, while in the peripheral parts, it flows out toward the margins. In continental glaciers like Antarctica
and Greenland, the thickest parts (4,000 m and 3,000 m respectively) are the areas where the rate of
snowfall and therefore of ice accumulation are highest.

Figure 16.9 Schematic ice-flow diagram for the

Antarctic Ice Sheet. [SE]

The flow of alpine glaciers is primarily controlled by the slope of the land beneath the ice (Figure 16.10).
In the zone of accumulation, the rate of snowfall is greater than the rate of melting. In other words, not
all of the snow that falls each winter melts during the following summer, and the ice surface is always
covered with snow. In the zone of ablation, more ice melts than accumulates as snow. The equilibrium
line marks the boundary between the zones of accumulation (above) and ablation (below).

Figure 16.10 Schematic ice-flow diagram for an

alpine glacier. [SE]

Above the equilibrium line of a glacier, not all of the winter snow melts in the following summer, so
snow gradually accumulates. The snow layer from each year is covered and compacted by subsequent
snow, and it is gradually compressed and turned into firn within which the snowflakes lose their
delicate shapes and become granules. With more compression, the granules are pushed together and
air is squeezed out. Eventually the granules are “welded” together to create glacial ice (Figure 16.11).
Downward percolation of water from melting taking place at the surface contributes to the process of ice
formation.
 Physical Geology 442

Figure 16.11 Steps in the process of formation of glacial ice from snow,
granules, and firn. [SE]

The equilibrium line of a glacier near Whistler, B.C., is shown in Figure 16.12. Below that line, in the
zone of ablation, bare ice is exposed because last winter’s snow has all melted; above that line, the ice is
still mostly covered with snow from last winter. The position of the equilibrium line changes from year
to year as a function of the balance between snow accumulation in the winter and snowmelt during the
summer. More winter snow and less summer melting obviously favours the advance of the equilibrium
line (and of the glacier’s leading edge), but of these two variables, it is the summer melt that matters
most to a glacier’s budget. Cool summers promote glacial advance and warm summers promote glacial
retreat.
443 Chapter 16 Glaciation

Figure 16.12 The approximate location of the equilibrium line (red) in

September 2013 on the Overlord Glacier, near Whistler, B.C. [SE, after
Isaac Earle, used with permission]

Glaciers move because the surface of the ice is sloped. This generates a stress on the ice, which is
proportional to the slope and to the depth below the surface. As shown in Figure 16.12, the stresses are
quite small near the ice surface but much larger at depth, and also greater in areas where the ice surface
is relatively steep. Ice will deform, meaning that it will behave in a plastic manner, at stress levels of
around 100 kilopascals; therefore, in the upper 50 m to 100 m of the ice (above the dashed red line),
flow is not plastic (the ice is rigid), while below that depth, ice is plastic and will flow.

When the lower ice of a glacier flows, it moves the upper ice along with it, so although it might seem
from the stress patterns (red numbers and red arrows) shown in Figure 16.13 that the lower part moves
the most, in fact while the lower part deforms (and flows) and the upper part doesn’t deform at all, the
upper part moves the fastest because it is pushed along by the lower ice.
 Physical Geology 444

Figure 16.13 Stress within a valley glacier (red

numbers) as determined from the slope of the ice
surface and the depth within the ice. The ice will
deform and flow where the stress is greater than 100
kilopascals, and the relative extent of that
deformation is depicted by the red arrows. Any
deformation motion in the lower ice will be
transmitted to the ice above it, so although the red
arrows get shorter toward the top, the ice velocity
increases upward (blue arrows). The upper ice
(above the red dashed line) does not flow, but it is
pushed along with the lower ice. [SE]

The plastic lower ice of a glacier can flow like a very viscous fluid, and can therefore flow over
irregularities in the base of the ice and around corners. However, the upper rigid ice cannot flow in this
way, and because it is being carried along by the lower ice, it tends to crack where the lower ice has
to flex. This leads to the development of crevasses in areas where the rate of flow of the plastic ice
is changing. In the area shown in Figure 16.14, for example, the glacier is speeding up over the steep
terrain, and the rigid surface ice has to crack to account for the change in velocity.

Figure 16.14 Crevasses on Overlord Glacier in the Whistler area, B.C.

[Isaac Earle, used with permission]

The base of a glacier can be cold (below the freezing point of water) or warm (above the freezing point).
If it is warm, there will likely be a film of water between the ice and the material underneath, and the
445 Chapter 16 Glaciation

ice will be able to slide over that surface. This is known as basal sliding (Figure 16.15, left). If the base
is cold, the ice will be frozen to the material underneath and it will be stuck — unable to slide along its
base. In this case, all of the movement of the ice will be by internal flow.

Figure 16.15 Differences in glacial ice motion with

basal sliding (left) and without basal sliding (right).
The dashed red line indicates the upper limit of
plastic internal flow. [SE]

One of the factors that affects the temperature at the base of a glacier is the thickness of the ice. Ice is a
good insulator. The slow transfer of heat from Earth’s interior provides enough heat to warm up the base
if the ice is thick, but not enough if it is thin and that heat can escape. It is typical for the leading edge
of an alpine glacier to be relatively thin (see Figure 16.13), so it is common for that part to be frozen to
its base while the rest of the glacier is still sliding. This is illustrated in Figure 16.16 for the Athabasca
Glacier. Because the leading edge of the glacier is stuck to its frozen base, while the rest continues to
slide, the ice coming from behind has pushed (or thrust) itself over top of the part that is stuck fast.

Figure 16.16 Thrust faults at the leading edge of the

Athabasca Glacier, Alberta. The arrows show how
the trailing ice has been thrust over the leading ice.
(The dark vertical stripes are mud from sediments
that have been washed off of the lateral moraine
lying on the surface of the ice.) [SE]

Just as the base of a glacier moves more slowly than the surface, the edges, which are more affected
by friction along the sides, move more slowly than the middle. If we were to place a series of markers
across an alpine glacier and come back a year later, we would see that the ones in the middle had moved
farther forward than the ones near the edges (Figure 16.17).
 Physical Geology 446

Figure 16.17 Markers on an alpine glacier move

forward over a period of time. [SE]

Glacial ice always moves downhill, in response to gravity, but the front edge of a glacier is always either
melting or calving into water (shedding icebergs). If the rate of forward motion of the glacier is faster
than the rate of ablation (melting), the leading edge of the glacier advances (moves forward). If the rate
of forward motion is about the same as the rate of ablation, the leading edge remains stationary, and if the
rate of forward motion is slower than the rate of ablation, the leading edge retreats (moves backward).

Calving of icebergs is an important process for glaciers that terminate in lakes or the ocean. An example
of such a glacier is the Berg Glacier on Mt. Robson (Figure 16.18), which sheds small icebergs into Berg
Lake. The Berg Glacier also loses mass by melting, especially at lower elevations.

Figure 16.18 Mt. Robson, the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies,
Berg Glacier (centre), and Berg Lake. Although there were no icebergs
visible when this photo was taken, the Berg Glacier loses mass by
shedding icebergs into Berg Lake. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 16.2 Ice Advance and Retreat

447 Chapter 16 Glaciation

These diagrams represent a glacier with markers placed on its

surface to determine the rate of ice motion over a one-year period. The ice is flowing from left to right.
1. In the middle diagram, the leading edge of the glacier has advanced. Draw in the current position of the
markers.
2. In the lower diagram, the leading edge of the glacier has retreated. Draw in the current position of the
markers.
16.3 Glacial Erosion

Glaciers are effective agents of erosion, especially in situations where the ice is not frozen to its base
and can therefore slide over the bedrock or other sediment. The ice itself is not particularly effective
at erosion because it is relatively soft (Mohs hardness 1.5 at 0°C); instead, it is the rock fragments
embedded in the ice and pushed down onto the underlying surfaces that do most of the erosion. A useful
analogy would be to compare the effect of a piece of paper being rubbed against a wooden surface, as
opposed to a piece of sandpaper that has embedded angular fragments of garnet.

The results of glacial erosion are different in areas with continental glaciation versus alpine glaciation.
Continental glaciation tends to produce relatively flat bedrock surfaces, especially where the rock
beneath is uniform in strength. In areas where there are differences in the strength of rocks, a glacier
obviously tends to erode the softer and weaker rock more effectively than the harder and stronger rock.
Much of central and eastern Canada, which was completely covered by the huge Laurentide Ice Sheet
at various times during the Pleistocene, has been eroded to a relatively flat surface. In many cases the
existing relief is due the presence of glacial deposits — such as drumlins, eskers, and moraines (all
discussed below) — rather than to differential erosion (Figure 16.19).

Figure 16.19 Drumlins — streamlined hills formed beneath a glacier,

here made up of sediment — in the Amundsun Gulf region of Nunavut.
The drumlins are tens of metres high, a few hundred metres across, and
a few kilometres long. One of them is highlighted with a dashed white
line. [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=85506]

Alpine glaciers produce very different topography than continental glaciers, and much of the topographic
variability of western Canada can be attributed to glacial erosion. In general, glaciers are much wider
than rivers of similar length, and since they tend to erode more at their bases than their sides, they
produce wide valleys with relatively flat bottoms and steep sides — known as U-shaped valleys
(Figure 16.20). Howe Sound, north of Vancouver, was occupied by a large glacier that originated in
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449 Chapter 16 Glaciation

the Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton areas, and then joined the much larger glacier in the Strait of
Georgia. Howe Sound and most of its tributary valleys have pronounced U-shaped profiles (Figure
16.21).

Figure 16.20 A depiction of a U-shaped valley

occupied by a large glacier. [SE]

Figure 16.21 The view down the U-shaped valley of Mill Creek valley
toward the U-shaped valley of Howe Sound, with the village of
Britannia on the opposite side. [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Woodf1a.jpg]

U-shaped valleys and their tributaries provide the basis for a wide range of alpine glacial topographic
features, examples of which are visible on the International Space Station view of the Swiss Alps shown
in Figure 16.22. This area was much more intensely glaciated during the past glacial maximum. At that
time, the large U-shaped valley in the lower right was occupied by glacial ice, and all of the other glaciers
shown here were longer and much thicker than they are now. But even at the peak of the Pleistocene
 Physical Geology 450

Glaciation, some of the higher peaks and ridges would have been exposed and not directly affected by
glacial erosion. A peak that extends above the surrounding glacier is called a nunatuk. In these areas,
and in the areas above the glaciers today, most of the erosion is related to freeze-thaw effects.

Some of the important features visible in Figure 16.22 are arêtes: sharp ridges between U-shaped glacial
valleys; cols: low points along arêtes that constitute passes between glacial valleys; horns: steep peaks
that have been glacially and freeze-thaw eroded on three or more sides; cirques: bowl-shaped basins
that form at the head of a glacial valley; hanging valleys: U-shaped valleys of tributary glaciers that
hang above the main valley because the larger main-valley glacier eroded more deeply into the terrain;
and truncated spurs (a.k.a. “spurs”): the ends of arêtes that have been eroded into steep triangle-shaped
cliffs by the glacier in the corresponding main valley.

Figure 16.22 A view from the International Space

Station of the Swiss Alps in the area of the Aletsch
Glacier. The prominent peaks labelled “Horn” are
the Eiger (left) and Wetterhorn (right). A variety of
alpine glacial erosion features are labelled. [SE after
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/
view.php?id=7195]

Some of these alpine-glaciation erosional features are also shown in Figure 16.23 in diagram form.

Figure 16.23 A diagram of some of the important alpine-glaciation

erosion features. [SE after http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Glacial_landscape_LMB.png]
451 Chapter 16 Glaciation

Exercises

Exercise 16.3 Identify Glacial Erosion Features

This is a photo of Mt. Assiniboine in the B.C. Rockies. What are the features at locations a through e? Look
for one of each of the following: a horn, an arête, a truncated spur, a cirque, and a col. Try to identify some of
the numerous other arêtes in this view, as well as another horn.

[SE after http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Assiniboine#/media/

File:Mount_Assiniboine_Sunburst_Lake.jpg]

A number of other glacial erosion features exist at smaller scales. For example, a drumlin is an
elongated feature that is streamlined at the down-ice end. The one shown in Figure 16.24 is larger than
most, and is made up almost entirely of rock. Drumlins made up of glacial sediments are very common
in some areas of continental glaciation (Figure 16.19).

Figure 16.24 Bowyer Island, a drumlin in Howe

Sound, B.C. Ice flow was from right to left. [SE]

A roche moutonée is another type of elongated erosional feature that has a steep and sometimes jagged
down-ice end (Figure 16.25, left). On a smaller scale still, glacial grooves (tens of centimetres to metres
wide) and glacial striae (millimetres to centimetres wide) are created by fragments of rock embedded
in the ice at the base of a glacier (Figure 16.25, left and right). Glacial striae are very common on rock
surfaces eroded by both alpine and continental glaciers.
 Physical Geology 452

Figure 16.25 Left: Roches moutonées with glacial

striae near Squamish, B.C. Right: Glacial striae at
the same location near Squamish. Ice flow was from
right to left in both cases. [SE]

Lakes are common features in glacial environments. A lake that is confined to a glacial cirque is known
as a tarn (Figure 16.26). Tarns are common in areas of alpine glaciation because the ice that forms a
cirque typically carves out a depression in bedrock that then fills with water. In some cases, a series of
such basins will form, and the resulting lakes are called rock basin lakes or paternoster lakes.

Figure 16.26 Lower Thornton Lake, a tarn, in the Northern Cascades

National Park, Washington. [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Trappers_Peak_and_lower_Thornton_Lake.jpg ]

A lake that occupies a glacial valley, but is not confined to a cirque, is known as a finger lake. In some
cases, a finger lake is confined by a dam formed by an end moraine, in which case it may be called a
moraine lake (Figure 16.27).

Figure 16.27 Peyto Lake in the Alberta Rockies, is

both a finger lake and a moraine lake as it is
dammed by an end moraine, on the right.
[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:1_Peyto_lake_panorama_2006.jpg]
453 Chapter 16 Glaciation

In areas of continental glaciation, the crust is depressed by the weight of glacial ice that is up to 4,000
m thick. Basins are formed along the edges of continental glaciers (except for those that cover entire
continents like Antarctica and Greenland), and these basins fill with glacial meltwater. Many such lakes,
some of them huge, existed at various times along the southern edge of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. One
example is Glacial Lake Missoula, which formed within Idaho and Montana, just south of the B.C.
border with the United States. During the latter part of the last glaciation (30 ka to 15 ka), the ice
holding back Lake Missoula retreated enough to allow some of the lake water to start flowing out, which
escalated into a massive and rapid outflow (over days to weeks) during which much of the volume of
the lake drained along the valley of the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. It is estimated that this
type of flooding happened at least 25 times over that period, and in many cases, the rate of outflow was
equivalent to the discharge of all of Earth’s current rivers combined. The record of these massive floods
is preserved in the Channelled Scablands of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon (Figure 16.28).

Figure 16.28 Potholes Coulee near Wenatchee, Washington, one of

many basins that received Lake Missoula floodwaters during the late
Pleistocene. Here the water flowed from right to left, over the cliff and
into this basin. [SE]

Another type of glacial lake is a kettle lake. These are discussed in section 16.4 in the context of glacial
deposits.
16.4 Glacial Deposition

Sediments transported and deposited during the Pleistocene glaciations are abundant throughout Canada.
They are important sources of construction materials and are valuable as reservoirs for groundwater.
Because they are almost all unconsolidated, they have significant implications for mass wasting.

Figure 16.29 illustrates some of the ways that sediments are transported and deposited. The Bering
Glacier is the largest in North America, and although most of it is in Alaska, it flows from an icefield
that extends into southwestern Yukon. The surface of the ice is partially, or in some cases completely,
covered with rocky debris that has fallen from surrounding steep rock faces. There are muddy rivers
issuing from the glacier in several locations, depositing sediment on land, into Vitus Lake, and directly
into the ocean. There are dirty icebergs shedding their sediment into the lake. And, not visible in this
view, there are sediments being moved along beneath the ice.

Figure 16.29 Part of the Bering Glacier in southeast

Alaska, the largest glacier in North America. It is
about 14 km across in the centre of this view.
[http://water.usgs.gov/edu/gallery/
glacier-satellite.html]

The formation and movement of sediments in glacial environments is shown diagrammatically in Figure
16.30. There are many types of glacial sediment generally classified by whether they are transported on,
within, or beneath the glacial ice. The main types of sediment in a glacial environment are described
below.

Supraglacial (on top of the ice) and englacial (within the ice) sediments that slide off the melting front
of a stationary glacier can form a ridge of unsorted sediments called an end moraine. The end moraine
that represents the farthest advance of the glacier is a terminal moraine. Sediments transported and
deposited by glacial ice are known as till.

454
455 Chapter 16 Glaciation

Figure 16.30 A depiction of the various types of

sediments associated with glaciation. The glacier is
shown in cross-section. [http://water.usgs.gov/edu/
gallery/glacier-satellite.html]

Subglacial sediment (e.g., lodgement till) is material that has been eroded from the underlying rock by
the ice, and is moved by the ice. It has a wide range of grain sizes, including a relatively high proportion
of silt and clay. The larger clasts (pebbles to boulders in size) tend to become partly rounded by abrasion.
When a glacier eventually melts, the lodgement till is exposed as a sheet of well-compacted sediment
ranging from several centimetres to many metres in thickness. Lodgement till is normally unbedded. An
example is shown in Figure 16.31a.

Supraglacial sediments are primarily derived from freeze-thaw eroded material that has fallen onto the
ice from rocky slopes above. These sediments form lateral moraines (Figure 16.1) and, where two
glaciers meet, medial moraines. (Medial moraines are visible on the Aletsch Glacier in Figure 16.22.)
Most of this material is deposited on the ground when the ice melts, and is therefore called ablation till,
a mixture of fine and coarse angular rock fragments, with much less sand, silt, and clay than lodgement
till. An example is shown in Figure 16.31b. When supraglacial sediments become incorporated into the
body of the glacier, they are known as englacial sediments (Figure 16.30).

Figure 16.31 Examples of glacial till: a: lodgement

till from the front of the Athabasca Glacier, Alberta;
b: ablation till at the Horstman Glacier, Blackcomb
Mountain, B.C. [SE]

Massive amounts of water flow on the surface, within, and at the base of a glacier, even in cold areas
and even when the glacier is advancing. Depending on its velocity, this water is able to move sediments
of various sizes and most of that material is washed out of the lower end of the glacier and deposited
as outwash sediments. These sediments accumulate in a wide range of environments in the proglacial
region (the area in front of a glacier), most in fluvial environments, but some in lakes and the ocean.
Glaciofluvial sediments are similar to sediments deposited in normal fluvial environments, and are
dominated by silt, sand, and gravel. The grains tend to be moderately well rounded, and the sediments
 Physical Geology 456

have similar sedimentary structures (e.g., bedding, cross-bedding, clast imbrication) to those formed by
non-glacial streams (Figure 16.32a and 16.32b).

Figure 16.32 Examples of glaciofluvial sediments: a:

glaciofluvial sand of the Quadra Sand Formation at
Comox, B.C.; b: glaciofluvial gravel and sand,
Nanaimo, B.C.

A large proglacial plain of sediment is called a sandur (a.k.a. an outwash plain), and within that area,
glaciofluvial deposits can be tens of metres thick. In situations where a glacier is receding, a block of ice
might become separated from the main ice sheet and become buried in glaciofluvial sediments. When
the ice block eventually melts, a depression forms, known as a kettle, and if this fills with water, it is
known as a kettle lake (Figure 16.33).

Figure 16.33 A kettle lake amid vineyards and

orchards in the Osoyoos area of B.C. [SE]

A subglacial stream will create its own channel within the ice, and sediments that are being transported
and deposited by the stream will build up within that channel. When the ice recedes, the sediment will
remain to form a long sinuous ridge known as an esker. Eskers are most common in areas of continental
glaciation. They can be several metres high, tens of metres wide, and tens of kilometres long (Figure
16.34).
457 Chapter 16 Glaciation

Figure 16.34 Part of an esker that formed beneath

the Laurentide Ice Sheet in northern Canada.
[http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/taxa/landscape/locsf/
level_nta.jpg

Outwash streams commonly flow into proglacial lakes where glaciolacustrine sediments are deposited.
These are dominated by silt- and clay-sized particles and are typically laminated on the millimetre scale.
In some cases, varves develop; varves are series of beds with distinctive summer and winter layers:
relatively coarse in the summer when melt discharge is high, and finer in the winter, when discharge
is very low. Icebergs are common on proglacial lakes, and most of them contain englacial sediments
of various sizes. As the bergs melt, the released clasts sink to the bottom and are incorporated into the
glaciolacustrine layers as drop stones (Figure 6.35a).

The processes that occur in proglacial lakes can also take place where a glacier terminates in the ocean.
The sediments deposited there are called glaciomarine sediments (Figure 6.35b).

Figure 16.35 Examples of glacial sediments formed

in quiet water: a: glaciolacustrine sediment with a
drop stone, Nanaimo, B.C.; and b: a laminated
glaciomarine sediment, Englishman River, B.C.
Although not visible in this photo, the glaciomarine
sediment has marine shell fossils. [SE]

Exercises
 Physical Geology 458

Exercise 16.4 Identify Glacial Depositional Environments

This photo shows the Bering Glacier in Alaska (same as Figure 16.29).
Glacial sediments of many different types are being deposited throughout this area. Identify where you would
expect to fine the following: (a) glaciofluvial sand, (b) lodgement till, (c) glaciolacustrine clay with drop
stones, (d) ablation till, and (e) glaciomarine silt and clay.
[http://water.usgs.gov/edu/gallery/glacier-satellite.html]
Chapter 16 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

There have been many glaciations in Earth’s distant past, the oldest known starting around
2,400 Ma. The late Proterozoic “Snowball Earth” glaciations were thought to be sufficiently
Glacial
intense to affect the entire planet. The current glacial period is known as the Pleistocene
Periods in
16.1 Glaciation, and while it was much more intense 20,000 years ago than it is now, we are still
Earth’s
in the middle of it. The periodicity of the Pleistocene glaciations is related to subtle changes
History
in Earth’s orbital characteristics, which are exaggerated by a variety of positive feedback
processes.

The two main types of glaciers are continental glaciers, which cover large parts of
continents, and alpine glaciers, which occupy mountainous regions. Ice accumulates at
higher elevations — above the equilibrium line — where the snow that falls in winter does
How
not all melt in summer. In continental glaciers, ice flows outward from where it is thickest.
16.2 Glaciers
In alpine glaciers, ice flows downslope. At depth in the glacier ice, flow is by internal
Work
deformation, but glaciers that have liquid water at their base can also flow by basal sliding.
Crevasses form in the rigid surface ice in places where the lower plastic ice is changing
shape.

Glaciers are important agents of erosion. Continental glaciers tend to erode the land surface
into flat plains, while alpine glaciers create a wide variety of different forms. The key
feature of alpine glacial erosion is the U-shaped valley. Arêtes are sharp ridges that form
Glacial
16.3 between two valleys, and horns form where a mountain is glacially eroded on at least three
Erosion
sides. Because tributary glaciers do not erode as deeply as main-valley glaciers, hanging
valleys exist where the two meet. On a smaller scale, both types of glaciers form drumlins,
roches moutonées, and glacial grooves or striae.

Glacial deposits are quite varied, as materials are transported and deposited in a variety of
different ways in a glacial environment. Sediments that are moved and deposited directly by
Glacial ice are known as till. Glaciofluvial sediments are deposited by glacial streams, either
16.4
Deposition forming eskers or large proglacial plains known as sandurs. Glaciolacustrine and
glaciomarine sediments originate within glaciers and are deposited in lakes and the ocean
respectively.

Questions for Review

1. Why are the Cryogenian glaciations called Snowball Earth?2. Earth cooled dramatically from the end of
the Paleocene until the Holocene. Describe some of the geological events that contributed to that cooling.
3. When and where was the first glaciation of the Cenozoic?
4. Describe the extent of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the height of the last Pleistocene glacial period.

459
 Physical Geology 460

5. In an alpine glacier, the ice flows down the slope of the underlying valley. Continental glaciers do not have
a sloped surface to flow down. What feature of a continental glacier facilitates its flow?
6. What does the equilibrium line represent in a glacier? Explain.
7. Which of the following is more important to the growth of a glacier: very cold winters or relatively cool
summers? Explain.
8. Describe the relative rates of ice flow within the following parts of a glacier: (a) the bottom versus the top
and (b) the edges versus the middle. Explain.
9. What condition is necessary for basal sliding to take place?
10. Why do glaciers carve U-shaped valleys, and how does a hanging valley form?
11. A horn is typically surrounded by cirques. What is the minimum number of cirques you would expect to
find around a horn?
12. A drumlin and a roche moutonée are both streamlined glacial erosion features. How do they differ in
shape?
13. Four examples of glacial sediments are shown here. Describe the important characteristics (e.g., sorting,
layering, grain-size range, grain shape, sedimentary structures) of each one and give each a name (choose
from glaciofluvial, glaciolacustrine, lodgement till, ablation till, and glaciomarine). [SE photos]

14. What are drop stones, and under what circumstances are they likely to form?
15. What types of glacial sediments are likely to be sufficiently permeable to make good aquifers?
Chapter 17 Shorelines

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you
should be able to:

• Summarize the factors that control wave formation and the important features of waves
• Explain how water is disturbed beneath a wave, and how that affects the behaviour of waves as
they approach the shore
• Describe the origins of longshore currents and longshore drift
• Explain why some coasts are more affected by erosion than others and describe the formation of
coastal erosional features, including stacks, arches, cliffs, and wave-cut platforms
• Explain the process of coastal straightening
• Summarize the origins of beaches, spits, baymouth bars, tombolos, and barrier islands
• Describe the origins of carbonate reefs
• Explain the various mechanisms of sea-level change (eustatic, isostatic, and tectonic) and the
implications for coastal processes
• Compare the positive and negative implications of human interference with coastal processes

461
 Physical Geology 462

Figure 17.1 Chesterman Beach near Tofino on the west coast

Vancouver Island. The strip of sediment connecting the main beach to
the rocky island is a tombolo. [Photo by Todd Byrnes, used with
permission of Chesterman Beach B and B]

Most people love shorelines. They love panoramic ocean views, they love sandy beaches on crystal-clear
lakes, they love to swim and surf and go out in boats, and they love watching giant waves crash onto
rocky shores. While an understanding of coastal processes isn’t necessary for our enjoyment of coastal
regions, it can make our time there much more interesting. But an understanding of coastal processes is
critical to people who live near a coast, or those who like to spend a lot of time there, because in order
to be safe and avoid damage to infrastructure, we need to know how coastal processes work. We also
need to understand the processes in order to avoid some of the possible consequences of changes that we
might like to make in coastal areas.
17.1 Waves

Waves form on the ocean and on lakes because energy from the wind is transferred to the water. The
stronger the wind, the longer it blows, and the larger the area of water over which it blows (the fetch),
the larger the waves are likely to be.

The important parameters of a wave are its wavelength (the horizontal distance between two crests or
two troughs), its amplitude (the vertical distance between a trough and a crest), and its velocity (the
speed at which wave crests move across the water) (Figure 17.2).

Figure 17.2 The parameters of water waves [SE]

The typical sizes and speeds of waves in situations where they have had long enough to develop fully
are summarized in Table 17.1. In a situation where the fetch is short (say 19 km on a lake) and the wind
is only moderate (19 km/h), the waves will develop fully within 2 hours, but they will remain quite small
(average amplitude about 27 cm, wavelength 8.5 m). On a large body of water (the ocean or a very
large lake) with a fetch of 139 km and winds of 37 km/h, the waves will develop fully in 10 hours; the
average amplitude will be around 1.5 m and average wavelength around 34 m. In the open ocean, with
strong winds (92 km/h) that blow for at least 69 hours, the waves will average nearly 15 m high and
their wavelengths will be over 200 m. Small waves (amplitudes under a metre) tend to have relatively
shallow slopes (amplitude is 3% to 4% of wavelength), while larger waves (amplitudes over 10 m) have
much steeper slopes (amplitude is 6% to 7% of wavelength). In other words, not only are large waves
bigger than small ones, they are also generally more than twice as steep, and therefore many times more
impressive. It is important to recognize, however, that amplitudes decrease with distance from the area
where the waves were generated. Waves on our coast that are generated by a storm near Japan will have
similar wavelengths but lower amplitudes than those generated by a comparable storm offshore from
Vancouver Island.

463
 Physical Geology 464

Table 17.1 The parameters of wind waves in situations where the wind blows in
roughly the same direction for long enough for the waves to develop fully. The
duration times listed are the minimum required for the waves to develop fully.
[SE from data at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_wave]

Wind Wave Wave

Fetch Duration Amplitude Wavelength
Speed Period Velocity

km/
km/h km h m m s m/s
h

19 19 2 0.27 8.5 3.0 2.8 10.2

37 139 10 1.5 33.8 5.7 5.9 19.5

56 518 23 4.1 76.5 8.6 8.9 32.0

74 1,313 42 8.5 136 11.4 11.9 42.9

92 2,627 69 14.8 212 14.3 14.8 53.4

Exercises

Exercise 17.1 Wave Height Versus Length

Amplitude Wavelength Ratio

This table shows the typical amplitudes and wavelengths of waves generated m m ampl./length
under different wind conditions. The steepness of a wave can be determined
from these numbers and is related to the ratio: amplitude/wavelength. 0.27 8.5 0.03

1.5 33.8
1. Calculate these ratios for the waves shown. The first one is done for you.
2. How would these ratios change with increasing distance from the wind 4.1 76.5
that produced the waves? 8.5 136

14.8 212

Relatively small waves move at up to about 10 km/h and arrive on a shore about once every 3 seconds.
Very large waves move about five times faster (over 50 km/h), but because their wavelengths are so
much longer, they arrive less frequently — about once every 14 seconds.

As a wave moves across the surface of the water, the water itself mostly just moves up and down and
only moves a small amount in the direction of wave motion. As this happens, a point on the water surface
describes a circle with a diameter that is equal to the wave amplitude (Figure 17.3). This motion is also
465 Chapter 17 Shorelines

transmitted to the water underneath, and the water is disturbed by a wave to a depth of approximately
one-half of the wavelength. Wave motion is illustrated quite clearly on the Wikipedia “Wind wave” site
at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_wave#/media/File:Deep_water_wave.gif. If you look carefully at
that animation, and focus on the small white dots in the water, you should be able to see how the amount
that they move decreases with depth.

Figure 17.3 The orbital motion of a parcel of water (black dot) as a wave moves across the surface. [SE]

The one-half wavelength depth of disturbance of the water beneath a wave is known as the wave base.
Since ocean waves rarely have wavelengths greater than 200 m, and the open ocean is several thousand
metres deep, the wave base does not normally interact with the bottom of the ocean. However, as waves
approach the much shallower water near the shore, they start to “feel” the bottom, and they are affected
by that interaction (Figure 17.4). The wave “orbits” are both flattened and slowed by dragging, and the
implications are that the wave amplitude (height) increases and the wavelength decreases (the waves
become much steeper). The ultimate result of this is that the waves lean forward, and eventually break
(Figure 17.5).

Figure 17.4 The effect of waves approaching a sandy shore [SE]

 Physical Geology 466

Figure 17.5 Waves breaking on the shore at Greensand Beach, Hawaii (the sand is green because it is
made up mostly of the mineral olivine eroded from the nearby volcanic rocks) [SE]

Waves normally approach the shore at an angle, and this means that one part of the wave feels the bottom
sooner than the rest of it, so the part that feels the bottom first slows down first. This process is illustrated
in Figure 17.6, which is based on an aerial photograph showing actual waves approaching Long Beach
on Vancouver Island. When the photo was taken, the waves (with crests shown as white lines in the
diagram) were approaching at an angle of about 20° to the beach. The waves first reached shore at the
southern end (right side of the image). As they moved into shallow water, they were slowed more at the
southern end, and thus gradually became more parallel to the beach.

In open water, these waves had wavelengths close to 100 m. In the shallow water closer to shore, the
wavelengths decreased to around 50 m, and in some cases, even less.
467 Chapter 17 Shorelines

Figure 17.6 Waves approaching the shore of Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park. As the waves
(depicted by white lines) approach shore, they are refracted to become more parallel to the beach, and
their wavelength decreases. [SE]

Even though they bend and become nearly parallel to shore, most waves still reach the shore at a small
angle, and as each one arrives, it pushes water along the shore, creating what is known as a longshore
current within the surf zone (the areas where waves are breaking) (Figure 17.7).

Figure 17.7 The generation of a longshore current by waves approaching the shore at an angle. [SE]
 Physical Geology 468

Exercises

Exercise 17.2 Wave Refraction

A series of waves (dashed lines) is approaching the coast on the map shown here.
Draw in the next several waves, showing how their patterns will change as they approach shallow water and
the shore.
Show, with arrows, the direction of the resulting longshore current.

Another important effect of waves reaching the shore at an angle is that when they wash up onto the
beach, they do so at an angle, but when that same wave water washes back down the beach, it moves
straight down the slope of the beach (Figure 17.8). The upward-moving water, known as the swash,
pushes sediment particles along the beach, while the downward-moving water, the backwash, brings
them straight back. With every wave that washes up and then down the beach, particles of sediment are
moved along the beach in a zigzag pattern.

The combined effects of sediment transport within the surf zone by the longshore current and sediment
movement along the beach by swash and backwash is known as longshore drift. Longshore drift moves
a tremendous amount of sediment along coasts (both oceans and large lakes) around the world, and it is
responsible for creating a variety of depositional features that we’ll discuss in section 17.3.
469 Chapter 17 Shorelines

Figure 17.8 The movement of particles on a beach as a result of swash and backwash [SE]

A rip current is another type of current that develops in the nearshore area, and has the effect of
returning water that has been pushed up to the shore by incoming waves. As shown in Figure 17.9, rip
currents flow straight out from the shore and are fed by the longshore currents. They die out quickly just
outside the surf zone, but can be dangerous to swimmers who get caught in them. If part of a beach does
not have a strong unidirectional longshore current, the rip currents may be fed by longshore currents
going in both directions.

Figure 17.9 The formation of rip currents on a beach with strong surf [SE]

Rip currents are visible in Figure 17.10, a beach at Tunquen in Chile near Valparaiso. As is evident from
the photo, the rips correspond with embayments in the beach profile. Three of them are indicated with
arrows, but it appears that there may be several others farther along the beach.
 Physical Geology 470

Figure 17.10 Rip currents on Tunquen Beach in central Chile [From NOAA
http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/images/Tunquen_Chile.jpg]

Tides are related to very long-wavelength but low-amplitude waves on the ocean surface (and to a much
lesser extent on very large lakes) that are caused by variations in the gravitational effects of the Sun and
Moon. Tide amplitudes in shoreline areas vary quite dramatically from place to place. On the west coast
of Canada, the tidal range is relatively high, in some areas as much as 6 m, while on most of the east
coast the range is lower, typically around 2 m. A major exception is the Bay of Fundy between Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick, where the daily range can be as great as 16 m. Anomalous tides like that are
related to the shape and size of bays and inlets, which can significantly enhance the amplitude of the tidal
surge. The Bay of Fundy has a natural oscillation cycle of 12.5 hours, and that matches the frequency of
the rise and fall of the tides in the adjacent Atlantic Ocean. Ungava Bay, on Quebec’s north coast, has a
similarly high tidal range.

As the tides rise and fall they push and pull a large volume of water in and out of bays and inlets and
around islands. They do not have as significant an impact on coastal erosion and deposition as wind
waves do, but they have an important influence on the formation of features within the intertidal zone,
as we’ll see in the following sections.
17.2 Landforms of Coastal Erosion

Large waves crashing onto a shore bring a tremendous amount of energy that has a significant eroding
effect, and several unique erosion features commonly form on rocky shores with strong waves.

When waves approach an irregular shore, they are slowed down to varying degrees, depending on
differences in the water depth, and as they slow, they are bent or refracted. In Figure 17.11, wave energy
is represented by the red arrows. That energy is evenly spaced out in the deep water, but because of
refraction, the energy of the waves — which moves perpendicular to the wave crests — is being focused
on the headlands (Frank Island and Cox Point in this case). On irregular coasts, the headlands receive
much more wave energy than the intervening bays, and thus they are more strongly eroded. The result of
this is coastal straightening. An irregular coast, like the west coast of Vancouver Island, will eventually
become straightened, although that process will take millions of years.

Figure 17.11 The approach of waves (white lines) in

the Cox Bay area of Long Beach, Vancouver Island.
The red arrows represent wave energy; most of that
energy is focused on the headlands of Frank Island
and Cox Point. [SE]

Wave erosion is greatest in the surf zone, where the wave base is impinging strongly on the sea floor
and where the waves are breaking. The result is that the substrate in the surf zone is typically eroded to
a flat surface known as a wave-cut platform (or wave-cut terrace) (Figure 17.12). A wave-cut platform
extends across the intertidal zone.

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 Physical Geology 472

Figure 17.12 A wave-cut platform in bedded sedimentary rock on

Gabriola Island, B.C. The wave-eroded surface is submerged at high
tide. [SE]

Relatively resistant rock that does not get completely eroded during the formation of a wave-cut platform
will remain behind to form a stack. An example from the Juan de Fuca Trail of southwestern Vancouver
Island is shown in Figure 17.13. Here the different layers of the sedimentary rock have different
resistance to erosion. The upper part of this stack is made up of rock that resisted erosion, and that rock
has protected a small pedestal of underlying softer rock. The softer rock will eventually be eroded and
the big rock will become just another boulder on the beach.

Figure 17.13 A stack on the Juan de Fuca Trail section of the

southwestern shore of Vancouver Island. The rock surrounding the
stack is part of a wave-cut platform. [SE]
473 Chapter 17 Shorelines

Arches and sea caves are related to stacks because they all form as a result of the erosion of relatively
non-resistant rock. An arch in the Barachois River area of western Newfoundland is shown in Figure
17.14. This feature started out as a sea cave, and then, after being eroded from both sides, became an
arch. During the winter of 2012/2013, the arch collapsed, leaving a small stack at the end of the point.
If you look carefully at the upper photograph you can see that the hole that makes the arch developed
within a layer of relatively soft and weak rock.

Figure 17.14 Top: An arch in tilted sedimentary rock

at the mouth of the Barachois River, Newfoundland,
July 2012. Bottom: The same location in June 2013.
The arch has collapsed and a small stack remains.
[Photo: Dr. David Murphy, used with permission]

Figure 17.15 summarizes the process of transformation of an irregular coast, initially produced by
tectonic uplift, into a straightened coast with sea cliffs (wave-eroded escarpments) and the remnants of
stacks, arches, and wave-cut platforms. The next stages of this process would be the continued landward
erosion of the sea cliffs and the complete erosion of the stacks and wave-cut platforms in favour of a
continuous and nearly straight sandy beach.
 Physical Geology 474

Figure 17.15 Evolution of a straightened coast

through the erosion to stacks and arches, sea cliffs,
and wave-cut platforms [SE]
17.3 Landforms of Coastal Deposition

Some coastal areas are dominated by erosion, an example being the Pacific coast of Canada and the
United States, while others are dominated by deposition, examples being the Atlantic and Caribbean
coasts of the United States. But on almost all coasts, both deposition and erosion are happening to
varying degrees most of the time, although in different places. This is clearly evident in the Tofino area
of Vancouver Island (Figure 17.1), where erosion is the predominant process on the rocky headlands,
while depositional processes predominate within the bays. On deposition-dominant coasts, the coastal
sediments are still being eroded from some areas and deposited in others.

The main factor in determining if a coast is dominated by erosion or deposition is its history of tectonic
activity. A coast like that of British Columbia is tectonically active, and compression and uplift have
been going on for tens of millions of years. This coast has also been uplifted during the past 15,000 years
by isostatic rebound due to deglaciation. The coasts of the United States along the Atlantic and the Gulf
of Mexico have not seen significant tectonic activity in a few hundred million years, and except in the
northeast, have not experienced post-glacial uplift. These areas have relatively little topographic relief,
and there is now minimal erosion of coastal bedrock.

On coasts that are dominated by depositional processes, most of the sediment being deposited typically
comes from large rivers. An obvious example is where the Mississippi River flows into the Gulf of
Mexico at New Orleans; another is the Fraser River at Vancouver. There are no large rivers bringing
sandy sediments to the west coast of Vancouver Island, but there are still long and wide sandy beaches
there. In this area, most of the sand comes from glaciofluvial sand deposits situated along the shore
behind the beach, and some comes from the erosion of the rocks on the headlands.

The components of a typical beach are shown in Figure 17.16. On a sandy marine beach, the beach face
is the area between the low and high tide levels. A berm is a flatter region beyond the reach of high
tides; this area stays dry except during large storms.

Figure 17.16 The components of a sandy marine beach [SE]

Most beaches go through a seasonal cycle because conditions change from summer to winter. In
summer, sea conditions are relatively calm with long-wavelength, low-amplitude waves generated by
distant winds. Winter conditions are rougher, with shorter-wavelength, higher-amplitude waves caused
by strong local winds. As shown in Figure 17.17, the heavy seas of winter gradually erode sand from
475
 Physical Geology 476

beaches, moving it to an underwater sandbar offshore from the beach. The gentler waves of summer
gradually push this sand back toward the shore, creating a wider and flatter beach.

Figure 17.17 The differences between summer and winter on beaches

in areas where the winter conditions are rougher and waves have a
shorter wavelength but higher energy. In winter, sand from the beach is
stored offshore. [SE]

The evolution of sandy depositional features on sea coasts is primarily influenced by waves and currents,
especially longshore currents. As sediment is transported along a shore, either it is deposited on beaches,
or it creates other depositional features. A spit, for example is an elongated sandy deposit that extends
out into open water in the direction of a longshore current. A good example is Goose Spit at Comox
on Vancouver Island (Figure 17.18). At this location, the longshore current typically flows toward the
southwest, and the sand eroded from a 60 m high cliff of Pleistocene glaciofluvial Quadra Sand is pushed
in that direction and then out into Comox Harbour.

Figure 17.18 The formation of Goose Spit at Comox

on Vancouver Island. The sand that makes up Goose
Spit is derived from the erosion of Pleistocene
Quadra Sand (a thick glaciofluvial sand deposit, as
illustrated in the photo on the right). [SE]

The Quadra Sand at Comox is visible in Figure 17.19. There are numerous homes built at the top of the
cliff, and the property owners have gone to considerable expense to reinforce the base of the cliff with
large angular rocks (rip-rap) and concrete barriers so as to limit further erosion of their properties. One
result of this will be to starve Goose Spit of sediments and eventually contribute to its erosion. Of course
the rocks and concrete barriers are only temporary; they will be eroded by strong winter storms over the
next few decades and the Quadra Sand will once again contribute to the maintenance of Goose Spit.
477 Chapter 17 Shorelines

Figure 17.19 The Quadra Sand cliff at Comox, and the extensive
concrete and rip-rap barrier that has been constructed to reduce
erosion. Note that the waves (dashed lines) are approaching the shore
at an angle, contributing to the longshore current. [SE]

A spit that extends across a bay to the extent of closing, or almost closing it off, is known as a baymouth
bar. Most bays have streams flowing into them, and since this water has to get out, it is rare that a
baymouth bar will completely close the entrance to a bay. In areas where there is sufficient sediment
being transported, and there are near-shore islands, a tombolo may form (Figure 17.20).

Figure 17.20 A depiction of a baymouth bar and a tombolo [SE]

Tombolos are common around the southern part of the coast of British Columbia, where islands are
abundant, and they typically form where there is a wave shadow behind a nearshore island (Figure
17.21). This becomes an area with reduced energy, and so the longshore current slows and sediments
accumulate. Eventually enough sediments accumulate to connect the island to the mainland with a
tombolo. There is a good example of a tombolo in Figure 17.1, and another in Figure 17.22.
 Physical Geology 478

Figure 17.21 The process of formation of a tombolo in a wave shadow

behind a nearshore island [SE]

Figure 17.22 A stack (with a wave-cut platform) connected to the

mainland by a tombolo, Leboeuf Bay, Gabriola Island, B.C. [SE]

In areas where coastal sediments are abundant and coastal relief is low (because there has been little
or no recent coastal uplift), it is common for barrier islands to form (Figure 17.23). Barrier islands
are elongated islands composed of sand that form a few kilometres away from the mainland. They are
common along the U.S. Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida, and along the U.S. Atlantic Coast from Florida
to Massachusetts. North of Boston, the coast becomes rocky, partly because that area has been affected
by post-glacial crustal rebound.
479 Chapter 17 Shorelines

Figure 17.23 Assateague Island on the Maryland coast, U.S. This

barrier island is about 60 km long and only 1 km to 2 km wide. The
open Atlantic Ocean is to the right and the lagoon is to the left. This
part of Assateague Island has recently been eroded by a tropical storm,
which pushed massive amounts of sand into the lagoon.
[http://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2014/04/images/
DelmarvaAssateague_aerial_ViewCV.jpg]

Exercises

Exercise 17.3 Beach Forms

On the map, sketch where you would expect the following to form:
 Physical Geology 480

• A spit
• A baymouth bar
• A tombolo
What conditions might lead to the formation of barrier islands in this area?

Some coasts in tropical regions (between 30° S and 30° N) are characterized by carbonate reefs. Reefs
form in relatively shallow marine water within a few hundred to a few thousand metres of shore in
areas where there is little or no input of clastic sediments from streams, and marine organisms such
as corals, algae, and shelled organisms can thrive. The associated biological processes are enhanced
where upwelling currents bring chemical nutrients from deeper water (but not so deep that the water is
cooler than about 25°C) (Figure 17.24). Sediments that form in the back reef (shore side) and fore reef
(ocean side) are typically dominated by carbonate fragments eroded from the reef and from organisms
that thrive in the back-reef area that is protected from wave energy by the reef.

Figure 17.24 Cross-section through a typical barrier or fringing reef

[SE]
17.4 Sea-Level Change

Sea-level change has been a feature on Earth for billions of years, and it has important implications for
coastal processes and both erosional and depositional features. There are three main mechanisms of sea-
level change, as described below.

Eustatic sea-level changes are global sea-level changes related either to changes in the volume of
glacial ice on land or to changes in the shape of the sea floor caused by plate tectonic processes. For
example, changes in the rate of mid-ocean spreading will change the shape of the sea floor near the
ridges, and this affects sea level.

Over the past 20,000 years, there has been approximately 125 m of eustatic sea-level rise due to glacial
melting. Most of that took place between 15,000 and 7,500 years ago during the major melting phase
of the North American and Eurasian Ice Sheets (Figure 17.25). At around 7,500 years ago, the rate of
glacial melting and sea-level rise decreased dramatically, and since that time, the average rate has been in
the order of 0.7 mm/year. Anthropogenic climate change led to accelerating sea-level rise starting around
1870. Since that time, the average rate has been 1.1 mm/year, but it has been gradually increasing. Since
1992, the average rate has been 3.2 mm/year.

Figure 17.25 Eustatic sea-level curve for the past 24 ka (sea-level rise
resulting from the melting of glacial ice). Sea-level rise is global; the
locations listed in the caption are the places where data were acquired
to create this diagram. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Sea_level_rise#/media/File:Post-Glacial_Sea_Level.png]

Isostatic sea-level changes are local changes caused by subsidence or uplift of the crust related either to
changes in the amount of ice on the land, or to growth or erosion of mountains.

