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1. "Down to Earth" – Beginning by comparing surface conditions on the planets Venus and Mars with the living landscapes of the Earth to highlight how unique the Earth is, the episode describes the goal of the study of geology and introduces major topics the series addresses, including the Earth's heat engines, plate tectonics, volcanism, earthquakes and seismology, erosion, and natural ...
The Earth of the early Archean may have had a different tectonic style. It is widely believed that the early Earth was dominated by vertical tectonic processes, such as stagnant lid , [ 19 ] [ 20 ] heat-pipe , [ 21 ] or sagduction , [ 22 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ] which eventually transitioned to plate tectonics during the planet's mid-stage evolution.
This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering 70.8% of Earth's crust. The remaining 29.2% of Earth's crust is land, most of which is located in the form of continental landmasses within Earth's land hemisphere.
Geodynamics is a broad field which combines observations from many different types of geological study into a broad picture of the dynamics of Earth. Close to the surface of the Earth, data includes field observations, geodesy, radiometric dating, petrology, mineralogy, drilling boreholes and remote sensing techniques. However, beyond a few ...
The study of rocks involves multiple subdisciplines of geology, including petrology and mineralogy. It may be limited to rocks found on Earth, or it may include planetary geology that studies the rocks of other celestial objects. Rocks are usually grouped into three main groups: igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks.
The first eon in Earth's history, the Hadean, begins with the Earth's formation and is followed by the Archean eon at 3.8 Ga. [2]: 145 The oldest rocks found on Earth date to about 4.0 Ga, and the oldest detrital zircon crystals in rocks to about 4.4 Ga, [34] [35] [36] soon after the formation of the Earth's crust and the Earth itself.
In geology and geomorphology a planation surface is a large-scale land surface that is almost flat with the possible exception of some residual hills. The processes that form planation surfaces are labelled collectively planation and are exogenic (chiefly erosion). Planation surfaces are planated regardless of bedrock structures. [1]
Mountain formation occurs due to a variety of geological processes associated with large-scale movements of the Earth's crust (tectonic plates). [1] Folding, faulting, volcanic activity, igneous intrusion and metamorphism can all be parts of the orogenic process of mountain building. [2]