Gem and Mineral Show

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Gem and Mineral Show Check out Executive Inn
(Drachman St Main) InnSuites Ramada (St
Marys Freeway) Fossils, meteorites, term
project ideas!
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Numerous wacky stories about British gentleman
any favorites? Huttons writing style, Lyell
standing with his head on a chair seat,
etc. Last chapter, many of the discoveries came
from the London gentleman-intellectuals dining
group in the 1600s (17th century) -- Halley,
Wren, Hooke, Newton. Then measurements during
the 1700s. Now, Chapter 5 covers some issues and
ideas of the 1700s and 1800s, and more strange
British gentlemen. Early 1700s, big puzzle
people were wondering why there were fossils
(whats a fossil?) of clam shells and other ocean
creatures up on the tops of mountains.
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Two major parties Neptunists (named after
whom?) How did the shells get up
there? Mountains were always high, but ocean used
to be higher Plutonists (named after
whom?) Asked where did the super ocean
go? Instead, they guessed volcanoes and
earthquakes pushed up mountains. Activity
Which do you think is most nearly correct? WE
WILL VOTE!
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Hutton, James, 1726 97 (worked about 100 years
after Halley, Newton et al.) Still with the
scarf, but suit is almost modern.
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Huttons ideas Mountains can be seen to erode
(slowly), so something must push up new
mountains. ASSUMES STEADY-STATE A BIG
PHILOSOPHICAL POINT! Heat drives the
up-pushing. Everything took a long time (based on
how slow erosion is). This was a big Geological
Revolution It happened in late 1700s (what else
was happening in the world then?)
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By the start of 1800s, geology a big fad among
upper class British gentlemen-scientists. Why
was England so rich? Technology (machines and
navigation) developed by many of these
characters, productivity and colonies. More
gentlemens dining clubs, etc., Breaking rocks
in suits and ties or in academic gowns. Lots of
classic characters, with broad interests.
(e.g. Parkinson and Parkinsons disease).
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Sir Charles Lyell 1797 - 1875 Note the outfit
and hairdo is much closer to what we might wear
today than the stuff that Halley et al. wore 200
years earlier.
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Main controversy of 1800s catastrophism vs
uniformitarianism A Big Theme of this
course (not the same as Neptunism vs Plutonism
controversy of the 1700s)
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Catastrophism Abrupt, infrequent events shaped
the world, especially floods (so confused with
Neptunism, but it is a different idea) Appealed
to people like Buckland (the minister breaking
rocks in cap and gown), because it fit the
biblical flood idea. Evidence cited Formation
of mountains (in that way it is more like
Plutonists) Ice ages (more in a later chapter)
Sudden changes in fossils at layer boundaries
(BINGO!) Addl. modern evidence Grand Canyon
erosion Scab lands of Washington state.
Impacts that caused the mass extinctions (more in
later chapters)
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Uniformitarianism (what a word!) Gradual
change, as in the observed slow erosion
processes. Basically U. was based on Huttons
ideas of erosion, so that is why it is
confused w/Plutonists. Really it was promoted by
Lyell Uniform steady change so past can be
explained by the same processes continuing today,
all at a constant rate. Not just erosion also
deposition of sediments that formed layers
(strata, stratum). England was the perfect
place to discover this evidence for orderly
gradual sedimentary laying down of new rock over
time. Why?
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Forming layers in sediment that later turns into
rock (Uniformitarian??)
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When the layers got pushed up (remember Hutton
and the Plutonists) The layers got distorted,
for example, like this
Activity If you walked from left to right,
would rocks you find on the surface be older or
younger? Explain.
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William Smith 1769-1839 (term paper project?)
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In the summer we can rent a cottage in the Isle
of Wight if its not too dear --Lennon
McCartney
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Tilt meant that location e-w was time!
Mining and canal digging help understand the 3D
layout, plus the diagonal slice at the
surface! Oldest (English) rocks in the west
(Wales Cambria), middle aged rocks in Devon,
youngest at the white cliffs of Dover. Names
of places became names of times! Not
everyplace in the world is so well organized.
(N. Arizona is, and well displayed in Grand
Canyon, but other places not so easy (e.g.
Pennsylvania), and other places are dominated by
other effects what if these guys had
lived in Hawaii?)
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Sir Charles Lyell 1797 - 1875 Note the outfit
and hairdo is much closer to what we might wear
today than the stuff that Halley et al. wore 200
years earlier.
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The layering (or strata) told the order that
rocks formed in, but how to put numbers on the
ages? With Uniformitarianism assumed, and with
observations of rates of erosion and
deposition, people could estimate the age of the
Earth. Activity Suppose you know the thickness
of the layers of sedimentary rock. Now suppose
you were a rich British guy in a suit and tie
(with plenty of time on your hands). You spend
30 years observing the erosion of rocks and the
accumulation of sediments in water. How could
you estimate the time it took for those layers to
form?
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100s of millions of years! and that was a
minimum for the age of the Earth! The evidence
for great changes in life forms over time, from
the fossil record, also seemed to need A LOT of
time. This was surprisingly old. Why a
surprise? Well for some people, it seemed older
than suggested by the Bible. But in fact in
those days (even though many of the scientists
were also religious ministers), most people felt
that the Bible actually allowed for such really
old ages. Only a few religious people interpreted
the Bible as meaning the Earth was only a few
thousand years old (An Irish archbishop Usher
computed that the Earth was formed at noon on
October 23, 4004 BC. This is a much bigger deal
now in the US than it ever was anywhere else or
ever before). Rev. Buckland (remember him?)
noted that the Bible said God created the Earth
In the beginning, not in just one day.
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What really bothered people was the thermal
calculation. (Think about a hot cup of
coffee.) Buffon (late 1700s) got 100,000 years
(more on this racist jerk in next
chapter). Kelvin (late 1800s) got way less than
100 million years, but he saw the out Sources
of heat now unknown to us are prepared in the
great storehouse of creation.
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William Thomson 1824-1907 Honored by being
raised to the rank of Baron or Lord Kelvin.
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By the late 1800s, automobiles were
invented. England was the perfect place to build
cars.