GEOL 11040 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Columbia River Basalt Group, Lithification, Basalt

• School: Kent State University
• Department: Geology
• Course: GEOL 11040
• Professor: Elizabeth Herndon

Document Summary

How the earth works, lecture 10, sedimentary rock. Hot spots and rift zones produce basalt. Large igneous provinces- regions where huge volumes of lava have erupted over short geologic timescales as flood basalts. Formed from a series of eruptions from volcanoes. Columbia river flood basalts - accumulation of successive lava flows built flat-topped plateaus. Important take away: igneous rocks are classified by their grain size and composition, which depend on how quickly melt cools. Sedimentary rocks form at the earth"s surface through the compaction and cementation of sediment that has been transported from another location. The grand canyon was once home to shallow seas, beaches, mudflats, and floodplains. Layers of sedimentary rocks record the different environments that existed here in the past. Sedimentary rocks form layers that blanket underlying igneous or metamorphic rocks. Clastic sedimentary rocks - made of cemented-together clasts (fragments)