Almost all of Canada and parts of the northern United States were covered in thick ice sheets at the peak
of the last glaciation. Following the melting of this ice, there has been an isostatic rebound of continental

481
 Physical Geology 482

crust in many areas. This ranges from several hundred metres of rebound in the central part of the
Laurentide Ice Sheet (around Hudson Bay) to 100 m to 200 m in the peripheral parts of the Laurentide
and Cordilleran Ice Sheets — in places such as Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of B.C. In other
words, although global sea level was about 130 m lower during the last glaciation, the glaciated regions
were depressed at least that much in most places, and more than that in places where the ice was thickest.

There is evidence of isostatic rebound along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, where a number
of streams enter the ocean as 5 m high waterfalls, as shown in Figure 17.26.

Figure 17.26 This stream is on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island

near Sooke. Like many other streams along this coast, it used to flow
directly into the ocean, but the land has been uplifted by post-glacial
isostatic rebound. [SE]

Tectonic sea-level changes are local changes caused by tectonic processes. The subduction of the Juan
de Fuca Plate beneath British Columbia is creating tectonic uplift (about 1 mm/year) along the western
edge of Vancouver Island, although much of this uplift is likely to be reversed when the next large
subduction-zone earthquake strikes.

Coastlines in areas where there has been net sea-level rise in the geologically recent past are commonly
characterized by estuaries and fiords. Howe Sound, north of Vancouver, is an example of a fiord (Figure
17.27). This valley was filled with ice during the last glaciation, and there has been a net rise in sea
level here since that time. Coastlines in areas where there has been net sea-level drop in the geologically
recent past are characterized by uplifted wave-cut platforms (or stream valleys as shown in Figure
17.26). Uplifted beach lines are another product of relative sea-level drop, although these are difficult to
recognize in areas with vigorous vegetation. They are relatively common in Canada’s far north.
483 Chapter 17 Shorelines

Figure 17.27 Howe Sound, north of Vancouver, is a fiord with

well-defined glacial erosion features. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 17.4 A Holocene Uplifted Shore

The blue-grey sediments in the photo contain marine fossils of early Holocene age (~12,500 years ago).
Explain the role that melting ice might have played in raising this material 60 m above sea level. Is this
change a result of isostatic or eustatic relative sea-level change?

Early Holocene marine sediments at 60 m elevation on Gabriola Island, B.C. [SE]

17.5 Human Interference with Shorelines

There are various modifications that we make in an attempt to influence beach processes for our own
purposes. Sometimes these changes are effective, and may appear to be beneficial, although in most
cases there are unintended negative consequences that we don’t recognize until much later.

An example is at the beach near Comox (described above), which has been armoured with rip-rap and
concrete blocks in an attempt to limit the natural erosion that is threatening the properties at the top of the
cliff (Figure 17.19). As already noted, the unintended effect of this installation will be to starve Goose
Spit of sediment. As long as the armour remains in place, which might be several decades, there is a risk
that the spit will start to erode, which will affect many of the organisms that use that area as their habitat,
and many of the people who go there for recreation.

Seawalls, like the one around Vancouver’s Stanley Park (Figure 17.28), also help to limit erosion and
can be very pleasant amenities for the public, but they have geological and ecological costs. When a
shoreline is “hardened” in this way, important marine habitat is lost and sediment production is reduced,
and that can affect beaches elsewhere. Seawalls also affect the behaviour of waves and longshore
currents, sometimes with negative results.

Figure 17.28 The seawall at Stanley Park, Vancouver

[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Seawall2.jpg]

Another example is at Sunset Beach in Vancouver. As shown in Figure 17.29, a series of rip-rap
breakwaters (structures parallel to the shore) were built in the 1990s and sand has accumulated behind
them to form the beach. The breakwaters have acted as islands and the sand has been deposited in
the low-energy water behind them, in the same way that a tombolo forms. This can be seen from a
photograph taken from the Burrard Bridge in 2015 (Figure 17.30). The two benefits of this project are
that a pleasant beach has been created, and some of the sediment that previously would have been moved
into False Creek, and could have blocked its entrance, has been trapped in English Bay. The negative
impacts are probably not well understood, but have likely involved loss of marine animal habitat.

484
485 Chapter 17 Shorelines

Figure 17.29 Map of the impact of breakwaters (or groynes) on beach

formation at Sunset Beach, Vancouver [SE]

Figure 17.30 Photograph of the impact of breakwaters on beach

development at Sunset Beach, Vancouver [by Isaac Earle, used with
permission]

Groynes (or groins in the U.S.) have an effect that is similar to that of breakwaters, although groynes are
constructed perpendicular to the beach (Figure 17.31), and they trap sediment by slowing the longshore
current.
 Physical Geology 486

Figure 17.31 A groyne at Crescent Beach, Surrey, B.C.

[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cresbeach-groyne.jpg]

Most of the sediment that forms beaches along our coasts comes from rivers, so if we want to take care
of beaches, we have to take care of rivers. When a river is dammed, its sediment load is deposited in
the resulting reservoir, and for the century or two while the reservoir is filling up, that sediment cannot
get to the sea. During that time, beaches (including spits, baymouth bars, and tombolos) within tens of
kilometres of the river’s mouth (or more in some cases) are at risk of erosion.

Exercises

Exercise 17.5 Crescent Beach Groynes

This diagram shows the same area illustrated in Figure 17.31 at Crescent Beach in Surrey, B.C. Based on
information that you can find on the Internet about the function of groynes, determine which way the
prevailing longshore current is moving at this location.

Beach and groyne locations at Crescent Beach, Surrey [SE]

Chapter 17 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Waves form when wind blows over water. The size of the waves depends on the wind
speed, the area over which it is blowing, and time. The important parameters of a wave
are its amplitude, wavelength, and speed. The water beneath a wave is disturbed to a
17.1 Waves depth of one-half the wavelength, and a wave is slowed when it approaches shallow
water. A longshore current develops where waves approach the shore at an angle, and
swash and backwash on a beach move sediment along the shore. The combined effect of
these two processes is sediment transport by longshore drift.

Coasts that have experienced uplift within the past several million years tend to have
irregular shapes and are dominated by erosional processes. Wave paths are bent where the
Landforms
coast is irregular and wave energy is focused on headlands. Rocky headlands are eroded
17.2 of Coastal
into sea caves, arches, stacks, and sea cliffs, and the areas around these features are
Erosion
eroded into wave-cut platforms. Over the long term (millions of years), irregular coasts
are straightened.

Coasts that have not been uplifted for tens of millions of years tend to be relatively
straight, and are dominated by depositional features, although deposition is also important
Landforms on irregular coasts. Waves and longshore drift are important in controlling the formation
17.3 of Coastal of beaches, as well as spits, tombolos, baymouth bars, and barrier islands. Beaches can be
Deposition divided into zones, such as foreshore and backshore, and beach shapes typically change
from season to season. Carbonate reefs and carbonate sediments form in tropical regions
where there is little input of clastic sediments.

The relative levels of the land and sea have significant implications for coastal processes
and landforms, and they have been constantly changing over geological time. Eustatic
sea-level changes are global in effect, and are typically related to glacial ice formation or
Sea-Level
17.4 melting. Isostatic sea-level changes are local effects caused by uplift or subsidence of
Change
continental crust, typically because of the gain or loss of glacial ice. Tectonic sea-level
changes are related to plate interactions. Net sea-level rise leads to development of
estuaries and fiords, while net sea-level drop creates uplifted marine terraces and beaches.

Human Humans have a strong urge to alter coasts for their own convenience by building seawalls,
Interference breakwaters, groynes, and other barriers. Although these types of features may have
17.5
with economic and other benefits, they can have both geological and ecological implications
Shorelines that must be considered.

Questions for Review

1. What factors control the size of waves?

487
 Physical Geology 488

2. Referring to Table 17.1, approximately what size of waves (amplitude and wavelength) would you expect
with a 65 km/h wind blowing for 40 hours over 1,000 km of sea?
3. If the average wavelength of a series of waves is 100 m, at what depth of water will the waves start to feel
the bottom, and how will that change their behaviour?
4. What is the difference between a longshore current and longshore drift?
5. On this diagram, the waves (dashed blue lines) are approaching an irregular coast. The red arrows represent
the energy of those waves, and one has been extended to show where that energy would hit the shore. Extend
the other “energy lines” in a similar way, and comment on how this relates to erosion of this coastline.

6. Explain the origins of a wave-cut platform.

7. How do we define the limits of the beach face, and what are some other terms used to describe this zone?
8. A spit is really just a beach that is only attached to the shore at one end. What conditions are necessary for
the formation of a spit?
9. Barrier islands are common along the Atlantic coast of the U.S. as far north as Massachusetts. Why are
there almost none in the northeastern U.S. or along the coasts of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and
Newfoundland?
10. This diagram represents an island on the central coast of B.C. that has experienced 140 m of isostatic
rebound since deglaciation, and has also been affected by the global eustatic sea-level rise over the same
period. The dashed line marks sea level during glaciation. How much higher or lower should that line be
now?

11. If a dam were to be built on the Fraser River near Hope, what would be the long-term implications for
beaches in the Vancouver area? Explain why.
Chapter 18 Geology of the Oceans

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you
should be able to:

• Describe the origins of the major topographic features of the sea floor, including continental
shelves and slopes, spreading ridges, seamount chains and isolated seamounts, and deep
submarine canyons
• Describe the various components of oceanic crust: pillow basalts, sheeted dykes, gabbro bodies,
layered gabbro, and layered ultramafic rock
• Describe the age distribution of oceanic crust, and explain why all of it is relatively young
• Summarize the types of sediments and sedimentary rocks that accumulate on the sea floor, and
explain why different types of sediment are present in different areas
• Explain the origins of sea-floor methane hydrates
• Describe and explain regional variations in the salinity and temperature of ocean water
• Describe the general nature of major ocean-surface currents and the origins of deep-ocean
circulation patterns
• Explain the importance of ocean currents to our climate

Figure 18.1 Oceanic crust (pillow basalt) from the Paleogene

Metchosin Igneous Complex, near Sooke, on Vancouver Island. The
view is about 1.5 m across. [SE]

489
 Physical Geology 490

Oceans cover 71% of Earth’s surface and hold 97% of Earth’s water. The water they contain is critical
to plate tectonics, to volcanism, and of course, to life on Earth. It is said that we know more about the
surface of the Moon than the floor of the oceans. Whether this is true or not, the important point is that
the ocean floor is covered with an average of nearly 4,000 m of water, and it’s pitch black below a few
hundred metres so it’s not easy to discover what is down there. We know a lot more about the oceans
than we used to, but there is still a great deal more to discover.

Earth has had oceans for a very long time, dating back to the point where the surface had cooled enough
to allow liquid water, only a few hundred million years after Earth’s formation. At that time there were
no continental rocks, so the water that was here was likely spread out over the surface in one giant (but
relatively shallow) ocean.
18.1 The Topography of the Sea Floor

We examined the topography of the sea floor from the perspective of plate tectonics in Chapter 10, but
here we are going to take another look at the important features from an oceanographic perspective.
The topography of the northern Atlantic Ocean is shown in Figure 18.2. The important features are the
extensive continental shelves less than 250 m deep (pink); the vast deep ocean plains between 4,000
and 6,000 m deep (light and dark blue); the mid-Atlantic ridge, in many areas shallower than 3,000 m;
and the deep ocean trench north of Puerto Rico (8,600 m).

Figure 18.2 The topography of the Atlantic Ocean sea floor between 0°
and 50° north. Red and yellow colours indicate less than 2,000 m
depth; green less than 3,000 m; blue 4,000 m to 5,000 m; and purple
greater than 6,000 m. [from NASA/CNES at: http://topex.ucsd.edu/
marine_topo/jpg_images/topo8.jpg]

A topographic profile of the Pacific Ocean floor between Japan and British Columbia is shown in Figure
18.3. Be careful when interpreting this diagram (and others like it), because in order to show the various
features clearly the vertical axis is exaggerated, in this case by about 200 times. The floor of the Pacific,
like those of the other oceans, is actually very flat, even in areas with seamounts or deep trenches. The
vast sediment-covered abyssal plains of the oceans are much flatter than any similar-sized areas on the
continents.

The main features of the Pacific Ocean floor are the continental slopes, which drop from about 200 m to
several thousand metres over a distance of a few hundred kilometres; the abyssal plains — exceedingly
flat and from 4,000 m to 6,000 m deep; volcanic seamounts and islands; and trenches at subduction
zones that are up to 11,000 m deep.

491
 Physical Geology 492

Figure 18.3 The generalized topography of the Pacific Ocean sea floor
between Japan and British Columbia. The vertical exaggeration is
approximately 200 times. [SE]

The ocean floor is almost entirely underlain by mafic oceanic crust (mostly basalt and gabbro, as
described in more detail below), while the continental slopes are underlain by felsic continental crust
(mostly granitic and sedimentary rocks). And, as you’ll remember from Chapter 10, the heavier oceanic
crust floats lower on the mantle than continental crust does, and that’s why oceans are oceans.

The continental shelf and slope offshore from Nova Scotia is shown in Figure 18.4. In this passive-
margin area (no subduction zone), the shelf is over 150 km wide. On the Pacific coast of Canada,
the shelf is less than half as wide. Continental shelves are typically less than 200 m in depth; 200 m
is also the limit of the photic zone, the maximum depth to which sufficient light penetrates to allow
photosynthesis to take place. As a result of that photosynthesis, the photic zone is oxygenated, and
therefore suitable for animal life. Approximately 90% of marine life is restricted to the photic zone. The
photic zone is also known as the epipelagic zone. The mesopelagic zone extends from 200 m to 1,000
m; the bathypelagic zone from 1,000 m to 4,000 m; and abyssalpelagic zone is deeper than 4,000 m.
(Pelagic refers to the open ocean, and thus excludes areas that are near to the shores or the ocean floor.)

Although the temperature of the ocean surface varies widely, from a few degrees either side of freezing
in polar regions to over 25°C in the tropics, in most parts of the ocean, the water temperature is around
10°C at 1,000 m depth and about 4°C from 2,000 m depth all the way to the bottom.

Figure 18.4 The generalized topography of the Atlantic Ocean floor

within 300 km of Nova Scotia. The vertical exaggeration is
approximately 25 times. The panel at the bottom shows the same
profile without vertical exaggeration. [SE]
493 Chapter 18 Geology of the Oceans

The deepest parts of the ocean are within the subduction trenches, and the deepest of these is the
Marianas Trench in the southwestern Pacific (near Guam) at 11,000 m (Figure 18.5). There are other
trenches in the southwestern Pacific that are over 10,000 m deep; the Japan Trench is over 9,000 m deep;
and the Puerto Rico and Chile-Peru Trenches are over 8,000 m deep. Trenches that are relatively shallow
tend to be that way because they have significant sediment infill. There is no recognizable trench along
the subduction zone of the Juan de Fuca Plate because it has been filled with sediments from the Fraser
and Columbia Rivers (or their ancient equivalents).

Figure 18.5 The generalized topography of the Pacific Ocean floor in

the area of the Marianas Trench, near Guam. The dashed grey line
represents the subduction of the Pacific Plate (to the right) beneath the
Philippine Plate (to the left). [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 18.1 Visualizing Sea Floor Topography

This map shows a part of the sea floor.
1. Identify the following features:
(a) a continental shelf, (b) a continental slope, (c) a spreading ridge, (d) a subduction zone with a deep trench,
(e) an abyssal plain, and (f) some isolated seamounts.
2. Where is this? (North is up.)
 Physical Geology 494

[from NASA/CNES at: http://topex.ucsd.edu/marine_topo/jpg_images/topo16.jpg]

18.2 The Geology of the Oceanic Crust

As we discussed in Chapter 10, oceanic crust is formed at sea-floor spreading ridges from magma
generated by decompression melting of hot upward-moving mantle rock (Figure 10.18). About 10%
of the mantle rock melts under these conditions, producing mafic magma. This magma oozes out
onto the sea floor to form pillow basalts (Figure 18.1), breccias (fragmented basaltic rock), and flows,
interbedded in some cases with limestone or chert. Beneath the volcanic rock are layers with gabbroic
sheeted dykes (which sometimes extend up into the pillow layer), gabbroic stocks, and finally layered
peridotite (ultramafic rock) at the base. The ultramafic rock of the mantle lies below that. Over time,
the igneous rock of the oceanic crust gets covered with layers of sediment, which eventually become
sedimentary rock, including limestone, mudstone, chert, and turbidites. The lithologies of the layers of
the oceanic crust are shown in Figure 18.6.

Figure 18.6 Schematic representation of the lithologic layers of typical

oceanic crust [SE]

The age of the oceanic crust has been determined by systematic mapping variations in the strength of
the Earth’s magnetic field across the sea floor and comparing the results with our understanding of the
record of Earth’s magnetic field reversal chronology for the past few hundred million years. The ages of
different parts of the crust are shown in Figure 18.7. The oldest oceanic crust is around 280 Ma in the
eastern Mediterranean, and the oldest parts of the open ocean are around 180 Ma on either side of the
north Atlantic. It may be surprising, considering that parts of the continental crust are close to 4,000 Ma
old, that the oldest sea floor is less than 300 Ma. Of course, the reason for this is that all sea floor older

495
 Physical Geology 496

than that has been either subducted or pushed up to become part of the continental crust. For example,
there are fragments of sea floor in British Columbia that date back to around 380 and 220 Ma, and there
are similar rocks in the Canadian Shield that are older than 3 Ga.

As one would expect, the oceanic crust is very young near the spreading ridges (Figure 18.7), and there
are obvious differences in the rate of sea-floor spreading along different ridges. The ridges in the Pacific
and southeastern Indian Oceans have wide age bands, indicating rapid spreading (approaching 10 cm/y
on each side in some areas), while those in the Atlantic and western Indian Oceans are spreading much
more slowly (less than 2 cm/y on each side in some areas).

Figure 18.7 The age of the oceanic crust [SE after NOAA at
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/ocean_age/data/2008/image/
age_oceanic_lith.jpg]

Exercises

Exercise 18.2 The Age of Subducting Crust

This map shows the magnetic patterns on the Juan de Fuca plate. The
coloured bands represent periods of normal magnetism, while the white bands represent reversed magnetism.
A magnetic-reversal time scale is also shown.
497 Chapter 18 Geology of the Oceans

1. How old is the oldest part of the Juan de Fuca Plate that is subducting along the Cascadia subduction
boundary?
2. How old is the youngest part of the Juan de Fuca Plate that is subducting?
The magnetic patterns and chronology shown here have been colour-coded to make them easy to interpret,
but on most such maps the magnetic patterns are shown only as black and white stripes, making it much more
difficult to interpret the ages of the sea floor. Magnetic-reversal patterns that have no context (such as the 0
age along the spreading ridge in this case) are very difficult to interpret. [SE drawing]

As is evident from Figures 18.2 and 18.3, the sea floor is dotted with chains of seamounts, isolated
seamounts, and ocean islands. Almost all of these features are volcanoes, and most are much younger
than the oceanic crust on which they formed. Some seamounts and ocean islands are formed above
mantle plumes, the best example being Hawaii. The oldest of the Hawaiian/Emperor seamounts is dated
at around 80 Ma; it is situated on oceanic crust aged around 90 to 100 Ma. The youngest of the Hawaiian
lavas — at Kilauea Volcano on the island of Hawaii — is just a few hours old (or less!) and the island is
surrounded by oceanic crust that is around 85 Ma old. All of the mantle-plume-derived volcanic islands
are dominated by mafic rocks.

Many seamounts are related to subduction along ocean-ocean convergent boundaries. These include the
Aleutians, extending from Alaska to Russia, and the Lesser Antilles in the eastern part of the Caribbean.

Some of the linear belts of volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean do not show age-distance relationships like the
volcanoes of the Hawaii-Emperor chain or the Galapagos Islands. For example, the Line Islands, which
spread out over more than 1,000 km south of the Hawaiian chain, were all formed between 70 and 85
Ma and are interpreted to be related to rifting.

Most tropical islands have associated carbonate reefs, in some cases, as fringes right around the island,
and in some cases, as barriers some distance away. In many cases, the reef is there, but the island that is
assumed to have led to its formation is gone. The formation of fringing reefs, barrier reefs, and atolls
is illustrated in Figure 18.8.

Figure 18.8 The formation of a fringing reef, a barrier reef, and an

atoll around a subsiding tropical volcanic island. [SE]

The key factor in this process is sea-level change, either because of post-glacial sea-level rise, or because
of subsidence of a volcano — as it is moved away from a spreading ridge — or both. If the rate of sea-
level change is slow enough (e.g., less than 1 cm/year), a reef can keep up and maintain its position at
sea level long after its parent volcanic island has disappeared beneath the waves.
18.3 Sea-Floor Sediments

Except within a few kilometres of a ridge crest, where the volcanic rock is still relatively young, most
parts of the sea floor are covered in sediments. This material comes from several different sources and
is highly variable in composition, depending on proximity to a continent, water depth, ocean currents,
biological activity, and climate. Sea-floor sediments (and sedimentary rocks) can range in thickness
from a few millimetres to several tens of kilometres. Near the surface, the sea-floor sediments remain
unconsolidated, but at depths of hundreds to thousands of metres (depending on the type of sediment
and other factors) the sediment becomes lithified.

The various sources of sea-floor sediment can be summarized as follows:

• Terrigenous sediment is derived from continental sources transported by rivers, wind, ocean
currents, and glaciers. It is dominated by quartz, feldspar, clay minerals, iron oxides, and
terrestrial organic matter.
• Pelagic carbonate sediment is derived from organisms (e.g., foraminifera) living in the
ocean water (at various depths, but mostly near surface) that make their shells (a.k.a. tests)
out of carbonate minerals such as calcite.
• Pelagic silica sediment is derived from marine organisms (e.g., diatoms and radiolaria) that
make their tests out of silica (microcrystalline quartz).
• Volcanic ash and other volcanic materials are derived from both terrestrial and submarine
eruptions.
• Iron and manganese nodules form as direct precipitates from ocean-bottom water.

The distributions of some of these materials around the seas are shown in Figure 18.9. Terrigenous
sediments predominate near the continents and within inland seas and large lakes. These sediments tend
to be relatively coarse, typically containing sand and silt, but in some cases even pebbles and cobbles.
Clay settles slowly in nearshore environments, but much of the clay is dispersed far from its source areas
by ocean currents. Clay minerals are predominant over wide areas in the deepest parts of the ocean,
and most of this clay is terrestrial in origin. Siliceous oozes (derived from radiolaria and diatoms) are
common in the south polar region, along the equator in the Pacific, south of the Aleutian Islands, and
within large parts of the Indian Ocean. Carbonate oozes are widely distributed in all of the oceans within
equatorial and mid-latitude regions. In fact, clay settles everywhere in the oceans, but in areas where
silica- and carbonate-producing organisms are prolific, they produce enough silica or carbonate sediment
to dominate over clay.

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499 Chapter 18 Geology of the Oceans

Figure 18.9 The distribution of sediment types on the sea floor. Within
each coloured area, the type of material shown is what dominates,
although other materials are also likely to be present. [SE]

Carbonate sediments are derived from a wide range of near-surface pelagic organisms that make their
shells out of carbonate (Figure 18.10). These tiny shells, and the even tinier fragments that form when
they break into pieces, settle slowly through the water column, but they don’t necessarily make it to the
bottom. While calcite is insoluble in surface water, its solubility increases with depth (and pressure) and
at around 4,000 m, the carbonate fragments dissolve. This depth, which varies with latitude and water
temperature, is known as the carbonate compensation depth, or CCD. As a result, carbonate oozes are
absent from the deepest parts of the ocean (deeper than 4,000 m), but they are common in shallower
areas such as the mid-Atlantic ridge, the East Pacific Rise (west of South America), along the trend of
the Hawaiian/Emperor Seamounts (in the northern Pacific), and on the tops of many isolated seamounts.

Figure 18.10 Foraminifera from the Ambergris Caye area of Belize.

Most of the shells are about 1 mm across. [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 18.3 What Type of Sediment?

The diagram shows the sea floor in an area where there is abundant pelagic carbonate sediment. There is a
 Physical Geology 500

continent within 100 km of this area, to the right. What type of sediment (coarse terrigenous, clay, siliceous
ooze, or carbonate ooze) would you expect at find at locations a, b, c, and d?

All terrestrial erosion products include a small proportion of organic matter derived mostly from
terrestrial plants. Tiny fragments of this material plus other organic matter from marine plants and
animals accumulate in terrigenous sediments, especially within a few hundred kilometres of shore. As
the sediments pile up, the deeper parts start to warm up (from geothermal heat), and bacteria get to work
breaking down the contained organic matter. Because this is happening in the absence of oxygen (a.k.a.
anaerobic conditions), the by-product of this metabolism is the gas methane (CH4). Methane released
by the bacteria slowly bubbles upward through the sediment toward the sea floor.

At water depths of 500 m to 1,000 m, and at the low temperatures typical of the sea floor (close to
4°C), water and methane combine to create a substance known as methane hydrate. Within a few
metres to hundreds of metres of the sea floor, the temperature is low enough for methane hydrate to
be stable and hydrates accumulate within the sediment (Figure 18.11). Methane hydrate is flammable
because when it is heated, the methane is released as a gas (Figure 18.11). The methane within sea-
floor sediments represents an enormous reservoir of fossil fuel energy. Although energy corporations
and governments are anxious to develop ways to produce and sell this methane, anyone that understands
the climate-change implications of its extraction and use can see that this would be folly. As we’ll see in
the discussion of climate change in Chapter 19, sea-floor methane hydrates have had significant impacts
on the climate in the distant past.

Figure 18.11 Left: Methane hydrate within muddy

sea-floor sediment from an area offshore from
Oregon. [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/4/49/Gashydrat_im_Sediment.JPG] Right:
Methane hydrate on fire [http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/
features/files/2012/01/New-Image.jpg]
18.4 Ocean Water

As everyone knows, seawater is salty. It is that way because the river water that flows into the oceans
contains small amounts of dissolved ions, and for the most part, the water that comes out of the oceans
is the pure water that evaporates from the surface. The salts of the ocean (dominated by sodium,
chlorine, and sulphur) (Figure 18.12) are there because they are very soluble and they aren’t consumed
by biological processes (most of the calcium, for example, is used by organisms to make carbonate
minerals). If salts are always going into the ocean, and never coming out, one might assume that the
oceans have been continuously getting saltier over geological time. In fact this appears not to be the case.
There is geological evidence that Earth’s oceans became salty early during the Archaean, and that at
times in the past, they have been at least half again as salty as they are now. This implies that there must
be a mechanism to remove salt from the oceans, and that mechanism is the isolation of some parts of
the ocean into seas (such as the Mediterranean) and the eventual evaporation of those seas to create salt
beds that become part of the crust. The Middle Devonian Prairie Evaporite Formation of Saskatchewan
and Manitoba is a good example of this.

Figure 18.12 The proportions (by weight) of the major dissolved

elements in ocean water [SE]

The average salinity of the oceans is 35 g of salt per litre of water, but there are significant regional
variations in this value, as shown in Figure 18.13. Ocean water is least salty (around 31 g/L) in the
Arctic, and also in several places where large rivers flow in (e.g., the Ganges/Brahmaputra and Mekong
Rivers in southeast Asia, and the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers in China). Ocean water is most salty
(over 37 g/L) in some restricted seas in hot dry regions, such as the Mediterranean and Red Seas. You
might be surprised to know that, in spite of some massive rivers flowing into it (such as the Nile and
the Danube), water does not flow out of the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic. There is so much
evaporation happening in the Mediterranean basin that water flows into it from the Atlantic, through the
Strait of Gibraltar.

In the open ocean, salinities are elevated at lower latitudes because this is where most evaporation takes
place. The highest salinities are in the subtropical parts of the Atlantic, especially north of the equator.
The northern Atlantic is much more saline than the north Pacific because the Gulf Stream current brings
a massive amount of salty water from the tropical Atlantic and the Caribbean to the region around
Britain, Iceland, and Scandinavia. The salinity in the Norwegian Sea (between Norway and Iceland) is
substantially higher than that in other polar areas.

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 Physical Geology 502

Figure 18.13 The distribution of salinity in Earth’s oceans and major

seas [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/
WOA09_sea-surf_SAL_AYool.png]

Exercises

Exercise 18.4 Salt Chuck

How salty is the sea? If you’ve ever swum in the ocean, you’ve probably tasted
it. To understand how salty the sea is, start with 250 mL of water (1 cup). There is 35 g of salt in 1 L of
seawater so in 250 mL (1/4 litre) there is 35/4 = 8.75 or ~9 g of salt. This is just short of 2 teaspoons, so it
would be close enough to add 2 level teaspoons of salt to the cup of water. Then stir until it’s dissolved. Have
a taste!
Of course, if you used normal refined table salt, then what you added was almost pure NaCl. To get the real
taste of seawater you would want to use some evaporated seawater salt (a.k.a. sea salt), which has a few
percent of magnesium, sulphur, and calcium plus some trace elements.

Not unexpectedly, the oceans are warmest near the equator — typically 25° to 30°C — and coldest
near the poles — around 0°C (Figure 18.14). (Sea water will remain unfrozen down to about -2°C.) At
southern Canadian latitudes, average annual water temperatures are in the 10° to 15°C range on the west
coast and in the 5° to 10°C range on the east coast. Variations in sea-surface temperatures (SST) are
related to redistribution of water by ocean currents, as we’ll see below. A good example of that is the
plume of warm Gulf Stream water that extends across the northern Atlantic. St. John’s, Newfoundland,
and Brittany in France are at about the same latitude (47.5° N), but the average SST in St. John’s is a
frigid 3°C, while that in Brittany is a reasonably comfortable 15°C.
503 Chapter 18 Geology of the Oceans

Figure 18.14 The global distribution of average annual sea-surface

temperatures https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/
WOA09_sea-surf_TMP_AYool.png

Currents in the open ocean are created by wind moving across the water and by density differences
related to temperature and salinity. An overview of the main ocean currents is shown in Figure 18.15. As
you can see, the northern hemisphere currents form circular patterns (gyres) that rotate clockwise, while
the southern hemisphere gyres are counter-clockwise. This happens for the same reason that the water in
your northern hemisphere sink rotates in a clockwise direction as it flows down the drain; this is caused
by the Coriolis effect.

Exercises

Exercise 18.5 Understanding the Coriolis Effect

The Coriolis effect has to do with objects that are moving

in relation to other objects that are rotating. An ocean current is moving across the rotating Earth, and its
motion is controlled by the Coriolis effect.
 Physical Geology 504

Imagine that you are standing on the equator looking straight north and you fire a gun in that direction. The
bullet in the gun starts out going straight north, but it also has a component of motion toward the east that it
gets from Earth’s rotation, which is 1,670 km/h at the equator. Because of the spherical shape of Earth, the
speed of rotation away from the equator is not as fast as it is at the equator (in fact, the Earth’s rotational
speed is 0 km/h at the poles) so the bullet actually traces a clockwise curved path across Earth’s surface, as
shown on the diagram. The same thing happens to ocean currents and to tropical storms. If Earth were a
rotating cylinder, instead of a sphere, there would be no Coriolis effect.

Because the ocean basins aren’t like bathroom basins, not all ocean currents behave the way we would
expect. In the North Pacific, for example, the main current flows clockwise, but there is a secondary
current in the area adjacent to our coast — the Alaska Current — that flows counter-clockwise, bringing
relatively warm water from California, past Oregon, Washington, and B.C. to Alaska. On Canada’s
eastern coast, the cold Labrador Current flows south past Newfoundland, bringing a stream of icebergs
past the harbour at St. John’s (Figure 18.16). This current helps to deflect the Gulf Stream toward the
northeast, ensuring that Newfoundland stays cool, and western Europe stays warm.

Figure 18.15 Overview of the main open-ocean currents. Red arrows

represent warm water moving toward colder regions. Blue arrows
represent cold water moving toward warmer regions. Black arrows
represent currents that don’t involve significant temperature changes.
[From: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/
Corrientes-oceanicas.png]
505 Chapter 18 Geology of the Oceans

Figure 18.16 An iceberg floating past Exploits Island on the

Newfoundland Current [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Newfoundland_Iceberg_just_off_Exploits_Island.jpg]

The currents shown in Figure 18.15 are all surface currents, and they only involve the upper few hundred
metres of the oceans. But there is much more going on underneath. The Gulf Stream, for example,
which is warm and saline, flows past Britain and Iceland into the Norwegian Sea (where it becomes the
Norwegian Current). As it cools down, it becomes denser, and because of its high salinity, which also
contributes to its density, it starts to sink beneath the surrounding water (Figure 18.17). At this point,
it is known as North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), and it flows to significant depth in the Atlantic
as it heads back south. Meanwhile, at the southern extreme of the Atlantic, very cold water adjacent to
Antarctica also sinks to the bottom to become Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) which flows to the
north, underneath the NADW.

Figure 18.17 A depiction of the vertical movement of water along a

north-south cross-section through the Atlantic basin [SE]

The descent of the dense NADW is just one part of a global system of seawater circulation, both at
surface and at depth, as illustrated in Figure 18.18. The water that sinks in the areas of deep water
formation in the Norwegian Sea and adjacent to Antarctica moves very slowly at depth. It eventually
resurfaces in the Indian Ocean between Africa and India, and in the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator.
 Physical Geology 506

Figure 18.18 The thermohaline circulation system, also known as the

Global Ocean Conveyor [from NASA at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Thermohaline_circulation#/media/
File:Thermohaline_Circulation_2.png]

The thermohaline circulation is critically important to the transfer of heat on Earth. It brings warm water
from the tropics to the poles, and cold water from the poles to the tropics, thus keeping polar regions
from getting too cold and tropical regions from getting too hot. A reduction in the rate of thermohaline
circulation would lead to colder conditions and enhanced formation of sea ice at the poles. This would
start a positive feedback process that could result in significant global cooling. There is compelling
evidence to indicate that there were major changes in thermohaline circulation, corresponding with
climate changes, during the Pleistocene Glaciation.
Chapter 18 Summary

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

The The oceans are about 4,000 m deep on average, but they also have a wide range of
Topography topographical features, including shallow continental shelves, continental slopes,
18.1
of the Sea continuous ridges related to plate divergence, numerous isolated seamounts, and deep
Floor submarine canyons at subduction zones.

Most oceanic crust forms during sea-floor spreading and is characterized by pillow
The basalts, sheeted dykes, gabbro bodies, layered gabbro, and layered ultramafic rock. The
Geology of oldest parts of the sea floor are older than 200 Ma, but most of the sea floor is younger
18.2
the Oceanic than 100 Ma. Seamounts are common and almost all are volcanoes, related to mantle
Crust plumes, subduction, or other processes. In tropical regions, ocean islands tend to be
surrounded by carbonate reefs.

Almost all of the sea floor is covered by young sediments and sedimentary rocks, derived
either from erosion of continents or from marine biological processes. Clastic sediments,
some quite coarse, predominate on shelves and slopes. Terrigenous clays are distributed
Sea-Floor
18.3 across the sea floor, but in areas where either carbonate- or silica-forming organisms
Sediments
thrive, the sediments are likely to be dominated by carbonate or silica oozes. Methane
hydrates, derived from bacterial decomposition of organic matter, form within sediments
on shelves and slopes.

Average ocean water has about 35 g/L of salt, mostly made up of chlorine and sodium, but
also including magnesium, sulphur, and calcium. Salinity levels are highest in the tropics
where evaporation is greatest. Sea-surface temperatures range from less than 0°C at the
Ocean poles to over 25°C in equatorial regions. Open-ocean currents, which generally rotate
18.4
Water clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the south, are critically
important in redistributing heat on Earth. Deep-ocean currents, driven by density
differences, are another key part of the heat redistribution system. Changes to current
patterns or intensity have significant implications for global climate.

Questions for Review

1. What is the origin of the sediments that make up continental shelves? Why are the shelves on the eastern
coast of North America so much wider than those along the west coast?
2. The ocean trenches at some subduction zones are relatively shallow. What is one explanation for this?
3. What are the main lithological components of oceanic crust, and how does this rock form?
4. Referring to Figure 18.7, determine the age of the oldest sea floor in the Indian Ocean.

507
 Physical Geology 508

5. Explain why relatively coarse terrigenous sediments (e.g., sand) tend to accumulate close to the continents,
while terrigenous clay is dispersed all across the ocean floor.
6. Although clay is widely dispersed in the oceans, in some areas, deep-sea sediments are dominated by clay,
while in others they are dominated by carbonate or silica ooze. Why do these differences exist?
7. Explain why carbonate sediments are absent from the deepest parts of the oceans.
8. What is the source of the carbon that is present in sea-floor methane hydrate deposits?
9. Where are the saltiest parts of the oceans? Why?
10. Explain why sea-surface water with the greatest density is found in the north Atlantic, as shown on this
map.

[SE after: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/SeaSurfaceDensity.jpg]

11. What type of ocean currents result from the relatively dense water in the north Atlantic?
12. How do the open-ocean currents affect the overall climate patterns on Earth?
Chapter 19 Climate Change

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you
should be able to:

• Summarize the properties of greenhouse gases and their role in controlling the climate
• Explain the difference between climate forcing and climate feedbacks
• Describe the mechanisms of climate forcing related to solar evolution, continental drift,
continental collisions, volcanism, Earth and Sun orbital variations, and changing ocean currents
• Describe the significance of albedo to climate and how the melting of ice or snow and forestry
affect albedo
• Explain the roles of the melting of permafrost, breakdown of methane hydrates, and temperature-
related solubility of CO2 as positive feedbacks
• Describe some of the ways that our extraction and use of fossil fuels contribute to climate change
• Explain how food production contributes to climate change
• List some of the steps that we can take as individuals to limit our personal contribution to climate
change
• Describe the role of climate change in sea-level rise, and why we are already committed to more
than a metre of additional sea-level rise
• Explain the link between climate change and the distribution of diseases and pests

509
 Physical Geology 510

Figure 19.1 Core from Ocean Drilling Program hole 1220b (southeast
of Hawaii) showing the boundary between the Paleocene and the
Eocene (at 55.8 Ma). Marine life was decimated during the 100,000
years of the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, and the dark part of
the core represents the absence of carbonate sediment from planktonic
organisms. The scale is in centimetres. [SE, after Ocean Drilling
Program, used with permission]

If one thing has been constant about Earth’s climate over geological time, it is its constant change. In the
geological record, we can see this in the evidence of glaciations in the distant past (see section 16.1 in
Chapter 16), and we can also detect periods of extreme warmth by looking at the isotope composition of
sea-floor sediments, such as those in the core shown in Figure 19.1. Not only has the climate changed
frequently, the temperature fluctuations have been very significant. Today’s mean global temperature is
about 15°C. During Snowball Earth times, the global mean was as cold as -50°C, while at various times
during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic and during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, it was close to
+30°C.

But in spite of these dramatic climate changes, Earth has been habitable from very early in its history —
as soon as liquid water was present — right through to the present day. That continuous habitability is
perhaps a little more surprising than you might think, as we’ll see below.

A significant part of this chapter is about the natural processes of climate change and how they work.
It’s critically important to be aware of those natural climate change processes if we want to understand
anthropogenic climate change. First, this awareness helps us to understand why our activities are
causing the present-day climate to change, and second, it allows us to distinguish between natural and
anthropogenic processes in the climate record of the past 250 years.
19.1 What Makes the Climate Change?

There are two parts to climate change, the first one is known as climate forcing, which is when
conditions change to give the climate a little nudge in one direction or the other. The second part of
climate change, and the one that typically does most of the work, is what we call a feedback. When a
climate forcing changes the climate a little, a whole series of environmental changes take place, many
of which either exaggerate the initial change (positive feedbacks), or suppress the change (negative
feedbacks).

An example of a climate-forcing mechanism is the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in
the atmosphere that results from our use of fossil fuels. CO2 traps heat in the atmosphere and leads to
climate warming. Warming changes vegetation patterns; contributes to the melting of snow, ice, and
permafrost; causes sea level to rise; reduces the solubility of CO2 in sea water; and has a number
of other minor effects. Most of these changes contribute to more warming. Melting of permafrost,
for example, is a strong positive feedback because frozen soil contains trapped organic matter that
is converted to CO2 and methane (CH4) when the soil thaws. Both these gases accumulate in the
atmosphere and add to the warming effect. On the other hand, if warming causes more vegetation
growth, that vegetation should absorb CO2, thus reducing the warming effect, which would be a negative
feedback. Under our current conditions — a planet that still has lots of glacial ice and permafrost — most
of the feedbacks that result from a warming climate are positive feedbacks and so the climate changes
that we cause get naturally amplified by natural processes.

What is a greenhouse gas?

Throughout this chapter we’ll be talking about the role of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in controlling the
climate, so it’s important to understand what greenhouse gases are and how they work. As you know, the
dominant gases of the atmosphere are nitrogen (as N2) and oxygen (as O2). These gas molecules have
only two atoms each and are not GHGs. Some of the other important gases of the atmosphere are water

511
 Physical Geology 512

vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4). All of these have more than two atoms, and

they are GHGs.

All molecules vibrate at various frequencies and in various ways, and some of those vibrations take place
at frequencies within the range of the infrared (IR) radiation that is emitted by Earth’s surface. Gases
with two atoms, such as O2, can only vibrate by stretching (back and forth), and those vibrations are
much faster than the IR radiation. Gases with three or more atoms (such as CO2) vibrate by stretching as
well, but they can also vibrate in other ways, such as by bending. Those vibrations are slower and match
IR radiation frequencies.

When IR radiation interacts with CO2 or with one of the other GHGs, the molecular vibrations are
enhanced because there is a match between the wavelength of the light and the vibrational frequency
of the molecule. This makes the molecule vibrate more vigorously, heating the surrounding air in the
process. These molecules also emit IR radiation in all directions, some of which reaches Earth’s surface
and causes the greenhouse effect.

Natural Climate Forcing

Natural climate forcing has been going on throughout geological time. A wide range of processes has
been operating at widely different time scales, from a few years to billions of years.

The longest-term natural forcing variation is related to the evolution of the Sun. Like most other stars
of a similar mass, our Sun is evolving. For the past 4.57 billion years, its rate of nuclear fusion has
been increasing, and it is now emitting about 40% more energy (as light) than it did at the beginning of
geological time (Figure 19.2). A difference of 40% is big, so it’s a little surprising that the temperature
on Earth has remained at a reasonable and habitable temperature for all of this time. The mechanism for
that relative climate stability has been the evolution of our atmosphere from one that was dominated by
CO2, and also had significant levels of CH4 — both GHGs — to one with only a few hundred parts
per million of CO2 and just under 1 part per million of CH4. Those changes to our atmosphere have
been no accident; over geological time, life and its metabolic processes have evolved and changed the
513 Chapter 19 Climate Change

atmosphere to conditions that remained cool enough to be habitable. A scientific explanation for how
this could happen is known as the Gaia hypothesis.

Figure 19.2 The life cycle of our Sun and of other similar stars [from
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/
Solar_Life_Cycle.svg/2000px-Solar_Life_Cycle.svg.png]

The Gaia hypothesis

The Gaia hypothesis, developed by British scientist and environmentalist James Lovelock in the 1960s,
is the theory that organisms evolve in ways that contribute to ensuring that their environment remains
habitable. It does not include any sort of coordination of effort among organisms or any consciousness
of a need to make changes. Gaia is not a superorganism. A way of understanding Gaia is through
Lovelock’s simple Daisyworld model. A planet with a warming star is populated only by two types
of daisies, white ones and black ones. The black ones contribute to warming because they absorb
solar energy, while the white ones reflect light and contribute to cooling. As the star’s luminosity
gradually increases, the white daisies have better outcomes because their reflectivity cools their local
environment, while the black daisies, suffering from the heat, do not reproduce as well. Over time white
daisies gradually dominate the population, but eventually the star becomes so bright that even white
daisies cannot compensate, and all of the daisies perish. Obviously Earth is not Daisyworld, but similar
processes — such as the evolution of photosynthetic bacteria that consume CO2 — have taken place that
influence the atmosphere and moderate the climate.
 Physical Geology 514

You can read more about Lovelock, Gaia, and Daisyworld by searching the Internet using any one of
those terms. [SE]

Plate tectonic processes contribute to climate forcing in several different ways, and on time scales
ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of years. One mechanism is related to continental
position. For example, we know that Gondwana (South America + Africa + Antarctica + Australia) was
positioned over the South Pole between about 450 and 250 Ma, during which time there were two major
glaciations (Andean-Saharan and Karoo) affecting the South polar regions (Figure 16.2) and cooling the
rest of the planet at the same time. Another mechanism is related to continental collisions. As described
in Chapter 16, the collision between India and Asia, which started at around 50 Ma, resulted in massive
tectonic uplift. The consequent accelerated weathering of this rugged terrain consumed CO2 from the
atmosphere and contributed to gradual cooling over the remainder of the Cenozoic. Also, as described in
Chapter 16, the opening of the Drake Passage — due to plate-tectonic separation of South America from
Antarctica — led to the development of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which isolated Antarctica
from the warmer water in the rest of the ocean and thus contributed to Antarctic glaciation starting at
around 35 Ma.

As we discussed in Chapter 4, volcanic eruptions don’t just involve lava flows and exploding rock
fragments; various particulates and gases are also released, the important ones being sulphur dioxide and
CO2. Sulphur dioxide is an aerosol that reflects incoming solar radiation and has a net cooling effect that
is short lived (a few years in most cases, as the particulates settle out of the atmosphere within a couple
of years), and doesn’t typically contribute to longer-term climate change. Volcanic CO2 emissions can
contribute to climate warming but only if a greater-than-average level of volcanism is sustained over a
long time (at least tens of thousands of years). It is widely believed that the catastrophic end-Permian
515 Chapter 19 Climate Change

extinction (at 250 Ma) resulted from warming initiated by the eruption of the massive Siberian Traps
over a period of at least a million years.

Exercises

Exercise 19.1 Climate Change at the K-Pg Boundary

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/e/e5/
KT-impact.gif]

The large extraterrestrial impact at the end of the Cretaceous (Cretaceous-Paleogene or K-Pg boundary, a.k.a.
K-T boundary) is thought to have produced a massive amount of dust, which may have remained in the
atmosphere for several years, and a great deal of CO2. What do you think would have been the short-term and
longer-term climate-forcing implications of these two factors?

Earth’s orbit around the Sun is nearly circular, but like all physical systems, it has natural oscillations.
First, the shape of the orbit changes on a regular time scale — close to 100,000 years — from being
close to circular to being very slightly elliptical. But the circularity of the orbit is not what matters; it is
the fact that as the orbit becomes more elliptical, the position of the Sun within that ellipse becomes less
central or more eccentric (Figure 19.3a). Eccentricity is important because when it is high, the Earth-
Sun distance varies more from season to season than it does when eccentricity is low.
 Physical Geology 516

Figure 19.3 The cycles of Earth’s orbit and rotation

[a: SE after https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/thumb/d/da/Eccentricity_zero.svg/
1163px-Eccentricity_zero.svg.png], b:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
thumb/a/ae/Earth_obliquity_range.svg/
2000px-Earth_obliquity_range.svg.png] c:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
thumb/4/43/ Earth_precession.svg/
2000px-Earth_precession.svg.png]

Second, Earth rotates around an axis through the North and South Poles, and that axis is at an angle to the
plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun (Figure 19.3b). The angle of tilt (also known as obliquity) varies
on a time scale of 41,000 years. When the angle is at its maximum (24.5°), Earth’s seasonal differences
are accentuated. When the angle is at its minimum (22.1°), seasonal differences are minimized. The
current hypothesis is that glaciation is favoured at low seasonal differences as summers would be cooler
and snow would be less likely to melt and more likely to accumulate from year to year.

