Marine Geology

Jack Morelock & Wilson Ramirez

About 71 percent of the Earth's surface is covered with water . This water cover prevented study of the deep submerged ocean floors until technological developments allowed improved surveys of ocean areas. Part of the reason that a revolution in geological thinking about tectonics came late is that collection of data from oceanic areas is a capability resulting from research techniques developed after 1950.

Scientists follow the journalist's basic axim "who, what, when, where," but add a more basic element, how. For many years, "how" was incomplete in Geology, we settled for "we observe it, so something happened." We are not far out of the observational phase, but with new technology and building on the shoulders of past geologists we now have more of the how.

Plate tectonics has been called the revolution in geology -- comparable to the genetic code for biologists. But this is just one of many "revolutions" or advances in our knowledge. Sea level changes have been understood in the light of new concepts; processes of sedimentation and changes in coastlines are looked at with new techniques and understanding. With a new millenium and within the span of a lifetime, we are able to comprehend the earth with unified theories.

Remote sensing and Graphic Information Systems technonolgy are now a routine part of a geologists toolkit. Our maps and presentations are done with the computer and we take a direct part in developing the material that we present. Slow in coming, but rapidly increasing, electronic publication of papers and internet posting of conference abstracts has made data available to us. GIS base maps are available for most of the world. And large databanks of information are available from government agencies.

The material for this course is presented in two formats. The first, a digital textbook in PDF format can be accessed and downloaded by clicking on the download button. In this version, the material is presented without the emblishments possible in an html document. This is the complete textbook for this course.

download Marine Geology

The buttons in the rest of these pages will take you through the full featured presentation of Marine Geology which will include internet sites, published papers, glossery of terms, photographs & figures and notes of additional interest. This material is updated annually.

This version of the class provides you with a wealth of material that has been found by web searches.

Earth Revealed

this is an online site that has all 26 of the 30-minute geology programs from the Annenberg series click on the chapter to open each video you will need s highspeed internet connection

Marine Geology Web Resources

many online sites are included with each chapter, but not all. this section gives you access to a large number of web resources to explore more information on Marine Geology

Quicktime

You will need Quicktime to view the movies; if you do not have it on your machine, click the button for a free download

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Marine Geology (or if you prefer Geological Oceanography) as a course of study is not clearly defined. About 15 years ago, I wrote to more than 30 people involved in marine geology studies, seeking a unified opinion on what should be included in a course. Of course, I received about 30 different opinions - but they grouped into two categories:

• Only tectonics, paleoceanography, deepsea sediments and microfossils should be addressed as marine geology
• All of the ocean features from the shoreline deposits to the deep ocean; processes and environments should be included.

This course follows the second approach. If you are an adherent of the first concept, leave out some of the material.

We will look at marine geology in two ways -

• the processes that shape ocean features and affect marine sediments, and
• the marine geological environments

We first look at the processes that shape and modify the earth. Erosion, sedimentation, weathering, faulting, folding, vulcanism are but a few of the processes studied by geologists. Many of the processes affecting the marine environment have been placed into the first four chapters.

Each of the boxes below will take you to a chapter in the notes

	Seafloor Morphology Tectonics The basic shape and pattern of the earth is developed by tectonic activity
	Physical Processes These are the tides, waves and currents of the water cover that affect the bottom features
	Sealevel Changes Changes in sea level have a profound effect on the areal extent of the continental shelf and on the depth of water over the continental margin. The most affected part are the coastal system features which move with the shoreline.
	Marine Sedimentation The character of the sediments are important in developing the sedimentary environment character

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The processes act within the set of environments that we include under marine environments - coastal, margin and deep sea and a special environment, coral reefs - and weave into our study the place of the processes in each environment along with a description and discussion of the environments.

Each of the boxes below will take you to a chapter in the notes

	Coastal Systems These are the environments associated with the shoreline that adjust to moving sea level. They are rapidly (in terms of geological time) changing environments of deposition and erosion.
	Coral Reefs Modern coral reefs lie in a belt between 30o north and south latitude. The present reefs developed during the past 10,000 years on the continental shelves
	Continental Margins This is the realm of continental shelf and slope that lie between the coastal features and the deep sea.
	Deepsea Sediments and Paleoceanography This is the ocean floor below several thousand meters of water. A realm of different crustal rocks and surface features.

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finally, we will look at the potential resources of the ocean and the environmental problems encountered in recovering these resources.

Marine Resources and Environmental Concerns In this chapter we examine the bulk to precious hard minerals and petroleum resources available in the ocean and look at the environmental consequences of marine mineral extraction.

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these pages are copyright 2006