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21.4 Western Canada during the Mesozoic
The Mesozoic extends over 187 million years from the beginning of the Triassic (252 Ma) to the end of the Cretaceous (65 Ma). It was a particularly important period for the geology of western Canada....
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21.5 Western Canada during the Cenozoic
Two additional relatively small terranes collided with North America early in the Cenozoic. At around 55 Ma, metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Pacific Rim Terrane were forced a few...
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Chapter 21 Summary
The main topics of this chapter can be summarized as follows: 21.1 Geological History of Canada The continent Laurentia, which includes what is now the Canadian Shield, was formed through the assembly...
View ArticleChapter 22 The Origin of Earth and the Solar System
Introduction Learning Objectives After carefully reading this chapter, completing the exercises within it, and answering the questions at the end, you should be able to: Describe what happened during...
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22.1 Starting with a Big Bang
According to the big bang theory, the universe blinked violently into existence 13.77 billion years ago (Figure 22.1). The big bang is often described as an explosion, but imagining it as an enormous...
View Article22.2 Forming Planets from the Remnants of Exploding Stars
If we were to take an inventory of the elements that make up Earth, we would find that 95% of Earth’s mass comes from only four elements: oxygen, magnesium, silicon, and iron. Most of the remaining 5%...
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22.3 How to Build a Solar System
A solar system consists of a collection of objects orbiting one or more central stars. All solar systems start out the same way. They begin in a cloud of gas and dust called a nebula. Nebulae are some...
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22.4 Earth’s First 2 Billion Years
If you were to get into a time machine and visit Earth shortly after it formed (around 4.5 billion years ago), you would probably regret it. Large patches of Earth’s surface would still be molten,...
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22.5 Are There Other Earths?
If by that you mean, are there other planets where we could walk out of a spaceship with no equipment other than a picnic basket, and enjoy a pleasant afternoon on a grassy slope near a stream, then...
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Chapter 22 Summary
The topics covered in this chapter can be summarized as follows: 22.1 Starting with a Big Bang The universe began 13.77 billion years ago when energy, matter, and space expanded from a single point....
View ArticleGlossary
For each entry the chapter in which the word first appears is shown in parentheses. A aa (4) a lava flow that solidifies with a blocky high-relief surface ablation (16) melting of ice in the context of...
View ArticleAbout the Author
Steven Earle was born in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. He earned a BSc in geology from the University of British Columbia in 1975 and a PhD in geochemistry from Imperial College (London...
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Appendix 1 List of Geologically Important elements and the Periodic Table
The following table includes 36 of the geologically important elements, listed alphabetically by their element name, along with their atomic number and the atomic mass of their most stable isotope. The...
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Appendix 2 Answers to Review Questions
Answers to the chapter-end review questions are provided below. (Answers to the embedded exercise questions are provided in Appendix 3.) Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6...
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Appendix 3 Answers to Exercises
(3) Answers to Exercises – Physical Geology The following are suggested answers to the exercises embedded in the various chapters of Physical Geology. The answers are in italics. Click on a chapter...
View ArticleVersioning History
This book now has an updated edition: Physical Geology – 2nd Edition (https://opentextbc.ca/physicalgeology2ed/) This page provides a record of edits and changes made to this book since its initial...
View ArticleAbout BCcampus Open Education
Physical Geology by Steven Earle was created as part of the B.C. Open Textbook Project. BCcampus Open Education began in 2012 as the B.C. Open Textbook Project with the goal of making post-secondary...
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