AY Honors/Geology - Advanced/Answer Key

2. Provide the following information:

a. How do earthquakes tell us what the interior of the earth is like?

Answer: For one, they show us that faults are active and moving. Faults are rock fractures that show evidence of movement. Earthquakes generally happen along faults. Rocks move apart releasing energy that causes an earthquake. The energy released causes waves (seismic). In fact the core of the earth was discovered with seismic waves. They bend along the interfaces of different materials. There are two different waves. P waves travel through fluid and solids. S waves do not. They only pass through solids. By noticing that the S waves did not go to the center of the earth they came to the conclusion that it must be a fluid, for S waves cannot pass through fluids. P waves bend in the core because they are slowly passing through a liquid. This has also helped them estimate the size of earth’s core by studying the last shadow zone of the S wave.

References: http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ftp/pub/louie/class/100/interior.html

b. How can a lot of water (as in Noah's flood) do in a few months what a little water would require thousands or millions of years to do?

====.A lot of water passing through an area quickly erodes the dirt and changes it into mud which can lead to a mud slide or other catastrophes (such as a drastic change in the landscape. This could include the covering of islands and continents if there is a large enough supply of water). It can destroy towns and city potentially washing everything away. Also if the flood were to involve glaciers and an extremely gross amount of water it could change the temperature in the atmosphere. It also can change the locations of rivers, lakes and other bodies of water. Also if enough water is left in an area it can form a small body of water.====

c. Why are evidences of glaciers seen in the temperate climes where there are now no glaciers?

=== It has been concluded that in the past there was an ice age and that much of the earth was covered by it. In many places they have melted away but in mountain tops, Kilimanjaro, and Antarctica they are still present. When a glacier moves it leaves behind striations and grooves. Rocks are also left behind when it melts as well as other sediments that the glacier picked up.===

e. What is the continental drift (plate tectonics) theory, and how can creationists fit such geological activity into time since creation?

==== It was a creationist, Antonio snider, who proposed the movement of continents during the flood. Genesis 1:9-10 indicated the land was one mass and the waters were gathered together in one place. The puzzle piece scenario of the continents, displacement of fossils and seismic observations led them to further believe this. There is no slow formation. It has been stated that rapid field reversals could have happened during the flood. (Magnetic pattern and polarity). With the way continents move today one would have to conclude and ocean basin or mountain range would have taken about 100 million years to form. The concept that this all happened rapidly is called catastrophic plate tectonics. If crustal spreading zones expanded hot material would rise up to the surface, heat the water and potentially cause steam to shoot up horizontally. This steam would turn into water vapor and fall down later as intense rain. This could account for the 40 days. The flood also answers the question of large sediment deposits.=====

3. Where in the world would you likely see:

a. Large glaciers

===b. Active volcanoes=== On Jupiter, Along faults