1.1 Planetary Geology

The age of the Earth is .

The moon is made up of two areas called the and .
are the dark areas made of lava flows, generated by the impacts of .
are the coloured areas made of the -rich rock .

Space exploration to the moon:
First manned landing was in .
The mission brought back kg of rock and soil.
The oldest rocks dated back to Ma.
The moon has a crust mantle and core.
The surface is made of m and .

Space exploration to Mars:
In 1960's space probes s 3-7 flew by Mars taking photos.
They were able to identify huge on Mars including , the largest volcanic structure in the solar system.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was capable of taking photos to show objects cm in width.
2007 first spacecraft landed on the allowing humans to study geology of Mars.
2015 evidence for presence of was found.

Space exploration to Venus:
Spacecraft have landed on Venus and mapped it using .
This has given accurate and pressure measurements.
Venus has no and is covered by rapidly spinning clouds that trap surface heat making it extremely hot.

Most meteorites come from the but some are thought to come from the Moon.
They can be identified as coming from the Moon because they have a similar age and as the rock samples brought back from the Moon,

Evidence for impact craters:
Distinctive craters which can be seen on the surface of the Moon.
Craters have a depression with a of broken rock.
Earth's surface does not show craters.
In there is a 50000 year old meteor crater.

Characteristic features of terrestrial planets:
- cores
- High due to solid surface
- Fixed features such as volcanoes visible
- Fewer

Characteristic features of gas giants:
- Predominantly atmospheres
- All thought to have cores
- Lower because they have no solid surface
- Many
- Large

Formation of the solar system:
1. Giant cloud of and dust collapsed under .
2. Material formed into a disk called the disk.
3. Gravity drew material towards the and heated by friction which triggered nuclear fusion reactions resulting in the formation of the sun.
4. Other planets formed by of material.
5. dense material formed the gas giants.
6. Denser material formed the terrestrial planets.
7. Planets began to .

Asteroid belt is made of material that to form a planet.

The age of the Universe is approximately .

Meteorite = A fragment of from that has .

Describe the likely origin of the Earth's magnetic field:
cells OR dynamo from moving iron in the core.

How is magnetic inclination in rocks used as evidence for continental drift?
Magnetic links to of formation.
- The inclination of at the equator is 0° and at poles 90°
may change over time on a continent indicating a change in latitude
construction of apparent show when continents separate as the polar wandering curves are .

Formation of palaeomagnetism in rocks:
minerals in magma align themselves to the Earth's field.
As the rocks cool below the point, the magnetism is fixed and preserved in the rocks as magnetism.