Earth and HistoryPar Pandit

August 24, 2013(in progress)

Based on BBC Documentary “How Earth Changed History”

Ages

• Copper Age– Discovered 6500 years ago

• Bronze Age– Copper + Tin = Bronze– Discovered 5000 years ago

• Iron Age– Discovered 3000 years ago

Faultlines

• Plate tectonics– In motion

Faultlines

Civilizations

• Major ancient civilization were primarily next to fault lines

• Fault lines provide access to minerals, metals, and water

• Examples– Petra built along Dead Sea fault line– Jericho– Hierapolis (Roman City in SW Turkey)

Crete and Minoan civilization

• 4000 years ago• Advanced civilization– Running water, sewage system, storage systems– First sports stadium (“day off”)– Wealth came from copper and tin– Tin hard to find. Had to travel to Britain, Spain,

Central Europe, Iran– Great maritime fleet and heavy trading

Crete and Minoan civilization

• First maritime power• Used ideal location for trading• Santorini– Plate boundary, volcanos– Greatest explosion in last 10,000 years– Water + lava = dangerous gases– Volcano fell into the sea causing a tsumai– Tsumai destroyed Minoan civilization within 100

years

Civilizations

• History is filled with civilizations near fault lines that were destroyed by volcanos, earthquakes

• All plates are continually – Crashes = mountain ranges– Separate = filled with oceans– Minerals are able to rise to surface

• 10 of the largest 20 cities today are next to fault lines

Civilizations

• Fault lines help in the case of California– Agriculture– Find oil– Find gold– Tourism

• Istanbul– Expect major earthquake within our lifetime

Episode 4Fire = Progress

• Fire– Requires 13% oxygen to burn– Until 400 million years ago, there was little to no

oxygen on the surface of the earth– Key element is carbon– Fire can melt materials into bronze, iron, steel– Metals helps create tools, coins, weapons

Carbon

• Carbon– Found in trees. When trees in short supply, there

was an energy crisis around 1500 AD– Discover trees submerged under water = coal– Desire for coal leads to mining– Need to remove water during mining • Steam engine invented to do the job• Leads to railroad using steam engines• Railroads use steels and require more coal

Coal, Britain, China, and Industrial Revolution

• England had lots of coal– Use innovations to extract coal– Metals, steam engine lead to industrial revolution

• China has a lot of coal– Coal is located in western China while cities are

along eastern coast– Transport coal by Yellow River (rapid, manual

carry)– No innovations to transport coal

Coal, Britain, China, and Industrial Revolution

• China (continued)– Modernizing starts in mid-20th century– Now China is BIGGEST user and producer of coal

Transition to Oil

• How oil is formed– Shallow seas hold plentiful life– When sea is dried up, salt is there– Dead animals = carbon buried under salt and seas

for millions of years– Oil comes from long ago life forms

Oil

• Benefits of oil– Easier to transport than coal– Natural gas is formed along with oil (need to

confirm)• Oil is found in– 19th century in Azerbaijan (lots of surface oil)– 20th century in Middle East

Oil

• Extracting oil– Middle East oil is deep in earth– Salt glaciers are signs of long lost seas– The salt lubricates the hard rocks– When plates collide to put land up, salt allows a

break and oil to move up to empty cavity closer to surface

– When you find to find oil, you look for salt– Extreme example: platforms in Caspian Sea

Review

• Fire needs oxygen and carbon• Trees provides oxygen and carbon• Underwater trees turns into coal• Not many countries have coal so look for

alternative – find oil and natural gas• Carbon is now a problem: greenhouse gases• Earth needed 3 millions years to produce one

year of oil consumption today

Conclusion about Fire

• Fossil fuel is limited. We will need to break bond between human progress and the burning of carbon