Dr. Neil S. Suits

nsuits@msubillings.edu

WF: 9:20-1130; 896-5931

Our spheres of study:

Lithosphere lots

Hydrospheresome

Pedosphere little

Atmospheresome

Biosphere little

Noösphere no

Credit where credit is due:

I’ve gotten most of this material from web sources and textbooks resources, and from other Earth Science courses available on the Web. I will give the web addresses and proper credit as the course moves along.

Rocks

Igneous

Sedimentary

Metamorphic

Volcanoes

Intrusions

Weathering

SoilsErosion

WaterUnderground Surface

Oceans

Wind

Glaciers

Fossils

Earth History

Earth’s Interior

Earthquakes

Mountains

Plate Tectonics

Other Planets

Mineral Resources

What is Physical Geology?

But first…

If these rocks could talk, what would they tell us?

~14.9 GA (GigaAnnum, i.e,

Billion Years)

today

~ 300,000 years after the Big Bang

The first map of the Universe. Not homogeneous.

Cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy. First detected by the COBE DMR instrument.

Typical spiral galaxy. Similar to ‘our’ Milk Way Galaxy’

http://faculty.rmwc.edu/tmichalik/NebandStar.htm

Star Birth and Formation

Magnetic fields around a sunspot

SUN Rocky inner planets

The giant Gas planets of the outer solar system

Hydrogen, Helium, methane, water, ammonia

Silicates with Iron/Nickel cores

Hyd

rog

en (74%

), so

me h

elium

(24%)

Our moon: Luna

Current hypothesis: Luna was formed as a result of an impact by a Mars-sized object in the early stages of Solar System formation.

Lunar impact craters

Crater Tycho

Close up of Tycho

The lunar interior: crust, mantle core

Mostly rock, very small iron core; cooled and tectonically inactive

Mars

Craters on Mars

The Martian ice cap

Frozen water?

View of the surface of Mars from the Martian lander

Wind-formed dunes on MarsAtmosphere: 0.7% of the Earth’s atmospheric pressure; 95%

Carbon Dioxide (CO2), 3% Nitrogen (N2); 1.7% Argon, 0.1% Oxygen (O2)

Olympus Mons

The largest mountain in the Solar System

Why is it so big?

~ 625 km (324 miles) diameter

Scarp Height ~ 6 km (4 miles)

Olympus Mons on an overcast day

Evidence for water on mars