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Peter Jones is a geologist. He knows all there 

is to know about the Earth and all the ways it 

can change. 

He has studied these processes for all of his 

life; these events build and shape the crust of 

the Earth-- creating all of the land forms and 

structures he loves. He explores the 

surrounding terrain of his island to 

Earth is his home. Peter thinks it is his job to 

observe and learn about his planet's past and 

all the geological events that happen on it.

Peter knows the Earth is composed of three layers: 

the crust, the mantle, and the core.

Peter lives on the very surface of the planet, the 

crust. Here, Peter studies the topography of Earth 

that results from geological activities like 

earthquakes, floods, and plate tectonics.

He also studies the dense, hot layer of semisolid rock 

in the mantle. It contains the upper mantle.

The entire core is the Earth’s center. Its density is 

twice that of the mantle, it has two components the 

outer core, which is liquid; and the inner core, 

which is solid.

The core is Peter's favorite region of the 

Earth. It is about the size of the moon, but it is 

as hot as the surface of the Sun.

It is very important because it is the 

mechanism that generates Earth’s magnetic 

field: the geodynamo. This electromagnetic 

field is billions of years old and originates in 

the electrical conduction of the outer core.

This dynamo theory of Earth's magnetic field says the 

convection of some liquid elements inside the 

planetary core plus the rotation of Earth creates 

electric currents and a magnetic field. This also 

happens on other planets in our galaxy-- and 

probably all over the universe!

Peter lives on a barrier island close to the 

mainland. This island protects the coast from 

erosion and the weather. Thunderstorms 

and rainstorms can transport sediment 

away from the shoreline, displacing them. 

The entire island is a barrier that deflects 

waves away from the coast. The body of 

water blocked off by the barrier reef is called 

a lagoon.

Peter chose to live here because of the array 

of land masses and bodies of water in the 

area. The variation makes it easy to study 

geology.

Volcanoes are mountains that open down into 

pools of molten rock called magma below the 

surface of the Earth. When pressure builds up, 

volcanic eruptions occur. Gaseous material 

and rock are ejected up through the opening 

and spill over or fill the air; the volcano will 

release lava in flows or fragments. Eruptions 

can cause lava flows, avalanches, and 

landslides. 

Igneous rock comes from magma or lava. 

They can be extrusive, like Pahoehoe, or 

intrusive, like granite. It can also come form 

ash, like tuff which is also igneous.

The volcanoes near Peter are no longer active; 

they are either dormant or extinct, so they do 

not erupt. Most people think of volcanoes as 

mountains with a large cone shape, but that is 

just one type. Others near Peter include: caldera 

(large extinct craters), fissure vents (cracks were 

lava emerges),   composite, and  dome shapes.

Large structures formed by volcanoes include 

batholiths, which are enormous and intrude into 

the Earth's crust.

Peter also studies marine geology; it is the 

geologic analysis of the ocean floor. Sea floor 

spreading occurs at mid-ocean ridges. New 

oceanic crust is formed here through volcanic 

activity and ultimately drifts away from the ridge. 

When oceanic plates move apart, tensional stress 

causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere 

(outer shell of the planet). Magma from the basal 

area of the crust rises up and cools on the ocean 

floor to form new sea floor.

Peter knows it is important to study this because it 

helps to explain Continental Drift.

Continental Drift is the movement of the Earth's 

continents, "drifting" along the ocean floor. A 

scientist named Alfred Wegener helped explain 

this theory.

The lithosphere is broken up into tectonic plates. 

Tectonic plates can move into, away from, or past 

one another. These three relative motions describe 

the three major types of plate boundaries, or 

margins: convergent, divergent and transform. 

These boundaries can divide the plates and create 

different types of geological features depending 

on how they move.

Peter is saving up for a submarine so he can go 

explore the continental shelf. It is an underwater 

landmass which extends from a continent, resulting 

in an area of relatively shallow water known as a 

shelf sea.

It is connected to the deep ocean floor, the 

abyssal plain, by the continental slope.

Over geologic time this shelf has become a 

source for fossil fuel, which Peter wants to collect 

for his house.

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