Third, the direction in which Earth’s rotational axis points also varies, on a time scale of about 20,000
years (Figure 19.3c). This variation, known as precession, means that although the North Pole is
presently pointing to the star Polaris (the pole star), in 10,000 years it will point to the star Vega.

The importance of eccentricity, tilt, and precession to Earth’s climate cycles (now known as
Milankovitch Cycles) was first pointed out by Yugoslavian engineer and mathematician Milutin
Milankovitch in the early 1900s. Milankovitch recognized that although the variations in the orbital
cycles did not affect the total amount of insolation (light energy from the Sun) that Earth received, it
did affect where on Earth that energy was strongest. Glaciations are most sensitive to the insolation
received at latitudes of around 65°, and with the current configuration of continents, it would have to
be 65° north (because there is almost no land at 65° south). The most important issues are whether the
northern hemisphere is pointing toward the Sun at its closest or farthest approach, and how eccentric
the Sun’s position is in Earth’s orbit. Two opposing situations are illustrated in Figure 19.4. In the upper
panel, the northern hemisphere is at it farthest distance from the Sun during summer, which means cooler
summers. In the lower panel, the northern hemisphere is at its closest distance to the Sun during summer,
which means hotter summers. Cool summers — as opposed to cold winters — are the key factor in the
accumulation of glacial ice, so the upper scenario in Figure 19.4 is the one that promotes glaciation. This
factor is greatest when eccentricity is high.
517 Chapter 19 Climate Change

Figure 19.4 The effect of precession on insolation in the northern

hemisphere summers. In (a) the northern hemisphere summer takes
place at greatest Earth-Sun distance, so summers are cooler. In (b)
(10,000 years or one-half precession cycle later) the opposite is the
case, so summers are hotter. The red dashed line represents Earth’s
path around the Sun.

Data for tilt, eccentricity, and precession over the past 400,000 years have been used to determine the
insolation levels at 65° north, as shown in Figure 19.5. Also shown in Figure 19.5 are Antarctic ice-core
temperatures from the same time period. The correlation between the two is clear, and it shows up in the
Antarctic record because when insolation changes lead to growth of glaciers in the northern hemisphere,
southern-hemisphere temperatures are also affected.

Figure 19.5 Insolation at 65° N in July compared with Antarctic

ice-core temperatures [By SE, using data from Valerie
Masson-Delmotte, EPICA Dome C ice core 800KYr deuterium data
and temperature estimates WDCA Contribution Series Number : 2007
-091 NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.
Retrieved from: ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/icecore/
antarctica/epica_domec/edc3deuttemp2007.txt and from Berger, A. and
Loutre, M.F. (1991). Insolation values for the climate of the last 10
million years. Quaternary Science Reviews, 10, 297-317.]

Ocean currents are important to climate, and currents also have a tendency to oscillate. Glacial ice cores
show clear evidence of changes in the Gulf Stream (and other parts of the thermohaline circulation
system) that affected global climate on a time scale of about 1,500 years during the last glaciation. The
 Physical Geology 518

east-west changes in sea-surface temperature and surface pressure in the equatorial Pacific Ocean —
known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation or ENSO — varies on a much shorter time scale of between
two and seven years. These variations tend to garner the attention of the public because they have
significant climate implications in many parts of the world. The past 65 years of ENSO index values
are shown in Figure 19.6. The strongest El Niños in recent decades were in 1983 and 1998, and those
were both very warm years from a global perspective. During a strong El Niño, the equatorial Pacific
sea-surface temperatures are warmer than normal and heat the atmosphere above the ocean, which leads
to warmer-than-average global temperatures.

Figure 19.6 Variations in the ENSO index from 1950

to early-2016 [SE after NOAA at:
http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/enso/mei/]

Climate Feedbacks

As already stated, climate feedbacks are critically important in amplifying weak climate forcings into
full-blown climate changes. When Milankovitch published his theory in 1924, it was widely ignored,
partly because it was evident to climate scientists that the forcing produced by the orbital variations
was not strong enough to drive the significant climate changes of the glacial cycles. Those scientists
did not recognize the power of positive feedbacks. It wasn’t until 1973, 15 years after Milankovitch’s
death, that sufficiently high-resolution data were available to show that the Pleistocene glaciations were
indeed driven by the orbital cycles, and it became evident that the orbital cycles were just the forcing
that initiated a range of feedback mechanisms that made the climate change.

Since Earth still has a very large volume of ice — mostly in the continental ice sheets of Antarctica and
Greenland, but also in alpine glaciers and permafrost — melting is one of the key feedback mechanisms.
Melting of ice and snow leads to several different types of feedbacks, an important one being a change
in albedo. Albedo is a measure of the reflectivity of a surface. Earth’s various surfaces have widely
differing albedos, expressed as the percentage of light that reflects off a given material. This is important
because most solar energy that hits a very reflective surface is not absorbed and therefore does little to
warm Earth. Water in the oceans or on a lake is one of the darkest surfaces, reflecting less than 10% of
the incident light, while clouds and snow or ice are among the brightest surfaces, reflecting 70% to 90%
of the incident light (Figure 19.7).
519 Chapter 19 Climate Change

Figure 19.7 Typical albedo values for Earth surfaces [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 19.2 Albedo Implications of Forest Harvesting

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/6/66/Clearcutting-Oregon.jpg]

When a forest is harvested, there are significant changes to the rate of biological uptake of CO2, but there is
also a change in albedo. Using Figure 19.7, and assuming that a clear-cut has an albedo similar to sand, what
is the albedo-only implication of clear-cutting for climate change?Be aware that this implication applies only
to the albedo change caused by clear-cutting. Clear-cutting reduces the capacity of the area to absorb CO2,
and also has numerous negative ecological and geological implications.

When sea ice melts, as it has done in the Arctic Ocean at a disturbing rate over the past decade, the
albedo of the area affected changes dramatically, from around 80% down to less than 10%. Much more
solar energy is absorbed by the water than by the pre-existing ice, and the temperature increase is
amplified. The same applies to ice and snow on land, but the difference in albedo is not as great.

When ice and snow on land melt, sea level rises. (Sea level is also rising because the oceans are warming
and that increases their volume.) A higher sea level means a larger proportion of the planet is covered
with water, and since water has a lower albedo than land, more heat is absorbed and the temperature goes
up a little more. Since the last glaciation, sea-level rise has been about 125 m; a huge area that used to
be land is now flooded by heat-absorbent seawater. During the current period of anthropogenic climate
change, sea level has risen only about 20 cm, and although that doesn’t make a big change to albedo,
sea-level rise is accelerating.
 Physical Geology 520

Most of northern Canada has a layer of permafrost that ranges from a few centimetres to hundreds of
metres in thickness; the same applies in Alaska, Russia, and Scandinavia. Permafrost is a mixture of
soil and ice (Figure 19.8), and it also contains a significant amount of trapped organic carbon that is
released as CO2 and CH4 when the permafrost breaks down. Because the amount of carbon stored in
permafrost is in the same order of magnitude as the amount released by burning fossil fuels, this is a
feedback mechanism that has the potential to equal or surpass the forcing that has unleashed it.

Figure 19.8 A degrading permafrost site on the north coast of Alaska

[http://alaska.usgs.gov/science/interdisciplinary_science/cae/images/
theme2_fig2_lg.jpg]

In some polar regions, including northern Canada, permafrost includes methane hydrate (see section
18.3), a highly concentrated form of CH4 trapped in solid form. Breakdown of permafrost releases this
CH4. Even larger reserves of methane hydrate exist on the sea floor, and while it would take significant
warming of ocean water down to a depth of hundreds of metres, this too is likely to happen in the
future if we don’t limit our impact on the climate. There is strong isotopic evidence that the Paleocene-
Eocene thermal maximum (see Figure 19.1) was caused, at least in part, by a massive release of sea-floor
methane hydrate.

There is about 45 times as much carbon in the ocean (as dissolved bicarbonate ions, HCO3-) as there is
in the atmosphere (as CO2), and there is a steady exchange of carbon between the two reservoirs. But the
solubility of CO2 in water decreases as the temperature goes up. In other words, the warmer it gets, the
more of that oceanic bicarbonate gets transferred to the atmosphere as CO2. That makes CO2 solubility
another positive feedback mechanism.

Vegetation growth responds positively to both increased temperatures and elevated CO2 levels, and so
in general, it represents a negative feedback to climate change because the more the vegetation grows,
the more CO2 is taken from the atmosphere. But it’s not quite that simple because when trees grow
bigger and more vigorously, forests become darker (they have lower albedo) so they absorb more heat.
Furthermore, climate warming isn’t necessarily good for vegetation growth; some areas have become
too hot, too dry, or even too wet to support the plant community that was growing there, and it might
take centuries for something to replace it successfully.

All of these positive (and negative) feedbacks work both ways. For example, during climate cooling,
growth of glaciers leads to higher albedos, and formation of permafrost results in storage of carbon that
would otherwise have returned quickly to the atmosphere.
19.2 Anthropogenic Climate Change

When we talk about anthropogenic climate change, we are generally thinking of the industrial era, which
really got going when we started using fossil fuels (coal to begin with) to drive machinery and trains.
That was around the middle of the 18th century. The issue with fossil fuels is that they involve burning
carbon that was naturally stored in the crust over hundreds of millions of years as part of Earth’s process
of counteracting the warming Sun.

Some climate scientists argue that anthropogenic climate change actually goes back much further than
the industrial era, and that humans began to impact the climate by clearing land to grow grains in Europe
and the Middle East around 8,000 years BCE and by creating wetlands to grow rice in Asia around 5,000
years BCE. Clearing forests for crops is a type of climate-forcing because the CO2 storage capacity of
the crops is generally lower than that of the trees they replace, and creating wetlands is a type of climate
forcing because the anaerobic bacterial decay of organic matter within wetlands produces CH4.

In fact, whether anthropogenic climate change started with the agricultural revolution or the industrial
revolution is not important, because the really significant climate changes didn’t start until the early
part of the 20th century, and although our activities are a major part of the problem, our increasing
numbers are a big issue as well. Figure 19.9 shows the growth of the world population from around 5
million, when we first started growing crops, to about 18 million when wetland rice cultivation began,
to over 800 million at the start of the industrial revolution, to over 7,300 million today. A big part
of the incredible growth in our population is related to the availability of the cheap and abundant
energy embodied in fossil fuels, which we use for transportation, heating and cooling, industry, and food
production. It will be hard to support a population of this size without fossil fuels, but we have to find a
way to do it.

Figure 19.9 World population growth over the past 12,000 years [by
SE from data at: http://ourworldindata.org/roser/graphs/
WorldPopulationAnnual12000years_interpolated_HYDEandUN/
WorldPopulationAnnual12000years_interpolated_HYDEandUN.csv]

A rapidly rising population, the escalating level of industrialization and mechanization of our lives,

521
 Physical Geology 522

and an increasing dependence on fossil fuels have driven the anthropogenic climate change of the past
century. The trend of mean global temperatures since 1880 is shown in Figure 19.10. For approximately
the past 55 years, the temperature has increased at a relatively steady and disturbingly rapid rate,
especially compared to past changes. The average temperature now is approximately 0.8°C higher than
before industrialization, and two-thirds of this warming has occurred since 1975. One of the driving
factors of the recent increase in the rate of climate change has been the migration of North Americans
from city centres to the suburbs, and the resulting need for virtually every household to own at least one
car, when previously they were able to get around on foot or public transit.

Figure 19.10 Global mean annual temperatures for

the period from 1880 to 2015 [by SE from data at
NASA at: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/
tabledata_v3/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt]

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established by the United Nations in 1988,
is responsible for reviewing the scientific literature on climate change and issuing periodic reports
on several topics, including the scientific basis for understanding climate change, our vulnerability to
observed and predicted climate changes, and what we can do to limit climate change and minimize its
impacts. Figure 19.11, from the fifth report of the IPCC, issued in 2014, shows the relative contributions
of various GHGs and other factors to current climate forcing, based on the changes from levels that
existed in 1750. Figure 19.12 shows the IPCC’s projections for temperature increases over the next 100
years.

The biggest anthropogenic contributor to warming is the emission of CO2, which accounts for 50%
of positive forcing. CH4 and its atmospheric derivatives (CO2, H2O, and O3) account for 29%, and
the halocarbon gases (mostly leaked from air-conditioning appliances) and nitrous oxide (N2O) (from
burning fossils fuels) account for 5% each. Carbon monoxide (CO) (also produced by burning fossil
fuels) accounts for 7%, and the volatile organic compounds other than methane (NMVOC) account for
3%.

CO2 emissions come mostly from coal- and gas-fired power stations, motorized vehicles (cars, trucks,
and aircraft), and industrial operations (e.g., smelting), and indirectly from forestry. CH4 emissions
come from production of fossil fuels (escape from coal mining and from gas and oil production),
livestock farming (mostly beef), landfills, and wetland rice farming. N2O and CO come mostly from the
combustion of fossil fuels. In summary, close to 70% of our current GHG emissions come from fossil
fuel production and use, while most of the rest comes from agriculture and landfills.
523 Chapter 19 Climate Change

Figure 19.11 The relative importance of factors that are contributing to

anthropogenic warming [from http://www.ipcc.ch/report/graphics/
index.php?t=Assessment%20Reports&r=AR5%20-%20WG1&f=SPM]

Exercises

Exercise 19.3 What Does Radiative Forcing Tell Us?

The bottom part of Figure 19.11 shows the total radiative forcing levels for 2011, 1980, and 1950, expressed
relative to the forcing that existed in 1750. This forcing is measured in radiance at Earth’s surface in watts per
square metre. For reference, the daily average irradiance for Earth is approximately 240 W/m2, so compared
with 1750, we’ve increased that by 2.29 W/m2, or a little under 1%.
We can use radiative forcing numbers to estimate the impact on Earth’s surface temperature by applying the
following simple equation: ΔT = ΔF * 0.8, where ΔT is the expected change in average surface temperature
and ΔF is the change in radiative forcing. Applying this to the value for 2011, we get
ΔT = 0.8 * 2.29 = 1.8°C.
From Figure 19.10, you can see that the global temperature difference between 1880 and 2011 is 0.8 – (-0.6)
= 1.4°C. The temperature change between 1750 and 1880 could have been close to 0.4°C, so that puts us in
about the right range.
Use the ΔT = ΔF * 0.8 equation to estimate the temperature differences for 1950 and 1980, and see how those
compare with the actual temperatures from Figure 19.10.
 Physical Geology 524

Figure 19.12 Projected global temperature increases for

the 21st century based on a range of different IPCC
scenarios of future political and technological variables
[from https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/
en/fig/figure-spm-5-l.png]
19.3 Implications of Climate Change

We’ve all experienced the effects of climate change over the past decade. However, it’s not
straightforward for climatologists to make the connection between a warming climate and specific
weather events, and most are justifiably reluctant to ascribe any specific event to climate change. In this
respect, the best measures of climate change are those that we can detect over several decades, such as
the temperature changes shown in Figure 19.10, or the sea-level rise shown in Figure 19.13. As already
stated, sea level has risen approximately 20 cm since 1750, and that rise is attributed to both warming
(and therefore expanding) seawater and melting glaciers and other land-based snow and ice (melting of
sea ice does not contribute directly to sea-level rise as it is already floating in the ocean).

Figure 19.13 Projected sea-level increases to 2100, showing likely

range (grey) and possible maximum [Adapted by SE from:
http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/our-changing-climate/
sea-level-rise#intro-section-2 based on data in Parris et al., 2012,
NOAA]

Projections for sea-level rise to the end of this century vary widely. This is in large part because we do
not know which of the above climate change scenarios (Figure 19.12) we will most closely follow, but
many are in the range from 0.5 m to 2.0 m. One of the problems in predicting sea-level rise is that we do
not have a strong understanding of how large ice sheets, such as Greenland and Antarctica, will respond
to future warming. Another issue is that the oceans don’t respond immediately to warming. For example,
with the current amount of warming, we are already committed to a future sea-level rise of between 1.3
m and 1.9 m, even if we could stop climate change today. This is because it takes decades to centuries
for the existing warming of the atmosphere to be transmitted to depth within the oceans and to exert its
full impact on large glaciers. Most of that committed rise would take place over the next century, but
some would be delayed longer. And for every decade that the current rates of climate change continue,
that number increases by another 0.3 m. In other words, if we don’t make changes quickly, by the end of
this century we’ll be locked into 3 m of future sea-level rise.

In a 2008 report, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated that

525
 Physical Geology 526

by 2070 approximately 150 million people living in coastal areas could be at risk of flooding due to
the combined effects of sea-level rise, increased storm intensity, and land subsidence. The assets at risk
(buildings, roads, bridges, ports, etc.) are in the order of $35 trillion ($35,000,000,000,000). Countries
with the greatest exposure of population to flooding are China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, U.S.A.,
Japan, and Thailand. Some of the major cities at risk include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Mumbai, Kolkata,
Dhaka, Ho Chi Minh City, Tokyo, Miami, and New York.

One of the other risks for coastal populations, besides sea-level rise, is that climate warming is also
associated with an increase in the intensity of tropical storms (e.g., hurricanes or typhoons), which
almost always bring serious flooding from intense rain and storm surges. Some recent examples are New
Orleans in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina, and New Jersey and New York in 2012 with Hurricane Sandy
(Figure 19.14).

Figure 19.14 Damage to the Casino Pier, Seaside Heights, New Jersey,
from Hurricane Sandy, November 2012 [https://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Hurricane_Sandy_New_Jersey_Pier.jpg]

Tropical storms get their energy from the evaporation of warm seawater in tropical regions. In the
Atlantic Ocean, this takes place between 8° and 20° N in the summer. Figure 19.15 shows the variations
in the sea-surface temperature (SST) of the tropical Atlantic Ocean (in blue) versus the amount of power
represented by Atlantic hurricanes between 1950 and 2008 (in red). Not only has the overall intensity of
Atlantic hurricanes increased with the warming since 1975, but the correlation between hurricanes and
sea-surface temperatures is very strong over that time period.
527 Chapter 19 Climate Change

Figure 19.15 Relationship between Atlantic tropical storm cumulative

annual intensity and Atlantic sea-surface temperatures [By SE from
data at: http://wind.mit.edu/~emanuel/Papers_data_graphics.htm]

Because warm air is able to hold more water than cold air, the general global trend over the past century
has been one of increasing precipitation (Figure 19.16).

Figure 19.16 Global precipitation anomalies

compared with the average over the period from
1901 to 2000 [By NASA, from: http://www.epa.gov/
climatechange/science/indicators/weather-climate/
precipitation.html]

A similar trend is evident for British Columbia, based on weather data from 1945 to 2005 for 29 stations
distributed around the province (Figure 19.17). Of those stations, 19 show an increase in precipitation
and 10 show a decrease; although the decreases are all less than 12%, some of the increases are greater
than 48%. Based on the data from these stations, it is estimated that approximately 60 mm/year more
precipitation fell on British Columbia in 2005 compared with 1945. That is equivalent to about six
months of the average flow of the Fraser River.
 Physical Geology 528

Figure 19.17 Change in precipitation amounts over the period 1945 to

2005 for 29 stations in British Columbia [By SE, using data from
Environment Canada]

While the overall amount of precipitation (total volume of rain plus snow) increased at 19 out of 29
stations between 1945 and 2005, the amount of snowfall decreased at every single station. This is
a disturbing trend for operators of winter resorts and hydroelectric dams, the Wildfire Management
Branch, people who drink water from reservoirs that are replenished by snow, and people who eat food
that is grown across western Canada and is irrigated with water derived from melting snow.

Exercises

Exercise 19.4 Rainfall and ENSO

This graph shows the monthly precipitation data for Penticton from 1950 to 2005 along with the ENSO (El
Niño Southern Oscillation) index values. High ENSO index values correspond to strong El Niño events, such
as 1983 and 1998. Describe the relationship between ENSO and precipitation in B.C.’s southern interior. It’s
not necessarily a consistent relationship.
529 Chapter 19 Climate Change

By SE, using precipitation data from Environment Canada and ENSO data from http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/
psd/enso/mei/table.html

The geographical ranges of diseases and pests, especially those caused or transmitted by insects, have
been shown to extend toward temperate regions because of climate change. West Nile virus and Lyme
disease are two examples that already directly affect Canadians, while dengue fever could be an issue
in the future. Canadians are also indirectly affected by the increase in populations of pests such as the
mountain pine beetle (Figure 19.18).

Figure 19.18 Mountain pine beetle damage in Manning Park,

British Columbia [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/
7/7c/Pine_Beetle_in_Manning_Park.jpg]

A summary of the impacts of climate change on natural disasters is given in Figure 19.19. The major
types of disasters related to climate are floods and storms, but the health implications of extreme
temperatures are also becoming a great concern. In the decade 1971 to 1980, extreme temperatures were
the fifth most common natural disasters; by 2001 to 2010, they were the third most common.
 Physical Geology 530

Figure 19.19 Numbers of various types of disasters between 1971 and

2010 [From WMO atlas of mortality and economic Losses from
weather, climate and water extremes, 2014]

For several weeks in July and August of 2010, a massive heat wave affected western Russia, especially
the area southeast of Moscow, and scientists have stated that climate change was a contributing factor.
Temperatures soared to over 40°C, as much as 12°C above normal over a wide area, and wildfires
raged in many parts of the country (Figure 19.20). Over 55,000 deaths are attributed to the heat and to
respiratory problems associated with the fires.

Figure 19.20 Temperature anomalies across Russia and neighbouring

regions during July 2010 [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/
view.php?id=45069]

Exercises
531 Chapter 19 Climate Change

Exercise 19.5 How Can You Reduce Your Impact on the Climate?
If you look back to Figure 19.11 and the related text, you can easily see what aspects of our way of life are
the most responsible for climate change. Think about how you could make changes to your own lifestyle to
reduce your impact on the climate. It may depend on where you live, and the degree to which fossil fuels are
used to generate the electricity that you use, but it’s most likely to include how, how far, how fast, and how
frequently you move around.
If you hold the opinion that there isn’t much point in making changes to your lifestyle because others won’t
or because your contribution is only a tiny fraction of the problem, bear in mind that all of us have the
opportunity to set an example that others can follow. And remember the words of the American
anthropologist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Chapter 19 Summary

The main topics of this chapter can be summarized as follows:

The two components of climate change are forcings and feedbacks. Natural climate
forcings, which have operated throughout geological time, include solar evolution and
What Makes
cycles, continental drift, continental collisions and mountain building, volcanism,
19.1 the Climate
orbital variations, and ocean current cycles. Feedbacks include melting of ice, snow,
Change?
and permafrost (changing albedo and releasing GHGs); temperature-related changes to
solubility of CO2; and vegetation growth.

Anthro-pogenic The key contributors to anthropogenic climate change are our use of fossil fuels and
19.2 Climate our increasing numbers, although other important factors include what we eat and how
Change we produce it.

The most reliable indicators of climate change are those that we can detect by looking
Implications of at records going back for decades. These include temperature and other climate
19.3 Climate parameters, of course, but also sea-level rise and the incidence of major storms. Some
Change of the implications of climate change include changes to the distribution of disease
vectors and pests, and an increase in the incidence and severity of heat waves.

Questions for Review

1. What property of greenhouse gases allows them to absorb infrared radiation and thus trap heat
within the atmosphere?
2. Explain why the emission of CO2 from fossil fuel use is a climate forcing, while the solubility of
CO2 in seawater is a climate feedback.
3. Explain how the positioning of Gondwana at the South Pole contributed to glaciation during the
Paleozoic.
4. Most volcanic eruptions lead to short-term cooling, but long-term sustained volcanism can lead to
warming. Describe the mechanisms for these two different consequences.
5. Using the orbital information on eccentricity, tilt, and precession, we could calculate variations in
insolation for any latitude on Earth and for any month of the year. Why is it useful to choose the
latitude of 65° as opposed to something like 30°? Why north instead of south? Why July instead
of January?
6. If the major currents in the oceans were to slow down or stop, how would that affect the
distribution of heat on Earth, and what effect might that have on glaciation?
7. Explain the climate implications of the melting and breakdown of permafrost.

532
533 Chapter 19 Climate Change

8. Much of the warming of the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum is thought to have been caused
by the release of CH4 from sea-floor methane hydrates. Describe what would have to have
happened before this could take place.
9. Burning fossil fuels emits CO2 to the atmosphere via reactions like this one: CH4 + O2 —-> CO2
+ 2H2O. Describe some of the other ways that our extraction, transportation, and use of fossil
fuels impact the climate.
10. Explain why, even if we could stop our impact on the climate tomorrow, we would still be facing
between 1 m and 2 m of additional sea-level rise.
11. Use the Internet to research West Nile virus, and explain why its spread into Canada from the
United States is related to climate change.
Chapter 20 Geological Resources

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you
should be able to:

• Describe the importance of geological resources to our way of life

• Summarize the types of materials mined in Canada and explain some of the processes involved in
the formation of metal deposits
• Explain how a metal deposit is developed into a mine
• Define acid rock drainage (ARD) and discuss why some mines can lead to ARD and
contamination of the environment by metals
• Summarize some of the important industrial materials extracted in Canada and describe what they
are used for
• Describe the processes that lead to the formation of coal deposits
• Explain the processes that lead to the formation of oil and gas, the distinction between source
rocks and reservoir rocks, and the importance of traps
• Describe the origins and recovery of some of the unconventional fossil fuels
• Describe the origins, discovery, and extraction of diamonds in Canada

Figure 20.1 The open pit (background) and waste-rock piles (middle)
of the Highland Valley Copper Mine at Logan Lake, British Columbia
[Photo by Russell Hartlaub, used with permission]

534
535 Steven Earle

It has been said that “if you can’t grow it, you have to mine it,” meaning that anything we can’t grow
we have to extract from Earth in one way or another. This includes water, of course, our most important
resource, but it also includes all the other materials that we need to construct things like roads, dams, and
bridges, or manufacture things like plates, toasters, and telephones. Even most of our energy resources
come from Earth, including uranium and fossil fuels, and much of the infrastructure of this electrical age
depends on copper (Figure 20.1).

Virtually everything we use every day is made from resources from Earth. For example, let’s look at
a tablet computer (Figure 20.2). Most of the case is made of a plastic known as ABS, which is made
from either gas or petroleum. Some tablets have a case made from aluminum. The glass of a touch
screen is made mostly from quartz combined with smaller amounts of sodium oxide (Na2O), sodium
carbonate (Na2CO3), and calcium oxide (CaO). To make it work as a touch screen, the upper surface
is coated with indium tin oxide. When you touch the screen you’re actually pushing a thin layer of
polycarbonate plastic (made from petroleum) against the coated glass — completing an electrical circuit.
The computer is then able to figure out exactly where you touched the screen. Computer processors are
made from silica wafers (more quartz) and also include a significant amount of copper and gold. Gold is
used because it is a better conductor than copper and doesn’t tarnish the way silver or copper does. Most
computers have nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) batteries, which contain nickel, of course, along with
cadmium, cobalt, manganese, aluminum, and the rare-earth elements lanthanum, cerium, neodymium,
and praseodymium. The processor and other electronic components are secured to a circuit board, which
is a thin layer of fibreglass sandwiched between copper sheets coated with small amounts of tin and lead.
Various parts are put together with steel screws that are made of iron and molybdenum.

Figure 20.2 The main components of a tablet computer [SE, base

photograph from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/
8d/IPad_Air.png]

That’s not everything that goes into a tablet computer, but to make just those components we need a
pure-silica sand deposit, a salt mine for sodium, a rock quarry for calcium, an oil well, a gas well, an
aluminum mine, an iron mine, a manganese mine, a copper-molybdenum-gold mine, a cobalt-nickel
mine, a rare-earth element and indium mine, and a source of energy to transport all of the materials,
process them, put them together, and finally transport the computer to your house or the store where you
bought it.
 Physical Geology 536

Exercises

Exercise 20.1 Where Does It Come From?

Look around you and find at least five objects (other than a computer or a phone) that have been made from
materials that had to be mined, quarried, or extracted from an oil or gas well. Try to identify the materials
involved, and think about where they might have come from. This pen is just an example.

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/
Ballpoint-pen-parts.jpg]
20.1 Metal Deposits

Mining has always been a major part of Canada’s economy. Canada has some of the largest mining
districts and deposits in the world, and for the past 150 years, we have been one of the most important
suppliers of metals. Extraction of Earth’s resources goes back a long way in Canada. For example, the
First Nations of British Columbia extracted obsidian from volcanic regions for tools and traded it up and
down the coast. In the 1850s, gold was discovered in central British Columbia, and in the 1890s, even
more gold was discovered in the Klondike area of Yukon. These two events were critical to the early
development of British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska.

Canada’s mining sector had revenues in the order of $37 billion in 2013. The majority of that was split
roughly equally among gold, iron, copper, and potash, with important but lesser amounts from nickel
and diamonds (Figure 20.3). Revenues from the petroleum sector are significantly higher, at over $100
billion per year.

Figure 20.3 The value of various Canadian mining sectors in 2013 [SE
from data at http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/mining-materials/publications/
8772]

A metal deposit is a body of rock in which one or more metals have been concentrated to the point of
being economically viable for recovery. Some background levels of important metals in average rocks
are shown on Table 20.1, along with the typical grades necessary to make a viable deposit, and the
corresponding concentration factors. Looking at copper, for example, we can see that while average rock
has around 40 ppm (parts per million) of copper, a grade of around 10,000 ppm or 1% is necessary to
make a viable copper deposit. In other words, copper ore has about 250 times as much copper as typical
rock. For the other elements in the list, the concentration factors are much higher. For gold, it’s 2,000
times and for silver it’s around 10,000 times.

537
 Physical Geology 538

Table 20.1 Typical background and ore levels of some important metals [SE]

Metal Typical Background Level Typical Economic Grade* Concentration Factor

Copper 40 ppm 10,000 ppm (1%) 250 times

Gold 0.003 ppm 6 ppm (0.006%) 2,000 times

Lead 10 ppm 50,000 ppm (5% 5,000 times

Molybdenum 1 ppm 1,000 ppm (0.1%) 1,000 times

Nickel 25 ppm 20,000 ppm (2%) 800 times

Silver 0.1 ppm 1,000 ppm (0.1%) 10,000 times

Uranium 2 ppm 10,000 ppm (1%) 5,000 times

Zinc 50 ppm 50,000 ppm (5%) 1,000 times

*It’s important to note that the economic viability of any deposit depends on a wide range of factors including
its grade, size, shape, depth below the surface, and proximity to infrastructure, the current price of the metal, the
labour and environmental regulations in the area, and many other factors.

It is clear that some very significant concentration must take place to form a mineable deposit. This
concentration may occur during the formation of the host rock, or after the rock forms, through a number
of different types of processes. There is a very wide variety of ore-forming processes, and there are
hundreds of types of mineral deposits. The origins of a few of them are described below.

Magmatic Nickel Deposits

A magmatic deposit is one in which the metal concentration takes place primarily at the same time as the
formation and emplacement of the magma. Most of the nickel mined in Canada comes from magmatic
deposits such as those in Sudbury (Ontario), Thompson (Manitoba) (Figure 20.4), and Voisey’s Bay
(Labrador). The magmas from which these deposits form are of mafic or ultramafic composition
(derived from the mantle), and therefore they have relatively high nickel and copper contents to begin
with (as much as 100 times more than normal rocks in the case of nickel). These elements may be
further concentrated within the magma as a result of the addition of sulphur from partial melting of the
surrounding rocks. The heavy nickel and copper sulphide minerals are then concentrated further still
by gravity segregation (i.e., crystals settling toward the bottom of the magma chamber). In some cases,
there are significant concentrations of platinum-bearing minerals.

Most of these types of deposits around the world are Precambrian in age — probably because the mantle
was significantly hotter at that time, and the necessary mafic and ultramafic magmas were more likely
to be emplaced in the continental crust.
539 Chapter 20 Geological Resources

Figure 20.4 The nickel smelter at Thompson, Manitoba

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson,_Manitoba#/media/
File:Vale_Nickel_Mine.JPG]

Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide Deposits

Much of the copper, zinc, lead, silver, and gold mined in Canada is mined from volcanic–hosted
massive sulphide (VHMS) deposits associated with submarine volcanism (VMS deposits). Examples
are the deposits at Kidd Creek, Ontario, Flin Flon on the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, Britannia on
Howe Sound, and Myra Falls (within Strathcona Park) on Vancouver Island.

VMS deposits are formed from the water discharged at high temperature (250° to 300°C) at ocean-floor
hydrothermal vents, primarily in areas of subduction-zone volcanism. The environment is comparable
to that of modern-day black smokers (Figure 20.5), which form where hot metal- and sulphide-rich
water issues from the sea floor. They are called massive sulphide deposits because the sulphide minerals
(including pyrite (FeS2) , sphalerite (ZnS), chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), and galena (PbS)) are generally
present in very high concentrations (making up the majority of the rock in some cases). The metals and
the sulphur are leached out of the sea-floor rocks by convecting groundwater driven by the volcanic heat,
and then quickly precipitated where that hot water enters the cold seawater, causing it to cool suddenly
and change chemically. The volcanic rock that hosts the deposits is formed in the same area and at the
same general time as the accumulation of the ore minerals.
 Physical Geology 540

Figure 20.5 Left: A black smoker on the Juan de

Fuca Ridge off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Right: A model of the formation of a volcanogenic
massive sulphide deposit on the sea floor. [left:
NOAA at: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/
explorations/10index/background/plumes/media/
black_smoker.html, right: SE]

Porphyry Deposits

Porphyry deposits are the most important source of copper and molybdenum in British Columbia, the
western United States, and Central and South America. Most porphyry deposits also host some gold,
which may be, in rare cases, the primary commodity. B.C. examples include several large deposits within
the Highland Valley mine (Figure 20.1) and numerous other deposits scattered around the central part of
the province.

A porphyry deposit forms around a cooling felsicstock in the upper part of the crust. They are called
“porphyry” because upper crustal stocks are typically porphyritic in texture, the result of a two-stage
cooling process. Metal enrichment results in part from convection of groundwater related to the heat
of the stock, and also from metal-rich hot water expelled by the cooling magma (Figure 20.6). The
host rocks, which commonly include the stock itself and the surrounding country rocks, are normally
highly fractured and brecciated. During the ore-forming process, some of the original minerals in these
rocks are altered to potassium feldspar, biotite, epidote, and various clay minerals. The important ore
minerals include chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), bornite (Cu5FeS4), and pyrite in copper porphyry deposits, or
molybdenite (MoS2) and pyrite in molybdenum porphyry deposits. Gold is present as minute flakes of
native gold.

This type of environment (i.e., around and above an intrusive body) is also favourable for the formation
of other types of deposits — particularly vein-type gold deposits (a.k.a. epithermal deposits). Some
of the gold deposits of British Columbia (such as in the Eskay Creek area adjacent to the Alaska
panhandle), and many of the other gold deposits situated along the western edge of both South and North
America are of the vein type shown in Figure 20.6, and are related to nearby magma bodies.
541 Chapter 20 Geological Resources

Figure 20.6 A model for the formation of a porphyry deposit around an

upper-crustal porphyritic stock and associated vein deposits. [SE]

Banded Iron Formation

Most of the world’s major iron deposits are of the banded iron formation type, and most of these
formed during the initial oxygenation of Earth’s atmosphere between 2,400 and 1,800 Ma. At that time,
iron that was present in dissolved form in the ocean (as Fe2+) became oxidized to its insoluble form
(Fe3+) and accumulated on the sea floor, mostly as hematite interbedded with chert (Figure 20.7). Unlike
many other metals, which are economically viable at grades of around 1% or even much less, iron
deposits are only viable if the grades are in the order of 50% iron and if they are very large.
 Physical Geology 542

Figure 20.7 Banded iron formation from an unknown location in North

America on display at a museum in Germany. The rock is about 2 m
across. The dark grey layers are magnetite and the red layers are
hematite. Chert is also present. [https://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Black-band_ironstone_%28aka%29.jpg]

Unconformity-Type Uranium Deposits

Figure 20.8 Model of the formation of

unconformity-type uranium deposits of the
Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan [SE]

There are several different types of uranium deposits, but some of the largest and richest are those
within the Athabasca Basin of northern Saskatchewan. These are called unconformity-type uranium
deposits because they are all situated very close to the unconformity between the Proterozoic Athabasca
Group sandstone and the much older Archean sedimentary, volcanic, and intrusive igneous rock (Figure
20.8). The origin of unconformity-type U deposits is not perfectly understood, but it is thought that two
543 Chapter 20 Geological Resources

particular features are important: (1) the relative permeability of the Athabasca Group sandstone, and (2)
the presence of graphitic schist within the underlying Archean rocks. The permeability of the sandstone
allowed groundwater to flow through it and leach out small amounts of U, which stayed in solution in
the oxidized form U6+. The graphite (C) created a reducing environment (non-oxidizing) that converted
the U from U6+ to insoluble U4+, at which point it was precipitated as the mineral uraninite (UO2).

Exercises

Exercise 20.2 The importance of Heat and Heat Engines

For a variety of reasons, thermal energy (heat) from within Earth is critical in the formation of many types of
ore deposits. Look back through the deposit-type descriptions above and complete the following table,
describing which of those deposit types depend on a source of heat for their formation, and why.

Deposit Type Is Heat a Factor? If So, What Is the Role of the Heat?

Magmatic

Volcanogenic massive sulphide

Porphyry

Banded iron formation

Unconformity-type uranium

Mining and Mineral Processing

Metal deposits are mined in a variety of different ways depending on their depth, shape, size, and grade.
Relatively large deposits that are quite close to the surface and somewhat regular in shape are mined
using open-pit mine methods (Figure 20.1). Creating a giant hole in the ground is generally cheaper
than making an underground mine, but it is also less precise, so it is necessary to mine a lot of waste
rock along with the ore. Relatively deep deposits or those with elongated or irregular shapes are typically
mined from underground with deep vertical shafts, declines (sloped tunnels), and levels (horizontal
tunnels) (Figures 20.09 and 20.11). In this way, it is possible to focus the mining on the ore body itself.
However, with relatively large ore bodies, it may be necessary to leave some pillars to hold up the roof.
 Physical Geology 544

Figure 20.9 Underground at the Myra Falls Mine, Vancouver Island.

[SE]

Figure 20.10 Schematic cross-section of a typical underground mine.

[SE]
545 Chapter 20 Geological Resources

In many cases, the near-surface part of an ore body is mined with an open pit, while the deeper parts are
mined underground (Figures 20.10 and 20.11).

Figure 20.11 Entrance to an exploratory decline (white arrow) for the

New Afton Mine situated in the side of the open pit of the old Afton
Mine, near Kamloops, B.C. [SE]

A typical metal deposit might contain a few percent of ore minerals (e.g., chalcopyrite or sphalerite),
mixed with the minerals of the original rock (e.g., quartz or feldspar). Other sulphide minerals are
commonly present within the ore, especially pyrite.

When ore is processed (typically very close to the mine), it is ground to a fine powder and the ore
minerals are physically separated from the rest of the rock to make a concentrate. At a molybdenum
mine, for example, this concentrate may be almost pure molybdenite (MoS2). The rest of the rock is
known as tailings. It comes out of the concentrator as a wet slurry and must be stored near the mine, in
most cases, in a tailings pond.

The tailings pond at the Myra Falls Mine on Vancouver Island is shown in Figure 20.12, and the settling
ponds for waste water from the concentrator are shown in Figure 20.13. The tailings are contained by
an embankment. Also visible in the foreground of Figure 20.12 is a pile of waste rock, which is non-
ore rock that was mined in order to access the ore. Although this waste rock contains little or no ore
minerals, at many mines it contains up to a few percent pyrite. The tailings and the waste rock at most
mines are an environmental liability because they contain pyrite plus small amounts of ore minerals.
When pyrite is exposed to oxygen and water, it generates sulphuric acid — also known as acid rock
drainage (ARD). Acidity itself is a problem to the environment, but because the ore elements, such as
copper or lead, are more soluble in acidic water than neutral water, ARD is also typically quite rich in
metals, many of which are toxic.
 Physical Geology 546

Figure 20.12 The tailings pond at the Myra Falls Mine on Vancouver
Island. The dry rock in the middle of the image is waste rock. The
structure on the right is the headframe for the mine shaft. Myra Creek
flows between the tailings pond and the headframe. [SE]

Figure 20.13 The tailings pond (lower left) at Myra Falls Mine with
settling ponds (right) for processing water from the concentrator. [SE]

Tailings ponds and waste-rock storage piles must be carefully maintained to ensure their integrity and
monitored to ensure that acidic and metal-rich water is not leaking out. In August 2014, the tailings pond
at the Mt. Polley Mine in central B.C. failed and 10 million cubic metres of waste water along with 4.5
million cubic metres of tailings slurry was released into Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek, and Quesnel Lake
(Figure 20.14, a and b). As of July 2015, the environmental implications of this event are still not fully
understood.
547 Chapter 20 Geological Resources

Figure 20.14a The Mt. Polley Mine area prior to the dam breach of
August 2014. The tailings were stored in the area labelled “retention
basin.” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Polley_mine_disaster]

Figure 20.14b The Mt. Polley Mine area after the tailings dam breach
of August 2014. The water and tailings released flowed into Hazeltine
Creek, and Polley and Quesnel Lakes. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Mount_Polley_mine_disaster]

Most mines have concentrators on site because it is relatively simple to separate ore minerals from
non-ore minerals and thus significantly reduce the costs and other implications of transportation. But
separation of ore minerals is only the preliminary stage of metal refinement, for most metals the second
stage involves separating the actual elements within the ore minerals. For example, the most common
ore of copper is chalcopyrite (CuFeS2). The copper needs to be separated from the iron and sulphur to
make copper metal and that involves complicated and very energy-intensive processes that are done at
 Physical Geology 548

smelters or other types of refineries. Because of their cost and the economies of scale, there are far fewer
refineries than there are mines.

There are several metal refineries (including smelters) in Canada; some examples are the aluminum
refinery in Kitimat, B.C. (which uses ore from overseas); the lead-zinc smelter in Trail, B.C.; the nickel
smelter at Thompson, Manitoba; numerous steel smelters in Ontario, along with several other refining
operations for nickel, copper, zinc, and uranium; aluminum refineries in Quebec; and a lead smelter in
New Brunswick.
20.2 Industrial Minerals

Metals are critical for our technological age, but there are a lot of other not-so-shiny materials that are
needed to facilitate our way of life. For everything made out of concrete or asphalt, we need sand and
gravel. To make the cement that holds concrete together, we also need limestone. For the glass in our
computer screens and for glass-sided buildings, we need silica sand plus sodium oxide (Na2O), sodium
carbonate (Na2CO3), and calcium oxide (CaO). Potassium is an essential nutrient for farming in many
areas, and for a wide range of applications (e.g., ceramics and many industrial processes), we also need
various types of clay.

The best types of aggregate (sand and gravel) resources are those that have been sorted by streams, and
in Canada the most abundant and accessible fluvial deposits are associated with glaciation. That doesn’t
include till of course, because it has too much silt and clay, but it does include glaciofluvial outwash,
which is present in thick deposits in many parts of the country, similar to the one shown in Figure 20.15.
In a typical gravel pit, these materials are graded on-site according to size and then used in a wide range
of applications from constructing huge concrete dams to filling children’s sandboxes. Sand is also used
to make glass, but for most types of glass, it has to be at least 95% quartz (which the sandy layers shown
in Figure 20.15 are definitely not), and for high-purity glass and the silicon wafers used for electronics,
the source sand has to be over 98% quartz.

Figure 20.15 Sand and gravel in an aggregate pit near Nanaimo, BC.
[SE]

Approximately 80 million tonnes of concrete are used in Canada each year — a little over 2 tonnes per
person. The cement used for concrete is made from approximately 80% calcite (CaCO3) and 20% clay.
This mixture is heated to 1450°C to produce the required calcium silicate compounds (e.g., Ca2SiO4).
The calcite typically comes from limestone quarries like the one on Texada Island, B.C. (Figure 20.16).
Limestone is also used as the source material for many other products that require calcium compounds,
including steel and glass, pulp and paper, and plaster products for construction.

549
 Physical Geology 550

Figure 20.16 Triassic Quatsino Formation limestone being quarried

on Texada Island, B.C. [SE]

Sodium is required for a wide range of industrial processes, and the most convenient source is sodium
chloride (rock salt), which is mined from evaporite beds in various parts of Canada. The largest salt
mine in the world is at Goderich, Ontario, where salt is recovered from the 100 m thick Silurian Salina
Formation. The same formation is mined in the Windsor area. Rock salt is also used as a source of
sodium and chlorine in the chemical industry to melt ice on roads, as part of the process of softening
water, and as a seasoning. Under certain conditions, the mineral sylvite (KCl) accumulates in evaporite
beds, and this rock is called potash. This happened across the Canadian prairies during the Devonian,
creating the Prairie evaporite formation (Figure 6.16). Potassium is used as a crop fertilizer, and Canada
is the world’s leading supplier, with most of that production coming from Saskatchewan.

Another evaporite mineral, gypsum (CaSO4.2H20), is the main component of plasterboard (drywall) that
is widely used in the construction industry. One of the main mining areas for gypsum in Canada is in the
Milford Station area of Nova Scotia, site of the world’s largest gypsum mine.

Rocks are quarried or mined for many different uses, such as building facades (Figure 20.17),
countertops, stone floors, and headstones. In most of these cases, the favoured rock types are granitic
rocks, slate, and marble. Quarried rock is also used in some applications where rounded gravel isn’t
suitable, such as the ballast (road bed) for railways, where crushed angular rock is needed.
551 Chapter 20 Geological Resources

Figure 20.17 Slate used as a facing material on a concrete building

column in Vancouver [SE]

Exercises

Exercise 20.3 Sources of Important Lighter Metals

When we think of the manufacture of consumer products, plastics and the heavy metals (copper, iron, lead,
zinc) easily come to mind, but we often forget about some of the lighter metals and non-metals that are
important. Consider the following elements and determine their sources. Answers for all of these except
magnesium are given above. See if you can figure out a likely mineral source of magnesium.

Element Silicon Calcium Sodium Potassium Magnesium

Source(s)
20.3 Fossil Fuels

There are numerous types of fossil fuels, but all of them involve the storage of organic matter in
sediments or sedimentary rocks. Fossil fuels are rich in carbon and almost all of that carbon ultimately
originates from CO2 taken out of the atmosphere during photosynthesis. That process, driven by solar
energy, involves reduction (the opposite of oxidation) of the carbon, resulting in it being combined
with hydrogen instead of oxygen. The resulting organic matter is made up of complex and varied
carbohydrate molecules.

Most organic matter is oxidized back to CO2 relatively quickly (within weeks or years in most cases),
but any of it that gets isolated from the oxygen of the atmosphere (for example, deep in the ocean or in
a stagnant bog) may last long enough to be buried by sediments and, if so, may be preserved for tens to
hundreds of millions of years. Under natural conditions, that means it will be stored until those rocks are
eventually exposed at the surface and weathered.

In this section, we’ll discuss the origins and extraction of the important fossils fuels, including coal, oil,
and gas. Coal, the first fossil fuel to be widely used, forms mostly on land in swampy areas adjacent to
rivers and deltas in areas with humid tropical to temperate climates. The vigorous growth of vegetation
leads to an abundance of organic matter that accumulates within stagnant water, and thus does not decay
and oxidize. This situation, where the dead organic matter is submerged in oxygen-poor water, must be
maintained for centuries to millennia in order for enough material to accumulate to form a thick layer
(Figure 20.18a). At some point, the swamp deposit is covered with more sediment — typically because
a river changes its course or sea level rises (Figure 20.18b). As more sediments are added, the organic
matter starts to become compressed and heated. Low-grade lignite coal forms at depths between a few
100 m and 1,500 m and temperatures up to about 50°C (Figure 20.18c). At between 1,000 m to 5,000 m
depth and temperatures up to 150°C m, bituminous coal forms (Figure 20.18d). At depths beyond 5,000
m and temperatures over 150°C, anthracite coal forms.

