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GEO130 OCEANOGAPHY FILM
STUDY GUIDE
UPDATED8)30)2010
TITLE:How The Earth Was Made, History Channel, 2007
Synopsis:4.5 billion years ago Earth was an inhospitable planet
of seething olten ro!".
Today it is the only planet #so far$ "nown to be a hoe for life,
a planet doinated by its o!eans,
fro spa!e it is a bl%e planet. This fil do!%ents the
e&ol%tion of o%r planet fro the hellish
globe of olten ro!" to what it is today.
Concepts: 'o!%entaries often (iply) !on!epts and do not
spe!ifi!ally spell the o%t. This fil
!o&ers any !on!epts of whi!h yo% sho%ld be aware here are
the ones * dee as iportant for
this !lass.
+. C!n"e is no#$!%& st!sis is not. h%an lifetie is a
i!ros!opi! spe!" on the
tieline of Earth history and the slow pa!e of geologi! tie is
not part of the h%an
life e-perien!e, so we often thin" of the en&ironent in
whi!h we li&e as what Earth is
always li"e.
2. E!#t sciences 'o not e(ist in iso%!tion)This !lass !o&ers
aterial fro eteorology,
geology, astronoy, botany, oology,e!ology, physi!s and
o!eanography. /!ientists now
re!ognie E!#t Syste$ Sciencewhi!h integrates all these.
. Co*e+o%,tion. Earth has e&ol&ed, the o!ean has
e&ol&ed, so too has the atosphere and all
life on Earth. /!ientists now spea" of all these
e&ol&ing together, or !o1e&ol&ing. This eans
ore that e&ol&ing together howe&er, it eans they all
intera!t and infl%en!e the e&ol%tion
of the others. E-aple as photosyhtheti! plants e&ol&ed
and o-ygenated the o!ean and
atosphere all three !hanged. 3-ygen !reated the oone layer whi!h
allowed life to o&e
onto land and in t%rn new fors e&ol&ed. *ron in the
o!ean was o-idied and the o!ean t%rned
fro oli&e green to bl%e and a new o!ean !heistry
de&eloped. Carbon was reo&ed fro the
syste as bioass was b%ried and atospheri! and o!eani! le&els
of !arbon dio-ide
de!resed.
4. Change o!!%rs and both the ,ni-o#$it!#i!nand the
c!t!st#opis$&iews !an be %sed to
e-plain the e&iden!e that e-ists.
5. Fee'b!ck 1 Beedba!" o!!%rs when a pro!ess operates within a
syste and odifies the
syste. The odifi!ations !an a!!elerate !hange #positi&e
feedba!"$ or slow !hange
#negati&e feedba!"$. Gegati&e feedba!" is self1liiting
while positi&e feedba!" !an lead
to r%naway !hanges. *n the
earth1o!ean1atosphere1!hryosphere1biosphere !liatesyste r%naway
positi&e feedba!" is ill%strated in the (/nowball Earth) era of
Earth
history.
5. eader, &iewer, b%yer beware yo% !annot belie&e
e&erything presented. ;e espe!iall
aware of ad&o!a!y Io%rnalis.
. /!ien!e is always a wor" in progress.
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Modern geology began in /!otland with 6aes H%ttons
obser&ation of layerd
ro!"s t%rned &erti!ally %nder neath horiontal layered ro!"s.
8ord 9el&in !al!%lated the age of Earth %sing therodynai!s. He
estiated it
was 20 illion years old. He did not "now abo%t
radiaa!ti&ity.
adioetri! dating %sing the de!ay of :rani% to 8ead pins the age
of Earth at
4.5 billion years.
;y 4.4 ; Water World 1 ?0@ of s%rfa!e
origin of water a ystery, soe fro o%tgassing, soe fro !oets
> Dranite =lanet
%ps%rge of antle &ol!anis !ra!"ed !r%st basalt water
>>> granite
!ratons #graniti! !ore of !ontinents.
2.5 ;>> bl%e planet
!ontinents growing >>> !hanged Earth >>> near
shore shallow water en&ironents
stroatolites 1 algae ats, green plants, world wide
blossos,potosyntesis
>>>O2 dis!o&ered at /har" ;ay, %stralia
stroatolites also se!rete CaC3#!al!i% !arbonate$ whi!h
reo&es C32fro the
syste
Here is where the fil was wrong.
3-ygen did in fa!t dil%te the !arbon dio-ide b%t for the
greenho%se effe!t to be
red%!ed and the press%re to be lowered C32had to be reo&ed
fro the syste.
How did that happenF
=hotosynthesis !reated bioass, priarily !al!i% !arbonate shells
that were
b%ried reo&ing !arbon and
Dranite !ontinental !r%st weathered and the !hei!al rea!tion
lead to
pre!ipitation of !al!i% !arbonate in the o!ean. t the sae tie
photosystnesis also released o-ygen !a%sing the iron to o-idie
and the oone layer to for and allowing for the f%t%re
e&ol%tion of o-ygen based
etabolis.
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/!ientifi! e&ol%tion A eteorologist lfred Wegner A
!ontinental drift
he was la%ghed at be!a%se there was no "nown e!hanis to
o&e a h%ge !ontinent, /C*EGT*/T/3pen inded and
s"epti!al..
/!ientifi! ;rea"thro%gh A WW** A :./. Ga&y !harted the sea
floor
id1o!ean ridges A new !r%st !reated
plates A !ra!"ed !r%st
antle !on&e!tion !%rrents o&ed the plates
aterial destroyed and re!y!led at s%bd%!tion ones.
*n *!eland the Mid tlanti! idge separates abo%t +) per year
+.0 ;> !old
reo&al of !arbon dio-ide >>> wea"er greenho%se
effe!t >>>!old
s%n still relati&ely wea" >>> !old
i!e1albedo feedba!" A i!e refle!ts s%nlight >>> !older
>>> ore i!e >>>
ore refle!tion >>> a!!elerating feedba!" #!alled
positi&e feedba!"$.
life alost e-ting%ished
50M
