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    Continental Drift and The Emergence of Life

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    Igneous rock forms deep within the earth from molten magma. If magma reaches the surface it extrudes as lava, but if it solidifies below ground it forms intrusive igneous rock like batholiths. Metamorphic rocks were once sedimentary or igneous but have been altered by heat and pressure, changing the original rock into new forms like marble or diamonds. The earth's core is solid iron surrounded by layers of liquid iron and rock mantle. The mantle churns and causes the crust to shift via continental drift and plate tectectonics, moving the continents over millions of years.

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    Continental Drift and The Emergence of Life

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    api-19977019
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    Igneous rock forms deep within the earth from molten magma. If magma reaches the surface it extrudes as lava, but if it solidifies below ground it forms intrusive igneous rock like batholiths. Metamorphic rocks were once sedimentary or igneous but have been altered by heat and pressure, changing the original rock into new forms like marble or diamonds. The earth's core is solid iron surrounded by layers of liquid iron and rock mantle. The mantle churns and causes the crust to shift via continental drift and plate tectectonics, moving the continents over millions of years.

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    Igneous rock forms deep within the earth from molten magma. If magma reaches the surface it extrudes as lava, but if it solidifies below ground it forms intrusive igneous rock like batholiths. Metamorphic rocks were once sedimentary or igneous but have been altered by heat and pressure, changing the original rock into new forms like marble or diamonds. The earth's core is solid iron surrounded by layers of liquid iron and rock mantle. The mantle churns and causes the crust to shift via continental drift and plate tectectonics, moving the continents over millions of years.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    40 views1 page

    Continental Drift and The Emergence of Life

    Uploaded by

    api-19977019
    Igneous rock forms deep within the earth from molten magma. If magma reaches the surface it extrudes as lava, but if it solidifies below ground it forms intrusive igneous rock like batholiths. Metamorphic rocks were once sedimentary or igneous but have been altered by heat and pressure, changing the original rock into new forms like marble or diamonds. The earth's core is solid iron surrounded by layers of liquid iron and rock mantle. The mantle churns and causes the crust to shift via continental drift and plate tectectonics, moving the continents over millions of years.

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    Igneous rock originates deep within the surface of the earth.

    High temperatures in
    the center of the earth cause rock to melt. Molten magma plutons push their way up
    through the earth’s crust. If the pluton solidifies before it reaches the earth’s surface,
    it is known as an intrusive igneous formation. A batholith is a massive intrusive fea-
    ture. Batholiths exposed through the erosion of upper rock layers, such as California’s
    Sierra Nevada Range, are usually composed of granite. Plutons that reach the surface
    of the earth extrude as lava.
    Metamorphic rocks were once either sedimentary or igneous but have been changed
    through intense heat and pressure. This often happens where there is folding and
    crumpling of the earth’s crust. Marble is a metamorphosed form of sedimentary lime-
    stone, while diamonds are a metamorphosed form of sedimentary coal.

    Continental Drift and the Emergence of Life

    Although the planet earth seems to be a solid, it is actually much more of a liquid.
    The very core of the earth is believed to be comprised of solid iron, measuring some
    780 miles (1250 km) from the center to its edge. The next 3,000 miles (4800 km) out is
    all liquid. The first 1,380 miles (2200 km) is liquid iron and nickel, while the remain-
    ing 1,550–1,750 miles (2500–2800 km), varying in different locations, is a mixture of
    molten and solid rocks known as the mantel. The outermost 5–40 miles (8 to 65 km)
    is the solid crust which we stand on and feel so secure about. In fact, the molten iron
    ore and rock beneath us is in constant motion, churning upwards in the same way the
    bubbles boil from the bottom of a boiling pot of water. This churning motion causes
    the hard crust to crack and shake (earthquakes). The mantel material pushes its way
    to the surface through volcanoes and undersea oceanic rift zones. The lightest mate-
    rial in the earth’s crust has gradually come together to form the continents, which
    literally float on top of the heavier crustal material. The churning molten rock below
    pushes the continents around in a process known as continental drift. In addition to
    the continents, large blocks of heavier ocean floor are also being pushed about the
    surface of the earth. The study of this process is known as plate tectonics. Some 20
    ocean and continent plates have been identified on the surface of the earth today.
    It is believed that the earth solidified as a planet approximately 4.7 billion years
    ago. For the first 1.5 billion years of its existence, there was no life on the planet.
    While some areas of the planet have exposed rock that dates back some 4 billion
    years, most of the surface rock is much younger. The first plant life, algae, proba-
    bly came into existence 3.2 billion years ago. Two billion years of plant development
    passed before the first waterborne animal life came into existence. Trilobites domi-
    nated the seas 600 million years ago, and the first fish came into existence 100 million
    years later. About 440 million years ago the first surface life appeared in the form of
    plants. Fish began to crawl from the sea 400 million years ago, leading to the devel-
    opment of the first amphibians.
    About 360 million years ago, all of the continental land masses moved together to
    form a single land mass call Pangaea (meaning all lands). Many large mountain chains
    were created from the collision of the continents. After some 75 million years of evolu-
    tion, the reptiles became what we now call dinosaurs and dominated animal life over
    the entire planet. Trilobites finally became extinct at this same time (225 million years
    ago). Geologic evidence indicates that starting approximately 200 million years ago,

    INTRODUCTION 5

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