Figure 20.18 Formation of coal: (a) accumulation of

organic matter within a swampy area; (b) the
organic matter is covered and compressed by
deposition of a new layer of clastic sediments; (c)
with greater burial, lignite coal forms; and (d) at
even greater depths, bituminous and eventually
anthracite coal form. [SE]

552
553 Chapter 20 Geological Resources

There are significant coal deposits in many parts of Canada, including the Maritimes, Ontario,
Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. In Alberta and Saskatchewan, much of the coal is used
for electricity generation. Coal from the Highvale Mine (Figure 20.19), Canada’s largest, is used to feed
the Sundance and Keephills power stations west of Edmonton. Almost all of the coal mined in British
Columbia is exported for use in manufacturing steel.

Figure 20.19 The Highvale Mine (background) and the Sundance

(right) and Keephills (left) generating stations on the southern shore of
Wabamun Lake, Alberta [SE]

While almost all coal forms on land from terrestrial vegetation, most oil and gas is derived primarily
from marine micro-organisms that accumulate within sea-floor sediments. In areas where marine
productivity is high, dead organic matter is delivered to the sea floor fast enough that some of it escapes
oxidation. This material accumulates in the muddy sediments, which become buried to significant depth
beneath other sediments.

As the depth of burial increases, so does the temperature — due to the geothermal gradient — and
gradually the organic matter within the sediments is converted to hydrocarbons (Figure 20.20). The first
stage is the biological production (involving anaerobic bacteria) of methane. Most of this escapes back
to the surface, but some is trapped in methane hydrates near the sea floor. At depths beyond about 2 km,
and at temperatures ranging from 60° to 120°C, the organic matter is converted by chemical processes
to oil. This depth and temperature range is known as the oil window. Beyond 120°C most of the organic
matter is chemically converted to methane.
 Physical Geology 554

Figure 20.20 The depth and temperature limits for biogenic gas, oil,
and thermogenic gas [SE]

The organic matter-bearing rock within which the formation of gas and oil takes place is known to
petroleum geologists as the source rock. Both liquid oil and gaseous methane are lighter than water, so
as liquids and gases form, they tend to move slowly toward the surface, out of the source rock and into
reservoir rocks. Reservoir rocks are typically relatively permeable because that allows migration of the
fluids from the source rocks, and also facilitates recovery of the oil or gas. In some cases, the liquids
and gases make it all the way to the surface, where they are oxidized, and the carbon is returned to
the atmosphere. But in other cases, they are contained by overlying impermeable rocks (e.g., mudrock)
in situations where anticlines, faults, stratigraphy changes, and reefs or salt domes create traps (Figure
20.21).

Figure 20.21 Migration of oil and gas from source rocks into traps in
reservoir rocks [SE]

The liquids and gases that are trapped within reservoirs become separated into layers based on their
density, with gas rising to the top, oil below it, and water underneath the oil. The proportions of oil and
gas depend primarily on the temperature in the source rocks. Some petroleum fields, such as many of
555 Chapter 20 Geological Resources

those in Alberta, are dominated by oil, while others, notably those in northeastern B.C., are dominated
by gas.

Figure 20.22 Seismic section through the East Breaks Field in

the Gulf of Mexico. The dashed red line marks the
approximate boundary between deformed rocks and younger
undeformed rocks. The wiggly arrows are interpreted
migration paths. The total thickness of this section is
approximately 5 km. [SE after http://wiki.aapg.org/
File:Sedimentary-basin-analysis_fig4-55.png]

In general, petroleum fields are not visible from the surface, and their discovery involves the search for
structures in the subsurface that have the potential to form traps. Seismic surveys are the most commonly
used tool for early-stage petroleum exploration, as they can reveal important information about the
stratigraphy and structural geology of subsurface sedimentary rocks. An example from the Gulf of
Mexico south of Texas is shown in Figure 20.22. In this area, a thick evaporite deposit (“salt”) has
formed domes because salt is lighter than other sediments and tends to rise slowly toward the surface;
this has created traps. The sequence of deformed rocks is capped with a layer of undeformed rock.

Exercises

Exercise 20.4 Interpreting a Seismic Profile

The cross-section shown here is from a ship-borne seismic survey in the Bering Sea off the west coast of
Alaska. As a petroleum geologist, it’s your job to pick two separate locations to drill for oil or gas. Which
locations would you choose?
 Physical Geology 556

[from USGS at: http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/infobank/programs/html/definition/seis.html]

The type of oil and gas reservoirs illustrated in Figures 20.21 and 20.22 are described as conventional
reserves. Some unconventional types of oil and gas include oil sands, shale gas, and coal-bed methane.

Oil sands are important because the reserves in Alberta are so large (the largest single reserve of oil
in the world), but they are very controversial from an environmental and social perspective. They are
“unconventional” because the oil is exposed near the surface and is highly viscous because of microbial
changes that have taken place at the surface. The hydrocarbons that form this reserve originated in
deeply buried Paleozoic rocks adjacent to the Rocky Mountains and migrated up and toward the east
(Figure 20.23).

The oil sands are controversial primarily because of the environmental cost of their extraction. Since
the oil is so viscous, it requires heat to make it sufficiently liquid to process. This energy comes from
gas; approximately 25 m3 of gas is used to produce 0.16 m3 (one barrel) of oil. (That’s not quite as bad
as it sounds, as the energy equivalent of the required gas is about 20% of the energy embodied in the
produced oil.) The other environmental cost of oil sands production is the devastation of vast areas of
land where strip-mining is taking place and tailings ponds are constructed, and the unavoidable release
of contaminants into the groundwater and rivers of the region.

At present, most oil recovery from oil sands is achieved by mining the sand and processing it on site.
Exploitation of oil sand that is not exposed at the surface depends on in situ processes, an example being
the injection of steam into the oil-sand layer to reduce the viscosity of the oil so that it can be pumped to
the surface.
557 Chapter 20 Geological Resources

Figure 20.23 Schematic cross-section of northern Alberta showing the

source rocks and location of the Athabasca Oil Sands [SE]

Shale gas is gas that is trapped within rock that is too impermeable for the gas to escape under normal
conditions, and it can only be extracted by fracturing the reservoir rock using water and chemicals under
extremely high pressure. This procedure is known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” Fracking
is controversial because of the volume of water used, and because, in some jurisdictions, the fracking
companies are not required to disclose the nature of the chemicals used. Although fracking is typically
done at significant depths, there is always the risk that overlying water-supply aquifers could be
contaminated (Figure 20.24). Fracking also induces low-level seismicity.

During the process that converts organic matter to coal, some methane is produced, which is stored
within the pores of the coal. When coal is mined, methane is released into the mine where it can become
a serious explosion hazard. Modern coal-mining machines have methane detectors on them and actually
stop operating if the methane levels are dangerous. It is possible to extract the methane from coal beds
without mining the coal; gas recovered this way is known as coal-bed methane.

Figure 20.24 Depiction of the process of directional drilling and

fracking to recover gas from impermeable rocks. The light blue arrows
represent the potential for release of fracking chemicals to aquifers.
[by SE, after https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hydraulic_fracturing#/media/File:HydroFrac2.svg]
20.4 Diamonds

Although Canada’s diamond mining industry didn’t get started until 1998, diamonds are currently the
sixth most valuable product mined in the country (Figure 20.3), and Canada ranks sixth in the world
in diamond production. Diamonds form deep in the mantle (approximately 200 km to 250 km depth)
under very specific pressure and temperature conditions, from carbon that is naturally present in mantle
rock (not from coal). The diamond-bearing rock is brought to the surface coincidentally via a type of
volcanism that is extremely rare (the most recent kimberlite eruption is thought to have taken place
10,000 years ago and prior to that at around 30 Ma). There is more on the volcanology of kimberlites
in section 4.3. All of the world’s kimberlite diamond deposits are situated within ancient shield areas
(cratons) in Africa, Australia, Russia, South America, and North America.

It has long been known that diamonds could exist within the Canadian Shield, but up until 1991,
exploration efforts had been unsuccessful. In 1980 two geologists, Chuck Fipke and Stu Blusson,
started searching in the Northwest Territories by sampling glacial sediments looking for some of the
minerals that are normally quite abundant within kimberlites: chromium-bearing garnet, chromium-
bearing pyroxene, chromite (Cr2O3), and ilmenite (FeTiO3). These distinctive minerals are used for this
type of exploration because they are many times more abundant in kimberlite than diamond is. After
more than a decade of exploration, Fipke and Blusson finally focused their search on an area 250 km
northeast of Yellowknife, and, in 1991, they announced the discovery of a diamond-bearing kimberlite
body at Lac de Gras. That discovery is now the Diavik Mine, and there is another diamond mine —
Ekati — 25 km to the northwest (Figure 20.25). There are two separate mines at Diavik accessing three
different kimberlite bodies, and there are five at Ekati. See Figure 4.22 for a close-up view of the Ekati
Mine. There are six operating diamond mines in Canada, four in the Northwest Territories (including
Diavik and Ekati), and one each in Nunavut and Ontario.

Figure 20.25 Diamond mines in the Lac de Gras region, Nunavut. The
twin pits of the Diavik Mine are visible in the lower right on an island
within Lac de Gras. The five pits of the Ekati mine are also visible, on
the left and the upper right. The two main mine centres are 25 km
apart. [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/
view.php?id=84085&src=eoa-iotd]

558
Chapter 20 Summary

The main topics of this chapter can be summarized as follows:

Geological resources are critical to our way of life and important to the Canadian economy.
Gold, iron, copper, nickel, and potash are Canada’s most valuable mined commodities. The
proportions of metals in mineral deposits are typically several thousand times higher than
Metal those in average rocks, and special processes are required to extract the valuable content.
20.1
Deposits Some deposits form through processes within a magma chamber, others during volcanism or
adjacent to a stock, and some are related to sedimentary processes. Mining involves both
surface and underground methods, but in either case, rock is brought to surface that can
react with water and oxygen to produce acid rock drainage and metal contamination.

Non-metallic materials are very important to infrastructure and agriculture. Some of the
Industrial
20.2 major industrial minerals include sand and gravel, limestone for cement and agriculture, salt
Minerals
for a range of applications, potash fertilizer, and decorative stone.

The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and gas. Coal forms on land in wet environments where
organic matter can remain submerged and isolated from oxygen for millennia before it is
buried by more sediments. The depth of that burial influences the grade of coal produced.
Oil and gas originate from organisms living in marine environments, and again, fairly rapid
Fossil
20.3 burial is required to preserve the organic matter on the sea floor. At moderate burial depth (2
Fuels
km to 4 km), oil is produced, and at greater depth, gas is produced. Both oil and gas migrate
toward the surface and can be trapped beneath impermeable rock layers in structural
features, such as anticlines or faults. Some unconventional fossil fuel resources include oil
sands, shale gas, and coal-bed methane.

Diamonds originate in the mantle and are only brought to the surface by the very rare
eruption of kimberlitic volcanoes. The relatively recent discovery of diamonds in Canada
20.4 Diamonds
was based on the exhaustive search for diamond indicator minerals in glacial sediments.
There are now six diamond mines in Canada.

Questions for Review

1. What are some of Earth’s resources that are needed to make a compact fluorescent light bulb? The image
on the right shows the contents of the ballast.

559
 Physical Geology 560

left: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/
06_Spiral_CFL_Bulb_2010-03-08_%28white_back%29.jpg right:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Compact_fluorescent_lamp#/ media/
File:Elektronstarterp.jpg

2. Explain why nickel deposits are associated only with mafic magma and not with intermediate or felsic
magma?
3. What is the composition of the black smoke in a black smoker, and how does that relate to a volcanogenic
massive sulphide deposit?
4. How might an epigenetic gold deposit be related to a porphyry deposit?
5. Oxidation and reduction processes are important to both banded iron formation deposits and unconformity-
type uranium deposits. Explain the role in each case.
6. A typical kimberlite in northern Canada may look something like the diagram shown below. In this case,
the diameter at the surface is around 500 m, and the total depth is about 2,500 m. Bearing in mind that an
open pit cannot typically be any deeper than it is wide, what mining method(s) might be most applicable to a

deposit of this type? [SE]

7. What mineral is typically responsible for acid rock drainage around mine sites, and why is this mineral so
common in this setting?
8. Explain why glaciofluvial gravel is more suitable than till as a source for aggregate.
9. The raw material for making cement is lime (CaO), and this is typically produced by heating limestone
(mostly CaCO3) to about 1,000°C. Why is this an environmental issue?
10. Name some important industrial minerals that form in an evaporite setting.
11. If organic matter accumulates at an average rate of 1 mm per year, and if 10 m of organic matter is
561 Chapter 20 Geological Resources

required to make 1 m of coal, how long must a swampy environment remain stable and wet in order to form a
1.5 m coal seam?
12. What are the ideal characteristics of petroleum source rocks and petroleum reservoir rocks?
13. How deep must the source rocks be buried to produce oil?
14. Why is shale gas an unconventional reserve, and how is it recovered? What are some of the
environmental issues associated with that process?
15. If you were sampling glacial deposits to search for kimberlites, why would you be advised to look for
kimberlite indicator minerals rather than diamonds?
Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you
should be able to:

• Describe the general makeup and ages of the provinces of Laurentia, Laurentia’s journey over the
past 650 Ma, and the processes by which additional rocks were added on its eastern, northern, and
western margins during the Phanerozoic to form the continent of North America
• Explain the timing and depositional environments of mid- and late-Proterozoic sedimentary rocks
in western Canada
• Describe the depositional environments and types of sedimentary rock that accumulated on the
western margin of North America and in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) during
the Paleozoic
• Summarize the extents, geological origins, and migration of the accreted terranes of British
Columbia and Yukon
• Explain how terrane accretion on the west coast during the Mesozoic contributed to the formation
of the Rocky Mountains and how that in turn provided the source material for a thick sequence of
Mesozoic sedimentary rock in the WCSB
• Describe the origins of the Mesozoic intrusive igneous rocks of the Coast Range and other areas
within British Columbia
• Describe the geological effects of the accretion of the Pacific Rim and Crescent Terranes, the
nature of WCSB deposition in the early Cenozoic, the ongoing volcanism and earthquake activity
in western Canada, and the general effects of the Pleistocene glaciation in western Canada

562
563 Steven Earle

Figure 21.1 Crowsnest Mountain in the southern Alberta Rockies is

made up of Paleozoic rocks that were uplifted by continental
convergence during the Mesozoic, and then eroded by glaciation
during the Cenozoic [SE]

Western Canada has a fascinating geological history with rocks ranging in age from the Archean to the
Holocene. Over that time, almost every conceivable geological process has taken place here, resulting
in the formation of a wide array of rock types, and some of the most important fossil deposits in the
world. The region is also endowed with a range of geological resources, spanning the periodic table from
beryllium to uranium, and the geological processes have produced awe-inspiring scenery and world-
class recreational opportunities.

This chapter focuses on the important geological history and geological features of western Canada, but
includes an overview of Canadian geology as a whole, starting with the development and journey of the
ancient continent of Laurentia.
21.1 Geological History of Canada

Laurentia, which makes up the core of North America, is the largest and arguably the oldest of Earth’s
cratons (regions of stable ancient crust). Some of the rocks are over 4 billion years old, and Laurentia
has been together in its present form for the last billion years. Over the past 650 million years, Laurentia
has moved along a zigzag path from deep in the southern hemisphere to close to the North Pole (Figure
21.2). During that time, it collided several times with other continents and was temporarily part of two
supercontinents (Pannotia and Pangea).

Figure 21.2 The path of Laurentia over the past 650 Ma [SE]

Bodies of rock tend to be eroded and recycled through the processes of plate tectonics, including uplift
leading to erosion and burial leading to melting, and thus there are very few areas of truly ancient
rocks on Earth. The oldest undisputed rocks are those of the Acasta Gneiss from north of Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories, aged 4.03 Ga. But there are some rocks that could be even older within the
Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt on the east coast of Hudson Bay, in Quebec. These have been isotopically
dated at 4.28 Ga, although the reliability of that date has been questioned. Based on other data, it is
acknowledged that the Nuvvuagittuq rocks are at least as old as 3.75 Ga. The Acasta and Nuvvuagittuq
rocks are situated within the Slave and Superior Cratons respectively, the oldest parts of Laurentia
(Figure 21.3). Although these ancient cratons are not consistently that old, they are generally older than
3 Ga, as is part of the Wyoming Craton. The Hearne and Rae Cratons are older than 2 Ga, while most of
the other parts of Laurentia are aged between 1 Ga and 2 Ga. The various provinces of Laurentia were
assembled by plate-tectonic processes between 1 Ga and 3 Ga.

The areas of Figure 21.3 that are left uncoloured — the Appalachian, Innuitian, and Cordilleran fold
belts — are geological regions that have been added to North America since 500 Ma. These are at least
partly made up of sedimentary rocks that were deposited along the coasts and then folded, faulted, and
uplifted during continental collisions.

The term Laurentia is geologically equivalent to the term Canadian Shield, although the latter is
generally considered to be the area where the ancient Laurentian rocks are exposed at the surface and

564
565 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

not covered with younger rocks. That applies to most of the region to the north and east of the red dotted
line in Figure 21.3.

Figure 21.3 The main provinces of Laurentia. The pink areas are the
oldest; light yellow are the youngest. All of the areas south and west of
the dotted red line are now covered with younger rocks. The white
areas represent rocks that were added to North America since 700 Ma.
[SE]

Laurentia was part of the supercontinent Rodinia during the period between 1,100 Ma and 700 Ma.
As Rodinia started to break up after 700 Ma, sediments derived from the erosion of the interior of the
continent began to accumulate along its coasts, initially along the west coast, then the east coast at
around 600 Ma, and finally on the north coast by around 550 Ma. This process continued for several
hundred million years. By around 450 Ma, large areas of the interior of Laurentia were depressed below
sea level — probably because of the downward pull of an underlying subducting plate — and marine
sediments were deposited over parts of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and the
Northwest Territories during the Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian Periods (450 Ma to 350 Ma). These
sediments are coloured various shades of blue on the geological map of Canada (Figure 21.4).
 Physical Geology 566

Figure 21.4 Geological map of Canada from the

Geological Survey of Canada
[http://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/starweb/geoscan/
servlet.starweb?path=geoscan/
fulle.web&search1=R=208175]

At approximately 350 Ma, the part of Gondwana that is now Africa collided with the eastern coast of
North America, thrusting volcanic islands and sedimentary layers far inland to become the Appalachian
fold belt. The Appalachian Mountains would have rivalled the Himalayas in extent and height during the
Devonian. At about the same time, a smaller continent, Pearya, collided with the north coast, creating
the Innuitian fold belt.

At around 200 Ma, small continents that now make up the interior of B.C. and part of Yukon collided
with the west coast of North America, starting the process of thrusting the sedimentary rocks inland and
upward to form the Rocky Mountains.

The west-central part of North America subsided once again at around 150 Ma, due to an underlying
subducting plate, and this led to the deposition of more marine rocks across Manitoba, Saskatchewan,
and Alberta, and north into the Northwest Territories and Yukon (the green areas in Figure 21.3).

Finally, at around 90 Ma, more small continents, which now comprise Vancouver Island and Haida
Gwaii, collided with the west coast, leading to further uplift of the Rocky Mountains.

Exercises

Exercise 21.1 Finding the Geological Provinces of Canada

Figure 21.4 shows the geology of Canada in some detail, with the colours representing the lithologies and
ages of the rocks. Identifying in Figure 21.4 some of the major features shown in Figure 21.3 will help you
understand the distribution of Canada’s geological features. Start by outlining the extent of the exposed
567 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Canadian Shield (the dotted red line); you might also be able to identify some of the cratons within the
Shield. Then look for the limits of the Appalachian and Innuitian fold belts. Finally pick out the extent of the
Cordilleran fold belt.
The best way to do this would be to print out a copy of Figure 21.4 and draw the boundaries from Figure 21.3
on it with a pencil. If you’re interested, you can get your own high resolution copy of the geological map of
Canada at http://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/starweb/geoscan/servlet.starweb?path=geoscan/
fulle.web&search1=R=208175.
21.2 Western Canada during the Precambrian

Laurentia extends as far west as eastern B.C. (Figure 21.3), but the ancient rocks of the craton are
almost completely covered by younger rocks in B.C., Yukon, and all of Alberta except the far northeast
corner. Laurentia is well represented in northern Saskatchewan and across large parts of Manitoba, the
Northwest Territories, and Nunavut (Figure 21.5). Where they are exposed, the rocks of the Canadian
Shield are highly varied lithologically, typically strongly metamorphosed due to their deep burial at some
time in the past, and in some cases, quite different from what could be expected to occur on Earth today.

Starting from the south, in eastern Manitoba and adjacent Ontario, we have the ancient rocks of the
Superior Province. On the map the Superior Province, rocks are mostly pink, representing granitic
and gneissic rocks, with strips and blotches of green, representing metamorphosed sea-floor basalt and
sediments, also known as greenstone belts. These rocks are widely interpreted to have deep crustal
origins, and include large areas of granulite facies metamorphic rock formed at high temperatures and
moderate to high pressures (see Figure 7.19). Superior Province greenstone belts in Ontario and Quebec
host some of the world’s largest volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits. As described in Chapter 20, the
Superior Province in northern Manitoba is host to important nickel deposits at Thompson. These formed
from mantle-derived mafic magma that interacted with sulphur-bearing crustal rocks, and within which
heavy-metal sulphide minerals formed.

The Trans-Hudson Orogen (THO), as its name implies, extends through Saskatchewan and Manitoba
and over to the eastern side of Hudson Bay. It represents the continent-continent collision zone between
the Superior Craton to the south and the Churchill Craton (including the Wyoming, Hearne, and Rae
Cratons) to the north; thus it’s a remnant of the initial formation of Laurentia at around 1.9 Ga. At the
time of the collision, the THO would have been a major mountain range, and the rocks that we see there
now — which evolved deep beneath those mountains — are highly metamorphosed sedimentary and
volcanic rocks intruded by large granitic bodies. The important volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits
around Flin Flon are within the THO.

568
569 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Figure 21.5 Geological features of the

Canadian Shield of western Canada. A.B.:
Athabasca Basin, T.B.: Thelon Basin, and
TMZ: Taltson Magmatic Zone [ By SE
after: http://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/starweb/
geoscan/servlet.starweb?path=geoscan/
fulle.web&search1=R=208175]

The Churchill Craton is lithologically similar to the Superior Craton, although not generally as old. It
includes two important sedimentary basins: the Athabasca Basin in Saskatchewan and the Thelon Basin
in Nunavut, both filled with rocks aged around 1.7 Ga. These consist primarily of sandstones and minor
mudstones that are only weakly metamorphosed and essentially undeformed (not folded) because they
are situated within a stable craton and so have not been subjected to significant tectonic forces. The
Athabasca Basin is economically important for its large and rich unconformity-type uranium deposits
(see Chapter 20). At its western end, there is the remnant of a large extraterrestrial impact, the 40 km
diameter Carswell Crater. When the meteor struck at this location, at around 115 Ma, the impact and
subsequent rebound of the crust was enough to bring metamorphic rock up to surface from beneath about
2,000 m of Athabasca Group sandstone. There is no connection between the Carswell Crater and the
much older (~1.2 Ga) uranium deposits.

The Taltson Magmatic Zone (TMZ), which forms the boundary between the Churchill and Slave
Cratons, consists primarily of granitic rock. One interpretation is that the TMZ formed along a
convergent boundary, although this is not universally accepted.

The Slave Craton is dominated by granitic rocks and metamorphosed clastic sedimentary rocks. On its
western edge, there is a large area of very old gneissic rock that includes the Acasta Gneiss, dated at 4.03
Ga, which, for the time being at least, is the oldest rock in the world (Figure 21.6).
 Physical Geology 570

Figure 21.6 A sample of the Acasta Gneiss on

display at the Natural History Museum in
Vienna [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Acasta_gneiss.jpg]

The Wopmay Orogen, interpreted as the site of another ancient continent-continent collision, lies to the
west of the Slave Craton. Although mostly composed of felsic igneous rocks and gneisses, the Wopmay
Orogen includes a body of mafic and ultramafic igneous rock called the Muskox Intrusion. Derived from
a mantle plume and dated at about 1.1 Ga, the Muskox is comparable to a handful of other mafic and
ultramafic intrusions around the world in that it has distinctive repetitive layering caused by settling of
heavy metal-rich minerals within the low-viscosity magma. Muskox has high levels of nickel, copper,
and chromium, and has the potential to have platinum and palladium like a similar body in South Africa.
Ultramafic intrusions like Muskox do not take place on Earth today because the mantle is no longer hot
enough.

The oldest rocks in British Columbia are the strongly metamorphosed sedimentary, volcanic, and
intrusive rocks of the Monashee Complex, situated to the west of the Columbia River near Revelstoke
(Figure 21.7). Aged around 2 Ga, these may actually be part of Laurentia.
571 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Figure 21.7 Precambrian rocks in southern

B.C. and Alberta [ By SE after:
http://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/starweb/geoscan/
servlet.starweb?path=geoscan/
fulle.web&search1=R=208175]

There are much more extensive Precambrian rocks within the Columbia and Rocky Mountains of
southeastern B.C. and the southwestern corner of Alberta. The rocks of the Purcell Supergroup (a
supergroup comprises more than one group) are present in the extreme southeastern corner of B.C.
and adjacent Alberta, and extend well into the United States (as the Belt Supergroup). These are mostly
unmetamorphosed clastic rocks deposited in rivers and lakes during the middle Proterozoic, at around
1,400 Ma, while Laurentia was still part of the supercontinent Columbia. When Columbia rifted apart,
the division happened within the area of the Purcell/Belt rocks. Similar rocks of the same age are present
in Tasmania and Siberia, and it is postulated that they were once part of the same depositional basin.

Exercises

Exercise 21.2 Purcell Rocks Down Under?

This map shows the geology of the Australian state of Tasmania. Identify which rocks might be comparable
to the Purcell rocks of B.C. and Alberta.
 Physical Geology 572

In what way are these rocks different from those in Canada?

[from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tasmania_simple_geology_map.png]

The Windermere Group rocks — also mostly clastic sedimentary — were deposited in the ocean
along the western edge of Laurentia (Figure 21.7) in the late Proterozoic (around 700 Ma) after the
breakup of Columbia. In fact, sedimentary rocks of this age extend all along the western side of the
Rocky Mountains, well into Yukon. Deposition in this area was taking place during the late Proterozoic
Snowball Earth glaciations, as can be seen in Windermere Group rocks of the Toby Formation from
the area south of Cranbrook, B.C. (Figure 21.8). The Toby Formation is a fine-grained marine rock
(mudstone) with numerous large angular clasts of limestone and quartz. The mud was deposited in the
quiet water of a continental slope environment, and the large clasts were dropped from floating ice
derived from glaciers on Laurentia. The Toby Formation is unique in this area; most of the rest of the
late Proterozoic clastic sedimentary rocks in this region do not have glacial dropstones.
573 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Figure 21.8 Late Proterozoic Toby Formation

mudstone with glacial dropstones south of
Cranbrook, B.C. [SE]
21.3 Western Canada during the Paleozoic

At the beginning of the Paleozoic (542 Ma), Laurentia was near the equator (Figure 21.2) and
sedimentation was continuing on all of Laurentia’s marine margins, including the passive margin (not
tectonically active) on what is now the west coast. The clastic sediments of the Windermere Group
are succeeded by mostly limestone beds (represented by the blue areas in Figure 21.7) interbedded
in some areas with mudstone and sandstone. The most famous Cambrian rocks in the Rockies are
those around Field, B.C., within Yoho and Kootenay National Parks. The Burgess Shale of the Stephen
Formation is considered by some to be the most important fossil bed in the world because of its
spectacular preservation of detail in a wide array of organisms that are ancestors to many of today’s
organisms and are not present in earlier rocks. The Walcott Quarry, on the pass between Mt. Field
and Wapta Mountain has been known and studied for over 100 years (Figure 21.9). In 2012 a new
Burgess Shale discovery was made at Marble Canyon, about 30 km to the southeast, by a team led by
the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). Fossils with similar levels of preservation are present, and several
previously unknown organisms have been found. The ROM continues to work in the Marble Canyon
area and some of their discoveries are described and illustrated on this website: https://www.rom.on.ca/
en/blog/mighty-burgess-shale-fossil-site-discovered-in-kootenay-national-park. The Paleozoic strata of
the Rockies also include Ordovician, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian sedimentary rocks. For
example, Carboniferous limestone makes up most of the upper part of Crowsnest Mountain in southern
Alberta (Figure 21.1).

Figure 21.9 The Cambrian Burgess Shale at the Walcott Quarry, Yoho
Park, B.C., with Wapta Mountain in the upper right. [SE]

While clastic and carbonate sediments were accumulating along the western edge of Laurentia, much of
the interior of the continent was submerged under inland seas that were connected to ocean most of the
time. This region is known as the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). The Paleozoic sediments
that accumulated within this basin show up as the blue areas in Figures 21.4 and 21.5; however, their

574
575 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

extent is much wider than that because Paleozoic sedimentary rocks also underly the Mesozoic rocks
within most of the areas that are light green on those maps. By way of example, a schematic cross-
section through the Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks of southern Manitoba is given in Figure 21.10. The
section extends from the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border on the left to just east of Winnipeg on the right,
and shows the Paleozoic rocks overlain on the rocks of the Precambrian Superior Craton.

Fifteen different Paleozoic formations, ranging in age from Ordovician to Carboniferous, are shown in
Figure 21.10. Of these, 11 are dominated by carbonate rocks (limestone or dolomite) that very likely
formed in an ocean-connected marine environment. The non-carbonate formations are the lowermost
one (resting on Precambrian rocks), which is sandstone of marine origin; the Devonian Prairie Evaporite
Formation (in red) — the same formation from which potash is mined in Saskatchewan; and the upper
two Devonian formations (in yellow), which are shale. When the Prairie Evaporite formed, the basin
was isolated from the open ocean, and the rate of evaporation was greater than the rate of input from
precipitation and river inflow. During that time, probably at least several million years, there were
numerous changes in sea level or land level that allowed additional ocean water — and therefore
additional salt — into the basin.

Figure 21.10 The Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of southern Manitoba

along a section extending from the Saskatchewan border on the left to
the Winnipeg area on the right. The section is 400 km wide and 1,800
m high, and the vertical exaggeration is about 100 times. The dip of
the beds is also exaggerated by 100 times; their original and current
attitudes are close to horizontal. [SE]

There are Paleozoic rocks in the central and western parts of British Columbia and Yukon, but they
formed far away and did not become part of North America until the Mesozoic. Subduction started
along the western edge of Laurentia by the middle Paleozoic. That meant that oceanic crust was moving
toward the continent, bringing small segments of exotic continental crust with it (Figure 21.11). These
crustal blocks along western North America are called terranes, indicating that they are sections of the
continent that have an exotic origin (Figure 21.12). Most of British Columbia is made up of terranes that
include sedimentary rocks with fossils that imply an origin south of the equator, or volcanic rocks with
magnetic orientations that indicate a southern-hemisphere origin.
 Physical Geology 576

Figure 21.11 The distribution of continents in the early Carboniferous,

showing the terranes that later became attached to the west coast of
North America. The light blue areas are continental shelves, the white
is ice of the Karoo Glaciation, and the red line shows subduction of
oceanic crust beneath Laurentia. Panthalassic is the name for the huge
ocean that preceded the Pacific Ocean. [SE based on information from
Christopher Scotese at http://www.scotese.com/]

Figure 21.12 The Carboniferous Mt. Mark Formation on Vancouver

Island is part of the Wrangellia Terrane, which arrived on the edge of
North America during the Cretaceous. [SE]

Exercises
577 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Exercise 21.3 What Is Vancouver Island Made Of?

This map shows the main geological features of the Wrangellia Terrane rocks that were present when
Vancouver Island arrived on the coast of North America.
1. Roughly what percentage of Vancouver Island is underlain by Paleozoic rock?
2. What is the most common age and type of rock on Vancouver Island?
To answer these questions, you might find it useful to fill in each rock type area using coloured pencils. [SE]
21.4 Western Canada during the Mesozoic

The Mesozoic extends over 187 million years from the beginning of the Triassic (252 Ma) to the end
of the Cretaceous (65 Ma). It was a particularly important period for the geology of western Canada.
During this time, several continental collisions occurred along the west coast, resulting in the formation
of the Rocky Mountains and the accretion (addition) of much of the land mass of British Columbia, and
continuing deposition within the WCSB.

Terrane Accretion in British Columbia and Yukon

Continued subduction along the western edge of North America carried a number of continental terranes
toward the coast, with the first collisions taking place in the early part of the Triassic, as the Quesnel,
Cache Creek, and Stikine Terranes combined to form the Intermontane Superterrane, so named because
it forms the interior plateau of British Columbia, between the Rockies to the east and the Coast Range to
the west (Figure 21.13).

Figure 21.13 Model of the accretion of the Intermontane and

Insular Superterranes to the west coast of North America
during the Mesozoic. Subduction zones are the red-toothed
lines. The dark-red triangles represent volcanoes. [SE]

Approximately 100 million years later, another pair of terranes — Alexander and Wrangellia — collided
to form most of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii, plus a significant part of Alaska. During the
Cenozoic, additional terranes (the Outboard terranes) were added to the western edge of North America.
An overview of the accreted terranes of B.C., Yukon, and Alaska is given in Figure 21.14.

578
579 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Figure 21.14 A generalized overview of the

accreted terranes of B.C., Yukon, and
Alaska. The Intermontane terranes are in
green, the Insular terranes in purple, and
the Outboard terranes in yellow. The Coast
Plutonic Complex (CPC) formed in situ
and is not a terrane. [SE after Yukon and
BC Geological Surveys]

During the Jurassic, the Intermontane Superterrane acted like a giant bulldozer, pushing, folding, and
thrusting the existing Proterozoic and Paleozoic west coast sediments eastward and upward to form
the Rocky Mountains (Figure 21.15). The same process continued into the Cretaceous as the Insular
Superterrane collided with North America and pushed the Intermontane Superterrane farther east.
Folding in Rocky Mountain rocks, like that shown in Figures 21.16 and 21.17, is one of the results of
this process.
 Physical Geology 580

Figure 21.15 Cross-section of the accretion of the

Intermontane Superterrane to the west coast of North
America and the resulting compression, folding, and thrusting
of North American sedimentary rocks. In the Late Cretaceous,
it was the accretion of the Insular Superterrane pushing
against the Intermontane Superterrane that did most of the
work. [SE]

Figure 21.16 Tight folds in sedimentary rocks of the Rocky

Mountains near Field, B.C. [SE]
581 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Figure 21.17 Folding of sedimentary rocks at Mt. Rae,

Alberta. [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/
e5/Mt-Rae-Alberta-Canada-aerial1.jpg]

Thrusting is another important process in the formation of fold-belt mountains, as described in Chapter
12. During plate convergence, entire sheets of sedimentary rock are slowly pushed over top of other
sheets, resulting in situations where older rocks lie on top of younger ones. One of the best known
examples of this is at Mt. Yamnuska, near Exshaw, Alberta (Figure 21.18), where the older Cambrian
rocks were pushed east by a total of 40 km, over top of younger rocks.

Figure 21.18 The McConnell Thrust at Mt. Yamnuska near Exshaw,

Alberta. Carbonate rocks of Cambrian age have been thrust over top
of Cretaceous mudstone. [SE]

In the area near the U.S. border, within B.C., Alberta, and Montana, a sheet of Paleozoic rocks has been
thrust about 80 km east over top of Cretaceous rocks along the Lewis Fault (Figure 21.19).
 Physical Geology 582

Figure 21.19 The Lewis Thrust at Crowsnest Mountain near Frank,

Alberta. Carbonate rocks of Devonian and Carboniferous age have
been pushed 80 km to the east and thrust over top of Cretaceous
mudstone. [SE]

Not only did the subduction of oceanic crust beneath North America during the Mesozoic deliver
geologically exotic terranes to the western edge of the continent, it also resulted in massive amounts of
volcanism along the boundary (Figure 21.13). The upper-crustal magma chambers that fed those now-
eroded volcanoes slowly cooled into granitic and dioritic stocks, and those stocks gradually coalesced
into batholiths that extend from the southwest corner of B.C. all the way into Yukon and Alaska (Figures
21.20 and 21.21). Most of the granitic rocks of this region fall into two main age ranges: many are
middle-Jurassic to early Cretaceous in age (~ 170 Ma to 140 Ma), while others are late Cretaceous to
Paleogene (~50 Ma to 90 Ma). Many of the older bodies intruded into the terranes they are on before
they arrived on the North America coast. This applies to those on Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii.
Some of the older ones formed in situ when the subduction zone was farther east (see Figure 21.13).
Most of the younger bodies formed in situ when the subduction zone was close to where it is now (west
of Vancouver Island) or slightly to the east.

Although these intrusive igneous rocks cooled at depth in the upper crust, they now form some of the
highest peaks in Canada, many of them hundreds of metres higher than those of the Rocky Mountains
(including Mt. Waddington, the highest peak entirely within British Columbia at 4,091 m). It is estimated
that over the past 100 million years some of these igneous bodies have been uplifted in the order of
8,000 m. Much of that uplift is a result of the relative low density of the granitic rocks compared with
the surrounding rocks.
583 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Figure 21.20 Jurassic (J) and Cretaceous (K) granitic bodies in

south-central B.C. [SE]

Figure 21.21 Cretaceous granite at The Lions, north of Vancouver,

with Howe Sound in the background [Isaac Earle, used with
permission]

The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin during the Mesozoic

The construction of the Rocky Mountains during the Jurassic and Cretaceous — and their ensuing
erosion — created a significant new source of sediments for the WCSB. Based on the ages, distributions,
and thicknesses of the sedimentary layers (Figure 21.23), it is evident that the greatest volumes of
sediment were produced in the Upper Cretaceous (100 Ma to 65 Ma) and into the Paleocene (65 Ma to
55 Ma). The sediments accumulated in a basin that is thought to have been at least partly formed by the
presence of a subducting slab of oceanic lithosphere underneath this part of North America. However,
 Physical Geology 584

the ongoing uplift of the Rockies through this time period also led to isostatic depression of the crust.
The western edge of the basin, which has about 4,500 m of Mesozoic rock alone, is a foreland basin.
(See Chapter 6 for more on the origins of basins.)

Figure 21.22 The distribution of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks in the

Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. J stands for Jurassic and Pc for
Paleocene. The lines of the cross-sections of Figures 21.10 and 21.23
are shown. [SE after Alberta Geological Survey]

From time to time during the Mesozoic, the WCSB was filled to varying degrees with marine water.
The Jurassic rocks at the base of the sequence are marine in origin, although the Jurassic sequence
in Manitoba also includes evaporite layers. Most of the Middle Cretaceous rocks across the basin are
marine, but the majority of the Upper Cretaceous rocks are of terrestrial origin, deposited within the
flood plains and deltas of rivers. Some of these terrestrial sediments include coal layers; as described in
Chapter 20, there are significant coal deposits in central Alberta.

The Paleozoic sediments within the WCSB were buried deeply beneath the Mesozoic sediments and
were heated enough to form both oil and gas. There are large petroleum resources in reservoir rocks of
various ages extending from northeastern B.C. to southwestern Manitoba.

Figure 21.23 A cross-section showing the Mesozoic sedimentary rocks

in the WCSB from the Rocky Mountain foothills to north-central
Saskatchewan [SE after Alberta Geological Survey]
585 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Several of the terrestrial Cretaceous formations in the WCSB are host to important dinosaur fossils.
Some are within B.C. and Saskatchewan, but the most famous are in Alberta, including the Dinosaur
Park Formation (Figure 6.1), the Scollard Formation, and the Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Figure
21.24). The Dinosaur Park Formation has one of the greatest concentrations of dinosaur fossils of any
rock on Earth, with at least 50 genera of dinosaurs represented, ranging from tiny Hesperonychus to
giant Albertosaurus. The Hilda Bone Bed, situated about 80 km to the east of Dinosaur Park, is estimated
to have the remains of approximately 1500 ceratopsians, all of which are interpreted to have died in a
flood related to a tropical storm. A few of the larger herbivorous dinosaurs found at Dinosaur Park are
illustrated in Figure 21.25.

Figure 21.24 The Horseshoe Canyon Formation near Drumheller,

Alberta [SE]

Figure 21.25 Depiction of some of the large herbivorous dinosaurs

from the upper part of the Dinosaur Park Formation. Left to right: the
ceratopsian Pentaceratops , the hadrosaur Lambeosaurus eating from
a tall tree, the ceratopsian Styracosaurus, the ankylosuar Scolosaurus,
the hadrosaur Prosaurolophus (in the distance), the ankylosaur
Panoplosaurus, and a herd of Styracosaurs in the background. [by J.T.
Csotonyi at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/
Dinosaur_park_formation_fauna.png]

Exercises

Exercise 21.4 Dinosaur Country?

 Physical Geology 586

The photo is from the Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta. What characteristic of this rock tells
you that it might be suitable for the discovery of the fossils of dinosaurs or other terrestrial organisms? [SE]

Several important depositional basins existed in British Columbia during the Mesozoic, including the
large Jurassic-aged Bowser Basin north of Terrace, and the smaller late-Cretaceous Nanaimo Basin
between Vancouver Island and the mainland. In both cases, the rocks are mostly clastic, with both
terrestrial and marine deposition.
21.5 Western Canada during the Cenozoic

Two additional relatively small terranes collided with North America early in the Cenozoic. At around
55 Ma, metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Pacific Rim Terrane were forced a
few tens of kilometres underneath the west coast of Vancouver Island (Figure 21.26). These rocks are
distributed along the west coast of the island and in the area around Victoria (Figure 21.27). At around
42 Ma, sea-floor pillow basalt and gabbro of the Crescent Terrane accreted to the southern margin
of Vancouver Island and also to the adjacent part of Washington State. These terranes are shown as
Outboard terranes in Figure 21.14.

Figure 21.26 East-west cross-section showing the accretion of the

Pacific Rim and Crescent Terranes beneath Vancouver Island, and the
ongoing subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate. The dashed lines are
inactive faults. [SE after Geological Survey of Canada]

Figure 21.27 The distribution of Pacific Rim and

Crescent Terrane rocks on Vancouver Island [SE
after Geological Survey of Canada]

The accretion of the Pacific Rim and Crescent Terranes had the effect of pushing Vancouver Island closer

587
 Physical Geology 588

to the North American mainland, resulting in the uplift of the sediments deposited within the Nanaimo
Basin to form islands in the Strait of Georgia (Figure 21.28) and mountains on Vancouver Island.

Figure 21.28 The Geoffrey Formation of the Nanaimo Group on

Ruxton Island, B.C. [SE]

Following these events, the subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate, which is a remnant of the former,
much larger, Farallon Plate, was re-established at its current location farther to the west of Vancouver
Island. This subduction, and that of the North America Plate beneath Alaska, has produced recently
active volcanoes in Alaska, and all along the west coast from north of Vancouver Island to northern
California (Figure 21.29). In southwestern B.C., there are several dormant volcanoes of Pleistocene
age (including Garibaldi and Meager) that trend along a line that also passes through Mt. Baker in
Washington State. About 40 km to the east is a trend of slightly older igneous complexes (Pliocene to
Oligocene). The displacement between these belts could be explained by a westward shift in the position
of the subduction zone over that time period.
589 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

Figure 21.29 The current plate situation

along the western edge of northern
North America. Blue lines are divergent
boundaries, red lines are transform
boundaries, and black lines with teeth
are subduction boundaries. The dark
red triangles are volcanoes. [SE]

The subduction and transform boundaries along this coast also generate relatively frequent earthquakes
throughout this region, as illustrated in Exercise 11.1.

Figure 21.30 Oligocene to Pleistocene igneous

complexes and volcanoes in southwestern B.C.
and adjacent Washington [SE]
 Physical Geology 590

Sedimentation in the WCSB continued into the Cenozoic (Figure 21.22) with deposition of the Paskapoo
Formation adjacent to the Rockies in Alberta (Figure 21.31), the Ravenscrag Formation in the Cypress
Hills of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, and the Turtle Hills Formation in southern Manitoba. All
of these strata were deposited in terrestrial fluvial and deltaic environments, and all of them include
coal deposits. Numerous mammalian (and other) fossils have been found in these rocks in Alberta and
Saskatchewan. The mammals include primitive ungulates (ancestors to the deer and their relatives), a
type of pangolin, a colugo (a gliding mammal that was possibly a primate ancestor), and some true
primates in the suborder Plesiadapiformes, which became extinct and are not ancestors to any modern
primates.

Figure 21.31 The Paskapoo Formation exposed on the banks of the

Red Deer River, Alberta [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Paskapoo_Mudstones_Red_Deer.jpg]

Exercises

Exercise 21.5 The Volume of the Paskapoo Formation

The area underlain by the Paleocene Paskapoo Formation is outlined in yellow on the map shown here. The
Paskapoo ranges up to about 1,000 m thick, and contours of its thickness (known as isopachs) are shown. The
average thickness is about 500 m, and the area covered by the formation is about 90,000 km2. This means that
the rock has a volume of about 45,000 km3. The sediments of the Paskapoo were derived from the Paleocene
Rocky Mountains, within the area shown in blue, which is about 60,000 km2.
591 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

1. What average depth of erosion would have been required within the source area to produce the 45,000 km3
of sediment, assuming that all of the eroded sediment ended up in the Paskapoo Formation?
2. The Paskapoo was deposited over a period of 4 million years from 62.5 Ma to 58.5 Ma. Assuming an
average thickness of 500 m, what was the average rate of deposition (in mm/year) over that period?
[SE after Alberta Geological Survey]

Rocks younger than Paleocene (i.e., younger than 55 Ma) are relatively rare across the prairies, but
there are widespread Eocene-aged volcanic and sedimentary rocks in central and southern B.C. The
Kamloops Group includes the Tranquille Formation of lacustrine sediments (lake deposited), overlain
by the Dewdrop Flats Formation of basaltic and andesitic volcanic flows and breccias. The Tranquille
Formation includes the McAbee Beds and a number of other important sites with Eocene fossils (Figure
21.32).

Figure 21.32 The Tranquille Formation at the McAbee fossil

site west of Kamloops, B.C. [SE]

The earliest Pleistocene glaciation in Canada started at about 2.64 Ma (late Pliocene) in the Klondike
area of Yukon. This was part of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. The Laurentide Ice Sheet started to form
shortly afterward, and within 200,000 years had covered a large part of Canada and extended well into
the United States. The Pleistocene glaciations had a major impact on the topography and geology of
western Canada, creating extraordinary glacial erosion features in the mountainous regions of the west
(Figure 21.33), and leaving enormous volumes of glacial sediment and glacial depositional features
throughout the region (Figure 21.34).
 Physical Geology 592

Figure 21.33 Various glacial erosion features (top left) and glaciation
at the Overlord Glacier, Coast Mountains, B.C. [Isaac Earle, used with
permission]

Figure 21.34 A drumlin field with an esker (centre) in the Cree Lake
area of northern Saskatchewan [NASA Landsat image, from Google
Earth]
Chapter 21 Summary

The main topics of this chapter can be summarized as follows:

The continent Laurentia, which includes what is now the Canadian Shield, was formed
through the assembly of a number of smaller continents over the period from around 4
Geological Ga to 1 Ga. Over the past 650 Ma, Laurentia moved north from deep within the southern
21.1 History of hemisphere. During that time, a number of important plate-tectonic events have taken
Canada place, including formation of the Appalachian and Innuitian fold belts, sedimentation
within the interior of the continent, and terrane accretion and mountain formation along
the west coast.

