GEOLOGICAL DEEP TIME
Emeritus Professor John Compton, Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town
Monday 19–Wednesday 21 January 11.15 am COURSE FEES R345; Staff and students R173
We live for such a brief period of time compared to the age of Earth, making it difficult for us to comprehend geological deep time. For most of history, Earth was considered to be created by a god within the relatively recent past – c6 000 years ago. However, when people started to look at the rocks rather than religious texts, they began to realise that Earth was incredibly old. Just how old was a difficult question to answer, but the presence of fossils allowed for an initial and detailed ordering of the relative age of rocks. It was only in the early twentieth century, with the discovery of radioactive elements, that absolute, numerical ages were successfully applied to rocks, giving rise to our modern understanding of the timing of Earth’s eventful past. This course introduces the concept of deep time and what it means to our own short existence on Earth.
Lecture titles
- What is deep time?
- A history of deep time: the fossil record
- A history of deep time: radiometric, numerical dating of rocks
Recommended reading
Compton, JS. 2024. Interpreting Earth: A History of Geology Through Encounters with Table Mountain. Cape Town: Earthspun Books.
TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/performance.aspx?itemid=1575456354