Planet Earth Uni Notes – Complete Study Guide, Lecture notes of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences

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Alan Collins Room G44Mawson Bld

Lecture 1 – The Nature of GeologyPlanet Earth 2025 “We went to explore theMoon and discovered theEarth” Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17

First… a word from one of our Honours students

Geologists study the Earth – what it’s made of, how it works, how it can sustain usand how it got to be.

You getaround! Geologists study the Earth – what it’s made of, how it works, how it can sustain usand how it got to be.

Theory Part of the Course Consists of:• Face-to-face lectures EVERY WEEK• An on-line multi-choice test every week

(In your

workshop)• A 2 hour written test in WEEK 13 [Wed Nov 5

th

12]

Practical part of the Course

Consists of: •^

Practical parts of the workshops (NOT WEEK 1).

-^

Practical exercises – 10%

-^

Field work [Sat Sept 6 or Sun Sept 7

th

] – 5%

•^

Practical rock test worth 30%

-^

A weekly rock hunt around Adelaide city BONUSMARKS

Six Steps to (geological) Science

1. Understand howgeologists do science

Step 1 is making an observation….In Pichi Richi pass, near Port

Augusta, there are coarsesedimentary rocks (observation)that appear to have beendeposited by a glacier(hypothesis)

1. Understand howgeologists do science

Step 1 ……and collecting data.

By collecting and analysingancient magnetic rocks,researchers could tell the glacialrocks formed near the equator

1. Understand howgeologists do science

Hypothesis = possible explanationthat involves only naturallyoccurring processes to explain aset of observations^ Geologists workingat Pichi Richi cameup with twohypotheses – 1)that the Earth atthat time wastilted 90

o^

from

today

Step 2 is proposing a hypothesis.

1. Understand howgeologists do science

Steps 3 and 4 are predictionand testing

Hypothesescannot be proved,they can only bedisproved – if ahypothesissurvives a numberof tests itbecomes a theory.

1. Understand howgeologists do science

Step 5: reject, modify orretest the hypothesis.

Hypothesis cannotbe proved, theycan only bedisproved – if ahypothesissurvives a numberof tests itbecomes a theory.

1. Understand howgeologists do science

Lecture pause… a bit of light relief

Earth Systems Cycles•

Climate cycles – globalclimate change

Sea-level cycles

Atmospheric Circulation

Oceanic Circulation

Hydrologic Cycle

Plate tectonic Cycle

Rock Cycle

How does the Earth work?

http://www.mineraltown.com/

2. Be able to list the bigquestions we’ll cover