The two oldest parts of the Canadian Shield in western Canada are the Slave and
Superior Cratons, and both include some of Earth’s oldest rocks. During the formation of
Laurentia, these cratons were combined with the Rae and Hearn Cratons, with the
Western
collision zones now represented by the Trans-Hudson Orogen and the Taltson Magmatic
Canada
21.2 Zone. Continental sediments accumulated in Saskatchewan and Nunavut at around 1,700
during the
Ma and in the area of the southern B.C.-Alberta border at around 1,400 Ma. This region
Precambrian
was rifted apart during the breakup of the supercontinent Columbia, after which
sedimentation continued on the western margin of Laurentia with the deposition of the
Windermere Group.

Sedimentation on the west coast of North America continued into the early Paleozoic,
and by the Ordovician, the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) had developed,
Western
extending from southern Manitoba to the northern Northwest Territories. Most of the
Canada
21.3 Paleozoic rocks in this basin, which range in age up to the Carboniferous, have marine
during the
affinities, although there are important evaporites as well. Sedimentation continued on
Paleozoic
the west coast through this time, but by the late Paleozoic, a subduction boundary had
developed along the coast and small continents were moving toward North America.

The various parts of the Intermontane Superterrane began colliding with the west coast
of North America during the Jurassic (~180 Ma). This started the building of the Rocky
Mountains by the thrusting of existing sedimentary rocks toward the east. The arrival of
Western the Insular Superterrane during the Cretaceous (~90 Ma) contributed to further thrusting
Canada and uplift of the Rockies, creating a significant source of sediments for the WCSB. The
21.4
during the greatest volume of Mesozoic rocks in the basin are of Upper Cretaceous age, and that
Mesozoic likely coincides with the period of maximum collision-related uplift of the Rockies.
Subduction of oceanic crust at various locations along the west coast and within the
accreted terranes prior to their arrival has produced massive volumes of intrusive igneous
rocks within the Coast Range.

The Pacific Rim and Crescent Terranes were added to the western edge of Vancouver
Island during the Paleogene, pushing the island closer to the mainland and forcing
Western
recently deposited Nanaimo Group rocks onto the island. Continuing subduction along
Canada
21.5 the coast has generated ongoing volcanism and earthquake activity in southwestern B.C.
during the
Sedimentation continued in the WCSB into the Cenozoic, especially in the Paleocene
Cenozoic
with deposition of the terrestrial Paskapoo Formation in Alberta and similar rocks in
southern Saskatchewan.

593
 Physical Geology 594

Questions for Review

1. What are the oldest parts of Laurentia?

2. The five main geological regions of Canada are shown on this map. Name the regions A through E.

3. Which ancient continent collided with North America to form the Innuitian fold belt, and when did that
take place?
4. Explain why the ancient sedimentary rocks of the Athabasca and Thelon Basins are generally
unmetamorphosed and undeformed.
5. Explain why ultramafic intrusions, like those of the Muskox Intrusion, are relatively common in Archean
rocks, but rare in Phanerozoic rocks.
6. Use the Internet to find out why Cambrian marine organisms are so well preserved in the rocks of the
Burgess Shale of British Columbia.
7. The Prairie Evaporite Formation overlies marine carbonate rocks of the Winnipegosis Formation and is
overlain in turn by marine carbonate rocks of the Dawson Bay Formation. What type of changes might have
led to the accumulation of evaporites during this period of marine deposition?
8. What features of the Intermontane Superterrane have been used to indicate that these rocks formed south of
the equator?
9. What is the connection between terrane accretion on the west coast and the relatively rapid accumulation of
sediments within the WCSB?
10.Why is the WCSB considered to be a foreland basin during the Mesozoic?
11. The four main terranes of the Intermontane Superterrane are Cache Creek, Quesnel, Stikine, and Yukon-
Tanana. Referring to Figure 21.14, determine the order in which these terranes are likely to have reached
North America.
12. The presence of Nanaimo Group sedimentary rocks far inland and at relatively high elevations on
Vancouver Island is attributed to the accretion of the Pacific Rim and Crescent Terranes. What is the likely
connection?
595 Chapter 21 Geological History of Western Canada

13. Referring to the diagram in Exercise 21.5, explain why the Paskapoo Formation gets thinner toward the
northeast.
Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Describe what happened during the big bang, and explain how we know it happened
• Explain how clouds of gas floating in space can turn into stars, planets, and solar systems
• Describe the types of objects that are present in our solar system, and why they exist where they
do
• Outline the early stages in Earth’s history, including how it developed its layered structure, and
where its water and atmosphere came from
• Explain how the Moon formed, and how we know
• Summarize the progress so far in the hunt for habitable-zone planets outside of our solar system
• Explain why the planetary systems we have discovered so far raise questions about our model of
how the solar system formed

The story of how Earth came to be is a fascinating contradiction. On the one hand, many, many things
had to go just right for Earth to turn out the way it did and develop life. On the other hand, the formation
of planets similar to Earth is an entirely predictable consequence of the laws of physics, and it seems to
have happened more than once.

We will start Earth’s story from the beginning — the very beginning — and learn why generations of
stars had to be born and then die explosive deaths before Earth could exist. We will look at what it takes
for a star to form, and for objects to form around it, as well as why the nature of those objects depends
on how far away from the central star they form.

Earth spent its early years growing up in a very rough neighbourhood, and we will discuss how Earth’s
environment influenced its development, including how it got its moon from what was quite literally
an Earth-shattering blow. This chapter will also discuss the hunt for Earth-like exoplanets (planets that
exist outside of our solar system).

596
Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan

Introduction

Learning Objectives

After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the
end, you should be able to:

• Describe what happened during the big bang, and explain how we know it happened
• Explain how clouds of gas floating in space can turn into stars, planets, and solar systems
• Describe the types of objects that are present in our solar system, and why they exist where they
do
• Outline the early stages in Earth’s history, including how it developed its layered structure, and
where its water and atmosphere came from
• Explain how the Moon formed, and how we know
• Summarize the progress so far in the hunt for habitable-zone planets outside of our solar system
• Explain why the planetary systems we have discovered so far raise questions about our model of
how the solar system formed

The story of how Earth came to be is a fascinating contradiction. On the one hand, many, many things
had to go just right for Earth to turn out the way it did and develop life. On the other hand, the formation
of planets similar to Earth is an entirely predictable consequence of the laws of physics, and it seems to
have happened more than once.

We will start Earth’s story from the beginning — the very beginning — and learn why generations of
stars had to be born and then die explosive deaths before Earth could exist. We will look at what it takes
for a star to form, and for objects to form around it, as well as why the nature of those objects depends
on how far away from the central star they form.

Earth spent its early years growing up in a very rough neighbourhood, and we will discuss how Earth’s
environment influenced its development, including how it got its moon from what was quite literally
an Earth-shattering blow. This chapter will also discuss the hunt for Earth-like exoplanets (planets that
exist outside of our solar system).

597
22.1 Starting with a Big Bang
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan

According to the big bang theory, the universe blinked violently into existence 13.77 billion years ago
(Figure 22.1). The big bang is often described as an explosion, but imagining it as an enormous fireball
isn’t accurate. The big bang involved a sudden expansion of matter, energy, and space from a single
point. The kind of Hollywood explosion that might come to mind involves expansion of matter and
energy within space, but during the big bang, space itself was created.

Figure 22.1 The big bang. The universe began 13.77 billion years ago
with a sudden expansion of space, matter, and energy, and it continues
to expand today. [KP, modified after NASA/ WMAP Science Team,
http://bit.ly/BBdiagram]

At the start of the big bang, the universe was too hot and dense to be anything but a sizzle of particles
smaller than atoms, but as it expanded, it also cooled. Eventually some of the particles collided and stuck
together. Those collisions produced hydrogen and helium, the most common elements in the universe,
along with a small amount of lithium.

You may wonder how a universe can be created out of nothing, or how we can know that the big bang
happened at all. Creating a universe out of nothing is mostly beyond the scope of this chapter, but there
is a way to think about it. The particles that make up the universe have opposites that cancel each other
out, similar to the way that we can add the numbers 1 and -1 to get zero (also known as “nothing”). As
far as the math goes, having zero is exactly the same as having a 1 and a -1. It is also exactly the same
as having a 2 and a -2, a 3 and a -3, two -1s and a 2, and so on. In other words, nothing is really the
potential for something if you divide it into its opposite parts. As for how we can know that the big bang
happened at all, there are very good reasons to accept that it is indeed how our universe came to be.

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599 Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

Looking back to the early stages of the big bang

The notion of seeing the past is often used metaphorically when we talk about ancient events, but in this
case it is meant literally. In our everyday experience, when we watch an event take place, we perceive
that we are watching it as it unfolds in real time. In fact, this isn’t true. To see the event, light from
that event must travel to our eyes. Light travels very rapidly, but it does not travel instantly. If we were
watching a digital clock 1 m away from us change from 11:59 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., we would actually see
it turn to 12:00 p.m. three billionths of a second after it happened. This isn’t enough of a delay to cause
us to be late for an appointment, but the universe is a very big place, and the “digital clock” in question
is often much, much farther away. In fact, the universe is so big that it is convenient to describe distances
in terms of light years, or the distance light travels in one year. What this means is that light from distant
objects takes so long to get to us that we see those objects as they were at some considerable time in
the past. For example, the star Proxima Centauri is 4.24 light years from the sun. If you viewed Proxima
Centauri from Earth on January 1, 2015, you would actually see it as it appeared in early October 2010.

We now have tools that are powerful enough to look deep into space and see the arrival of light from
early in the universe’s history. Astronomers can detect light from approximately 375,000 years after the
big bang is thought to have occurred. Physicists tell us that if the big bang happened, then particles
within the universe would still be very close together at this time. They would be so close that light
wouldn’t be able to travel far without bumping into another particle and getting scattered in another
direction. The effect would be to fill the sky with glowing fog, the “afterglow” from the formation of the
universe (Figure 22.1). In fact, this is exactly what we see when we look at light from 375,000 years after
the big bang. The fog is referred to as the cosmic microwave background (or CMB), and it has been
carefully mapped throughout the sky (Figure 22.2). The map displays the cosmic microwave background
as temperature variations, but these variations translate to differences in the density of matter in the early
universe. The red patches are the highest density regions and the blue patches are the lowest density.
Higher density regions represent the eventual beginnings of stars and planets. The map in Figure 22.2
has been likened to a baby picture of the universe.

Figure 22.2 Cosmic microwave background (CMB)

map of the sky, a baby picture of the universe. The
CMB is light from 375,000 years after the big bang.
The colours reveal variations in density. Red patches
have the highest density and blue patches have the
lowest density. Regions of higher density eventually
formed the stars, planets, and other objects we see in
space today. [NASA/ WMAP Science Team
http://bit.ly/CMBMap ]
 Physical Geology 600

The big bang is still happening, and we can see the universe expanding

The expansion that started with the big bang never stopped. It continues today, and we can see it happen
by observing that large clusters of billions of stars, called galaxies, are moving away from us. (The
exception is the Andromeda galaxy with which we are on a collision course.) The astronomer Edwin
Hubble came to this conclusion when he observed that the light from other galaxies was red-shifted. The
red shift is a consequence of the Doppler effect. This refers to how we see waves when the object that
is creating the waves is moving toward us or away from us.

Figure 22.3 Duckling illustrates the Doppler effect in water. The

ripples made in the direction the duckling is moving (blue lines) are
closer together than the ripples behind the duckling (red lines). [KP,
photo by M. Harkin (CC BY 2.0) http://bit.ly/1Dm2L5T]
601 Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

Figure 22.4 Red shift in light from the supercluster BAS11 compared to
the sun’s light. Black lines represent wavelengths absorbed by atoms
(mostly H and He). For BAS11 the black lines are shifted toward the
red end of the spectrum compared to the Sun. [KP, spectra by Harold
Stokes (public domain) http://bit.ly/1MNVBdp ]

Before we get to the Doppler effect as it pertains to the red shift, let’s see how it works on something
more tangible. The duckling swimming in Figure 22.3 is generating waves as it moves through the water.
It is generating waves that move forward as well as back, but notice that the ripples ahead of the duckling
are closer to each other than the ripples behind the duckling. The distance from one ripple to the next
is called the wavelength. The wavelength is shorter in the direction that the duckling is moving, and
longer as the duckling moves away.

When waves are in air as sound waves rather than in water as ripples, the different wavelengths manifest
as sounds with different pitches — the short wavelengths have a higher pitch, and the long wavelengths
have a lower pitch. This is why the pitch of a car’s engine changes as the car races past you.

For light waves, wavelength translates to colour (Figure 22.4). In the spectrum of light that we can see,
shorter wavelengths are on the blue end of the spectrum, and longer wavelengths are on the red end of
the spectrum. Does this mean that galaxies look red because they are moving away from us? No, but the
colour we see is shifted toward the red end of the spectrum and longer wavelengths.

Notice that the sun’s spectrum in the upper part of Figure 22.4 has some black lines in it. The black
lines are there because some colours are missing in the light we get from the Sun. Different elements
absorb light of specific wavelengths, and many of the black lines in Figure 22.4 represent colours that
are absorbed by hydrogen and helium within the Sun. This means the black lines are like a bar code that
can tell us what a star is made of. The lower spectrum in Figure 22.4 is the light coming from BAS11,
an enormous cluster of approximately 10,000 galaxies located 1 billion light years away. The black lines
represent the same elements as in the Sun’s spectrum, but they are shifted to the right toward the red
end of the spectrum because BAS11 is moving away from us as the universe continues to expand. So to
summarize, because almost all of the galaxies we can see have light that is red-shifted, it means they are
 Physical Geology 602

all moving away from us. In fact, the farther away they are, the faster they are going. This is evidence
that the universe is still expanding.
 22.2 Forming Planets from the Remnants of Exploding Stars
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan

If we were to take an inventory of the elements that make up Earth, we would find that 95% of Earth’s
mass comes from only four elements: oxygen, magnesium, silicon, and iron. Most of the remaining
5% comes from aluminum, calcium, nickel, hydrogen, and sulphur. We know that the big bang made
hydrogen, helium, and lithium, but where did the rest of the elements come from?

The answer is that the other elements were made by stars. Sometimes stars are said to “burn” their
fuel, but burning is not at all what is going on within stars. The burning that happens when wood in a
campfire is turned to ash and smoke is a chemical reaction — heat causes the atoms that were in the
wood and in the surrounding atmosphere to exchange partners. Atoms group in different ways, but the
atoms themselves do not change. What stars do is change the atoms. The heat and pressure within stars
cause smaller atoms to smash together and fuse into new, larger atoms. For example, when hydrogen
atoms smash together and fuse, helium is formed. Large amounts of energy are released when some
atoms fuse and that energy is what causes stars to shine.

It takes larger stars to make elements as heavy as iron and nickel. Our Sun is an average star; after it
uses up its hydrogen fuel to make helium, and then some of that helium is fused to make small amounts
of beryllium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and fluorine, it will be at the end of its life. It will stop making
atoms and will cool down and bloat until its middle reaches the orbit of Mars. In contrast, large stars
end their lives in spectacular fashion, exploding as supernovae and casting off newly formed atoms
—including the elements heavier than iron — into space. It took many generations of stars creating
heavier elements and casting them into space before heavier elements were abundant enough to form
planets like Earth.

Until recently, astronomers have only been able to see stars that already contain heavier elements in
small amounts, but not the first-generation stars that started out before any of the heavier elements were
produced. That changed in June of 2015 when it was announced that a distant galaxy called CR7 had
been found that contained stars made only of hydrogen and helium. The galaxy is so far away that it
1
shows us a view of the universe from only 800 million years after the big bang.

1. Read more about the discovery of CR7 here: http://bit.ly/CR7galaxy

603
22.3 How to Build a Solar System
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan

A solar system consists of a collection of objects orbiting one or more central stars. All solar systems
start out the same way. They begin in a cloud of gas and dust called a nebula. Nebulae are some of
the most beautiful objects that have been photographed in space, with vibrant colours from the gases
and dust they contain, and brilliant twinkling from the many stars that have formed within them (Figure
22.5). The gas consists largely of hydrogen and helium, and the dust consists of tiny mineral grains, ice
crystals, and organic particles.

Figure 22.5 Photograph of a nebula. The Pillars of Creation within the

Eagle Nebula viewed in visible light (left) and near infrared light
(right). Near infrared light captures heat from stars and allows us to
view stars that would otherwise be hidden by dust. This is why the
picture on the right appears to have more stars than the picture on the
left. [NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
http://bit.ly/1Dm2X5a]

Step 1: Collapse a nebula

A solar system begins to form when a small patch within a nebula (small by the standards of the universe,
that is) begins to collapse upon itself. Exactly how this starts isn’t clear, although it might be triggered
by the violent behaviour of nearby stars as they progress through their life cycles. Energy and matter
released by these stars might compress the gas and dust in nearby neighbourhoods within the nebula.

Once it is triggered, the collapse of gas and dust within that patch continues for two reasons. One of
those reasons is that gravitational force pulls gas molecules and dust particles together. But early in the
process, those particles are very small, so the gravitational force between them isn’t strong. So how do
they come together? The answer is that dust first accumulates in loose clumps for the same reason dust
604
605 Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

bunnies form under your bed: static electricity. Given the role of dust bunnies in the early history of the
solar system, one might speculate that an accumulation of dust bunnies poses a substantial risk to one’s
home (Figure 22.6). In practice, however, this is rarely the case.

Figure 22.6 Public service

announcement. If you don’t think
housekeeping is important, then you
don’t understand the gravity of the
situation. [KP, with inspiration from
NASA/JPL, http://1.usa.gov/1K1dVcU]

Step 2: Make a disk and put a star at its centre

As the small patch within a nebula condenses, a star begins to form from material drawn into the centre
of the patch, and the remaining dust and gas settle into a disk that rotates around the star. The disk is
where planets eventually form, so it’s called a protoplanetary disk. In Figure 22.7 the image in the
upper left shows an artist’s impression of a protoplanetary disk, and the image in the upper right shows
an actual protoplanetary disk surrounding the star HL Tauri. Notice the dark rings in the protoplanetary
disk. These are gaps where planets are beginning to form. The rings are there because incipient planets
are beginning to collect the dust and gas in their orbits. There is an analogy for this in our own solar
system, because the dark rings are akin to the gaps in the rings of Saturn (Figure 22.7, lower left), where
moons can be found (Figure 22.7, lower right).
 Physical Geology 606

Figure 22.7 Protoplanetary disks and Saturn’s rings. Upper left: An

artists impression of a protoplanetary disk containing gas and dust,
surrounding a new star. [NASA/ JPL-Caltech, http://1.usa.gov/
1E5tFJR] Upper right: A photograph of the protoplanetary disk
surrounding HL Tauri. The dark rings within the disk are thought to be
gaps where newly forming planets are sweeping up dust and gas.
[ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) http://bit.ly/1KNCq0e]. Lower left: A
photograph of Saturn showing similar gaps within its rings. The bright
spot at the bottom is an aurora, similar to the northern lights on Earth.
[NASA, ESA, J. Clarke (Boston University), and Z. Levay (STScI)
http://bit.ly/1IfSCX5] Lower right: a close-up view of a gap in Saturn’s
rings showing a small moon as a white dot. [NASA/JPL/Space Science
Institute, http://1.usa.gov/1g2EeYw]

Step 3: Build some planets

In general, planets can be classified into three categories based on what they are made of (Figure 22.8).
Terrestrial planets are those planets like Earth, Mercury, Venus, and Mars that have a core of metal
surrounded by rock. Jovian planets (also called gas giants) are those planets like Jupiter and Saturn that
consist predominantly of hydrogen and helium. Ice giants are planets such as Uranus and Neptune that
consist largely of water ice, methane (CH4) ice, and ammonia (NH3) ice, and have rocky cores. Often,
the ice giant planets Uranus and Neptune are grouped with Jupiter and Saturn as gas giants; however,
Uranus and Neptune are very different from Jupiter and Saturn.
607 Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

Figure 22.8 Three types of planets. Jovian (or gas giant) planets such
as Jupiter consist mostly of hydrogen and helium. They are the largest
of the three types. Ice giant planets such as Uranus are the next
largest. They contain water, ammonia, and methane ice. Terrestrial
planets such as Earth are the smallest, and they have metal cores
covered by rocky mantles. [KP, after public domain images by
FrancescoA, WolfmanSF (http://bit.ly/1eP75P4), and NASA
(http://1.usa.gov/1gFVsf6, http://1.usa.gov/1M89jI3)]

These three types of planets are not mixed together randomly within our solar system. Instead they occur
in a systematic way, with terrestrial planets closest to the sun, followed by the Jovian planets and then
the ice giants (Figure 22.9). Smaller solar system objects follow this arrangement as well. The asteroid
belt contains bodies of rock and metal. Bodies ranging from metres to hundreds of metres in diameter
are classified as asteroids, and smaller bodies are referred to as meteoroids. In contrast, the Kuiper belt
(Kuiper rhymes with piper), and the Oort cloud (Oort rhymes with sort), which are at the outer edge of
the solar system, contain bodies composed of large amounts of ice in addition to rocky fragments and
dust. (We will talk more about smaller solar system objects in a moment.)
 Physical Geology 608

Figure 22.9 Our solar system. Top: The solar system shown with
distances to scale. Distances are in astronomical units (AU), where 1
AU is the average distance from Earth to the Sun. The edge of the
Kuiper belt extends to 50 AU (7.5 billion km), but this distance is
minuscule compared to the size of the solar system as a whole, which
extends to the edge of the Oort cloud, thought to be 15 trillion km
away. Bottom: Solar system with the Sun and planets to scale. The gas
giants are the largest planets, followed by the ice giants, and then the
terrestrial planets. Note that the planets in this diagram likely do not
reflect the entire population of planets in our solar system because
evidence suggests that large planets are present beyond the Kuiper
belt. [KP, planet photographs courtesy of NASA via http://bit.ly/
1M89xPs, Milky Way photo ForestWanderer (CC BY SA 3.0)
http://bit.ly/1M89xPs]

Part of the reason for this arrangement is the frost line (also referred to as the snow line). The frost
line separated the inner part of the protoplanetary disk closer to the sun, where it was too hot to permit
anything but silicate minerals and metal to crystalize, from the outer part of the disk farther from the
Sun, where it was cool enough to allow ice to form. As a result, the objects that formed in the inner
part of the protoplanetary disk consist largely of rock and metal, while the objects that formed in the
outer part consist largely of gas and ice. The young sun blasted the solar system with raging solar winds
(winds made up of energetic particles), which helped to drive lighter molecules toward the outer part of
the protoplanetary disk.

The objects in our solar system formed by accretion. Early in this process, particles collected in fluffy
clumps because of static electricity. As the clumps grew larger, gravity became more important and
collected clumps into solid masses, and solid masses into larger and larger bodies. If you were one of
these bodies in the early solar system, and participating in the accretion game with the goal of becoming
a planet, you would have to follow some key rules:

• Keep your velocity just right. If you move too fast and collide with another body, you both
smash up and have to start again. If you move slowly enough, gravity will keep you from
bouncing off each other and you can grow larger.
• Your distance from the Sun will determine how big you can get. If you are closer, there is less
material for you to collect than if you are farther away.
609 Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

• To begin with, you can only collect mineral and rock particles. You have to grow above a
certain mass before your gravity is strong enough to hang onto gas molecules, because gas
molecules are very light.
• As your mass increases, your gravity becomes stronger and you can grab material from
farther away. The bigger you are, the faster you grow.

You would also have to watch out for some dangers:

• In the early stages of the game, the protoplanetary disk is turbulent, and you and other objects
can get thrown into different orbits or at each other. This might be a good thing, or it might
not, depending on how the rules above apply to you.
• If the game progresses to the point where there is no more material within your reach and you
are not yet a planet, then it’s game over.
• If you slow down too much (e.g., from bumping into other objects), you could spiral into the
Sun (game over).
• If another planet gets big enough, it can:
◦ Rip you apart and then swing the pieces around so fast that for the rest of the game
you collide too hard with other pieces to grow any bigger (game over)
◦ Fling you out of the solar system (game over)
◦ Grab you for itself (game over)
◦ Trap you in an orbit around it, turning you into a moon (game over, and incredibly
humiliating)

The outcome of the game is evident in Figure 22.9. Today eight official winners are recognized, with
Jupiter taking the grand prize, followed closely by Saturn. Both planets have trophy cases with more
than 60 moons each, and each has a moon that is larger than Mercury. Prior to 2006, Pluto was also
counted a winner, but in 2006 a controversial decision revoked Pluto’s planet status. The reason was a
newly formalized definition of a planet, which stated that an object can only be considered a planet if it is
massive enough to have swept its orbit clean of other bodies. Pluto is situated within the icy clutter of the
Kuiper belt, so it does not fit this definition. Pluto’s supporters have argued that Pluto should have been
grandfathered in, given that the definition came after Pluto was declared a planet, but to no avail. Pluto
has not given up, and on July 13, 2015, it launched an emotional plea with the help of the NASA’s New
Horizons probe. New Horizons sent back images of Pluto’s heart (Figure 22.10). On closer inspection,
Pluto’s heart was discovered to be broken.
 Physical Geology 610

Figure 22.10 Photographs of Pluto. Left: The heart-shaped region

called Tombaugh Regio is outlined. This region is named after Pluto’s
discoverer Clyde Tombaugh [KP, NASA/APL/SwRI , http://1.usa.gov/
1MOuT3m]. Right: False-colour images show compositional
variations in Tombaugh Regio. [KP, NASA/APL/SwRI ,
http://1.usa.gov/1SO9bBu]

The rules and dangers of the planet-forming game help to explain many features of our solar system
today.

• Proximity to the Sun explains why the terrestrial planets are so much smaller than the gas
giant and ice giant planets.
• Mars is smaller than it should be, given the rule that distance from the Sun determines how
much material a body can accumulate, and this can be explained by its proximity to Jupiter.
Jupiter’s immense gravity interfered with Mars’ ability to accrete. Further evidence of
Jupiter’s interference is the debris field that forms the asteroid belt. From time to time,
Jupiter still flings objects from the asteroid belt out into other parts of the solar system, some
of which have collided with Earth to catastrophic effect.
• The Kuiper belt is an icy version of the asteroid belt, consisting of fragments left over from
the early solar system. The material in the Kuiper belt is scattered because of Neptune’s
gravity. From time to time, Jupiter interferes here as well, flinging Kuiper belt objects toward
the Sun and into orbit. As these objects approach the Sun, the Sun causes dust and gas to be
blasted from their surface, forming tails. We know these objects as comets.
• Comets may also come from the Oort cloud where gravitational forces from outside of the
solar system can hurl objects from the Oort cloud toward the Sun.

Exercises

Exercise 22.1 How Do We Know What Other Planets Are Like Inside?The densities of planets
give us important clues about the planets’ compositions. For example, in our solar system, Earth (a
terrestrial planet) has a density of 5.51 g/cm3, but Jupiter (a gas giant) has a density of 1.33 g/cm3.
We can also use density to determine something about the interior structures of planets. In this
exercise, you will determine how much of each terrestrial planet is made up of core, and translate
611 Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

that result to a diagram for easy comparison.

It is useful to approximate the structure of a terrestrial planet as having two parts: a metal core and
a rocky mantle. If we know the density of the planet as a whole, and the densities of the materials
making up the rocky mantle and the core, we can find out how much of the planet is core and how
much is rocky. The density of the planet is the sum of the percent having the density of the core
and the percent having the density of rock. This can be written as follows:
planet density = % core/100 x core density + (1- %core/100) x rock density
Rearranging the equation gives us:
% core = (planet density – rock density)/ (core density- rock density) x 100
Step 1. Find the percent core for each of the terrestrial planets using the data in Tables 22.1 and
22.2. For our calculations the planet density will be the uncompressed density of the planet.
Uncompressed density is the density after removing the effects of gravity squeezing the planet
together. (Notice that the density we mentioned for Earth is 5.51 g/cm3, but Earth’s uncompressed
density is only 4.05 g/cm3.) The first one is done for you.

Table 22.1 Core and mantle density from meteorites

Density
Description Source Why?
(g/cm3)

These come from the cores of broken up asteroids and planets and
iron
Core density 8.00 approximate what the density of Earth’s core would be without
meteorite
gravitational squeezing.

HED meteorites come from the rocky mantles of asteroids and

Rocky HED*
planets that have separated into mantle and core, and then broken
mantle 3.25 stony
up. These approximate what the density of Earth’s mantle would be
density meteorites
without gravitational squeezing.

*HED stands for the names of three types of meteorites: howardites, eucrites, and diogenites.

Table 22.2 Finding the fraction of volume that is core

Description Earth Mars Venus Mercury

Planet density (uncompressed)

4.05 3.74 4.00 5.30
in g/cm3

Percent core
16.8%
(planet density – 3.25 g/cm3)/ 4.75 g/cm3 ) x 100

Step 2. Once we have the percent of core, we can use it to find the volume of the core for each
planet. The core volume is the percent of core times the volume of the planet. Use the planet
volumes in Table 22.3 to calculate the core volume. Record your answers.
 Physical Geology 612

Table 22.3 Finding the volume of the core for each planet

Description Earth Mars Venus Mercury

Planet volume* in km3 1.47 x 1012 1.72 x 1011 1.22 x 1012 6.23 x 1010

Core volume in in km3

2.48 x 1011
(% core/100) x planet volume

*Unsqueezed” values
Step 3. We can get the radius of the core from its volume by using the formula for the volume of a
sphere (volume = 4/3pr3, where r is the radius). This calculation is done for you in Table 22.4.
From these values, express each radius as a percentage of the total radius. To do this, divide the
core radius by the planet radius and multiply by 100. Using your results, fill in the diagrams at the
bottom of Table 22.4 by drawing in the boundary between the core and mantle.

Table 22.4 Finding the percent of each planet’s radius that is core

Description Earth Mars Venus Mercury

Core radius* in km 3,900 1,617 3,581 1,858

Planet radius* in km 7,059 3,447 6,623 2,458

Percent of radius that is core:

55%
(core radius/planet radius) x 100

Planet diagram

Diagrams represent a wedge of the

planet from surface to centre. The
distance between each tick mark is 5%
of the radius.

One of the terrestrial planets is thought to have been involved in collisions that resulted in the
permanent loss of a substantial amount of its mantle. You might be able to guess which one it is
from the uncompressed densities of the planets. It should also be clear from your diagrams. Which
planet is it?
22.4 Earth’s First 2 Billion Years
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan

If you were to get into a time machine and visit Earth shortly after it formed (around 4.5 billion years
ago), you would probably regret it. Large patches of Earth’s surface would still be molten, which would
make landing your time machine very dangerous indeed. If you happened to have one of the newer time-
machine models with hovering capabilities and heat shields, you would still face the inconvenience of
having nothing to breathe but a tenuous wisp of hydrogen and helium gas, and depending on how much
volcanic activity was going on, volcanic gases such as water vapour and carbon dioxide. Some ammonia
and methane might be thrown in just to make it interesting, but there would be no oxygen. Assuming you
had the foresight to purchase the artificial atmosphere upgrade for your time machine, it would all be for
naught if you materialized just in time to see an asteroid, or worse yet another planet, bearing down on
your position. The moral of the story is that early Earth was a nasty place, and a time machine purchase
is not something to take lightly.

Why was early Earth so nasty?

The early Earth was hot

Chapter 9 explains that Earth’s heat comes from the decay of radioactive elements within Earth, as well
as from processes associated with Earth’s formation. Let’s look more closely at how those formation
processes heated up Earth.

• Heat came from the thermal energy already contained within the objects that accreted to form
the Earth.
• Heat came from collisions. When objects hit Earth, some of the energy from their motion
went into deforming Earth, and some of it was transformed into heat. Clap your hands
vigorously to experience this on a much smaller (and safer!) scale.
• As Earth became larger, its gravitational force became stronger. This increased Earth’s ability
to draw objects to it, but it also caused the material making Earth to be compressed, rather
like Earth giving itself a giant gravitational hug. Compression causes materials to heat up.

Heating had a very important consequence for Earth’s structure. As Earth grew, it collected a mixture
of silicate mineral grains as well as iron and nickel. These materials were scattered throughout Earth.
That changed when Earth began to heat up: it got so hot that both the silicate minerals and the metals
melted. The metal melt was much denser than the silicate mineral melt, so the metal melt sank to Earth’s
centre to become its core, and the silicate melt rose upward to become Earth’s crust and mantle. In other
words, Earth unmixed itself. The separation of silicate minerals and metals into a rocky outer layer and
a metallic core, respectively, is called differentiation. The movement of silicate and metal melts within
Earth caused it to heat up even more.

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 Physical Geology 614

Earth’s high temperature early in its history also means that early tectonic processes were accelerated
compared to today, and Earth’s surface was more geologically active.

Earth was heavily bombarded by objects from space

Although Earth had swept up a substantial amount of the material in its orbit as it was accreting, unrest
within the solar system caused by changes in the orbits of Saturn and Jupiter was still sending many large
objects on cataclysmic collision courses with Earth. The energy from these collisions repeatedly melted
and even vaporized minerals in the crust, and blasted gases out of Earth’s atmosphere. Very old scars
from these collisions are still detectable, although we have to look carefully to see them. For example,
the oldest impact site discovered is the 3 billion year old Maniitsoq “crater” in west Greenland, although
there is no crater to see. What is visible are rocks that were 20 km to 25 km below Earth’s surface at the
time of the impact, but which nevertheless display evidence of deformation that could only be produced
by intense, sudden shock.

The evidence of the very worst collision that Earth experienced is not subtle at all. In fact, you have
probably looked directly at it hundreds of times already, perhaps without realizing what it is. That
collision was with a planet named Theia, which was approximately the size of Mars (Figure 22.11). Not
long after Earth formed, Theia struck Earth. When Theia slammed into Earth, Theia’s metal core merged
with Earth’s core, and debris from the outer silicate layers was cast into space, forming a ring of rubble
around Earth. The material within the ring coalesced into a new body in orbit around Earth, giving us our
moon. Remarkably, the debris may have coalesced in 10 years or fewer! This scenario for the formation
of the moon is called the giant impact hypothesis.

Earth’s atmosphere as we know it took a long time to develop

Earth’s first experiment with having an atmosphere didn’t go well. It started out with a thin veil of
hydrogen and helium gases that came with the material it accreted. However, hydrogen and helium are
very light gases, and they bled off into space.

Earth’s second experiment with having an atmosphere went much better. Volcanic eruptions built up the
atmosphere by releasing gases. The most common volcanic gases are water vapour and carbon dioxide
(CO2), but volcanoes release a wide variety of gases. Other important contributions include sulphur
dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), hydrogen gas, and methane (CH4).
Meteorites and comets also brought substantial amounts of water and nitrogen to Earth. It is not clear
what the exact composition of the atmosphere was after Earth’s second experiment, but carbon dioxide,
water vapour, and nitrogen were likely the three most abundant components.
615 Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

Figure 22.11 Artist’s impression of a collision between planets. A

similar collision between Earth and the planet Theia might have given
us our Moon. Fortunately for us, the collision that gave us the moon
was a glancing blow rather than the direct hit shown here. Earth might
not have survived a direct hit. [NASA/ JPL-Caltech, http://1.usa.gov/
1IkP069]

One thing we can say for sure about Earth’s second experiment is that there was effectively no free
oxygen (O2, the form of oxygen that we breathe) in the atmosphere. We know this in part because prior
to 2 billion years ago, there were no sedimentary beds stained red from oxidized iron minerals. Iron
minerals were present, but not in oxidized form. At that time, O2 was produced in the atmosphere when
the Sun’s ultraviolet rays split water molecules apart; however, chemical reactions removed the oxygen
as quickly as it was produced.

It wasn’t until well into Earth’s third experiment — life — that the atmosphere began to become
oxygenated. Photosynthetic organisms used the abundant CO2 in the atmosphere to manufacture their
food, and released O2 as a by-product. At first all of the oxygen was consumed by chemical reactions,
but eventually the organisms released so much O2 that it overwhelmed the chemical reactions and
oxygen began to accumulate in the atmosphere, although present levels of 21% oxygen didn’t occur until
about 350 Ma. Today the part of our atmosphere that isn’t oxygen consists largely of nitrogen (78%).

The oxygen-rich atmosphere on our planet is life’s signature. If geologic process were the only processes
controlling our atmosphere, it would consist mostly of carbon dioxide, like the atmosphere of Venus. It is
an interesting notion (or a disconcerting one, depending on your point of view) that for the last 2 billion
years the light reflected from our planet has been beaming a bar code out to the universe, similar to the
ones in Figure 22.4, except ours says “oxygen.” For 2 billion years, our planet has been sending out a
signal that could cause an observer from another world to say, “That’s odd… I wonder what’s going on
over there.”
 22.5 Are There Other Earths?
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan

If by that you mean, are there other planets where we could walk out of a spaceship with no equipment
other than a picnic basket, and enjoy a pleasant afternoon on a grassy slope near a stream, then that
remains to be seen. On the other hand, if you are asking if other planets exist that are rocky worlds
approximately Earth’s size, and orbiting within their star’s habitable zone (the zone in which liquid
water, and potentially life, can exist), then many planet hunters are cautiously optimistic that we have
found at least 12 such worlds so far.

As of July 2015, NASA’s Kepler mission has detected a total of 4,696 possible exoplanets. The Kepler
spacecraft has an instrument to measure the brightness of stars, and looks for tiny variations in brightness
that could be caused by a planet passing between the star it orbits and the instrument observing the star.
Potential candidates are then examined in more detail to see whether they are in fact planets or not. So
1
far 1,030 of those candidates have been confirmed as planets. Of those, 12 satisfy the criteria of being
2
one to two times the size of Earth, and orbiting their star within the habitable zone.

The uncertainty about the 12 possible Earth-like worlds is related to their composition. We don’t yet
know their composition; however, it is tempting to conclude that they are rocky because they are similar
in size to Earth. Remember the rules of the accretion game: you can only begin to collect gas once you
are a certain size, and how much matter you collect depends on how far away from the Sun you are.
Given how large our gas giant and ice giant planets are compared to Earth, and how far away they are
from the Sun, we would expect that a planet similar in size to Earth, and a similar distance from its star,
should be rocky.

It isn’t quite as simple as that, however. We are finding that the rules to the accretion game can result in
planetary systems very different from our own, leading some people to wonder whether those planetary
systems are strange, or ours is, and if ours is strange, how strange is it?

Consider that in the Kepler mission’s observations thus far, it is very common to find planetary systems
with planets larger than Earth orbiting closer to their star than Mercury does to the Sun. It is rare for
planetary systems to have planets as large as Jupiter, and where large planets do exist, they are much
closer to their star than Jupiter is to the Sun. To summarize, we need to be cautious about drawing
conclusions from our own solar system, just in case we are basing those conclusions on something truly
unusual.

On the other hand, the seemingly unique features of our solar system would make planetary systems
like ours difficult to spot. Small planets are harder to detect because they block less of a star’s light than
larger planets. Larger planets farther from a star are difficult to spot because they don’t go past the star as
frequently. For example, Jupiter goes around the Sun once every 12 years, which means that if someone

1. You can access a catalogue of confirmed exoplanets found by NASA and other planet-hunting organizations at http://exoplanet.eu/
catalog/
2. Read more about habitable-zone planets discovered so far at http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/finding-another-earth

616
617 Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

were observing our solar system, they might have to watch for 12 years to see Jupiter go past the Sun
once. For Saturn, they might have to watch for 30 years.

So let’s say the habitable-zone exoplanets are terrestrial. Does that mean we
could live there?

The operational definition of “other Earths,” which involves a terrestrial composition, a size constraint
of one to two times that of Earth, and location within a star’s habitable zone, does not preclude worlds
incapable of supporting life as we know it. By those criteria, Venus is an “other Earth,” albeit right on the
edge of the habitable zone for our Sun. Venus is much too hot for us, with a constant surface temperature
of 465°C (lead melts at 327°C). Its atmosphere is almost entirely carbon dioxide, and the atmospheric
pressure at its surface is 92 times higher than on Earth. Any liquid water on its surface boiled off long
ago. Yet the characteristics that make Venus a terrible picnic destination aren’t entirely things we could
predict from its distance from the sun. They depend in part on the geochemical evolution of Venus, and
at one time Venus might have been a lot more like a youthful Earth. These are the kinds of things we
won’t know about until we can look carefully at the atmospheres and compositions of habitable-zone
exoplanets.

Exercises

Exercise 22.2 How Do We Know the Sizes of Exoplanets?

One of the techniques for finding exoplanets is to measure changes in the brightness of a host star as the
planet crosses in front of it and blocks some of its light. This diagram shows how the brightness changes over
time. The dip in brightness reflects a planet crossing between the star and the instrument observing the star.
Often the planet itself is too small to see directly. If all we know is how the planet affects the brightness of the
star, and we can’t even see the planet, then how do we know how big the planet is? The answer is that the two
are related. We can write an equation for this relationship using the radius of the planet and the radius of the
star.
 Physical Geology 618

Plot showing how the star Kepler-452 dims as the planet Kepler-452b moves
in front of it. [KP, after Jenkins, J. et al, 2015, Discovery and validation of
Kepler-452b: a 1.6REarth super Earth exoplanet in the habitable zone of a G2
star, Astronomical Journal, V 150, DOI 10.1088/0004-6256/150/2/56.]

Let’s try this out for the Earth-like

exoplanet called Kepler-452b. The first thing we need to know is the size of the host star Kepler-452. We can
get that information by comparing its surface temperature and brightness to that of the sun. Start by
calculating the ratios of the sun’s temperature to the star’s temperature, and the star’s luminosity to the sun’s
luminosity using the data in Table 22.5. Record your answers in the table. Then find the star’s radius using
the following equation, and record your result:

Table 22.5 Calculating the radius of star

Kepler-452

Description Sun Kepler-452 Ratio

Temperature
5,778 5,757
(degrees Kelvin)

Luminosity
3.846 4.615
(x 1026 watts)

Radius (km) 696,300

619 Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

The second thing we need to know is how the brightness of Kepler-452 changes as planet Kepler-452b moves
in front of it. Use the plot shown in this exercise box to find this information. Find the value on the y-axis
where the red curve shows the most dimming from the planet and record your result in Table 22.6.

Table 22.6 Calculating the radius of planet Kepler-452b

Earth radius
Decrease in brightness* in km Kepler-452b radius in km Kepler-452b radius/Earth radius

x 10-6 6,378

* Because we know this is a decrease, you don’t need to keep the negative sign.
Use the following equation to find the radius of Kepler-452b:

To put the size of Kepler-452b in perspective, divide its radius by that of Earth and record your answer.
Chapter 22 Summary
Karla Panchuk, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan

The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows:

The universe began 13.77 billion years ago when energy, matter, and space expanded from a
Starting
single point. Evidence for the big bang is the cosmic “afterglow” from when the universe
22.1 with a Big
was still very dense, and red-shifted light from distant galaxies, which tell us the universe is
Bang
still expanding.

Forming
Planets
The big bang produced hydrogen, helium, and lithium, but heavier elements come from
from the
nuclear fusion reactions in stars. Large stars make elements such as silicon, iron, and
22.2 Remnants
magnesium, which are important in forming terrestrial planets. Large stars explode as
of
supernovae and scatter the elements into space.
Exploding
Stars

Solar systems begin with the collapse of a cloud of gas and dust. Material drawn to the
How to
centre forms a star, and the remainder forms a disk around the star. Material within the disk
Build a
22.3 clumps together to form planets. In our solar system, rocky planets are closer to the Sun,
Solar
and ice and gas giants are farther away. This is because temperatures near the Sun were too
System
high for ice to form, but silicate minerals and metals could solidify.

Early Earth was heated by radioactive decay, collisions with bodies from space, and
Earth’s gravitational compression. Heating melted Earth, causing molten metal to sink to Earth’s
First 2 centre and form a core, and silicate melt to float to the surface and form the mantle and
22.4
Billion crust. A collision with a planet the size of Mars knocked debris into orbit around Earth, and
Years the debris coalesced into the moon. Earth’s atmosphere is the result of volcanic degassing,
contributions by comets and meteorites, and photosynthesis.

Are There The search for exoplanets has identified 12 planets that are similar in size to Earth and
22.5 Other within the habitable zone of their stars. These are thought to be rocky worlds like Earth, but
Earths? the compositions of these planets are not known for certain.

Questions for Review

1. How can astronomers view events that happened in the universe’s distant past?
2. In this image of three spectra, one is from the Sun, and the other two are from galaxies. One of the galaxies
is the Andromeda galaxy. Which spectrum is from Andromeda?

620
621 Chapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System

Spectra for the sun and two galaxies. [KP]

3. Astronomers looking for some of the earliest stars in the universe were surprised to find a planetary system
called HIP 11952, which existed 12.8 billion years ago. This was very early in the universe’s history, when
stars still consisted largely of hydrogen and helium. Do you think there were terrestrial planets in this system?
Why or why not?4. Summarize the trends in size and composition of objects in the solar system.5. What is
the frost line, and what does it help to explain?5. This cartoon shows three of the same type of solar system
object. One goes on an adventure and comes back the worse for wear. What are the objects, and where might
they be located?

