Chapter 1

Introduction to Geology
Tran Anh Tu, Dr.
Department of Earth Resources and Environment
Faculty of Geology and Petroleum, HCMUT.
trantu@hcmut.edu.vn, cell phone: +84-918410939

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 Subject evaluation and introduction
• Mid-term test: 20% - 45 minutes
• Practice: 20% - 15 units
• Exercise: 10% + 10% - Class activities
• Final test: 40% - 60 minutes
• Student can gasp the knowledge of
– the composition and structure of the earth in general,
– development of the global structure, continents and oceans,
– the exogenous and endogenous processes that change the
earth.

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 References
• Stephen A. Nelson, 2012, Physical Geology, Tulane
University, 2012.
• Stephen Marshak, 2001, Earth: portrait of a planet.
Norton and Company, Inc. Fourth edition.
• Stanley Chernicoff and Ramesh Venkatarishnan,
1995. Geology-An Introduction to Physical Geology,
Worth Publisher, ISBN:0-87901-451-2.

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 Links for exercises and quiz
• Quiz
http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_tarbuck_earth_8/19/5
071/1298207.cw/index.html

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 Contents
• Chapter 1. An introduction to geology
• Chapter 2. Materials and minerals
• Chapter 3. Magma, igneous rocks and volcanoes
• Chapter 4. Weathering and soils
• Chapter 5. Sediment and sedimentary rocks
• Chapter 6. Metamorphism and metamorphic rocks
• Chapter 7. Earthquake and Earth interior
• Chapter 8. Deformation of Rocks

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 Contents (con’t)
• Chapter 9. Geologic time
• Chapter 10. Mass wasting
• Chapter 11. Surface water
• Chapter 12. Groundwater
• Chapter 13. The oceans
• Chapter 14. Wind activities and deserts
• Chapter 15. Glaciers and Glaciations
• Chapter 16. Mineral resources and energy resources
• Chapter 17. Global warming

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 Practice contents
• Practice 1: Topographic maps and topographic
cross sections
• Practice 2: Minerals
• Practice 3: Magma rocks
• Practice 4: Sedimentary rocks and
metamorphic rocks
• Practice 5: Using compass

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 Introduction to Geology
• Geology is an earth science which study:
– rocks
– processes by which they change the earth.
– the solid features of any celestial
body (Moon or Mars).
• Geology gives insight into history of the
Earth by providing the primary evidence
for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history
of life, and past climates.
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 Geology fields or related disciplines
Earth science

Plate tectonics
Glaciology
Geological modelling Geomorphology
Mineralogy
Structural geology Geophysics Seismology

Economic geology
Volcanology Geology
Engineering geology
Petrology
Environmental geology
Geochronology
Geochemistry
Stratigraphy Sedimentology
Hydrogeology
Paleontology
HCMUT Paleoclimatology
 Methology
• Field trip,
– Structural geology,…
– Stratigraphy,…
• Lab,
– Petrology,…
• Uniformitarianism: long-lasting, gradualism
• Catastrophism: short-live

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 Origin of the Earth
• How the Earth was formed?
the disc-shaped cloud of
gas and dust left over from
the Sun's formation

Forming the Moon

• Where is the Earth in the Solar system?

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 Origin of the Earth (cont.’s)
• How does the Earth move?

The Earth’s Orbit in 2D The Earth’s Orbit in 3D

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 Origin of the Earth (cont.’s)
• How “old” is the Earth?

• How is it evolution?

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 Rock cycle Match number and text

rocks

magma

erosion

melting

crystallization

igneous rocks

metamorphic rocks

sediments & sedimentation

tectonic burial and metamorphism

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 Geological processes
• Internal processes/Endogenous

• External processes/Exogenous

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 Earth materials
• Minerals
• Rocks
• Soil
• water
• Ores (metals and precious rocks)

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 Disc-shaped cloud

the disc-shaped cloud of

gas and dust left over from
the Sun's formation

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 Wikipedia – 10%
• Volcanic ash-1550071- Vĩnh Tiến, Quân, Nhân, Thành
- 10
• Geothermal energy-1552169 Đăng Khoa, Minh Tiến -
9
• Geyser – My 1552232, Trung, Kiệt - 10
• Peak oil - Duy Khoa – 1652307, Nhựt Anh, Thanh
Duy, Huy Phú, Mỹ Dung - 10
• 1973 oil crisis – Tân 1652534, Tài, Cường - 9
• Earth’s Magnetic field-1552165, Khánh, Phúc-10

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