Geology 1 Planet Earth tom h wilsongeo wvu

Geology 1 - Planet Earth tom. h. wilson@geo. wvu. edu Department of Geology and Geography West Virginia University Morgantown, WV

Interactive review of desert types and the mechanism responsible for their formation.

Interactive review of the world’s major deserts.

Dune formation - /Windshadow /Dune Migration

Windshadows Duncan Heron

Dune Stabilization Duncan Heron

Recall basic ideas about plate tectonics

Pangaea Pieces of a puzzle

Mapping the seafloor with Sonar

Most people don’t realize that mountains beneath the surface of the ocean attract water through the force of gravity. The water pulled toward the mountain produces a little hill in the surface of the ocean

Map of the ocean floor obtained from satellite radar observations of ocean surface topography.

Detailed map of a triple-junction on the floor of the Indian Ocean derived from ocean surface topography

Ocean floor topography is largely controlled by plate tectonic processes including the formation of mid-ocean ridges, subduction zones and transform fault zones.

Ocean Floor Travel and Accretionary Prism Koji Wakita

Submarine fan

Koji Wakita, Yukio Kawamura Accretionary prism development

Radiolarian - planktonic marine protozoans of microscopic size that secrete skeletons of silica. Koji Wakita, Yukio Kawamura

Koji Wakita

A delicious treat for a subduction zone. Koji Wakita

Overturned seamount reef reaches land just in time to become tourist cave system. Koji Wakita

The shapes of these radiolaria change systematically over geologic time periods, so that they make very useful time markers.

The ocean floor A great place to build a castle Koji Wakita

How does the crust move along a transform fault? Transform Fault ridge

Seamount - a peak (usually a shield volcano) that rises at least 3000 feet above the ocean floor.

Guyot- a seamount whose top has been flattened by wave action.

Reef classification and development

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