Denizens of the solar system. [Randall Munroe (CC BY-NC 2.5)

https://xkcd.com/1297/]

6. Why is Pluto not considered a planet?7. What is differentiation, and what must happen to a planet or
asteroid for differentiation to occur?9. The exoplanet Kepler-452b is within the habitable zone of its star. In
our solar system, planets a similar distance from the Sun are terrestrial planets. Why can we not say for
certain that Kepler-452b’s distance from its star means it is a terrestrial planet?
8. Of the planetary systems discovered thus far, none are exactly like our solar system. Does this mean our
solar system is unique in the universe?
Glossary

For each entry the chapter in which the word first appears is shown in parentheses.

aa (4) a lava flow that solidifies with a blocky high-relief surface

ablation (16) melting of ice in the context of glaciation

ablation till (16) till that is formed when englacial and supraglacial sediments are deposited because the
ice that was supporting them melts

abyssal plain (18) the flat surface of the deep ocean, typically beyond the limits of the continental slopes

abyssalpelagic zone (18) the deeper parts of the ocean, between 4000 and 6000 m.

accretion (plate tectonics) (21) the process by which continental blocks (terranes) are added to existing
continental areas

accretion (planetary) (22) the process by which solid celestial bodies are added to existing bodies during
collisions

acid rock drainage (5) the production of acid from oxidation of sulphide minerals (especially pyrite) in
either naturally or anthropogenically exposed rock

aeolian (6) processes related to transportation and deposition of sediments by wind

aerobic (18) processes that take place in the presence of abundant oxygen

aerosol (4) an aggregate of fine solid particles or a small droplet of liquid suspended in the air

aftershock (11) an earthquake that can be shown to have been caused by another earthquake

aggregate (20) unconsolidated materials (typically sediments) that are used in the construction industry

albedo (19) the reflectivity of a surface of a planet (expressed as the percentage of light that reflects)

albite (2) sodium-rich plagioclase feldspar

alpine glacier (16) a glacier formed in a mountainous region and confined to a valley (same as valley
glacier)

amphibole (2) a double-chain ferromagnesian silicate mineral (e.g., hornblende)

622
623 Steven Earle

amphibolite (7) a foliated metamorphic rock in which the mineral amphibole is an important component

amplification (11) in the context of seismic shaking the process by which the amplitude of the seismic
waves are enhanced, especially because the

amplitude (17) for any type of wave, the difference in height between a crest and the adjacent trough

anaerobic (18) processes that take place without oxygen

andesite (3) a volcanic rock of intermediate composition

anion (2) a negatively charged ion

angular unconformity (8) a geological boundary at the base of a sedimentary layer where the
sedimentary rock beneath has been tilted or folded and then eroded

anorthite (2) calcium-rich plagioclase feldspar

Antarctic Bottom Water (18) water at abyssal depths in the ocean that forms from the sinking of dense
cold water adjacent to Antarctica

anticline (12) an upward fold where the beds are known not to be overturned

anthracite (20) a high grade of coal (92 to 98% carbon) that is formed from deep burial and weak
metamorphism

anthropogenic (19) resulting from the influence of humans

antiform (12) an upward fold where it is not known if the beds have been overturned

aphanitic (3) an igneous texture characterized by crystals that are too small to see with the naked eye

aquifer (14) a body of rock or sediment that has sufficient permeability to allow it to be used as a source
of groundwater

aquitard (14) a body of rock or sediment that has insufficient permeability to allow it to be used as a
source of groundwater

arch (17) a rock weathering remnant in the form of an arch (typically along a coast and resulting from
wave erosion)

arenite (6) a sandstone with less than 15% silt and clay

arete (16) a sharp ridge that separates adjacent glacially carved valleys

arkose (6) a sandstone with more than 10% feldspar and more feldspar than lithic fragments

arkosic arenite (6) an arkose with less than 15% clay/silt matrix
 Physical Geology 624

artesian well (14) a well that is completed in a confined aquifer and in which the water level in the well
rises above the top of the aquifer

asteroid (22) a rocky body orbiting the Sun

asteroid belt (22) the region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter that is populated with many
asteroids

asthenosphere (1) the part of the mantle, from about 100 to 200 km below surface, within which the
mantle material is close to its melting point, and therefore relatively weak

asymmetrical (12) in the context of folds, where the two sides of the fold make significantly different
angles with respect to the axial plane

atoll (18) a ring-shaped carbonate (or coral) reef or series of islands

atomic mass (2) the total number of neutrons plus protons in an atom

atomic number (2) the total number of protons in an atom

attitude (12) the orientation of a sloping geological feature, such as a bedding plane or fracture

auerole (7) a zone of metamorphism around a source of heat such as a magma body

axial plane (12) a plane that can be traced through all of the hinge lines of a fold

back reef (6) the zone of shallow water on the shore-side of a reef

background (geochemistry) (20) the typical level of an element in average rocks or sediments

backwash (17) the wash of wave water down the slope of a beach

banded iron formation (6) an iron-bearing sedimentary rock that is rich in minerals such as hematite
and magnetite, which may be interbedded with chert

bank-full stage (13) the water level of stream when it is in flood and just about to flow over its banks

barrier reef (18) a carbonate (or coral) reef that forms a barrier to waves along a coast

basal sliding (16) the motion of glacial ice along the base of a glacier that is warm enough to have liquid
water

basalt (1) a volcanic rock of mafic composition

base level (13) in the context of a stream the base level is the lowest level that it can erode down to, as
defined by the ocean, a lake or another stream that it flows into
625 Steven Earle

batholith (3) an irregular body of intrusive igneous rock that has an exposed surface of at least 100 km2

bathypelagic zone (18) the moderately deep parts of the ocean, between 1000 and 4000 m.

baymouth bar (17) a spit that extends across the mouth of a bay

beach face (17) the part of the beach that is relatively steep and lies between the high and low tide levels

bed (6) a sedimentary layer

bed load (6) the fraction of a stream’s sediment load that typically rests on the bottom and is moved by
saltation and traction

bedding (6) repeated layering in a sedimentary rock

bentonite (15) a type of smectite clay that has strong swelling properties and is effective at absorbing
dissolved ions

berm (17) a flat area of a beach in the backshore area (above the high tide level)

big-bang theory (22) the theory that the universe started with a giant explosion approximately 13.77
billion years ago

biotite (2) a sheet silicate mineral (mica) that includes iron and or magnesium, and is therefore a
ferromagnesian silicate

biozone (8) a stratigraphic interval that can be defined on the basis of a specific fossil

bituminous (20) a medium-grade type of coal with 70 to 92% carbon

blueschist (7) a metamorphic facies characterized by relatively low temperatures and high pressures,
such as can exist within a subduction zone

body wave (9) a seismic wave that travels through rock (e.g., a P-wave or an S-wave)

boulder (6) a sediment clast with a diameter of at least 256 mm

Bowen reaction series (3) the scheme that defines the typical order of crystallization of minerals from
magma

braided (13) a stream pattern which is characterized by abundant sediment and numerous intertwining
channels around bars

breakwater (17) a structure built offshore in order to deflect the energy of waves

breccia (6) a sedimentary- or volcanic-rock texture characterized by angular clasts

brunisol (5) a relatively immature forest soil, lacking in well-defined horizons

 Physical Geology 626

caldera (4) a volcanic depression that is many times larger than the volcanic vents within it

caliche (5) a white calcium-carbonate rich layer within soils in arid regions

calving (16) the loss of ice from the front of a glacier by collapse into water

Canadian Shield (21) the exposed part of the continent Laurentia

carbonate (2) a mineral in which the anion is CO3-2

carbonate compensation depth (18) the depth in the ocean (typically around 4000 m) below which
carbonate minerals are soluble

cation (2) a positively charged ion

cementation (6) the process by which minerals are precipitated between grains in sediments

Cenozoic (1) the most recent of the eras, representing the past 65.5 Ma of geological time

chemical sedimentary rock (6) a sedimentary rock comprised of material that was transported as ions
in solution

chernozem (5) a black soil typical of grasslands in cold climates such as the Canadian Prairies

chert (6) a very fine grained sedimentary rock formed almost entirely of silica

chlorite (2) a ferromagnesian sheet silicate mineral, typically present as fine crystals and forming from
the low-temperature metamorphism of mafic rock

cinder cone (4) a steep-sided volcano comprised almost entirely of loose rock fragments and typically
formed during a single eruptive event

cirque (16) a steep-sided semi-circular basin eroded by a glacier at the head of its valley

clast (6) a sedimentary fragment of mineral or rock

clastic sedimentary rock (6) a sedimentary rock comprised of material that was transported as clasts or
fragments

clay (6) sediment particle that is less than 1/256 mm in diameter

clay mineral (6) a hydrous sheet silicate mineral that typically exists as clay-sized grains

claystone (6) a sedimentary rock comprised mostly of clay-sized grains

cleavage (2) the tendency for a mineral to break along smooth planes that are predetermined by its lattice
structure
627 Steven Earle

climate feedback (19) a process by which the physical effects of a climate forcing can have other effects
(either negative or positive) on the climate

climate forcing (19) a mechanism, such as a change in greenhouse gas levels, that forces the climate to
change

coal-bed methane (20) methane that is trapped within the porosity of coal

coastal straightening (17) the tendency for an irregular coast to be straightened over time by coastal
erosion processes

cobble (6) sediment particle that is between 64 and 256 mm in diameter

col (16) the low point or pass along a ridge between two glacial valleys

columnar jointing (4) the fracturing of rock or sediment (but typically volcanic rock) into columns that
are typically 6-sided

composite volcano (or stratovolcano) (4) a volcano that is constructed of alternating layers of
pyroclastic debris and lava flows

concentrate (mining) (20) a product of ore processing that includes a specific ore mineral, separated
from the rest of the rock

concordant (3) parallel to pre-existing layering or foliation within a rock

cone of depression (14) the depression of the water table around a well that is heavily pumped

confined aquifer (14) an aquifer that lies below a confining layer

confining layer (14) an aquitard that overlies an aquifer and restricts the flow of water down from the
surface

conglomerate (6) a sedimentary rock that is comprised predominantly of rounded grains that are larger
than 2 mm

contact metamorphism (7) metamorphism that takes place adjacent to a source of heat, such as a body
of magma

continental drift (10) the concept that tectonic plates can move across the surface of the Earth

continental glacier (16) a glacier that covers a significant part of a continent and has an area of at least
50,000 km2

continental shelf (18) the shallow (typically less than 200 m) and flat sub-marine extension of a
continent

continental slope (18) the steeper part of a continental margin, that slopes down from a continental shelf
towards the abyssal plain
 Physical Geology 628

contractionism (10) the now discredited theory that mountain ranges formed as a result of the
contraction of the Earth

convergent boundary (10) a plate boundary at which the two plates are moving towards each other

Cordilleran Ice Sheet (16) the continental glacier that covered part of western North America, including
almost all of British Columbia, part of the Yukon, and part of northern Washington, during the
Pleistocene glaciations

core (1) the metallic interior part of the Earth, extending from a depth of 2900 km to the centre

core-mantle boundary (9) the boundary, at 2900 km depth, between the mantle and the core

Coriolis effect (18) the tendency for moving bodies (e.g., ocean currents) to rotate on the surface of the
Earth, clockwise in the northern hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere

cosmic microwave background (22) radiation left over from the an early stage in the development of
the universe at the time when protons and neutrons were recombining to form atoms

country rock (3) the original rock of a region, into which younger rock (typically igneous) rock has
been intruded

covalent bond (2) a bond between two atoms in which electrons are shared

crater (4) a volcanic depression that is related to a specific volcanic vent

craton (21) a region of ancient (typically Precambrian) crystalline rock (equivalent to a shield)

creep (15) the very slow (mm to cm per year) flow of unconsolidated material on a gentle slope

crest (17) the highest point on a wave

crevasse (16) an open fissure on the surface of a glacier

cross bedding (6) small-scale inclined bedding within larger horizontal beds

crust (4) the uppermost layer of the Earth, ranging in thickness from about 5 km (in the oceans) to over
50 km (on the continents)

cyanobacteria (6) photosynthetic bacteria that evolved in the early Archean

D” layer (9) (d-double-prime layer) a low seismic velocity zone within the basal 200 km of the mantle

debris flow (15) a gravity-driven flow of water and sediment that includes a significant proportion of
coarse (cobble to boulder) material
629 Steven Earle

decline (20) in mining a decline is a sloped tunnel used to access lower parts of a mine with wheeled
equipment

decompression melting (3) melting (or partial melting) of rock resulting from a reduction in pressure
without a significant reduction in temperature

dendritic (13) a pattern of drainage channels that resembles the branches in a tree

density (2) weight per volume of a substance (e.g., g/cm3) used widely in the context of minerals or
rocks

deranged (13) a pattern of drainage channels that is chaotic

detrital (6) referring to fragments of rocks or minerals

diatom (18) photosynthetic algae that make their tests (shells) from silica

differentiation (22) the un-mixing of a magma, typically by the physical separation of minerals that
crystallize early and settle towards the bottom

diorite (3) an intermediate intrusive igneous rock

dip (12) the angle below horizontal at which a sedimentary bed or other feature slopes

discharge (6) the volume of water flow in a stream expressed in terms of volume per unit time (e.g., m3/
s)

discharge area (14) the part of an aquifer where groundwater discharge takes place

disconformity (8) a boundary between parallel sedimentary layers where some erosion of the lower
layer has taken place

discordant (3) a geological feature that is not parallel to any existing layering in the country rock

divalent (2) an ion with a charge or +2 or -2

divergent (10) a plate boundary at which the two plates are moving towards away from each other

dodecahedron (2) an object with twelve surfaces, such as a garnet crystal

dolomite (6) a calcium-magnesium carbonate mineral (Ca,Mg)CO3

dolomitization (6) the addition of magnesium to limestone during which some or all of the calcium
carbonate is converted to dolomite

dolostone (6) a carbonate rock made up primarily of the mineral dolomite

drainage basin (13) the catchment area of a stream, including the area where all surface water drains
into the stream
 Physical Geology 630

drop stone (16) a fragment of rock within otherwise fine-grained sediment that has been dropped from
floating ice on a body of water

drumlin (16) a streamlined glacial erosional feature comprised of sediments and/or bedrock

dyke (3) a tabular intrusive igneous body that is discordant to any existing layering in the country rock

eccentricity (19) in the context of Milankovitch Cycles, the degree to which the Sun is offset from the
geometric centre of the Earth’s orbit

eclogite (7) a garnet-pyroxene-glaucophane bearing rock that is the product of high-pressure

metamorphism of oceanic crustal rock, typically within a subduction zone

effusive (4) a volcanic eruption dominated by the relatively gentle flow of lava

El Niño (19) a periodic climatic situation in which warm water extends all or most of the way to the
eastern edge of the equatorial Pacific

elastic deformation (11) the deformation of material (including rock) from which it can fully recover if
the stress is removed

electron (2) a sub-atomic particle of essentially no mass and a single negative charge

end moraine (16) a deposit of sediment that accumulates at the front of a glacier

englacial (16) within a glacier, referring especially to sediment carried within the glacial ice

epicentre (11) the location on the surface vertically above the location (i.e., “hypocentre” or “focus”)
where an earthquake takes place

epipelagic zone (18) the upper layer of water (0 to 200 m) in areas of the open ocean

epithermal deposit (20) a mineral deposit formed near to surface in an area of hydrothermal activity,
typically associated with a body of magma

equilibrium line (16) on a glacier, the line between the zone of accumulation and the zone of ablation
(in late summer the equilibrium line is the boundary between snow-covered ice and bare ice)

equipotential lines (14) in the context of groundwater an equipotential line connects locations with
equal hydraulic head or water pressure

esker (16) a ridge of sediment deposited by a sub-glacial stream

eustatic sea level change (17) sea level change related to a change in the volume of the oceans, typically
because of an increase or decrease in the amount of glacial ice on land
631 Steven Earle

exfoliation (5) the fracturing of rock that results from a reduction in the pressure when overlying rock is
eroded away

exoplanet (22) a planet that orbits a star other than the Sun

extrusive (3) igneous rock that cooled at surface

fall (15) in mass wasting, the vertical or near-vertical fall of rock

fault (12) a boundary in rock or sediment along which displacement has taken place

feedback (19) a process by which the physical effects of a climate forcing can have other effects (either
negative or positive) on the climate

feldspar (2) a very common framework silicate mineral

felsic (3) silica rich (>65% SiO2) in the context of magma or igneous rock

ferric (2) the oxidized form of an ion of iron (Fe3+)

ferromagnesian (2) referring to a silicate mineral that contains iron and or magnesium

ferrous (2) the reduced (non-oxidized) form of an ion of iron (Fe2+)

fetch (17) the distance over which wind blows to form waves

finger lake (16) a lake that occupies a glacial valley

firn (16) the granular transitional state between snow and ice within a glacier

flood plain (13) the area that is occupied by water when a stream floods and overtops its banks

flow (15) the fluid-like motion of material during mass-wasting

flow path (14) the path that groundwater flows along between a recharge area and a discharge area

flowing artesian well (14) an artesian well in which the water level naturally rises above the surface of
the ground

flux melting (3) melting of rock that is facilitated by the addition of a flux (typically water) which lowers
the rocks melting point

focus (earthquake) (11) the actual point below surface at which an earthquake takes place (equivalent to
hypocentre)

foliated (7) the existence of foliation in a metamorphic rock

 Physical Geology 632

foliation (7) the alignment of mineralogical or structural features of a rock – especially a metamorphic
rock

footwall (12) the lower surface of a non-vertical fault

foraminifera (18) a single-celled protist with a shell that is typically made of CaCO3

fore-reef (6) the zone on the ocean side of a reef

formation (6) a unit of sedimentary rock that is lithologically consistent and sufficiently thick and
extensive to be shown on a geological map at the scale that is typically used in the area in question

fracking (20) fracturing rock by injecting water and chemicals down a well at very high pressure
(equivalent to hydraulic fracturing)

fractional crystallization (3) the sequential crystallization of minerals from magma, and the physical
separation of early-forming crystals from the magma in the area where they crystallized

fracture (2) a break within a body of rock in which the rock on either side is not displaced

fringing reef (18) a reef adjacent to a shoreline where there is either a very narrow back reef area or
none at all (in which case the reef is effectively attached to the shore)

frost line (22) in the context of planetary systems the boundary beyond which volatile components (e.g.,
water, carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia etc.) are frozen

frost wedging (5) the situation where the expansion of freezing water pries rock apart

Ga (1) (gigaannus) billions of years before the present

gabbro (3) a mafic intrusive igneous rock

Gaia hypothesis (19) the hypothesis advanced by James Lovelock that the organisms have affected the
atmosphere and oceans such that conditions on Earth have been kept habitable, in spite of significantly
changing energy received from the Sun

galaxy (22) a gravitationally-bound system of stars and interstellar matter

gas giant (22) a large planet composed mostly of hydrogen and helium (e.g. Jupiter)

geosyncline (10) a kilometres thick deposit of sediments that has accumulated along the edge of a
continent and is sufficient mass to depress the crust beneath it

geothermal gradient (1) the rate of increase of temperature with depth in the Earth (typically around
30˚ C/km within the crust)
633 Steven Earle

giant impact hypothesis (22) the theory that the Moon formed when a Mars-sized planet (Theia)
collided with the Earth at 4.5 Ga

glacial period (16) a period of Earth’s history during which glacial ice was present over a sufficient
extent to have left recognizable evidence

glacial groove (16) a straight line created on a rock surface by erosion by a rock fragment embedded in
the base of glacial ice (larger and deeper than a glacial striation)

glacial striation (16) a straight line created on a rock surface by erosion by a rock fragment embedded
in the base of glacial ice (finer than a glacial groove – typically less than 1 cm wide)

glacier (16) a long lasting (centuries or more) body of ice on land that moves under its own weight

glaciofluvial (16) referring to sediments deposited from a stream that is derived from a glacier

glaciolacustrine (16) referring to sediments deposited within a lake in a glacial environment

glaciomarine (16) referring to sediments deposited within the ocean in a glacial environment

glaucophane (7) a blue-coloured sodium-magnesium bearing amphibole mineral that forms during
metamorphism at high pressures and relatively low pressures, typically within a subduction zone

gneiss (7) high-grade metamorphic rock in which the mineral components are separated into bands

graben (12) a down-dropped fault block, bounded on either side by normal faults

grade (7) in the context of a mineral deposit, the amount of a specific metal or mineral expressed as a
proportion of the whole rock

graded bedding (6) an individual sedimentary layer that shows a distinctive gradation in grain size
(normal graded bedding is finer towards the top, reverse graded bedding is coarser towards the top)

gradient (13) the slope of a stream bed over a specific distance, typically expressed in m per km

granite (1) a felsic intrusive igneous rock

granule (6) a sedimentary particle ranging in size from 2 to 4 mm in diameter

greenhouse gas (22) a gaseous molecule with 3 or more atoms that is able to absorb infrared radiation

greenhouse effect (22) in the context of climate, the ability of an atmosphere to absorb infrared radiation
due to the presence of greenhouse gases

greenschist (7) a foliated metamorphosed rock (typically derived from basalt) in which the green
colouration is derived from either chlorite, epidote or green amphibole

greenstone (7) a non-foliated metamorphosed rock (typically derived from basalt) in which the green
colouration is derived from either chlorite, epidote or green amphibole
 Physical Geology 634

greywacke (6) a sandstone with more than 15% silt and clay, and with a significant proportion of sand-
sized rock fragments

groundwater (13) water that lies beneath the surface of the ground

group (6) a stratigraphically-continuous series of related formations

groyne (17) a man-made structure extending from the shore built to deflect the energy of waves

gyre (18) a closed circular ocean current

habit (2) a characteristic crustal form or combination of forms of a mineral

habitable zone (22) the region around a star that is considered to be suitable for a life-bearing planet

Hadean (1) the first eon of Earth history, extending from 4.57 to 3.80 Ga

halide (2) a mineral in which the anion is one of the halide elements (e.g., halite – NaCl or fluorite –
CaF2)

halite (1) NaCl, a halide mineral also known as table salt

halogen (2) an element in the second-last column of the periodic table that forms anions with a
negative-1 charge

hanging valley (16) a glacial valley created by a tributary glacier which does not erode as deeply as the
main-valley glacier that it joins

hanging wall (12) the upper surface of a non-vertical fault

headland (17) a point extending out to sea

horn (16) a peak that has been eroded on at least three sides by glaciers

hornfels (7) a fine-grained metamorphic rock that is not foliated

horst (12) an uplifted fault block, bounded on either side by normal faults

hot spot (10) the surface area of volcanism and high heat flow above a mantle plume

hydrated mineral (7) a mineral that includes either hydroxyl (OH) or water (H2O) in its chemical
formula (e.g., gypsum CaSO4.2H2O)

hydraulic conductivity (14) an expression of the rate at which a liquid will flow through a porous
medium, as determined by the permeability of the medium and the viscosity of the liquid
635 Steven Earle

hydraulic fracturing (20) fracturing rock by injecting water and chemicals down a well at very high
pressure (equivalent to fracking)

hydrolysis (5) a reaction between a mineral and water in which H+ ions are added to the mineral and a
chemically equivalent amount of cations are released into solution

hydroxide (2) the anion OH- or an mineral that includes that anion

hydrothermal alteration (7) chemical alteration of minerals by hot water solutions

hypocentre (11) the actual point below surface at which an earthquake takes place (equivalent to focus)

ice giant (22) a planet that is comprised mainly of gases heavier than hydrogen and helium, including
oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur (e.g., Uranus and Neptune)

igneous (3) a rock formed from the cooling of magma

illite (2) a clay mineral with a composition similar to that of muscovite mica

imbricate (6) aligned and overlapping, like the tiles on a roof

index fossil (8) a fossil with a distinctive appearance and a wide geographic range but from a relatively
restricted time range, thus making it useful for dating a correlating rocks from different regions (the most
useful index fossils are from organisms that lived for less than a million years)

inert (2) in chemistry, an element that does not readily react with other elements (e.g., neon)

infiltration (14) the recharge of groundwater from the downward percolation of surface water

insolation (19) a measure of the intensity of solar energy at a specific location or time (expressed in W/
m2)

intensity (11) in seismology, a qualitative measure of the amount of shaking at specific location, based
on what was felt by observers, or the amount of damage done

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (19) (IPCC) an international body established in 1988
by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environment Program to prepare periodic
reports on the status of global climate change and its mitigation

intrusive (3) an igneous rock that has cooled slowly beneath the surface

ionic bond (2) a bond in which electrons are transferred from one atom to another, thus forming ions

ion (2) an atom that has either gained or lost electrons and has thus become charged (or a group of atoms
that also has a charge – e.g., HCO3-)
 Physical Geology 636

isoclinal fold (12) a tight fold in which the limbs are parallel to each other

isostasy (9) the equilibrium between a block of crust floating on the underlying plastic mantle

isostatic sea level change (17) the effect on relative sea level of a vertical adjustment of the crust
resulting from a change in the mass of the crust (e.g., from losing or gaining ice)

isotope (8) an form of an element that differs from other forms because it has a different number of
neutrons (e.g., 16O has 8 protons and 8 neutrons while 18O has 8 protons and 10 neutrons)

joint (12) a fracture in rock

Jovian planet (22) a gas giant

ka (1) (kiloannus) thousands of years before the present

kaolinite (2) a clay mineral that does not have cations other than Al and Si

karst (14) the solutional erosion of an area with soluble rock (typically limestone) to form depressions
and caves

kettle (16) a depression formed at the front of a large glacier when a stranded ice block that was
surrounded by sediment eventually melts

kettle lake (16) a lake that forms within a kettle

kimberlite (4) an ultramafic volcanic rock that originates at significant depth (> 200 m) in the mantle
(some kimberlites include diamonds)

Kuiper belt (22) a region of the Solar System beyond the orbit of Neptune that is populated by small
objects and dwarf planets (including Pluto)

laccolith (3) concordant intrusion in which the central part has formed an upward dome

lahar (4) a mudflow or debris flow that is either caused by a volcanic eruption, or forms on the flank of
a volcano as a result of flooding not related to an eruption

landfill gas (14) gases produced within a landfill during the microbial breakdown of landfill components
(most are dominated by carbon dioxide and methane)
637 Steven Earle

large igneous province (4) a very large area of mafic volcanic rock produced by a massive eruption
typically related to a mantle plume

lateral moraine (16) a deposit of rocky material that forms along the margin of a valley or alpine glacier,
mostly from the freeze-thaw release of material from the steep slopes above

lattice (1) the regular and repeating three-dimensional structure of a mineral

Laurentide Ice Sheet (16) the continental glacier that extended across central eastern North America
during the Pleistocene, covering most of Canada and a significant part of the United States

lava levée (4) a ridge that forms along the edge of a lava flow because the magma at the edge cools
faster than that in the middle

lava tube (4) a tube that forms as mafic lava flows along a channel and lava leveés build up on either
side, eventually forming a roof (once a lava tube forms it insulates the flowing magma, allowing it to
stay hot a liquid for longer and therefore flow much further)

leachate (14) in the context of landfills, the liquid (rainwater) that passes through the waste and becomes
contaminated with soluble components from the waste

levée (13) on a stream, the ridge that naturally forms along the edge of the channel during flood events

level (20) in mining, a horizontal mine opening

light year (22) the distance that light can travel in one year (9.4607 x 1012 km)

lignite (20) a low-grade type of coal with less than 70% carbon

limbs (12) the layers of rock on either side of a fold

limestone (6) a sedimentary rock that is comprised mostly of calcite

liquefaction (11) the tendency for unconsolidated and water saturated sediments to lose strength during
seismic shaking

lithic arenite (6) an arenite in which there is more than 10% lithic clasts and in which there are more
lithic clasts than feldspar clasts

lithic clasts (6) fragments of rock (e.g., basalt) that are included in the sand-sized grains in sandstone,
or in the larger grains in conglomerate

lithification (6) the conversion of unconsolidated sediments into rock by compaction and cementation

lithosphere (1) the rigid outer part of the Earth, including the crust and the mantle down to a depth of
about 100 km

lodgement till (16) sediment that accumulates at the base of a glacier and typically has a wide range of
grain sizes (including clay) and is well compacted
 Physical Geology 638

longshore current (17) the movement of water along a shoreline produced by the approach of waves at
an angle to the shore

longshore drift (17) the movement of sediment along a shoreline resulting from a longshore current and
also from the swash and backwash on a beach face

Love wave (11) a surface seismic wave, with horizontal motion, that develops in relatively weak (e.g.,
unconsolidated) materials at surface

luvisol (5) a cold climate forest soil formed in which clay has been removed from the A horizon and
relocated into the B horizon

Ma (1) (Megaannus) millions of years before the present

mafic (3) silica poor (<45% SiO2) in the context of magma or igneous rock

magma (1) molten rock typically dominated by silica

magnetic chronology (8) the study of the timing of reversals of the Earth’s magnetic field, and the
application of that understanding to dating geological materials

magnitude (11) a measure of the amount of energy released by an earthquake

mantle (1) the middle layer of the Earth, dominated by iron and magnesium rich silicate minerals and
extending for about 2900 km from the base of the crust to the top of the core

mantle plume (3) a plume of hot rock (not magma) that rises through the mantle (either from the base
or from part way up) and reaches the surface where it spreads out and also leads to hot-spot volcanism

marble (7) metamorphosed limestone (or dolostone) in which the calcite or dolomite has been
recrystallized into larger crystals

mass wasting (15) the mass failure, by gravity, of rock or unconsolidated material on a slope

meander cutoff (13) the formation of a shorter stream channel across the narrow boundary between two
meanders on a stream

meandering (13) the sinuous path taken by a stream within a wide flat flood plain

medial moraine (16) a lateral moraine that has been shifted towards the centre of a valley glacier at a
point where two glaciers meet

member (6) a subdivision of a formation

mesopelagic zone (18) the upper middle zone of the open ocean extending from 200 to 1000 m depth
639 Steven Earle

metallic lustre (2) the lustre of a mineral into which light does not penetrate but only reflects off of the
surface

metallic bond (2) a type of bond in which abundant electrons are easily shared amongst cations

metamorphism (3) the transformation of a parent rock into a new rock as a result of heat and pressure
that leads to the formation of new minerals, or recrystallization of existing minerals, without melting

metasomatism (7) metamorphism facilitated by ion transfer through water

meteoroid (22) a fragment of either stony or metallic debris in space

methane hydrate (18) a combination of water ice and methane in which the methane is trapped inside
“cages” in the ice

mica (2) a sheet silicate mineral (e.g., biotite)

migmatite (7) a rock that is a mixture of metamorphic and igneous rock, formed at very high grades of
metamorphism when a part of the parent rock starts to melt

Milankovitch cycles (19) millennial-scale variations in the orbital and rotational parameters of the Earth
that have subtle effects on the Earth’s climate

Mohorovičić discontinuity (9) the boundary between the crust and the mantle

moment magnitude (11) a way of estimating earthquake magnitude based on the area of the rupture
surface and the amount of displacement

monogenetic (4) a volcano that forms in a single eruptive event

moraine lake (16) a finger lake that forms within a glacial valley and is dammed by an end moraine

mud crack (6) a dessication crack formed in mud that has accumulated in a small body of water that
later dries up or drains

mudflow (15) a mass-wasting event involving the flow of mud (sand, silt and clay) within a channel

mudrock (6) an inclusive term for mudstone, shale and claystone

muscovite (2) a potassium-bearing non-ferromagnesian mica

native element (2) (also native element mineral) a mineral that consists of only one element (e.g., native
gold)

nebula (22) a cloud of interstellar dust and gases

negative feedback (19) a process that results in a decrease in that process (in the context of climate
 Physical Geology 640

change it is a process that reduces the change in climate, such as the enhanced growth of vegetation in
response to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide)

neutron (2) a sub-atomic particle with a mass of 1 and a charge of 0

nonconformity (8) a geological boundary where non-sedimentary rock is overlain by sedimentary rock

non-ferromagnesian mineral (2) a silicate mineral that does not contain iron or magnesium (e.g.,
feldsspar)

non-metallic lustre (2) the lustre of a mineral into which light does penetrate

normal fault (12) a non-vertical fault along which the hanging wall (upper surface) has moved down
relative to the footwall

normal force (15) the component of the gravitational force that acts directly into the slope

North Atlantic Deep Water (18) deep Atlantic Ocean water that has descended in the far north of the
basin in the area between Scandinavia and Greenland

nunatuk (16) a rocky peak that extends above the ice level of a continental glacier

obliquity (19) in the context of Milankovitch Cycles, the angle of the tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis
with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun

ocean plain (18) the extremely flat surface of the deep ocean floor in areas unaffected by plate tectonic
processes and volcanism

oil window (20) the depth range, which is approximately 2000 to 4000 m, within which the temperature
is appropriate for the formation of oil from organic matter in sedimentary rock

ooid (6) a small (approximately 1 mm) sphere of calcite formed in areas of tropical shallow marine water
with strong currents

olivine (2) a silicate mineral made up of isolated silica tetrahedra and with either iron or magnesium (or
both) as the cations

Oort cloud (22) a spherical cloud of icy objects extending from between about 5,000 and 500,000
astronomical units (Sun-Earth distances) from the Sun (thought to be the source area of comets)

open-pit mine (20) a mine that is open to the surface

outcrop (5) a surface exposure of rock that is part of the crust (bedrock)

outwash plain (16) an extensive region of sand and gravel deposited by streams flowing out of a glacier
(same as sandur)
641 Steven Earle

overturned (12) a geological feature that has been tilted to the point where it is upside down

oxbow (13) a part of a stream meander that has become isolated from the rest of the stream as the result
of a meander cutoff

oxidation (5) the reaction between a mineral and oxygen

oxide (2) a mineral in which the anion is oxygen (e.g., hematite Fe2O3)

pahoehoe (4) a lava flow with a ropy surface texture formed when the surface cools and hardens while
the lava beneath is still flowing

paleomagnetic (10) past variations in the intensity and polarity of the Earth’s magnetic field

Pangea (10) the supercontinent that existed between approximately 300 and 180 Ma

paraconformity (8) an interruption representing a period of non-deposition, without tilting or erosion,

in a sequence of sedimentary rocks

parasitic fold (12) a fold within a fold

parent rock (7) the rock that was already in existence when a process of metamorphism started

partial melting (3) the process during which a only specific mineral components of a rock melt in
response to changing conditions

parting (6) a narrow gap between individual sedimentary layers

passive margin (10) a boundary between a continent and an ocean at which there is no tectonic activity
(e.g., the eastern edge of North America)

paternoster lake (16) one of a series of rock basin lakes

pebble (6) a sedimentary particle ranging in size from 2 to 64 mm (includes granule)

pelagic (18) the part of a lake or the ocean that is not close to shore

permafrost (19) ground that remains frozen for two or more years

permanentism (10) the now discredited theory that the features on the Earth have not changed
significantly over geological time

permeability (14) an expression of the ease with which liquid will flow through a porous medium

phaneritic (3) a rock texture in which the individual crystals or grains are visible to the naked eye
 Physical Geology 642

Phanerozoic (1) the most resent eon of geological time, encompassing the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and
Cenozoic eras

phenocryst (3) a relatively large crystal within an igneous rock

phyllosilicate (2) a silicate mineral in which the silica tetrahedra are made up of sheets

phosphate (2) a mineral in which the anion is PO43-

photic zone (18) the upper 200 m of the ocean or a lake, where, depending on the turbidity of the water,
light can penetrate

phreatic eruption (4) a steam-drive volcanic eruption that takes place when surface or near-surface
water is heated by volcanic activity

phyllite (7) a metamorphic rock with slaty cleavage and a sheen on the surface produced by aligned
micas

pillow (4) a pillow-shaped mass of volcanic rock (typically basalt) formed when magma erupts beneath
the surface

pillow lava (4) a volcanic rock (typically basalt) that is made up primarily of pillows

pipe (3) a cylindrical body of igneous rock, typically resulting from a feeder conduit to a volcano

plate (1) a region of the lithosphere that is considered to be moving across the surface of the Earth as a
single unit

plate tectonics (1) the concept that the Earth’s crust and upper mantle (lithosphere) is divided into a
number of plates that move independently on the surface and interact with each other at their boundaries

plinian eruption (4) a large volcanic eruption in which a column of hot tephra and gases rises many
kilometres into the atmosphere

pluton (3) a body of intrusive igneous rock

podsol (5) a soil with well-developed horizons formed in temperate forested regions

podsolization (5) the process of the formation of podsol

polar wandering path (10) a path of varying magnetic pole positions defined by paleomagnetic data (in
fact it is now understood that the continents have wandered, not the poles, so a more appropriate terms
is “apparent polar wandering path”)

polymerize (3) the formation of molecular chains within a fluid (e.g., a magma) that lead to an increase
in the fluid’s viscosity

polymorphs (7) two or more minerals with the same chemical formula but different crystal structures

porosity (14) the percentage of open pore space within a body of rock or sediment
643 Steven Earle

porphyritic (3) an igneous texture in which some of the crystals are distinctively larger than the rest

porphyry deposit (20) a mineral deposit (of copper or molybdenum especially) in which part of the host
rock is a porphyritic stock

positive feedback (19) a process that results in an increase in that process (in the context of climate
change it is a process that enhances the change in climate, such as the reduced reflectivity of the Earth’s
surface when ice melts)

potassium feldspar (2) feldspar with the formula KAlSi3O8

potentiometric surface (14) the imaginary surface defined by the levels to which water would rise in a
series of wells drilled into a confined aquifer

precession (19) in the context of Milankovitch Cycles, the variation in the direction at which the Earth’s
rotational axis is pointing

principle of cross-cutting relationships (6) the principle that a body of rock that cuts across or through
another body of rock is younger than that other body

principle of faunal succession (6) the principle that life on Earth has evolved in an orderly way, and
that we can expect to always find fossils of a specific type in rocks of a specific age

principle of inclusions (6) the principle that inclusions within a body of rock must be older than the
rock

principle of original horizontality (6) the principle that sedimentary beds are originally deposited in
horizontal layers

principle of superposition (6) the principle that in a sequence of layered rocks that is not overturned or
interrupted by faulting, the oldest will be at the bottom and the youngest at the top

proglacial (16) referring to the area in front of a glacier

proton (2) a sub-atomic particle with a mass of 1 and a charge of 1

protoplanetary disk (22) a rotating cloud of gas and dust surrounding a young star

pumice (4) a highly vesicular felsic volcanic rock (typically composed mostly of glass)

p-wave (9) a seismic body wave that is characterized by deformation of the rock in the same direction
that the wave is propagating (compressional vibration)

pyroclastic (4) volcanic material formed during an explosive eruption

pyroclastic density current (4) a body of hot pyroclastic rock and gases that is flowing rapidly down
the flank of a volcano

pyroxene (2) a single chain silicate mineral

 Physical Geology 644

quartz (2) a silicate mineral with the formula SiO2

quartz sandstone (6) a sandstone in which more than 90% of the grains are quartz

quartzite (7) a metamorphic rock formed from the contact or regional metamorphism of sandstone

radial (13) a pattern of streams radiating out from a central point, typically an isolated mountain

radioactivity (9) the natural transformation of unstable isotopes into new elements

radiolaria (18) microscopic (0.1 to 0.2 mm) marine protozoa that produce silica shells

Rayleigh wave (11) a surface seismic wave, with vertical motion

recharge (14) the transfer of surface water into the ground to become groundwater

recharge area (14) an area of an aquifer where recharge is predominant over discharge

rectangular drainage (13) a drainage pattern in which tributaries typically flow at right angles to each
other and meet at right angles

recumbent fold (12) a fold that is overturned such that its limbs are close to horizontal

redshift (22) the increase in wavelength of light resulting from the fact that the source of the light is
moving away from the observer

reef (17) a mound of carbonate formed in shallow tropical marine environments by corals, algae and a
wide range of other organisms

regional metamorphism (7) metamorphism caused by burial of the parent rock to depths greater than 5
km (typically takes place beneath mountain ranges, and extends over areas of hundreds of km2)

remnant magnetism (10) magnetism of a body of rock that formed at the time the rock formed and is
consistent with the magnetic field orientation that existed at that time and place

reservoir rock (20) rock into which petroleum has migrated and is now trapped

residual soil (5) soil formed by weathering of the underlying rock or sediment

retrograde metamorphism (7) metamorphism that takes place at a lower temperature than that at which
the rock originally formed or was previously metamorphosed

reverse fault (12) a non-vertical fault along which the hanging wall (upper surface) has moved up
relative to the footwall
645 Steven Earle

rhyolite (3) a felsic volcanic rock

ridge push (10) the concept that at least part of the mechanism of plate motion is the push of oceanic
lithosphere down from a ridge area

rip current (17) a strong flow of water outward from a beach

ripple (6) on a series of small parallel ridges formed within sediment that has accumulated in moving
water or wind

rip-rap (17) angular rock fragments, typically boulder sized, used to armour slopes and shorelines
against erosion

roche moutonée (16) a product of glaciation in which a bedrock protrusion is eroded into a streamlined
shape that has a broken or jagged leading (down-ice) edge

rock avalanche (15) a rapid turbulent flow of broken bedrock fragments down a steep slope

rock basin lake (16) a lake situated in a rock basin carved at the upper end of an alpine glacier

rock cycle (3) the series of processes through which rocks are transformed from one type to another

rock fall (15) the near-vertical fall or bouncing of rock released from a steep slope

rock slide (15) the translational motion of an essentially intact body of rock down a slope (rock slides
are typically slow, because once they start to move fast the rock body becomes fragmented and then
flows as a rock avalanche)

runoff (14) flow of water down a slope, either across the ground surface, or within a series of channels

rupture (11) breaking of rock subject to stress, typically resulting in an earthquake

rupture surface (11) the area over which rock rupture takes place during an earthquake

sackung (15) an escarpment or trough at the top of a slow-moving rock slide (sackungen)

salatation (13) the bouncing of particles along a stream bottom or desert floor

sand (6) a mineral or rock fragment ranging in size from 1/16th to 2 mm

sandstone (1) a rock that is primarily comprised of sand-sized particles

sandur (16) an extensive region of sand and gravel deposited by streams flowing out of a glacier (same
as outwash plain)

saturated zone (14) the part of an aquifer, or any body of rock, that is saturated with water
 Physical Geology 646

schist (1) a metamorphic rock with visible aligned mica crystals

sea cave (17) a shallow cave formed on a rocky shore by wave erosion

sea cliff (17) a coastal escarpment that is typically eroding inland as a result of wave action

sea-floor spreading (10) the formation of new oceanic crust by volcanism at a divergent plate boundary

sector collapse (4) the sudden collapse of a significant part of the flank of a volcano

sedimentary rock (3) rock that has formed by the lithification of sediments

sediments (3) unconsolidated particles of mineral or rock

seismic (11) pertaining to earthquakes

seismic moment (11) a measurement of an earthquake’s energy based on longwave vibrations, or on the
product of the fault area and displacement

seismic reflection sounding (10) measurement of the properties of sediments based on detection of
sounds generated at surface and reflected from layers beneath the surface

septae (8) calcareous partitions between the successive living chambers in a cephalopod

septic system (14) a system constructed to facilitate the dispersion and detoxification of sewage
(typically includes a septic tank and a drainage field)

shaft (20) a vertical opening at a mine

shale (6) a silt- and clay-rich rock that has evidence of layering

shear force (15) the component of the gravitational force in the direction parallel to a slope

shear strength (15) the strength of a body of rock or sediment that counteracts the shear force

shear stress (12) the stress placed on a body of rock or sediment adjacent to a fault

sheeted dykes (10) a series of near-vertical dykes formed in the vicinity of a spreading ridge when
magma from depth flows into fractures formed by extensional forces

sheet silicate (2) a silicate mineral in which the silica tetrahedra are combined within sheets

sheetwash (5) overland flow of water, typically related to a heavy precipitation event

shield (4) a region of ancient (typically Precambrian) crystalline rock (equivalent to a craton)

shield volcano (4) a low-profile volcano formed primarily from eruptions of low-viscosity mafic magma

SIAL (sialic) (10) referring to rock or magma in which silica and aluminum are the predominant
components (generally equivalent to felsic)
647 Steven Earle

silica (2) a form of the mineral quartz (SiO2)

silica tetrahedron (2) a combination of 1 silicon atom and 4 oxygen atoms that form a tetrahedron

silicate (1) a mineral that includes silica tetrahedra

silicon (2) the 14th element

silicone (2) resin or caulking made from silicon-oxygen chains and various organic molecules

sill (3) an igneous intrusion that is parallel to existing layering in the country rock

silt (6) sedimentary particles ranging is size from 1/256th to 1/16th of a mm

SIMA (simatic) (10) referring to rock or magma in which silica, magnesium and iron are the
predominant components (generally equivalent to mafic)

skarn (7) the contact metamorphism (and metasomatism) of limestone

slab pull (10) the concept that at least part of the mechanism of plate motion is the pull of oceanic
lithosphere down into the mantle

slate (7) a fine-grained metamorphic rock that splits easily into sheets

slaty cleavage (7) the tendency for slate or phyllite to split into sheets (note that this is the only situation
in this textbook where the term “cleavage” is applied to a rock as opposed to a mineral)

slide (15) the downward movement of rock or sediment on a slope as an intact mass

slump (15) a slide in which the nature of the motion is rotational (typically only develops in
unconsolidated sediments)

smectite (2) a fine-grained sheet silicate mineral that can accept water molecules into interlayer spaces,
resulting is swelling

smelter (20) a refinery at which minerals are processed to produce pure metals

snowline (22) in astronomy the radius around a star at which represents the boundary between gases (or
liquids) and solids

soil horizon (5) a layer, within a well-developed soil, that is physically or chemically different from
layers above or below

solar system (22) a star and the planets surrounding it

solar wind (22) a stream of ionized (charged) particles away from the Sun

solid solution (2) the substitution of one element for another in a mineral (e.g., iron can be substituted
for magnesium in the mineral olivine)
 Physical Geology 648

solifluction (15) the flow of water saturated sediment or soil over a stronger and less permeable substrate

source rock (20) the sedimentary rock from which petroleum originates prior to its migration into a
reservoir rock

speleothem (6) a solutionally-formed feature within a limestone cave (e.g., a stalactite)

spit (17) a sand or coarser deposit extending from shore out into open water

spring (14) the flow of groundwater onto the surface

stack (17) a prominent rocky island that is a remnant of the erosion of a headland

stage (13) the level of water in a stream

stalactite (6) a cone-shaped speleothem that is suspended from the roof of a cave

stalagmite (6) a cone-shaped speleothem that forms on the floor of a cave

step-pool (13) a characteristic of stream flow in which water flows from one pool to another, typically
on a stream with a steep gradient

stock (3) an irregular pluton with n exposed area less than 100 km2

stoping (3) the fracturing and incorporation of fragments of country rock as a magma body moves
upward through the crust

strain (12) the deformation of rock that is subjected to stress

streak (2) the mark left on a porcelain plate when a mineral sample is ground to a powder by being
rubbed across the plate (typically considered to provide a more reliable depiction of the colour than the
whole sample)

stream (13) any body of flowing water

stress (12) a force applied to a rock

stress transfer (11) the change in the pattern of stress on a region of rock as a result of an earthquake
(typically stress is reduced in the area of a rupture zone, but is increased elsewhere in the vicinity)

strike (12) the compass direction of a horizontal line on a sloped surface (e.g., bedding plane, fracture
etc.)

strike-slip fault (12) a fault that is characterized by motion that is close to horizontal and parallel to the
strike direction of the fault

subaerial eruption (4) a volcanic eruption that takes place on land

subaqueous eruption (4) a volcanic eruption that takes place under water
649 Steven Earle

subducted (1) when part of a plate is forced beneath another plate along a subduction zone

subduction zone (10) the sloping region along which a tectonic plate descends into the mantle beneath
another plate

subglacial (16) beneath a glacier

sulphate (2) a mineral in which the anion is SO42-

sulphide (2) a mineral in which the anion is S2-

supergroup (21) a stratigraphically-continuous series of related groups

superterrane (21) a number of terranes that are contiguous

supraglacial (16) on the surface of a glacier

surf zone (17) the near-shore zone where waves are breaking into surf

suture (8) the line on the surface of a cephalopod that marks the boundary between a septum and the
outer shell

swash (17) the upward motion of a wave on a beach (typically takes place at the same angle that the
waves are approaching the shore)

s-wave (9) a seismic body wave that is characterized by deformation of the rock transverse to the
direction that the wave is propagating

symmetrical (12) a fold in which the limbs are at the same angle to the hinge

syncline (12) a downward fold where the beds are known not to be overturned

synform (12) a downward fold where it is not known if the beds are overturned

tailings (20) the fine-grained waste rock from a plant used to concentrate ore minerals

talus slope (15) a sloped deposit of angular rock fragments at the base of a rocky escarpment

tarn (16) a lake within a rock basin

tectonic plate (1) a region of the lithosphere that is considered to be moving across the surface of the
Earth as a single unit

tectonic sea level change (17) relative sea level change related to the vertical motion of a crustal block
caused by tectonic processes

tephra (4) fragments of volcanic rock (including volcanic ash) ejected during an explosive eruption
 Physical Geology 650

terminal moraine (16) and end moraine that marks the farthest forward advance of a glacier

terrane (7) a block of crust that has geological features that are distinctive from neighbouring regions,
and is assumed to have been moved from elsewhere by tectonic processes

terrestrial planet (22) a planet with a rocky mantle and crust and metallic core (e.g., Earth)

terrigenous (18) referring to sedimentary particles that originated on a continent

test (6) the shell-like hard parts (either silica or carbonate) of small organisms such as radiolarian and
foraminifera

thrust fault (11) a low angle reverse fault

till (16) unsorted sediment transported and deposited by glacial ice

tiltmeter (4) a sensitive instrument used to monitor subtle changes in the tilt of the land, particularly in
studies of active volcanoes

tombolo (17) a sand or coarser deposit connecting an island or rocky prominence to a larger body of
land

traction (13) a force that contributes to the movement of particles situated on a stream bed or desert
floor

transform fault (10) a boundary between two plates that are moving horizontally with respect to each
other

travertine (6) a deposit of calcium carbonate that forms at springs, hot springs or within limestone caves

trellis (13) a drainage pattern in which tributaries typically flow parallel to one other but meet at right
angles

trigger (15) an event, such as an earthquake or a heavy rainfall, that triggers the onset of a mass wasting
event

trough (17) the lowest point of a wave

truncated spur (16) the steep end of a ridge or arête that has been eroded by a main-valley glacier

tsunami (11) a long-wavelength wave produced by the vertical motion of the floor of the ocean or a
large lake, typically related either to an earthquake or a sub-marine mass wasting event

tufa (6) a form of travertine that is especially porous as it forms around existing vegetative material.

tuya (4) a flat-topped volcanic hill or mountain that formed when an eruption took place beneath a
glacier and the melting led to the formation of a lake that then resulted in the wave-erosion of the top of
the volcano
651 Steven Earle

unconfined aquifer (14) an aquifer that is not overlain by a confining layer

unconformity (8) a geological boundary at the base of a sedimentary layer

unconformity-type uranium deposit (20) a uranium deposit that has formed at a nonconformity
between sandstone and older rock

uncompressed density (22) the density of planetary material that it would have it was not compressed
by the planets gravitational force

underground storage tank (14) (UST) an underground tank for storing liquids, most commonly for
liquid fuel

unsaturated zone (14) the rock or sediment above the water table

U-shaped valley (16) a relatively straight valley with a flat bottom and steep sides that has been carved
by a valley glacier

valley glacier (16) a glacier formed in a mountainous region and confined to a valley (same as alpine
glacier)

varve (16) a recognizable layer within sediments that represents a single year of deposition

vesicular (3) an igneous texture characterized by holes left by gas bubbles

volcanic glass (2) magma that has cooled within minutes, not allowing time for the formation of crystals

volcanic-hosted massive sulphide (20) a mineral deposit hosted by volcanic rocks and including zones
where most of the rock is made up of sulphide minerals (including ore minerals and pyrite)

wacke (6) a sandstone with more than 15% clay and silt

water table (14) the upper surface of the saturated zone in an unconfined aquifer

wave base (17) the depth of water that is affected by the sub-surface orbital motion of wave action
(approximately one-half of the wavelength)

wave-cut platform (17) a nearly-horizontal bench of rock eroded by waves within the surf zone
(equivalent to wave-cut terrace)

wavelength (17) the distance between the crests of two waves

 Physical Geology 652

weathering (5) a range of processes taking place in the surface environment, through which solid rock
is transformed into sediment and ions in solution

Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (21) a large basin in the western interior of Canada, east of the
Rocky Mountains, extending from the northern United States to the Northwest Territories

Wisconsin Glaciation (16) the most recent advance of the Pleistocene glaciations, extending from 85 to
11 ka

xenolith (3) a fragment of country incorporated into igneous rock, commonly as a result of stoping

youthful stream (13) a stream that is actively down-cutting its valley in an area that has recently been
uplifted

zone of ablation (16) the part of a glacier, below the equilibrium line, where there is net loss of ice mass
due to melting and calving

zone of accumulation (16) the part of a glacier, above the equilibrium line, where there is net gain of
ice mass because not all of the snow that falls each winter is able to melt during the following summer
About the Author

Steven Earle was born in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. He earned a BSc in geology from
the University of British Columbia in 1975 and a PhD in geochemistry from Imperial College (London
University) in 1982. He worked as a geologist and geochemist in the mineral exploration industry in
western Canada from 1978 to 2000. For 20 years he developed and taught a wide range of earth science
courses at Vancouver Island University. He currently designs and teaches distance courses for Thompson
Rivers University (Open Learning), and also helps to grow food and drive the Community Bus on
Gabriola Island. He maintains that the best way to see rocks is from a kayak.

