Be the Block: The Geologic Block Diagram as an Inquiry ToolSlide 2A trip back 200 years…18th Century Crises18th Century Crises: SolutionsSlide 6Slide 7Slide 8Slide 9Slide 10Slide 11Slide 12Slide 13Slide 14Slide 15Slide 16Slide 17Slide 18Slide 19Slide 20Slide 21Slide 22The Geologic Map as InquirySlide 24Slide 25Slide 26Be the Block:The Geologic Block Diagram as an Inquiry ToolEric J. PyleJames Madison [email protected] support from Lynn S. Fichter, JMUNicolas Steno PrinciplesSteno established several principles about the origin and interpretation of rocks. These are still the foundation of all geological studies. They are stated below in their modern wording. Steno expressed these ideas in what would be for us more arcane and florid language.1. Principle of Superposition – rock layers on the bottom are deposited first and are the oldest; those on top are deposited last and are the youngest.2. Principle of Original Horizontality – rocks are deposited horizontally. Rocks that are no longer horizontal have been displaced from their original positions by later events.3. Principle of Lateral Continuity – identical rocks that are now separated at one time must have been connected and continuous.A trip back 200 years…•The rocks of England…•The fossils in those rocks…•How do these relate to the geology we see and seek?18th Century Crises•Energy Crisis - fueling the factories–Deforestation removed wood as fuel–Large amounts of coal were available•Transportation Crisis - fuel to where it was needed–Coal was not always where the factories were–Roads were small and terrible•Food Crisis - fueling the factory workers–Small freehold farms were not very efficient–Much of the population had moved to urban areas18th Century Crises:Solutions•Energy Crisis - promote the expansion of coal mining•Transportation Crisis - promote the development of canals•Food Crisis - Acts of Enclosure and expansion of water meadows•Each solution required geological and geotechnical expertiseNot only were the objects themselves rare and beautiful, well worthy of display in specially constructed glass cabinets; the simple possession of them hinted at a thirst for knowledge, an awareness of natural philosophy, a sympathetic understanding of the mysterious processes of the earth.”“In eighteenth century Britain it was a mark of refinement and impeccable good taste to own and display a collection of fossils. . . .Types of MinesDrift Mine - cut into the side of a hill into horizontal strata. Shaft Mine - vertical tunnel dug to deep horizontal or angled strata. Slope Mine - inclined tunnel dug to relatively shallow layers. http://66.113.204.26/mining/coal/undergnd_mining.htmMoney to be made…Anybody that owned land wanted to know if there was coal beneath the surface. Overhead costs, including worker safety and working conditions, were to be kept at an absolute minimum.The Mearns Coal Pit in Somerset, England Yet this Somerset coal mine also goes unremembered today, just like Rugborne Farm. There is no blue plaque, no brass plate, nothing. Just a small lump in a field that marks a scarified hillock of grassed-over mining waste, a mound that Somerset people still call a batch. And a scrap of paper in the University Museum in Oxford, recording what William Smith saw, felt, thought, and concluded when first he ventured into the dripping darkness of that dreary little West Country colliery. For the Mearns Pit at High Littleton has a standing in the history of geology that is comparable to the one that Gregor Mendel's Moravian pea garden has in the science of genetics, the Galapagos Islands in evolutionary theory, and the University of Chicago football stadium in the story of nuclear fission.http://www.britainexpress.com/countryside/dorset/chedington-p2.htmView into Somerset from Chedingtonhttp://www.durhamrecordsonline.com/literature/coalfields-british.gifGetting fuel and food to where it was neededAnother money-making scheme was to build canals to take coal and food to industrial centers. There was very little government funding for these operations. Costs were underwritten by wealthy investors and individual stock subscriptions.Getting fuel and food to where it was neededCanal building required extensive surveying work along with excavation of watercourses and tunnels, as well as building aqueducts.http://www.redadmiral.freeserve.co.uk/canalling.htmSomerset Coal CanalMap shows the two near-parallel branches of the Somerset canal that later helped Smith in confirming his theories about how rocks were distributed in the Earth.The entrance to the former Somerset Coal Canal at the Dundas Aqueduct.Dundus Aquaduct “I observed a variation of the strata on the same line of level, and found that the Lias rock which about three miles back was a full 300 feet above this line was now 30 feet below it, and became the bed of a river, and did not appear any more at the surface," This induced me to note the inclination of the same rock, which I knew was to be found at the head of two other valleys lying each about a mile distant from, and in a parallel direction to the one Just described and accordingly found it to dip to the south-east, and sink under the rivers in a similar manner.”“ From this I began to consider that other strata might also have the same general inclination as well as this. By tracing them through the country some miles I found the inclination of every bed to be nearly the same as the Lias; and not-withstanding the partial and local dips of many quarries which varied from this rule, I was thoroughly satisfied by these observations that everything had a general tendency to the south-east and that there could be none of these beds to the north-west.”Scenes of the Somerset Coal Canal where William SmithWorked Out His Stratigraphyhttp://www.durhamrecordsonline.com/literature/coalfields-british.gifhttp://www.rod.beavon.clara.net/canals.htmActs of EnclosureLand that was previously held in “common” for animal grazing, or land occupied by small tenant farm operations, was turned over to the control of large landowners for their use in agricultural