ENV100H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Xenolith, Planetary Mass, Seismic Wave

• School: UTSG
• Department: School of Environment
• Course: ENV100H1
• Professor: Barbara Murck

Document Summary

Geological cycles provide the physical foundation to support life on earth. Geological cycles related and interacting with each other: rock cycle. Near surface where rock is moved around, sediment is formed, volcanism occurs, etc. Focused on outer layer: tectonic cycle. Determine soil chemistry and replenish nutrients: important for all life forms, responsible for formation of mineral resources. Plate tectonics determine where the oceans are and all of their characteristics and those of the continents. Looks at processes that happen at the surface and in the crust. Connected to deeper processes inside the earth and in the atmosphere and hydrosphere. Magma is molten rock when it is beneath the surface. Super high temperatures needed to melt rocks: also includes gases, crystals and fragments of other rocks, liquid and high temperature. Once magma reaches the surface it is lava. Igneous rock forms when magma or lava cools: intrusive (plutonic rock) Magma cools and crystallizes slowly below the surface of the earth.