653
Appendix 1 List of Geologically Important elements and the Periodic
Table

The following table includes 36 of the geologically important elements, listed alphabetically by their
element name, along with their atomic number and the atomic mass of their most stable isotope.

The geologically most important elements are bolded, and the eight main elements of silicate minerals
are identified with an asterisk (*).

654
655 Steven Earle

Symbol Name Atomic No. Atomic Mass

Al* Aluminum 13 27

As Arsenic 33 75

Ba Barium 56 137

Be Beryllium 4 9

B Boron 5 11

Cd Cadmium 48 112

Ca* Calcium 20 40

C Carbon 6 12

Cl Chlorine 17 35

Cr Chromium 24 52

Co Cobalt 27 59

Cu Copper 29 64

F Flourine 9 19

Au Gold 79 197

He Helium 2 4

H Hydrogen 1 1

Fe* Iron 26 56

Pb Lead 82 207

Mg* Magnesium 12 24

Mn Manganese 25 55

Mo Molybdenum 42 96

Ne Neon 10 20

Ni Nickel 28 59

N Nitrogren 7 14

O* Oxygen 8 16

P Phosphorus 15 31

Pt Platinum 78 195

K* Potassium 19 39

Si* Silicon 14 28
 Physical Geology 656

Ag Silver 47 108

Na* Sodium 11 23

Sr Strontium 38 88

S Sulfur 16 32

Ti Titanium 22 48

U Uranium 92 238

Zn Zinc 30 65

The periodic table is a list of all of the elements arranged in groups according to their atomic
configuration. In this table the elements are colour-coded according to their chemical and physical
properties.

For an accessible version of the periodic table please see Syngenta Period Table of Elements
(http://www.syngentaperiodictable.co.uk/periodic-table.php?keyStage=5)
Appendix 2 Answers to Review Questions

Answers to the chapter-end review questions are provided below. (Answers to the embedded
exercise questions are provided in Appendix 3.)

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10

Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15

Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20

Chapter 21 Chapter 22

Chapter 1

1. Geology involves integration of various different sciences (chemistry, physics, and biology for
example), but also requires an understanding of the importance of billions of years of geological time.
2. Paleontology is an important aspect of geology and requires an understanding of biology, including
evolution, the physiology of animals and plants and ecological relationships.
3. Geologists provide information to reduce the risk of harm from hazards such as earthquakes,
volcanoes, and slope failures; they play a critical role in the discovery of important resources; they
contribute to our understanding of life and its evolution through paleontological studies; and they play a
leading role in the investigation of climate change, past and present and its implications.
4. Halite is composed of sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) with the Na+ and Cl- ions alternating with one
another in all three directions within a cubic structure.
5. A mineral has a specific chemical composition and lattice structure. Rocks are made out of minerals,
and most rocks contain several different types of minerals.
6. The main component of Earth’s core is iron (Fe).
7. Transfer of heat from the core to the mantle leads to heating of lower mantle rock. When heated, the
rock expands and its density is reduced. Because the mantle is plastic, this lower-density material tends
to rise toward the surface, and cooler denser mantle material moves in to take its place.
8. Mantle convection creates the traction that can force plates to move around on the surface.
9. Hot mantle rock moving toward the surface partially melts because the pressure is reduced. The
magma produced moves upward into cracks in the crust and is extruded onto the sea floor.
10. 215 – 65 = 150 Ma. Since the age of the Earth is 4570 Ma, this represents 150/4,570 = 0.033 or 3.3%
of geological time.
11. At 1 mm/y 30,000,000 mm would accumulate over that 30 million years. This is equivalent to 30,000
m or 30 km. Few sequences of sedimentary rock are even close to that thickness because most sediments
accumulate at much lower rates, more like 0.1 mm/y.

657
 Physical Geology 658

Chapter 2

1. Charges: proton: +1, neutron: 0, electron: -1, Masses: proton: 1, neutron: 1, electron: almost 0.
2. The element’s atomic number will determine the extent to which its outer layers are populated with
electrons. If the outer shell is not quite full, the atom may gain electrons to fill them and become an
anion (negative charge). If the outer shell has only a few electrons, it may lose them and become a cation
(positive charge). Cations and anions attract each other to form molecules with ionic bonding.
3. Helium and neon (and the other noble gases) have complete outer shells and therefore no tendency to
form ionic bonds.
4. Electrons are transferred from one atom to another to form an ionic bond. Electrons are shared
between atoms to form a covalent bond.
5. An anion has a negative charge and a cation has a positive charge.
6. Minerals are classified into groups based on their anion or anion group.
7. Name the mineral group for the following minerals:

calcite CaCO3 carbonate biotite silicate pyrite FeS2 sulphide

gypsum CaSO4 sulphate galena PbS sulphide orthoclase KAlSi3O8 silicate

hematite Fe2O3 oxide graphite C native magnetite Fe3O4 oxide

quartz SiO2 silicate fluorite CaF2 halide olivine MgSiO4 silicate

8. An unbonded silica tetrahedron has one Si ion (+4 charge) and 4 oxygens (-2 charge each) so the
overall charge is 4 – 8 = -4 for SiO4-4
9. Magnesium can substitute freely for iron in olivine and several other minerals because they have
similar charges (+2) and similar ionic radii.
10. Pyroxene is made up of single chains of tetrahedra while amphibole is made up of double chains.
11. Biotite includes iron and/or magnesium in its formula, while muscovite does not.
12. The two end-members of the plagioclase series are Albite (NaAlSi3O8) and Anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8)
13. In quartz each silica tetrahedron is bonded to four other tetrahedra, and since oxygens are shared at
each bond the overall ratio is silicon (+4) to two oxygens (2 x -2 = -4), which is balanced.
14. Some minerals have distinctive colours, but many have a wide range of colours due to differing
impurities.
15. Glass has a Mohs hardness of about 5.5 while porcelain is close to 6.5. The mineral is between these
two, so it must be close to 6.

Chapter 3

1. The rock must be exposed at surface so in many cases uplift and removal of overlying sediments is
required. Then chemical and/or physical weathering can take place, which reduces the rock to smaller
loose fragments. These fragments are sediments that can be eroded and then transported by a variety of
maechanisms.
2. Sediments are buried beneath other sediments where, because of the increased pressure, they become
compacted and dewatered. With additional burial they are warmed to the point where cementing
minerals can form between the grains (less than 200˚C).
3. Rock is buried within the crust and heated because of the geothermal gradient. At temperatures over
200˚C some of the existing minerals may become unstable and will be converted to new minerals, or
659 Steven Earle

recrystallized into larger crystals.

4. As the temperature decreases minerals that formed early (e.g., olivine) may react with the remaining
magma to form new minerals (e.g., pyroxene).
5. Calcium-rich plagioclase forms early on in the cooling process of a magma, but as the temperature
drops, a more sodium-rich variety forms around the existing crystals.
6. Early-forming minerals, which are typically quite dense (e.g., olivine) may sink to the bottom of
the magma chamber (if the magma is not too viscous) and thus become separated from the rest of the
magma, resulting in a change to the composition of the remaining magma (it becomes more felsic).
7. If the texture is aphanitic the crystals are too small to see without a microscope. In rocks with
phaneritic textures the minerals are large enough to see and distinguish from each other with the naked
eye. The dividing line is somewhere between 0.1 and 1 mm, depending on the minerals.
8. In porphyritic rocks there are two distinct crystal sizes that are indicative of two stages of cooling
(slow then fast). The fine material can range from glass to several mm, as long as the coarse crystals are
distinctively larger. In pegmatitic rocks the crystals are consistently coarser than 1 cm, and can be much
larger. Pegmatites form the slow cooling of water-rich magmas.

9.

(a) An extrusive rock with 40% Ca-rich plagioclase and 60% pyroxene basalt

(b) An intrusive rock with 65% plagioclase, 25% amphibole, and 10% pyroxene diorite

c) An intrusive rock with 25% quartz, 20% orthoclase, 50% plagioclase, and minor amounts of biotite granite

10. A concordant body (a sill) is parallel to any pre-existing layering (bedding or foliation) in the country
rock is. A discordant body (a dyke) cuts across any pre-existing layering or is situated at any angle in
country rock that has no layering (e.g., granite).
11. A rock has to crack in order for a dyke to intrude into it, and it has to be cool to crack. When the hot
magma intrudes into the cold country rock its margins cool quickly (forming small crystals), while its
centre cools more slowly (forming larger crystals).
12. A batholith has an exposed area of greater than 100 km2; a stock has an exposed area less than that.
13. Batholiths (or stocks) intrude into existing rock by (a) melting through the country rock, or (b)
causing the country rock to break and fall into the magma (stoping), or (c) pushing the country rock
aside.
14. Compositional layering forms when early-crystallizing mineral sink toward the bottom of a magma
chamber. This can only happen in non-viscous magma, and mafic magma is typically much less viscous
than felsic magma.

Chapter 4

1. The three main tectonic settings for volcanism are (1) subduction zones at convergent plate
boundaries, (2) divergent plate boundaries, and (3) mantle plumes (a.k.a. hot spots).
2. The primary mechanism for partial melting at a convergent plate boundary is the addition of water to
hot mantle rock. The water reduces the melting temperature of the rock (flux melting).
3. The explosiveness of a volcanic eruption depends on the pressure of the magma. Gases create that
pressure, and if the magma is viscous those gases cannot escape easily. Felsic and intermediate magmas
tend to have more gas than mafic magmas, and are also more viscous, trapping the gas in.
 Physical Geology 660

4. When magma is deep within the crust the pressure is too high for the gases to bubble out of solution.
5. Pillow lavas form where mafic lava erupts in water. When the magma oozes out into the water the
outside cools first forming a hard skin that maintains the pillow shape.
6. Composite volcanoes can produce rocks with a wide range of textures, including (1) aphanitic or
porphyritic rock from lava flows, (2) pyroclastic rock (with textures ranging from fine ash to coarse
fragments) from explosive eruptions, and (3) sedimentary rock from lahars.
7. A lahar is a mud flow or debris flow on a volcano. Lahars are common on composite volcanoes
because they are steeper than shield volcanoes, they typically have ice and snow, and they are not as
strong as shield volcanoes.
8. Some lahars form during an eruption when snow and ice melt quickly, while others may form from
heavy rain.
9. The magma at shield volcanoes is typically non-viscous. It can flow easily and also tends to form lava
tubes, and thus is able to extend a long way from the vent, forming a low broad shield.
10. Shield volcanoes tend to have much longer lives than composite volcanoes. Most of the Hawaiian
shields, for example lasted 1 million years, while most composite volcanoes are younger than 100,000
years.
11. Weak seismic activity is associated with all stages of a volcanic eruption. In the early stages magma
is moving at depth and pushing rock aside, creating small earthquakes. The flow of magma can also
produce special type of seismic response known as harmonic tremor.
12. GPS technology is used to determine if there is any slow deformation of the flanks of a volcano
related to movement of magma toward the surface.
13. The Mt. St. Helens columnar basalts were formed by a flow of mafic lava.
14. The Nazko Cone is thought to be related to a mantle plume.
15. No one is certain why there a lower rate of volcanism in B.C. than in adjacent Washington and
Oregon, but one theory is that the northern part of the Juan de Fuca Plate (the Explorer Plate) is not
subducting as quickly as the rest of the plate.
16. It is likely that carbon dioxide released during the eruption flowed downhill from the volcano to the
village on the shore of the Nass River.

Chapter 5

1. Before a rock can be exposed at surface it has to be uplifted from where it formed deep in the crust,
and the material on top has to be eroded.
2. Frost wedging is most effective at times when the weather swings between freezing at night and
thawing during the day. In cold parts of B.C. that only happens consistently in spring and fall. In warmer
regions it only happens consistently during the winter.
3. Under conditions of strong chemical weathering, feldspar albite (NaAlSi3O8) will be converted to
a clay (such as kaolinite) and sodium ions in solution. Where mechanical weathering is predominant,
albite will be broken into small pieces.
4. Acid rock drainage (ARD) creates acidic stream runoff and also enhances the solubility of a wide
range of metals, some of which can be toxic.
5. Feldspar-rich sand is formed in areas where granitic rocks are being weathered and where mechanical
weathering is strongly predominant over chemical weathering.
6. Most of the clay that forms during hydrolysis of silicate minerals ends up in rivers and is washed out
to the oceans. There it eventually settles to the sea floor.
7. The mineral composition of the parent rock or sediment will influence the composition of the resulting
soil. Slope is important because it will affect the degree to which materials will be eroded.
661 Steven Earle

8. Clay minerals and iron move downward to produce the B horizon of a soil.
9. Removal of vegetation leaves soil exposed to erosion by water, and wind are the main processes of
soil erosion in Canada.
10. Chernozemic soils are common in the southern prairies and parts of the BC southern interior, in areas
that experience water deficits during the summer.
11. Luvisolic soils are found in central B.C., mostly over sedimentary rocks.
12. The weathering feldspar to clay involves the conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide to dissolved
bicarbonate, which ends up in the ocean.

Chapter 6

1. Sand grains range in size from 1/16 mm to 2 mm.

2. Both silt and clay feel smooth between your fingers, but only clay feels smooth in your mouth.
3. The key factor is particle size (not density). Settling velocity is controlled by the friction around the
grain holding it up and the gravitational force pushing it down. The gravitational force is proportional to
the grain volume and the friction is proportional to the surface area.
4. Conglomerate cannot be deposited by a slow-flowing river because clasts larger than 2 mm are not
transported by slow-moving water.
5. Sediments are buried beneath other sediments where, because of the increased pressure, they become
compacted and dewatered. With additional burial they are warmed to the point where cementing
minerals can form between the grains (less than 200˚C).
6. Lithic arenite has less than 15% silt- and clay-sized particles, while a lithic wacke has more than 15%.
Both have more than 10% rock fragments and more rock fragments than feldspar.
7. Feldspathic arenite has more than 10% feldspar and more feldspar than rock fragments. Quartz arenite
has less than 10% feldspar and less than 10% rock fragments. Both have less than 15% silt and clay.
8. Source area lithology: rock that contains quartz (such as granite or sandstone), strong weathering to
remove feldspar, long fluvial transportation to round the grains.
9. The carbon within carbonate deposits such as limestone originally comes from the atmosphere.
10. Most of Earth’s banded iron formations formed during the initial oxygenation of the atmosphere
between 2.4 and 1.8 Ga because iron that had been soluble in the anoxic oceans became insoluble in the
oxidized oceans.
11. Terrestrial depositional environments: rivers, lakes, deltas, deserts, glaciers. Marine depositional
environments: continental shelves, continental slopes, deep ocean.
12. A foreland basin forms in the vicinity of a large range of mountains where the weight of the
mountains depresses the crust on either side. A forearc basin lies between a subduction zone and the
related volcanic arc.
13. (a) Bedding forms where there is an interruption or change in the depositional process, or a change
in the composition of the material being deposited. (b) Cross-bedding forms in fluvial or aeolian
environments where sand-sized sediments are being moved and ripples or dunes are present. (c) Graded
bedding, and (d) mud cracks form where fine-grained (silt or clay) sediments are allowed to dry because
the level of a lake decreases.
14. Reverse graded bedding forms during gravity flows, such as debris flows.
15. A formation is a series of beds that is distinct from other beds above and below it, and is thick enough
to be shown on the geological maps that are widely used within the area in question.
16. The Nanaimo Group was actively mined for coal for many decades. During that time the names were
given to members and individual beds that were important to the coal miners.
 Physical Geology 662

Chapter 7

1. Heat and pressure are the main agents of metamorphism. Heat leads to mineralogical changes in the
rock. Pressure also influences those mineralogical changes, while directed pressure (greater pressure in
one direction) leads to foliation.
2. At very low, low, medium, and high metamorphic grades, mudrock will be transformed into slate,
phyllite, schist, and gneiss.
3. Granite remains largely unchanged at lower metamorphic grades because its minerals are still stable
at those lower temperatures.
4. Foliation exists because as new minerals are forming in a situation of directed pressure they are forced
to grow with their long axes perpendicular to the main pressure direction.
5. At a spreading ridge the heat from volcanism leads to the development of a groundwater convection
system in the oceanic crustal rock. Heated water rises in the hot regions and is expelled into the ocean,
while cold ocean water is drawn into the crust to replace it. The heated water leads to the conversion of
ferromagnesian minerals (e.g., olivine and pyroxene) into chlorite and serpentine.
6. The geothermal gradient varies as a function of tectonic setting, being greatest in volcanic regions and
lowest along subduction zones. As a result the depth at which specific metamorphic grades is achieved
will vary (greater depth where the gradient is least).
7. The geothermal gradient is low within subduction zones (because the cold subducting oceanic crust
takes a long time to heat up), so while pressure increases at the normal rate the temperature does not.
8. In order of increasing metamorphic grade: chlorite biotite, garnet, sillimanite.
9. The rocks at significant depth in the crust are already hot and subject to regional metamorphism, so
the additional heat from a pluton doesn’t make a large difference.
10. Water from any source facilitates metamorphism. Magmatic fluids typically contain dissolved ions at
higher levels than in regular groundwater (especially copper, zinc, silver, gold, lithium, beryllium, boron
and fluorine) so can lead to formation of a unique set of minerals.
11. Metasomatism involves fluids from magmatic or groundwater sources that play an important role in
transporting ions and leading to the formation of new minerals.
12. A hot pluton heats the surrounding water and this contributes to the development of a convection
system in the groundwater, which can result a great deal of water, in some cases with elevated levels of
specific ions, passing through the rock. Magmatic water also contributes to metasomatism.
13. Limestone must be present in the country rock to produce a skarn.
14. Two things that a geologist first considers when looking at a metamorphic rock are what the parent
rock might have been, and what type of metamorphism has taken place.
663 Steven Earle

Metamorphic Grade and/or Type of

Likely Parent Rock
Rock Metamorphism

A rock enriched in ferromagnesian minerals, such as

Chlorite schist Low-grade regional metamorphism.
basalt.

Very low grade regional

Slate Mudrock (shale, mudstone)
metamorphism

Mica-garnet A rock that is rich in aluminum, which includes most Medium-grade regional
schist clay-bearing rocks. metamorphism

A rock enriched in ferromagnesian minerals, such as Medium- to high-grade regional

Amphibolite
basalt. metamorphism.

Marble Limestone or dolomite Regional or contact metamorphism.

Chapter 8

1. Xenoliths of basalt within a granite must be older than the granite according to the principle of
inclusions.
2. (a) At both disconformities and paraconformities the beds above and below are parallel, but at a
disconformity there is clear evidence of an erosion surface (the lower layers have been eroded). (b) A
nonconformity is a boundary between sedimentary rocks above and non-sedimentary rocks below while
an angular unconformity is a boundary between sedimentary rocks above and tilted and eroded and
sedimentary layers below.
3. A useful index fossil must have survived for a relatively short period (e.g., around a million years),
and also should have a wide distribution so that it can be used to correlate rocks from different regions.
4. The granitic rock “f” has been dated to 175 Ma. The wood in layer “d” is approximately 5,000 years
old, so we can assume that layer “d” is no older than that, although it could be as much as a few hundred
years younger if the wood was already old when it got incorporated into the rock.
 Physical Geology 664

5. Layer “c” must be between 5,000 y and 275 Ma.

6. The unconformity between layer “c” and rock “f” is a nonconformity.
7. The granite (f) was eroded prior to deposition of “c”, so it’s likely that layer “b” was also eroded at
the same time. If so, that makes the boundary between “c” and “b” a disconformity.
8. The last magnetic reversal was 780,000 years ago, so all rock formed since that time is normally
magnetized and it isn’t possible to distinguish older rock from younger rock within that time period
using magnetic data.
9. William Smith was familiar with the different diagnostic fossils of the rocks of England and Wales
and was able to use them to identify rocks of different ages.
10. The last age of the Cretaceous is the Maastrichtian (70.6 to 65.5 Ma) and the first age of the
Paleogene is the Danian (65.5 to 61.7 Ma).

Chapter 9

1. Typical stony meteorites are similar in composition to the Earth’s mantle, while typical iron meteorites
are similar to the core.
2. The crust/mantle, mantle/core, outer core/inner core are shown on the diagram below:
665 Steven Earle

3. P-waves can pass through a liquid and travel approximately twice as fast as S-waves (which cannot
pass through a liquid).
4. P-wave velocity decreases at the core-mantle boundary because the outer core is liquid.
5. The mantle gets increasingly dense and strong with depth because of the increasing pressure. This
difference affects both P-wave and S-wave velocities, and they are refracted toward the lower density
mantle material (meaning they are bent out toward Earth’s surface).
6. The key evidence for mantle convection is that the rate of temperature increase within the mantle
is less than expected and this can only be explained by a mantle that is mixing by convection. The
mechanism for convection is the transfer of heat from the core to the mantle.
7. Earth’s magnetic field is generated within the liquid outer part of the core by the motion of the metallic
core material.
8. The last two reversals of Earth’s magnetic field were at the beginning of the present Brunhes normal
chron (0.78 Ma), and at the end of the Jaramillo normal subchron (0.90 Ma).
9. The isostatic relationship between the crust and the mantle is dependent on the plastic nature of the
mantle.
10. In the area of the Rocky Mountains the crust is thickened and pushed down into the mantle. In
Saskatchewan the crust is thinner and does not extend as far into the mantle.
11. During the Pleistocene glaciation British Columbia was pushed down by glacial ice and mantle rock
flowed slowly out beneath the ocean floor. Now that the land area is rebounding, that mantle rock is
flowing back and the offshore areas are subsiding.

Chapter 10

1. The evidence used by Wegener to support his idea of moving continents included matching
continental shapes and geological features on either side of the Atlantic; common terrestrial fossils in
 Physical Geology 666

South America, Africa, Australia, and India; and data on the rate of separation between Greenland and
Europe.
2. The primary technical weakness of Wegener’s theory was that he had no realistic mechanism for
making continents move.
3. (a0 Contractionists assumed that mountains formed because as the Earth contracted the crust wrinkled
into mountains. (b) Permanentists assumed that mountains formed by the geosynclinal process.
4. In the late 19th century the trans-Atlantic paleontological matchups were explained by assuming that
there must have been land bridges between the continents at some time in the past, or that terrestrial
organisms had floated across the ocean on logs.
5. Continental crust is lighter than oceanic crust and cannot sink low enough into the mantle to become
an ocean (although this can happen over limited areas, and commonly does happen along coastal areas
of continental plates).
6. Prior to 1920, ocean depths were measured by dropping a weighted line over the side of ship. Echo
sounding techniques were developed at around that time and that greatly facilitated the measurement of
ocean depths.
7. Temperature increases quite rapidly with depth in the crust, but much less so in the mantle, and this
implies mantle convection.
8. Paleomagnetic studies showed that old rocks on the continents had different pole positions than they
do today, and also that they were progressively more different with time past. This implied either that the
poles had moved or that the continents had moved. It was also found that the apparent polar wandering
paths for different continents were different, and this supported the concept that the continents had
moved.
9. The trenches associated with subductions zones are the deepest parts of the oceans.
10. The ocean ridge areas are the youngest parts of the sea floor and thus there hasn’t been time for much
sediment to accumulate.
11. It was (and still is) assumed that high heat flow exists where mantle convection cells are moving hot
rock from the lower mantle toward the surface, and that low heat flow exists where there is downward
movement of mantle rock.
12. Earthquakes are consistently shallow and relatively small at ocean ridges. At ocean trenches
earthquakes get increasingly deep in the direction that the subducting plate is moving. The earthquakes
near to surface can be very large, while those at depth tend to be small.
13. In the Hess model new crust was formed at ocean ridges and then was consumed back into the mantle
at the trenches.
14. Hess’s theory did not include the concept of tectonic plates.
15. The spreading ridge is shown as a yellow line.
667 Steven Earle

16. A mantle plume is a column of hot rock (not magma) that ascends toward the surface from the lower
mantle. It is hypothesized that mantle plumes ascend as much as 10 times faster than the rate of mantle
convection.
17. (a) Between the ridge segments there is movement in opposite directions along a transform fault. (b)
Outside of the ridge segments the two plates are moving in the same direction and likely at about the
same rate. In this case there is no faulting, and it is known as a fracture zone.
18. Tectonic plates are made up of crust and the lithospheric (rigid) part of the underlying mantle. The
mantle part ensures that the very different oceanic and continental crust sections of a plate can act as one
unit.
19. A mantle plume beneath a continent can cause the crust to form a dome which might eventually split
open. Several mantle plumes along a line within a continent could lead to rifting.
20. Subduction does not take place at a continent-continent convergent zone because neither plate is
dense enough to sink into the mantle.
21. The divergent boundaries are blue, the convergent boundaries are black with teeth on them, and the
transform boundaries are red.
22. The motion directions are shown with black arrows (see map for names of plates).
23. The sense of motion on the Queen Charlotte Fault is shown with red arrows.
 Physical Geology 668

24.Continental rifting is taking place along the East Africa Rift, and sea floor has recently been created
in the Red Sea and also in the Gulf of California.
25. Over the next 50 million years California is likely to split away from the rest of North America along
the San Andreas Fault and then move north toward Alaska.
26. The accumulation of sediment at a passive ocean-continent boundary will lead to the depression of
the lithosphere and could eventually result in the separation of the oceanic and continental parts of the
plate and the beginning of subduction.

Chapter 11

1. An earthquake is the shaking caused by the release of energy that takes place when rocks under stress
within Earth break and then the two sides slide past each other.
2. Rocks under stress will deform elastically until they reach the point where the stored elastic energy
exceeds the rock strength. At that point the rock breaks and an earthquake is produced.
3. The rupture surface is the surface over which there is displacement of rock during an earthquake. The
magnitude of an earthquake is proportional to the area of the rupture surface and the average amount of
displacement over that surface.
4. An aftershock is any earthquake that is considered to have been caused by a previous earthquake as a
result of the transfer of stress from the original earthquake.
5. Episodic slip on the middle part of the Cascadia subduction zone decreases stress within that area, but
some of that stress is transferred to the locked zone up dip along the plate boundary, there increasing the
level of stress on the locked part.
6. Magnitude is the amount of energy released by an earthquake. Each earthquake has only one
magnitude, although there are different ways of measuring it, and they may give slightly different results.
Intensity is a measure of the amount of damage done or what people felt. Intensity varies depending on
669 Steven Earle

the distance to the epicentre and the type of rock or sediment underlying an area.
7. An M7.3 earthquake releases 1,024 times as much energy as an M5.3 earthquake.
8. The map shows a subduction boundary. The depth of earthquakes increases inshore (to the east) from
the location of the subduction zone.
9. The dash-dot line shows approximately where the plate boundary is situated.

10. The plate on the left (Nazca Plate) is moving east and the one on the right (South America Plate) is
moving west. This is the eastern coast of South America around Peru and Chile.
11. Both divergent and transform boundaries are associated with mid-ocean ridges. Most earthquakes
take place on the transform boundaries.
12. The northward motion of the Pacific Plate relative to the North America Plate takes place along the
San Andreas Fault in California and along the Queen Charlotte Fault off the coast of British Columbia
and southern Alaska.
13. Unconsolidated sediments, especially if they are saturated with water, can lose strength when
subjected to earthquake shaking. This can cause buildings to subside or tilt. Unconsolidated sediments
can also amplify the vibrations of an earthquake.
14. Gas lines and electrical transmission wires are typically damaged during an earthquake, and this can
lead to serious fires.
15. A large subduction earthquake (greater than M7.5) can generate a tsunami because they typically
result in vertical displacement of the sea floor.
16. The 2004 Parkfield earthquake showed that we cannot rely on foreshocks to predict earthquakes, or
on any of the many other parameters that were being carefully measured around Parkfield in the years
leading up to the quake.
17. We should know about the history of past large earthquakes, the typical locations of small
earthquakes, the types of geological materials beneath the surface (especially soft water-saturated
sediments), the types of infrastructure that is present, and the various ways that people can be evacuated
from an area or assistance can be brought in.
18. Forecasting involves estimating the risk of an earthquake happening in a region within a period of
time (usually expressed in decades). Prediction involves stating that an earthquake is likely to happen at
 Physical Geology 670

a certain location on a specific day or month or year in the future. With our current state of knowledge
of earthquakes, prediction is not possible.

Chapter 12

1. Convergent plate boundaries are the most likely to contribute to compression, divergent boundaries to
extension, and transform boundaries to shearing, however all of these stress regimes can exist at any one
of these boundaries.
2. When elastic strain takes place the rock can rebound to its original shape. When there is plastic strain
the rock will be permanently deformed.
3. Stronger rocks are more likely than weaker ones to deform elastically. Rock that is hot is more likely
to deform plastically. Clay-bearing rocks are more likely to deform plastically when they are wet. If
stress is applied quickly, the rock is more likely to break than if it is applied slowly.
4. The axial planes are shown with dashed red lines.

5. Volcanic rocks cool quickly at surface and the resulting reduction in volume can easily lead to
fracturing.
6. In a normal fault the rock above the fault moves down with respect to the lower rock. This normally
indicates extension. In a reverse fault the rock above the fault is pushed up, which indicates compression.
7. Most faults near transform boundaries are strike-slip faults, meaning that there is horizontal motion
along the fault.
8.(a) The beds are dipping at about 30˚ to the northwest. (b) If it is possible to show that the beds are
not overturned then we can say that bed 4 is the oldest. (c) “a” is a dyke and it is dipping steeply to the
northeast. (d) “b” is a fault and it is dipping steeply to the southeast. (e) The motion on fault “b” appears
to be left lateral. There may also be some vertical motion on “b” (or in fact the motion may be entirely
vertical), but we cannot determine that from the information provided.
671 Steven Earle

Chapter 13

1. Approximately 1% of the Earth’s water is liquid fresh water.

2. Approxmately 30% of the Earth’s fresh water is groundwater.
3. A trellis drainage pattern typically forms on sedimentary rock that has been tilted and eroded
4. Many of the streams in the southwestern part of Vancouver Island flow to the ocean as waterfalls
because the land has been uplifted relative to sea level over the past several thousand years.
5. The fastest water flow on a straight stretch of a stream will be in the middle of the stream near the
surface.
6. 1 mm sand grains will be eroded if the velocity if over 20 cm/s and will be kept in suspension as long
as the velocity is over 10 cm/s.
7. If the flow velocity is 1 cm/s particles less than 0.1 mm (fine sand or finer) can be transported, while
those larger than 0.1 mm cannot. At this velocity no particles can be eroded.
8. A braided stream can develop where there is more sediment available than can be carried in the
amount of water present at the rate at which that water is flowing. This may happen where the gradient
drops suddenly, or where there is a dramatic increase in the amount of sediment available (e.g., following
an explosive volcanic eruption).
9. If a meander is cut off it reduces the length of a stream so it increases the gradient.
10. The average gradient of the Fraser River between Hope and the Pacific Ocean is 0.28 m/km (or 28
cm/km).
11. In coastal regions of B.C. the highest levels of precipitation are in the winter, and large parts of most
drainage basins are not frozen solid. As a result stream discharges tend to be greatest in the winter.
12. In most parts of Canada winter precipitation is locked up in snow until the melt season begins, and
depending on the year and the location that happens in late spring or early summer. If the thaw is delayed
because of a cold spring, and then happens very quickly, flooding is likely. Some regions also receive
heavy rainfall during this period of the year.
13. Ri = (n+1)/r (where n is the length of the record) and r is the rank of the flood in question. In the
Ashnola River case Ri = (65+1)/2 = 33. The probability of such a flood next year is 1/Ri, or 1/33 which
is 0.03 or 3%.

Chapter 14

1. Porosity is the proportion of open space (space that can be filled with water), within a rock or
unconsolidated sediment. Permeability is an expression of the ease with which water will flow through
that material.
 Physical Geology 672

2. Clay deposits have low permeability because of the small size of the clay fragments. Water is tightly
held to the grains by surface tension, and in the very small spaces between grains in clay there is virtually
no water that is not able to flow.
3. From least to most permeable: unfractured gneiss, mudstone, sandstone, fractured granite, limestone
in a karst region.
4. (a) Sue’s well accesses an unconfined aquifer with low permeability. (b) Frank’s well accesses a
confined aquifer with high permeability. (c) Sue’s low capacity aquifer acts as a (leaky) confining layer
to Frank’s high capacity aquifer.
5. V = Ki
i = the gradient which is the elevation difference (83-77 = 6 m) over the distance (70 m) = 0.09, therefore
V = 0.003 * 0.09 = 0.00027 m/s
6. After a drop of 9 m (from 83 to 74 m), and assuming that the other well did not drop at all, the gradient
direction will have changed and the groundwater should flow toward the well that now has a level of 74
m.
7. Governments have the responsibility to protect our resources and to do their best to make sure that
individuals and industry can access the groundwater that they need. Without observation well networks
governments will have no independent information on how water levels are changing, and will be unable
to make decisions on what might need to be done to ensure an adequate water supply for all.
8. Natural groundwater contamination originates from the natural reactions between the groundwater
and the aquifer minerals. Anthropogenic groundwater contamination typically comes from human-
sourced chemicals at or near to surface that are allowed to leak into the aquifer.
9. Water travels faster through a highly permeable aquifer and thus can spread the contamination further
than in a less permeable one.
10. Livestock wastes are rich in nitrogen compounds, and these most commonly lead to nitrate
contamination within the groundwater. Livestock wastes may also contain pharmaceuticals, which could
contaminate groundwater.
11. The mineral pyrite is most likely to be responsible for acid rock drainage.
12. The waste water in a septic field needs to percolate slowly through the ground in order for natural
processes to break down the contaminants. If the permeability is too low the waste water could come to
surface. If the permeability is too high it could contaminate groundwater.

Chapter 15

1. The shear force and normal force vectors are shown on the left-hand diagram:

2. Based on the relative lengths of the arrows it appears that this material is stable, and unlikely to fail.
3. If the shear strength was reduced by 25% (right-hand diagram) the material would be much closer
673 Steven Earle

to failure, but the strength (based on the length of the arrows) still appears to be greater than the shear
force.

4.

5. In moist sand the grains are each surrounded by an envelope of water, and the water envelopes
overlap. The attractive surface tension of the water holds the grains together.
6. In a the material moves like a fluid (individual particles move independently). In a the mass moves as
an intact unit, with little or no relative motion between grains or clasts.
7. If a large rock slide starts moving at a rate of several metres per second, the rock is very likely to
break into smaller pieces. If the pieces are small and numerous enough that the material can flow, then it
becomes a rock avalanche.
8. A debris flow is composed mostly of sand-sized and larger clasts, while a mudflow is composed
mostly of sand-sized and smaller clasts.
9. Residents at risk from Mt. Rainier lahars need to know what the warnings mean and roughly how
much time they have between receiving a warning and being in actual danger. They need to create a plan
to exit their residence quickly, and they need to know which way to go to get to safety as efficiently as
possible.
10. Some of the important factors include:

• The steepness of the slope

• Any existing erosion processes happening at the base of the slope (e.g., wave or stream
erosion)
• The nature of surface or shallow sub-surface drainage in the upper part of the slope, and any
effects that the construction might have on the drainage
• The weight of the building (unless it is to be constructed in an excavation that represents
more mass than the building itself)

Chapter 16

1. The Cryogenian glaciations are called Snowball Earth because it is thought that freezing conditions
affected the entire planet and that the oceans were frozen over, even at the equator.
2. The cooling from the end of the Paleocene until the Holocene was related to the formation of
mountains including the Himalayas, the Rockies, and the Andes; the opening of the Drake Passage; the
development of Antarctic Circumpolar Current; and the closing of the Isthmus of Panama.
3. The first glaciation of the Cenozoic took place in Antarctica during the Oligocene (around 30 Ma).
4. At the height of the last glaciation, the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered almost all of Canada and
extended south into the United States as far as Wisconsin.
5. Continental glaciers flow from the areas where the ice is thickest (and therefore at the highest
elevation) toward areas (at the margins) where the ice is thinnest. Ice thickness tends to be related to the
 Physical Geology 674

rate of ice accumulation.

6. The equilibrium line represents the boundary between the area where ice is accumulating (typically
at high elevations), and where it is being depleted (mostly by melting). Above the equilibrium line more
snow accumulates in winter than can melt in summer so the glacier is always covered in snow. Below
the equilibrium line the snow cover is lost by the end of summer.
7. Relatively cool summers are more important because that controls how much snow will melt in the
summer. In many situations very cold winters are associated with less snow accumulation than just cold
winters.
8. (a) The ice at the bottom of a glacier flows more slowly than that at the top. In fact if the glacier is
frozen to its base the lowermost ice might not be moving at all. (b) The edges also flow more slowly
than the middle because there is more friction there between the ice and the valley walls.
9. Basal sliding will take place when the bed of the glacier is warm enough for water to be liquid. The
water will act as a lubricant to allow the ice to flow.
10. Glaciers carve U-shaped valleys because they are relatively wide (compared with rivers) and most of
the erosion takes place at the base rather than the sides. A hanging valley forms where a tributary glacier
joins a larger glacier and where the larger glacier has eroded a deeper valley.
11. There must be at least three cirques to form a horn. In most cases there wouldn’t be room for more
than four.
12. A drumlin is relatively steep at the up-ice end and streamlined at the down-ice end. A roche
moutonée is streamlined at the up-ice end and jagged at the down-ice end where plucking has taken
place.

13.

14. Drop stones are large clasts that are present with lacustrine or marine glacial sediments. They form
when coarse material drops from melting icebergs.
15. Glaciofluvial sediments (sand or sand and gravel) are likely to be sufficiently permeable to make
good aquifers.

Chapter 17

1. The size of waves are determined by the wind velocity, the length of time the wind blows in the
approximately the same direction, and the area of water over which it blows.
2. Table 17.1 provides data for 56 and 74 km/h winds, and 65 km/h is half way between these two values.
The listed values for duration and fetch are high enough for the sea to fully develop, so the simple answer
would be that the wave amplitude and wavelength would also be approximately half way between the
listed values: amplitude ~6 m, wavelength ~106 m.
3. Waves will start to feel” the bottom at around 50% of the wavelength, so at 50 m depth in this case.
675 Steven Earle

This will slow the waves down and also cause their amplitude to increase.
4. A longshore current is the movement of water parallel to the shore in the surface zone caused by
waves approaching at an angle. Longshore drift is the movement of sediment parallel to the shoreline,
caused partly by the longshore current and also by swash and backwash on the beach.
5. Wave energy is focused on the headland, with more wave energy vectors per length of coast than in the
bays, and thus the headland is eroding faster than the bays on either side, leading to coastal straightening.

6. Rocky coasts are eroded by waves and that erosion is greatest within the surface zone. As stacks and
arches are eventually eroded away, a wave-cut platform is left.
7. The beach face is the relatively steep area of the beach between the low and high tide levels. This is
also known as the foreshore or swash zone.
8. A spit can form where there is longshore drift and the geometry of the shoreline is such that a sand
bar extends away from the shore.
9. The area of the Atlantic coast north of Massachusetts (including New Hampshire, Maine, New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland plus all of the area inland) was glaciated during the
Pleistocene and has since rebounded isostatically. This is all now relatively young rocky coast that is
being actively eroded.
10. There has been approximately 125 m of eustatic sea-level rise since the last deglaciation, so the
current sea level should be approximately 140 – 125 = 15 m lower than it was during glaciation. The
dash-dot line marks present-day sea level. An uplifted coast like this should have uplifted wave-cut
terraces and coastal waterfalls.

11. Sediments would be trapped in the reservoir behind such a dam, and the water flowing through the
dam would be sediment-free. Although there would be erosion of new sediments downstream from the
 Physical Geology 676

dam, the water reaching the ocean at Richmond would have less sediment than it does now. This is
likely to result in the beaches around Vancouver being starved of sediment, and they would gradually
get smaller.

Chapter 18

1. Most of the sediments on continental shelves originate from clastic sediments derived from erosion
on the continents. The shelves on the eastern coast of North America are wider than those along the west
coast because there has been relatively recent (Cenozoic) tectonic activity on the west coast, while the
east coast has been passive for about 180 million years.
2. Subduction zone trenches may be partly filled in areas where there is significant sediment input from
rivers.
3. From bottom to top, oceanic crust is composed of gabbro, sheeted mafic dykes, and pillow basalts. In
most areas it is also covered with varying amounts of sea-floor sediments and sedimentary rocks.
4. The oldest sea floor in the Indian Ocean is in the order of 150 Ma. There is oceanic crust of this age
along the western margin of Africa, and adjacent to the northwestern part of Australia.
5. Coarse terrigenous sediments accumulate mostly where major rivers enter the sea, but they are only
washed a few kilometres out to sea (at most) because there isn’t enough river velocity left to move
them farther. Some of those sediments are moved many kilometres farther out to sea during flows of
turbidity currents. Clay, on the other hand, can stay in suspension for centuries, and during that time can
be dispersed well out into the ocean.
6. Carbonate sediments will accumulate on the sea floor wherever there is significant abundance of
carbonate-shelled organisms near to surface, and where the ocean is shallower than the depth at which
carbonate becomes soluble (the carbonate compensation depth). In these areas there is typically much
more carbonate than clay present, so the sediments look carbonate-rich, even though there is clay there.
7. Carbonate sediments are absent from the deepest parts of the oceans because carbonate minerals are
soluble below about 4,000 m depth, so carbonate fragments that settle to that depth dissolve back into
the water.
8. The carbon in sea-floor methane hydrates is derived from the bacterial breakdown of organic matter
at greater depth in the sediment pile.
9. The tropical parts of the oceans are saltiest because the rate of evaporation is highest. The
Mediterranean and Red Seas are saltier than the open ocean.
10. Salty water is transported north by the Gulf Stream and gradually cools. As it cools it remains
relatively salty and this cool salty is denser than either cold very fresh water or warm very salty water.

11. The relatively dense water in the north Atlantic sinks to become North Atlantic Deep Water
(NADW), and gradually moves back towards the south.
12.The open-ocean currents have the effect of moderating Earth’s surface temperature because warm
tropical water is moved toward the poles, and cold polar water is moved toward the tropics.

Chapter 19

1. The greenhouse gases (GHG) vibrate at frequencies that are similar to those of infrared (IR) radiation.
When IR radiation impinges on a GHG molecule, the molecule’s vibrational energy is enhanced and the
radiation energy is converted into heat, which is trapped within the atmosphere.
2. The combustion of fossil fuels releases CO2 that was previously stored in the crust. The resulting
increase in atmospheric CO2 leads to a temperature increase. As the temperature increases, the solubility
677 Steven Earle

of CO2 in the ocean decreases and additional CO2 is released by the ocean, resulting in even higher
atmospheric CO2 levels and higher temperatures.
3. Gondwana was situated over the South Pole for much of the Paleozoic and became glaciated during
the Ordovician (Andean-Saharan Glaciation) and again during the Permian (Karoo Glaciation). These
glaciations cooled the entire planet during these periods.
4. From a climate perspective, the two important volcanic gases are SO2 and CO2. SO2 is converted
to sulphate aerosols which block sunlight and can lead to short-term cooling (years). CO2 can lead to
warming, but only in situations where there is an elevated level of volcanism over at least thousands of
years.
5. We use 65° for estimating the glaciation potential of orbital variations because glaciers are most likely
to form at high latitudes. We use 65° N rather than 65° S because for more than 50 million years the
continents have been concentrated in the northern hemisphere. We use July instead of January because
for glaciers to grow it’s more important to have cool summers than cold winters.
6. If the major currents in the oceans were to slow down or stop, the tropics would get hotter and the
high-latitude areas would get colder, leading to expansion of glaciers and sea ice. The various feedbacks
(e.g., higher albedo because of increased ice cover) would result in an overall cooler climate.
7. The main climate implication of the melting and breakdown of permafrost is that carbon that was
trapped in the frozen ground will be released and then converted to CO2 and CH4, leading to more
warming.
8. Sea-floor methane hydrates are stable because the deep ocean water is cold. In order for the hydrates
to become unstable, warmth from the upper layers of the ocean has to be transferred to depth.
9. A significant part of our GHG emissions take place during because of the (formerly) intentional and
(presently) unavoidable release of natural gas (CH4) during the extraction of oil and gas. Some is lost
during transportation — for example when pipelines leak — and some is consumed during transportation
— for example to pressurize pipelines or to power tanker trains. GHGs are also leaked to the atmosphere
during the routine refuelling and operation of motor vehicles.
10. The rise of sea level results from a combination of melting glaciers and thermal expansion of the
ocean water. Both of these large systems are slow to respond to the warming climate. For example
it takes a long time for warm surface water to be transferred to depth in the ocean or for heat to be
transferred to depth in a glacier. Even if we stabilized the GHG levels in the atmosphere today, the
climate would continue to warm for approximately another 100 years, and sea level would continue to
rise for much longer than that.
11. West Nile virus is carried by birds and is transmitted to humans by certain species of mosquitoes. The
range and abundance of those mosquitoes is partly controlled by climate change, especially by warm
winters. Sufficiently warm winters are increasingly common in the northern United States and southern
Canada.

Chapter 20

1. Some of the components of a compact fluorescent lightbulb (and the resources used to make one) are
as follows:

• Steel (iron, carbon from coal plus some manganese, nickel, chromium, molybdenum)
• Plastic housing (petroleum)
• Glass coil (silica from sand, plus minor amounts of sodium, calcium, and magnesium)
• Copper conductors, lead solder, and basal contact
 Physical Geology 678

• Silica (sand), plastics (petroleum), ceramics (clay), aluminum, gold, copper, etc. in the
electronics
• Mercury inside the tube (less than 5 mg)

2. Nickel deposits form within mafic and ultramafic igneous bodies because the original magma have
relatively high nickel levels to begin with, while intermediate or felsic magma have low levels.
3. The “smoke” in a black smoker is composed of tiny crystals of sulphide minerals. If those include
significant quantities of ore minerals like chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), sphalerite (ZnS), and galena (PbS), a
VMS deposit could form during this process.
4. A porphyry deposit is situated in the rock around an igneous pluton that has intruded to a relatively
high level in the crust (and hence is porphyritic), and they form at least in part from fluids released by
the magma. Epigenetic gold deposits may be formed from the same or similar fluids, but are situated at
a greater distance from the pluton/
5. Ferrous iron (Fe2+) is soluble in water with a low oxidation potential, and gets converted to insoluble
ferric iron (Fe3+) when the water becomes oxidized. The opposite situation happens with uranium.
Uranyl uranium (U6+) is soluble under oxidizing conditions, but when the water in which it is dissolved
encounters reducing conditions the uranium is converted to the insoluble uranous ion (U4+).
6. It is common for the upper part of a kimberlite to be mined using an open pit (in this case around 500
m wide and up to 500 m deep), and for the lower part to be mined underground.
7. Pyrite (FeS2) is typically responsible for acid rock drainage around mine sites, and it is very common
for pyrite to form within the rock at the same time that other metal sulphides (e.g., chalcopyrite) are
forming.
8. Glaciofluvial gravels are typically relatively well sorted, and may include clasts ranging in size from
coarse sand to pebbles. Till, on the other hand, tends to be poorly sorted and may have clasts ranging
from clay to boulders. More processing would be needed to separate the required size ranges, and
because till tends to be relatively hard and strong, this would require a lot of effort.
9. During the manufacture of CaO limestone is heated and CO2 is released to the atmosphere, adding
to the greenhouse effect. The energy required for this process typically comes from fossil fuels (e.g.,
natural gas) and the combustion also releases CO2.
10. Some important evaporite minerals include halite (NaCl), sylvite (KCl), and gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O).
11. The 15 m of organic matter required to make 1.5 m of coal, is equivalent to 15,000 mm, and if the
organic matter accumulates at 1 mm/y that would require 15,000 years. That organic matter would have
to remain submerged in oxygen-poor water for at least that length of time.
12. Petroleum source rocks must have a significant component of organic matter, and then need to be
buried to at least 2,500 m depth so that the organic matter can be converted to oil or gas. Reservoir rocks
must be both porous and permeable, so that the petroleum liquids can be extracted, and should also take
the form of a trap (e.g., an anticline) and capped with impermeable rock.
13. The optimum depth for the generation of oil from buried organic matter is 2,500 to 3,500 m.
14. Shale gas is an unconventional reserve because shale is not permeable enough to allow the gas to
be extracted. The rock has to be fractured (fracked) to allow recovery. Fracking involves the use of vast
amounts of water, and there is the potential that the fracking fluids can contaminate freshwater aquifers.
15. Kimberlite indicator minerals are much more abundant than diamonds within kimberlites, and so
they can typically be detected further away from the kimberlite source, and over a much wider area.

Chapter 21

1. The oldest parts of Laurentia are the Slave and Superior Provinces. Both have rocks that are in the
679 Steven Earle

order of 4 Ga.
2. The regions A through E are A-the Cordilleran Fold Belt, B-the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin,
C-the Canadian Shield, D-the Innuitian Fold Belt, and E-the Appalachian Fold Belt.
3. Pearya collided with North America to form the Innuitian fold belt during the Devonian.
4. The ancient sedimentary rocks of the Athabasca and Thelon Basins were deposited on the stable
Canadian Shield and were never involved in tectonic processes; nor were they buried deeply enough to
be metamorphosed.
5. Ultramafic magma has to be very hot to be liquid, and while Earth’s interior was hot enough during
the Archean, it is no longer hot enough.
6. There are several reasons why the preservation is so good in the Burgess Shale: the rock is very
fine grained so details are well defined; the dead organisms accumulated in a lifeless anoxic basin
so they were not oxidized, scavenged, or broken down by bacteria while they were being fossilized;
although some of the surrounding rocks are weakly metamorphosed, the Burgess Shale was protected
from squeezing by adjacent strong limestone.
7. The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin was filled with marine water during pre-Prairie Evaporite
times and Winnipegosis carbonate was deposited. It slowly dried out to produce the evaporite beds, but
was later re-filled, leading to the deposition of Dawson Bay carbonate. The isolation of the basin during
Prairie Evaporite times might have been due to a drop in sea level or tectonic uplift. A change to a dryer
climate may also have been a factor.
8. The rocks of the Intermontane Superterrane have fossils that are indicative of southern hemisphere
deposition, and also have magnetic inclinations that imply an origin south of the equator.
9. Terrane accretion on the west coast led to formation of the Rocky Mountains. The rapid erosion of
these mountains provided a source for accumulation of sediments within the WCSB.
10. The western edge of the WCSB was pushed down by the mass of the Rocky Mountains toward the
end of the Mesozoic, and thus can be thought of as a foreland basin.
11. The likely order is Yukon-Tanana, Quesnel, Cache Creek, and Stikine, although it is also possible
that these terranes were assembled as one unit prior to reaching North America.
12. Nanaimo Group sedimentary rocks were forced inland and up to relatively high elevations on
Vancouver Island when the accretion of the Pacific Rim and Crescent Terranes pushed Vancouver Island
closer to the mainland.
13. The Paskapoo Formation becomes thinner toward the northeast because the foreland basin gets
shallower in that direction, and also because the source of the sediments is the Rocky Mountains, situated
along the southeastern edge of the basin.

Chapter 22

1. To see an event, light from that event must reach our eyes. Light travels very quickly (about
300,000,000 m/s), but the universe is very, very large. Depending on how far away the event was, it
could take billions of years for light to travel from the event to our eyes so we can see it. Astronomers
take advantage of this fact to view the universe’s past.
2. B is the spectrum from the Andromeda galaxy. We know that one spectrum represents the Sun, which
is not moving toward or away from us. (Our orbit is not perfectly circular, but the small eccentricity is
not a factor in this comparison.) We know that the Andromeda galaxy is on a collision course with us, so
it is the exception to the rule that galaxies are moving away from us, and their light is red-shifted. That
means the spectrum B which is shifted furthest to the left (blue-shifted) is Andromeda, and spectrum A
which is furthest to the right (red-shifted) is a galaxy moving away from us. That means C is the Sun.
 Physical Geology 680

Spectra for the sun and two galaxies. [KP]

3. The planetary system consisted of two Jupiter-sized gas giant planets. Gas giant planets contain large
amounts of hydrogen, and hydrogen was plentiful in the early universe. In contrast, terrestrial planets
have heavier elements, especially silica, iron, magnesium, and nickel, that had yet to be manufactured
by stars. Those elements were not present in sufficient abundance to form terrestrial planets until much
later.
4. Closest to the sun we find the small, rocky, terrestrial planets with metal cores. Further out are the gas
giant planets, which are the largest in the solar system. They consist mostly of hydrogen, and have cores
of rock and ice. Beyond the gas giant planets are the ice giant planets, which are next largest. They have
a mantle of ice (not just water ice but ammonia and methane ice), and a rocky core. Smaller objects in
the solar system include rocky bodies within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and bodies of
ice and dust in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud beyond Neptune.
5. The frost line marks the distance from the Sun beyond which temperatures were cool enough to allow
ice to form. This helps to explain why the terrestrial planets are closer to the Sun, and the Jovian and ice
giant planets farther away. Mineral grains could solidify and begin to accrete closer to the Sun, forming
terrestrial planets, because they have higher melting points. In contrast, water vapour, methane, and
ammonia had to be farther from the Sun before they could freeze and begin to accrete.
6. The objects are comets, and two places to find large numbers of comets in the solar system are the
Oort cloud and the Kuiper belt. The bright dot the comets have noticed is the sun, and the adventurous
comet returns displaying the consequences of the Sun’s energy blasting gases and dust from its surface.
7. Planets are defined as having cleared their orbits of debris. Pluto is located within the Kuiper belt, so it
shares its orbit with other objects. There are two other criteria in the definition of a planet: planets in our
solar system must orbit the Sun, and they must have a spherical shape. Pluto satisfies both these criteria,
but sadly the people deciding whether or not Pluto should be a planet are not amenable to a “best two
out of three” compromise.
8. Differentiation is the separation of materials within a planet such that dense materials sink to the core,
and lighter materials float upward. In Earth’s case, the denser materials are iron and nickel, and the
lighter materials are silicate minerals. In order for differentiation to happen, the entire planet must be
melted.
9. Thus far it appears that our solar system is unique compared to other planetary systems we have
observed. In particular, some other planetary systems have gas giant planets very close to their star.
The fact that we have terrestrial planets close to the Sun makes sense in terms of the frost line, but it
does not seem to be a hard-and-fast rule in other planetary systems. Therefore, we can’t conclude from
681 Steven Earle

Kepler-452b’s position alone that it is a terrestrial planet.

10. The rules to the accretion game mean that there are many complex interactions, so even a small
difference in the starting conditions or in how the game goes in the beginning could have major
implications in the end. For that reason, we shouldn’t expect to find a planetary system that matches
ours in every minute detail. However, just because we haven’t found a similar planetary system does
not mean one does not exist. Our planet-finding methods are biased toward discovering large planets
orbiting close to their stars, whereas our solar system has small planets close to the Sun and larger ones
farther away. That doesn’t mean our methods won’t eventually turn up a system like ours, just that they
are more likely to turn up systems that are different.
Appendix 3 Answers to Exercises

(3) Answers to Exercises – Physical Geology

The following are suggested answers to the exercises embedded in the various chapters of Physical
Geology. The answers are in italics. Click on a chapter link to go to the answers for that chapter.
(Answers to the chapter-end questions are provided in Appendix 2.)

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10

Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15

Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20

Chapter 21 Chapter 22

Chapter 1

1.1 Find a piece of granite

Responses will vary, but your sample should look something like the one shown below. Granitic rocks
are hard and strong and difficult to break. They are dominated by feldspar (this one has both white
plagioclase and pink potassium feldspar), but almost all have some quartz (which looks glassy) and a
few per cent of dark minerals, like the black amphibole in this one.

An example of a granitic rock [SE]

1.2 Plate motion during your lifetime – It depends where you live of course, but if you live anywhere in
Canada and anywhere in the US east of the San Andreas fault, then you’re on the North America Plate,

682
683 Steven Earle

and that is moving towards the west at 2 to 2.5 cm/year. So if you’re around 20 years old, that plate has
moved between 40 and 50 cm to the west in your lifetime.

1.3 Using geological time notation – 2.75 ka is 2,750 years, 0.93 Ga is 930,000,000 years or 930
million years, 14.2 Ma is 14,200,000 years or 14.2 million years.

1.4 Take a trip through geological time – 1) The oxygenation of the atmosphere started at around
2.5 Ga (2500 Ma). It was a catastrophe for many organisms because they could not survive the strong
oxidizing effects of free oxygen. 2) We don’t really know the answer to this, but it’s not very long if you
include insects, and there is evidence of insect damage to some of the earliest plants. 3) Plants on land
allowed for animals on land, so without land plants, we wouldn’t be here.

Chapter 2

2.1 Cations, anions and ionic bonding

Lithium (3) 2 in shell one and 1 in shell two It loses an electron and becomes a +1 cation

Magnesium 2 in shell one, 8 in shell two and 2 in shell

It loses two electrons and becomes a +2 cation
(12) three

2 in shell one, 8 in shell two and 8 in shell It is electronically stable, and does not become
Argon (18)
three an ion

2 in shell one, 8 in shell two and 7 in shell

Chlorine (17) It gains an electron and becomes a -1 anion
three

Beryllium (4) 2 in shell one and 2 in shell two It loses two electrons and becomes a +2 cation

Oxygen (8) 2 in shell one and 6 in shell two It gains two electrons and becomes a -2 anion

2 in shell one, 8 in shell two and 1 in shell

Sodium (11) It loses an electron and becomes a +1 cation
three

2.2 Mineral groups

 Physical Geology 684

Name Formula Group

sphalerite ZnS sulphide

magnetite Fe3O4 oxide

pyroxene MgSiO3 silicate

anglesite PbSO4 sulphate

sylvite KCl halide

silver Ag native

fluorite CaF2 halide

ilmenite FeTiO3 oxide

siderite FeCO3 carbonate

feldspar KAlSi3O8 silicate

sulphur S native

xenotime YPO4 phosphate

2.3 Make a tetrahedron – responses will vary

2.4 Oxygen deprivation – single chain silicate: 1:3 (silicon to oxygen), double chain silicate: 7:19 (or
1:2.71)

2.5 Ferromagnesian silicates

685 Steven Earle

Mineral Formula Ferromagnesian Silicate?

olivine (Mg,Fe)2SiO4 yes

pyrite FeS2 no (it’s a sulphide, not a silicate)

plagioclase CaAl2Si2O8 no

pyroxene MgSiO3 yes

hematite Fe2O3 no (it’s an oxide, not a silicate)

orthoclase KAlSi3O8 no

quartz SiO2 no

amphibole Fe7Si8O22(OH)2 yes

muscovite K2Al4 Si6Al2O20(OH)4 no

magnetite Fe3O4 no (it’s an oxide, not a silicate)

biotite K2Fe4Al2Si6Al4O20(OH)4 yes

dolomite (Ca,Mg)CO3 no (it’s a carbonate, not a silicate)

garnet Fe2Al2Si3O12 yes

serpentine Mg3Si2O5(OH)4 yes

Chapter 3

3.1 Rock around the rock-cycle clock – Sedimentary rock is buried deeper to make metamorphic rock,
the metamorphic rock is uplifted and during this process the material overhead is eroded so that it can be
exposed at surface. The metamorphic rock is then eroded to make more sediments, which are deposited
and then buried to make sedimentary rock. This would likely take at least 60 million years.

3.2 Making magma viscous – responses will vary

3.3 Rock types based on magma composition

SiO2 Al2O3 FeO CaO MgO Na2O K2O Type?

intermediate (although the SiO2 level is borderline, there

55% 17% 5% 6% 3% 4% 3%
is too little FeO, MgO and CaO to be mafic)

74% 14% 3% 3% 0.5% 5% 4% felsic

47% 14% 8% 10% 8% 1% 2% mafic

intermediate (although the SiO2 level is borderline, there

65% 14% 4% 5% 4% 3% 3%
is too much MgO and CaO to be felsic)
 Physical Geology 686

3.4 Porphyritic minerals – a) only olivine phenocrysts, b) pyroxene and amphibole phenocrysts, along
with plagioclase with a composition that is about half-way between the Ca-rich and the Na-rich end-
members.

3.5 Mineral proportions in igneous rocks – a) ~25% K-feldspar, ~30% quartz, ~35% albitic
plagioclase and ~10 biotite/amphibole, b) ~65% plagioclase and ~35% biotite/amphibole (most likely
amphibole), c) ~45% anorthitic plagioclase, ~25% amphibole and ~35% pyroxene d) ~50% pyroxene
and ~50% olivine.

3.6 Proportions of ferromagnesian silicates – the approximate proportions are: 10%, 50%, 30% and
2%, and the corresponding rock names are granite, gabbro (although it’s right on the boundary between
gabbro and diorite), diorite and granite.

3.7 Pluton problems – a is a stock, b is a dyke (it cuts across bedding and the granite), c is a sill (it is
parallel to bedding), d is a dyke, e is a sill.

Chapter 4

4.1 How thick is the oceanic crust? – The magma available to create oceanic crust at this setting is
approximately 10% of the volume of the 60 km thick part of the mantle from which it is derived, so the
oceanic crust should be about 6 km thick.

4.2 Under pressure – no answer possible

4.3 Volcanoes and subduction – The volcanoes are between 200 and 300 km from the subduction
boundary, about 250 km on average. If the subducting crust is descending at 40 km per 100 km inland,
the depth to the Juan de Plate beneath these volcanoes is between 80 and 120 km, or 100 km on average.

4.4 Kilauea’s June27th lava flow – 1) The flow front advanced at a rate of about 160 m/day or just
under 7 m/hour between June 27th and October 29th 2014. That doesn’t mean that the lava only flowed
at rates of a few m/hour over that time. It likely flowed much faster (probably 10s to 100s of m/hour),
but it advanced in fits and starts, and the advancing front changed locations many times. At other times
the flow spread out across the area. 2) Between January 2015 and January 2016 the flow did not extend
any further northeast towards Pahoa. Instead it spread out across the plain to the north of Pu’ u’ o’ o.

4.5 Volcanic Hazards in Squamish

687 Steven Earle

Hazard Risk

Tephra Yes, but much of the tephra from a large eruption would extend up into the atmosphere, and would
emission not affect Squamish.

Gas Yes, There could be dangerous amounts of sulphurous or acidic gases flowing down the
emission mountainside into Squamish.

Pyroclastic
Yes, a pyroclastic density current that flows down the western or southwestern sides of Garibaldi
density
could easily reach Squamish.
current

Pyroclastic Yes, in the later stages of a large eruption some tephra (or pyroclastic fragments) cold rain down
fall on Squamish

Yes, Squamish is definitely at risk from a lahar on the western side of the mountain. The risk would
Lahar be increased if the eruption takes place in winter or spring when the amount of snow is at a
maximum.

Sector Yes, this is possible. The western side of Mt. Garibaldi has already collapsed several times since
collapse the last glaciation.

Yes, Squamish is at risk from lava that flows on the southern and western sides of the mountain.
Lava flow There is a Pleistocene-aged lava flow clearly evident in the photograph. It flowed down the
southern flank, and then turned west towards where Squamish is situated today.

4.6 Volcano alert – The most important tools for monitoring volcanoes are seismometers, and while
there is a good network of seismometers in southwestern BC, there are not enough in close proximity
to Mt. Garibaldi to be able to accurately define the locations and depths of earthquakes around the
volcano. So the first project would be to establish about 5 additional seismic stations in the Squamish
region. They don’t have to be right on the mountain, but can be placed near to existing roads and
highways in the area. They need to be secured to bedrock. Every effort should be made to have them
located on all sides of the mountain. The second project would be to establish some means of measuring
deformation of the mountain itself. This could be done with tiltmeters or GPS stations, but GPS would
be better. The GPS receivers have to be placed on the flanks of the mountain, and they also have to be
installed right on bedrock. That could be a real challenge in winter or spring, when there is lots of snow.
While this work is going on, we should charter a helicopter to fly around the mountain to see if there is
any sign of eruptive activity or melting snow, and to look for convenient places to install GPS stations.
We may want to land in a few different places.

There isn’t a lot that we can say to the public at this stage, except that this sudden increase in
seismic activity could mean that Garibaldi is getting ready to erupt, that the Geological Survey and all
emergency measures organizations are working together on it, and that residents of the Squamish area,
and anyone using highway 99, should keep listening to local radio stations for further updates. We could
also establish a system to send out alerts via text message.

4.7 Volcanoes down under – We would expect to see composite volcanoes on the North Island, some
200 to 300 km inland (northwest) from the Kermadec Trench, and within the ocean along the same
trend to the northeast of NZ. There is also the potential for composite volcanism to the south of the
 Physical Geology 688

South Island, east of the Macquarrie fault zone, although there appears to be some doubt about whether
subduction is actually taking place in this region.

Chapter 5

5.1 Mechanical weathering – see below

Examples of mechanical weathering [SE]

5.2 Chemical weathering

Chemical change Process

Pyrite to hematite oxidation

Calcite to calcium and bicarbonate ions dissolution

Feldspar to clay hydrolysis

Olivine to serpentine hydrolysis

Pyroxene to iron oxide oxidation

5.3 Describe the weathering origins of sands

Sand description Possible processes

Fragments of coral etc. from a

Reefs are constantly being eroded by ocean waves, and the fragments are
shallow water area near to a reef
washed inshore by currents and then further eroded by wave action.
in Belize

Angular quartz and rock Quartz-bearing rocks have been eroded and transported by a glacier. The
fragments from a glacial stream fragments may have been moved a short distance by a stream, but not
deposit near Osoyoos enough to produce rounding.

Rounded grains of olivine and

The olivine and glass grains are eroded by waves from volcanic rock and
volcanic glass from a beach in
then thoroughly rounded by waves on the beach
Hawaii
689 Steven Earle

5.4 The soils of Canada

Soil type Distribution Explanation

These are dry-climate soils developed on

Chernozem Southern prairies
grasslands

Soils developed on sedimentary rocks in

Luvisol Northern prairies and BC interior
cool moist climates

Mountainous parts of BC and large parts of northern Areas with coniferous forests and
Podsol
Ontario and Quebec moderate climates

Cold forested regions with discontinuous

Brunisol Boreal forest regions
permafrost

Organic Hudson Bay and James Bay lowlands Wetland areas with widespread swamps

Chapter 6

6.1 Describe the sediment on a beach – responses will vary

6.2 Classifying sandstones

Description Rock name

Angular grains, 85% quartz, 15% feldspar, <5% silt and clay Arkosic arenite

Rounded grains, 99% quartz, <2% silt and clay Quartz arenite

Angular grains, 70% quartz, 20% lithic and 10% feldspar, ~20% silt and clay Lithic wacke

6.3 Making evaporite – responses will vary

6.4 Interpretation of past environments

 Physical Geology 690

Source Dep.
Description Weathering Transportation
rock environment

strong
Cross-bedded quartz sandstone, rounded probably
chemical wind desert
grains sandstone
weathering

Feldspathic sandstone and mudstone with granite and weak

short transport
volcanic fragments and repetitive graded volcanic chemical sub-marine fan
in a river
bedding rock weathering

granite and
Conglomerate with well- rounded pebbles difficult to high-energy moderate
volcanic
and cobbles, imbricated tell river energy river
rock

talus slope,
mechanical
Limestone breccia with orange-red matrix limestone rock fall oxidizing
only
environment

Chapter 7

7.1 How long did it take – It might have taken in the order of 20 to 25 million years for these garnets
to form, but even more time is needed than that to produce the rock because we have to account for
the sedimentary process and then burial and lithification and then deeper burial to reach metamorphic
environment – several tens of millions more years.

7.2 Naming metamorphic rocks

Rock Description Name

A rock with visible minerals of mica and with small crystals of andalusite. The Schist or (preferably)
mica crystals are consistently parallel to one another. Mica-andalusite schist

A very hard rock with a granular appearance and a glassy lustre. There is no
Probably quartzite
evidence of foliation.

A fine-grained rock that splits into wavy sheets. The surfaces of the sheets have a
Phyllite
sheen to them.

A rock that is dominated by aligned crystals of amphibole. Amphibolite

7.3 Metamorphic Rocks in Areas with Higher Geothermal Gradients

691 Steven Earle

Metamorphic Rock Type Depth (km)

Slate 2 to 5

Phyllite 5 to 8

Schist 8 to 12

Gneiss 12 to 17

Migmatite 17 to 25

7.4 Scottish Metamorphic Zones

Metamorphic zones in southern Scotland [SE]

7.5 Contact metamorphism and metasomatism

Contact metamorphic rocks [SE]

Chapter 8
 Physical Geology 692

8.1 Cross-Cutting Relationships [SE]

Relative ages: 2: oldest: 3: middle, 1: youngest [SE]

8.2 Dating Rocks Using Index Fossils

Dating from overlapping fossils [SE]

Probable age: 92.6 to 92.7 Ma. If M. subhercynius was not present the interpreted age range would be
92.6 to 92.9 Ma

8.3 Isotopic Dating

693 Steven Earle

Isotopic dating [SE]

With a ratio of 0.91 the age is 175 Ma (red dotted line)

8.4 Magnetic Dating – The possible age ranges are 3.05 to 3.12 Ma and 1.78 to 2.00 Ma

Dating based on magnetic-reversal chronology [SE]

8.5 What Happened on Your Birthday? – Answers will vary.

Chapter 9

9.1 How Soon Will Seismic Waves Get Here? – Times shown for velocity of 5 km/s.

Time (s) Location/distance Time (s) Location/distance Time (s)

Location/distance

Nanaimo (120 km) 24 s Surrey (200 km) 40 s Kamloops (390 km)

78 s

9.2 Liquid Cores in Other Planets

 Physical Geology 694

S-wave shadow zones used to determine the extent of

a liquid core [SE]

9.3 What Does Your Magnetic Dip Meter Tell You?

Vertical Vertical
General location General location
orientation orientation

Up at a shallow Southern hemisphere, near the

Straight down North pole
angle equator

Down at a steep Northern hemisphere, near the Parallel to the

Equator
angle pole ground

Exercise 9.4 Rock Density and Isostasy

Rock densities [SE]

Chapter 10

10.1 Fitting the Continents Together

695 Steven Earle

Pangea [SE]

10.2 Volcanoes and the Rate of Plate Motion

Pacific Plate rates of motion [SE]

10.3 Paper Transform Fault Model – no answer possible

10.4 A Different Type of Transform Fault

 Physical Geology 696

Juan de Fuca and Explorer Plates [SE]

The Juan de Fuca Plate is moving faster than the Explorer Plate, which means that the Juan de Fuca
Plate is sliding past the Explorer Plate. There is side-by-side relative motion on this plate boundary, and
that makes it a transform fault.

10.5 Getting to Know the Plates and Their Boundaries [SE]

The extents of the Earth’s major plates [SE]

Chapter 11

11.1 Earthquakes in British Columbia

697 Steven Earle

[SE from Earthquakes Canada at

http://www.earthquakescanada.nrcan.gc.ca/
index-en.php]

1. Most of the earthquakes between the Juan de Fuca (JDF) and Explorer Plates are related to
transform motion along that plate boundary,
2. The string of small earthquakes adjacent to Haida Gwaii are likely aftershocks of the 2012
M7.7 earthquake in that area.
3. Most of the earthquakes around Vancouver Island (V.I.) are related to deformation of the
North America Plate continental crust by compression along the subduction zone.
4. Earthquakes that are probably caused by fracking are enclosed within a red circle on the
map.

11.2 Moment Magnitude Estimates from Earthquake Parameters

Length Width Displacement

Comments MW?
(km) (km) (m)

60 15 4 The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake 7.3

The small Vancouver Island earthquake shown in Figure

0.4 0.2 .5 4.0
11.13

The 2001 Nisqually earthquake described in Exercise

20 8 4 6.8
11.3

1,100 120 10 The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake 9.0

30 11 4 The 2010 Haiti earthquake 7.0

The largest recorded earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5. Could there be a 10?

A possible solution is 2500 km long and 300 km wide with 55 m of displacement. (Other solutions are
possible.) These are unreasonable numbers because subduction zones don’t tend to fail over that length
 Physical Geology 698

(typically not much more than 1200 km), rupture zones cannot be that wide because that takes us into
the asthenosphere, and displacements are never likely to be that great.

11.3 Estimating Intensity from Personal Observations

Building Shaking Lasted

Floor Description of Motion Intensity?
Type Felt (seconds)

Heard a large rumble lasting not even 10 s, mirror

House 1 no 10 II
swayed

Candles, pictures & CDs on bookshelf moved,

House 2 moderate 60 IV
towels fell off racks

Pots hanging over stove moved and crashed

House 1 no III
together

Rolling feeling with a sudden stop, picture fell off

House 1 weak IV
mantle, chair moved

Sounded like a big truck then everything shook for

Apartment 1 weak 10 III
a short period

House 1 moderate 20-30 Teacups rattled but didn’t fall off III

Institution 2 moderate 15 Creaking sounds, swaying movement of shelving III

Bed banging against the wall with me in it, dog

House 1 moderate 15-30 IV
barking aggressively

11.4 Creating Liquefaction and Discovering the Harmonic Frequency – no answer possible

11.5 Is Your Local School on the Seismic Upgrade List? – answers will vary

Chapter 12

12.1 Folding style

In order to help with the interpretation, one of the beds has been traced (in yellow) on the diagram
below, and two of the fold axes have been shown (in pink). These folds are symmetrical, and although
they are tight they are not isoclinal. They are overturned.
699 Steven Earle

Folded rocks (in yellow) and fold axes (pink) [SE]

12.2 Types of faults

Top left: a normal fault,

Top right: A reverse fault, compression
implying extension

Bottom left: a series of Bottom right: a right lateral fault (implies that there is shearing, but it is not
normal faults, extension possible to say if there is extension or compression)

12.3 Putting strike and dip on a map

See map below for strike and dip symbols. Relative ages, from youngest to oldest:

• dyke (youngest)
• fault
• layer g (although this layer isn’t intersected by the fault or the dyke so it is not possible to
know that it is older based on the information available)
• layer f
• layer e
• layer d
• layer c
• layer b
• layer a (oldest)
 Physical Geology 700

Vertical cross section (above), map view (below)

[SE]

Chapter 13

13.1 How Long Does Water Stay in the Atmosphere?

The volume of the oceans is 1,338,000,000 km3 and the flux rate is approximately the same (1,580
km3/day).

What is the average residence time of a water molecule in the ocean?

1,338,000,000/1,580 = 846,835 days average residence time for water in the ocean (or 2320 years)

13.2 The Effect of a Dam on Base Level

How does the formation of a reservoir affect the stream where it enters the reservoir, and what happens
to the sediment it was carrying?

The velocity of the streams slows to zero and most of the sediment is deposited quickly.

The water leaving the dam has no sediment in it. How does this affect the stream below the dam?

With nothing to deposit, the water below the dam can only erode, so there will be enhanced erosion
below the dam.

13.3 Understanding the Hjulström-Sundborg Diagram

701 Steven Earle

[SE]

1. A fine sand grain (0.1 mm) is resting on the bottom of a stream bed.

(a) What stream velocity will it take to get that sand grain into suspension? ~20 cm/s

(b) Once the particle is in suspension, the velocity starts to drop. At what velocity will it finally come
back to rest on the stream bed? ~1 cm/s

1. A stream is flowing at 10 cm/s (which means it takes 10 s to go 1 m, and that’s pretty slow).

(a) What size of particles can be eroded at 10 cm/s? No particles, of any size, will be eroded at 10 cm/s,
although particles smaller than 1 mm that are already in suspension will stay in suspension.

(b) What is the largest particle that, once already in suspension, will remain in suspension at c0 cm/s? A
1 mm diameter particle should remain in suspension at 10 cm/s.

13.4 Determining Stream Gradients

 Physical Geology 702

Gradients of Priest Creek (in red) [SE]

The length of the creek between 1,600 m and 1,300 m elevation is 2.4 km, so the gradient is 300/2.4 =
125 m/km.

1. Use the scale bar to estimate the distance between 1,300 m and 600 m and then calculate that
gradient. 5.2 km, with a gradient of 700/5.2 = 134 m km
2. Estimate the gradient between 600 and 400 m. 3.6 km, with a gradient of 200/3.6 = 56m /km
3. Estimate the gradient between 400 m on Priest Creek and the point where Mission Creek
enters Okanagan Lake. 4 km, with a gradient of 60/4.0 = 15 m/km

13.5 Flood Probability on the Bow River

1. Calculate the recurrence interval for the second largest flood (1932, 1,520 m3/s). Ri = 96/2 =
48 years
2. What is the probability that a flood of 1,520 m3/s will happen next year? 1/48 = 0.02 or 2%
3. Examine the 100-year trend for floods on the Bow River. If you ignore the major floods (the
labelled ones), what is the general trend of peak discharges over that time? In general the
peak discharges are getting lower (from an average of around 400 m3/s in 1915 to an
average of about 300 m3/s in 2015)

Chapter 14

14.1 How Long Will It Take?

703 Steven Earle

i = (37-21)/80 = 0.2, V= 0.0002 x 0.2 = 0.00004 m/s. At that rate it will take 2,000,000 s for the
groundwater to flow from the gas station to the stream. That is 555 hours, or 23 days.

14.2 Cone of depression

The cone of depression increases the gradient of the water table in the area around the well. That should
increase the rate at which water flows towards the well.

14.3 What is your water table doing?

[BC Ministry of the Environment at

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/data_searches/obswell/
map/]

The water-level for a random observation well in BC is shown above. The water table is slowly rising at
this location. Since 2004 the lowest water level has risen from just above 4 m below surface to around
3.6 m above surface and the highest level has risen from around 0.3 m below surface to nearly at surface
(0 m). Prior to 2004, where the points are not joined with lines, the trend appears to be similar.

14.4 What goes on at your landfill? – Responses will vary

14.5 Finding a leaking UST in your community – Responses will vary

14.6 Manipulating a Contaminant Plume

What could you do at wells A and C to prevent this? Explain and use the diagram below to illustrate the
expected changes to the water table and the movement of the plume.
 Physical Geology 704

Implications of pumping water from wells B and C

and injecting water into well A [SE]

Possible Answer: Injection into well A will cause water table to rise there (like the reverse of a cone of
depression), thus reversing flow direction to the right of well A and moving the plume towards Well B.
Extraction from Wells B and C will cause cones of depression and help to reverse the flow and pull the
plume back from the stream. Both wells B and C may receive contaminants and so the water from both
may need treatment.

Chapter 15

15.1 Sand and water – responses will vary

15.2 Classifying Slope Failures

[SE]

15.3 How Much Does a House Weigh and Can It Contribute to a Slope Failure?

A typical 150 m2 (approximately 1,600 ft2) wood-frame house with a basement and a concrete
foundation weighs about 145 t (metric tonnes). But most houses are built on foundations that are
excavated into the ground. This involves digging a hole and taking some material away, so we need to
subtract what that excavated material weighs. Assuming our 150 m2 house required an excavation that
was 15 m by 11 m by 1 m deep, that’s 165 m3 of “dirt,” which typically has a density of about 1.6 t per
m3.
705 Steven Earle

165 m3 of excavated soil x 1.6 t/m3 = 264 t – thus the excavated material weighs about 1.8 times as much
as the house. In this case weight has been removed from the slope by building the house.

Chapter 16

16.1 Pleistocene Glacials and Interglacials

Describe the nature of temperature change that followed each of these glacial periods.

In each case the temperature drops slowly building to a peak of glaciation, and then each of the glacial
periods is followed by a very rapid increase in temperature.

The current interglacial (Holocene) is marked with an H. Point out the previous five interglacial periods.

The previous 5 interglacials are labelled 1 to 5 on the diagram below. Interglacial 2 had two distinct
warm episodes.

[SE]

16.2 Ice Advance and Retreat

Glacial advance (top) and retreat (bottom) [SE]

The red dots show the new positions of the markers.

16.3 Identify Glacial Erosion Features

a: col, b: arête, c: horn, d: cirque, e: truncated spur (other arêtes are labelled below)
 Physical Geology 706

[SE after http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Mount_Assiniboine#/media/
File:Mount_Assiniboine_Sunburst_Lake.jpg]

16.4 Identify Glacial depositional environments

[SE after USGS at http://water.usgs.gov/edu/gallery/

glacier-satellite.html

Chapter 17

17.1 Wave Height versus Length

707 Steven Earle

Amplitude Wavelength Ratio

This table shows the typical amplitudes and wavelengths of waves
generated under different wind conditions. The steepness of a wave m m ampl./length
can be determined from these numbers and is related to the ratio:
amplitude/wavelength. 0.27 8.5 0.03

1.5 33.8 0.04

1. Calculate these ratios for the waves shown. The first one is done for
you. 4.1 76.5 0.05

2. How would these ratios change with increasing distance from the 8.5 136 0.06
wind that produced the waves?
14.8 212 0.07

Within increasing distance from the source the wave heights would gradually decrease and so the ratios
would decrease.

17.2 Wave Refraction

[SE]

17.3 Beach Forms

Barrier islands could from if this was a low-relief coast with an abundant supply of sediment from large
rivers.

Possible locations of coastal deposits [SE]

17.4 A Holocene Uplifted Shore

 Physical Geology 708

The melting of glacial ice around the world at the end of the last glaciation (between 14 and 8 ka – see
Figure 17.25) led to relatively rapid sea-level rise (by a total of approximately 125 m) which resulted in
this area being submerged. That was a eustatic process. In response to the loss of ice in this region of
coastal British Columbia there was a slower isostatic rebound of the crust, which is why this area is now
back up above sea level.

17.5 Crescent Beach Groynes

[SE]

Chapter 18
18.1 Visualizing sea-floor topography

1) see map, below

2) This is the area between the southern tip of South America (Cape Horn) and the Antarctic Peninsula.
The body of water between the two is the Drake Passage.

from NASA/CNES at: http://topex.ucsd.edu/

marine_topo/jpg_images/topo16.jpg

18.2 The age of subducting crust

1) The oldest is in the southeast and is greater than 8 Ma (see map below).

2) The youngest is in the north and is close to 0 Ma.

709 Steven Earle

[SE]

18.3 What type of sediment

1. a) siliceous ooze or clay, b) carbonate ooze, c) siliceous ooze or clay, d) coarse terrigenous
or carbonate ooze

[SE]

18.4 Salt chuck

No answer possible

18.5 Understanding the Coriolis effect

No answer

Chapter 19

19.1 Climate Change at the K-Pg Boundary

The short-term climate impact was significant cooling because the dust (and sulphate aerosols) would
 Physical Geology 710

have blocked incoming sunlight. This effect may have lasted for several years, but its intensity would
have decreased over time.

The longer-term impact would have been warming caused by the greenhouse effect of the carbon
dioxide.

19.2 Albedo Implications of Forest Harvesting

Clear-cutting (or any logging activity) leads to a net increase in albedo, so the albedo-only impact is
cooling.

19.3 What Does Radiative Forcing Tell Us?

Using the ΔT = ΔF * 0.8 equation the expected temperatures for 2011, 1980 and 1950 compared with
the estimated 13.4 C in 1750 should be:

2011 vs 1750 ΔT = 0.8 * 2.29 = 1.8°C (13.4 + 1.8 = 15.2)

1980 vs 1750 ΔT = 0.8 * 1.25 = 1.0°C (13.4 + 1.0 = 14.4)

1950 vs 1750 ΔT = 0.8 * 0.57 = 0.5°C (13.4 + 0.5 = 13.9)

[SE from data at NASA at: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/

gistemp/tabledata_v3/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt]

Based on this reasoning the estimated temperature for 1950 is13.9˚ C (which is close to the actual of
14.0 ˚ C), while that for 1980 is 14.4˚ C, which is well above the actual of 14.2˚ C. It’s also clear that
we didn’t reach 15.2˚ C by 2011, because even in the hottest year so far (2015) the global average
temperature was only 14.8˚ C.

So while the ΔT = ΔF * 0.8 equation is useful, it appears to overestimate the temperature, probably
because it takes some time (years to decades) for the climate to catch up to the forcing.
711 Steven Earle

19.4 Rainfall and ENSO

Describe the relationship between ENSO and precipitation in B.C.’s southern interior.

As shown on the diagram below, there are some examples where a strong ENSO signal corresponds with
very strong precipitation in the interior (and on the coast as well). The two strongest El Niños (1983 and
1998) shown correspond with the highest recorded precipitation levels in Penticton. Some other strong
El Niños (1958 and 1973) are associated with strong precipitation within 6 months of the ENSO peak,
but others show a negative correlation between ENSO and rainfall (marked with “?”).

[SE using climate data from Environment Canada,

and ENSO data from: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/
enso/mei/table.html]

19.5 How Can You Reduce Your Impact on the Climate? – responses will vary

Chapter 20

20.1 Where does it come from? – responses will vary

20.2 The importance of heat and heat engines

Is Heat a
Deposit Type If So, What Is the Role of the Heat?
Factor?

Magmatic Yes Heat is necessary for melting of the rock to produce magma

Volcanogenic massive
Yes Heat is necessary for melting of the rock to produce magma
sulphide

Heat contained within the porphyritic intrusion drives the

Porphyry Yes
convection system

Banded iron formation No Iron is deposited from cold ocean water

Unconformity-type
Probably Uranium solubility is enhanced at higher water temperatures
uranium
 Physical Geology 712

20.3 Sources of important lighter metals

Element Silicon Calcium Sodium Potassium Magnesium

quartz halite sylvite dolomite ((Ca,Mg)CO3), magnesite (MgCO3), salt

Source(s) lime-stone
sand (NaCl) (KCl) lakes and the ocean

20.4 Interpreting a seismic profile

[SE after USGS at: http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/

infobank/programs/html/definition/seis.html]

Chapter 21

21.1 Finding the Geological Provinces of Canada

[SE after Geological Survey of Canada]

21.2 Purcell Rocks Down Under?

The Mesoproterozoic quartzite phyllite schist of Tasmania may correlate with the Purcell rocks of
713 Steven Earle

Canada. The main difference is that while the Tasmanian rocks are metamorphosed, the Purcell rocks
are generally unmetamorphosed.

21.3 What Is Vancouver Island Made Of?

1) Less than 10% of Vancouver Island is Paleozoic (the Devonian volcanic rocks – Dv)

2) The most common rock type is the Triassic Karmutsen Volcanic rock (basalt – Tv). The most common
rocks by age are the Mesozoic rocks (Jurassic volcanic, Jurassic granite and Triassic volcanic)

[SE]

21.4 Dinosaur Country?

This Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation sandstone is clearly cross-bedded implying that it was
deposited in a stream environment.

21.5 The Volume of the Paskapoo Formation

1) The 60,000 km2 area of source rock would have to have been eroded to a depth of 750 m to create
45,000 km3 of sediment

2) 500 m is 500,000 mm so the rate is 500,000 mm/ 4,000,000 years = 0.125 mm/year

Chapter 22 (answers provided by Karla Panchuk)

22.1 How do we know what other planets are like inside?

 Physical Geology 714

Table 22.2 Find the fraction of volume that is core

Earth Mars Venus Mercury

Planet density (uncompressed) in g/cm3 4.05 3.74 4.00 5.30

Percent core 16.8% 10.3% 15.8% 43.2%

Table 22.3 Find the volume of the core for each

planet

Earth Mars Venus Mercury

1.47 x 1.72 x 1.22 x 6.23 x

Unsqueezed planet volume – km3
1012 1011 1012 1010

2.48 x 1.77 x 2.69 x

Core volume – km3 1.92 x 1011
1011 1010 1010

Table 22.4 Find the percent of each planet’s radius that is core

Earth Mars Venus Mercury

Unsqueezed core radius in km 3900 1617 3581 1858

Unsqueezed planet radius in km 7059 3447 6623 2458

Percent of radius that is core (see diagram below) 55% 47% 54% 76%
715 Steven Earle

[KP]

22.2 How do we know the sizes of exoplanets?

Plot showing how the star Kepler-452 dims as the planet Kepler-452b moves in front of it.

[KP, after Jenkins, J. et al, 2015, Discovery and

validation of Kepler-452b: a 1.6REarth super Earth
exoplanet in the habitable zone of a G2 star,
Astronomical Journal, V 150, DOI 10.1088/
0004-6256/150/2/56.]

Table 22.5 Calculate the radius of star Kepler-452

Sun Kepler-452 Ratio

Temperature (degrees Kelvin) 5778 5757 1.0036

Luminosity (x 1026 Watts) 3.846 4.615 1.20

Radius (km) 696,300 768,317

* The temperatures of the sun and Kepler-452 are very similar, but the small difference is important.
Keep 4 decimal places.
 Physical Geology 716

Table 22.6 Calculate the radius of planet

Kepler-452b

Earth radius Kepler-452b radius Kepler-452b radius/

Decrease in brightness*
(km) rplanet (km) Earth radius

197 x 10-6 6378 10,784 1.7

* Because we know this is a decrease, you don’t need to keep the negative sign.
Versioning History

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physicalgeology2ed/)

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717
 Physical Geology 718

Version Date Change Details

Book added to the
August
1.01 BC Open Textbook
21, 2015
Collection.
October Replaced an Section 6.3: In Table 6.3, the term alluvial was replaced
1.02
14, 2016 incorrect term. with colluvial.
Section 6.1: In Table 6.2, some words that were meant
October Fixed a table that had to be included in the table were appearing above the
1.03
18, 2016 gotten mixed up. table. The table was edited so that all the information is
in the correct cells.
Appendix 3 Answers to Exercises: The answers to
Added a missing
March Exercise 3.7 were mislabeled as 3.6 so this was
1.04 answer to an exercise
21, 2017 changed. Also added the answers to Exercise 3.6 which
question.
had been missing.
Appendix 3 Answers to Exercises: The image showing
August Incorrectly labeled the answers to Exercise 7.4 was replaced. The new
1.05
14, 2017 image replaced image has switched the locations of the Biotite and
Chlorite lables.
Section 1.5, paragraph two: Added the following
Added sentence
February sentence and link: “(For a more accurate depiction of
1.06 pointing to more
27, 2018 the components of the Earth’s interior, please see Figure
information.
9.2.)”
Section 13.1, paragraph two: Corrected the sentence
from “Two-thirds of our fresh water is stored in the
ground and one-third is stored in ice.” to “Two-thirds of
Corrected an
October our fresh water is stored in ice and one-third is stored in
1.07 informational error
9, 2018 the ground.”
and updated a link.
Figure 13.3a: Replaced a dead link in the caption with a
link from the Internet Archive.
June 7, Updated the book’s The styles of this book have been updated, which may affect
1.08
2019 theme. the page numbers of the PDF and print copy.

• Broke chapters up into parts

The following • Added additional publication information
changes were part of • Updated copyright and attribution information
July 30, a project to
1.09 • Updated book cover
2019 standardize
BCcampus-published • Added ISBNs
books.
• Added “About BCcampus Open Education” to the
front matter
719 Steven Earle

Version Date Change Details

In Chapter 2.1, “For hydrogen, the atomic number is 1 because
there is one proton and no neutrons.” was changed to “For
hydrogen, the atomic mass is 1 because there is one proton and
January
1.10 Error corrections. no neutrons.”
27, 2020
In Chapter 22.3, fixed the missing superscript numbers in
Table 22.3.