Chapter 3 The Mantle

Earth’s Structure • The mantle is the layer below the

crust.
Differentiation of Early Earth
• The mantle is the largest layer of the
You learned that the Solar System began to
Earth. It is made of molten rocks
form approximately 4.55 Ga from a disk of
called magma.
dust and gas around a young sun.
• The mantle is divided into two
Earth is believed to have formed over a period
regions: the upper and lower
of 100 Ma since the beginning of the Solar
sections.
System.
The Lower Mantle
As Earth condensed during its early stages of
formation, gravity caused the rocky fragments • Hot and exhibits plasticity. (High
and planetesimals to accelerate. pressure)

Earth Layers • Gutenberg discontinuity- line

between lower mantle and outer
The Earth is divided into four main layers.
core. (Beno Gutenberg)
Inner Core
• It is 2240km thick.
Outer Core
The Upper Mantle
Mantle
• Mohorovicic discontinuity- moho
Crust discontinuity separates upper
boundary of mantle and crust.
The Crust
• Located 5km – 70km from the Earth’s
• The Earth’s crust is like the skin of an surface.
apple. It is very thin compared to the
other three layers. • It is 660km thick.
• The crust makes up 1% of the Earth.
Outer Core
• The crust of the Earth is broken into
many pieces called plates. • The core of the Earth is like a ball of
• -Outer layer very hot metals.
• -8-70 km in depth
• The outer core is liquid.
2 types of crust
• It is approximately 2300km thick.
-Oceanic (very dense, made of basalt) With temp of 4000C-5000C
• The outer core is made up of iron and
-Continental (less dense, made of granite)

nickel and very dense.

Inner Core

• The inner core of the Earth has

temperatures and pressures so great
 that the metals are squeezed together • Terrestrial – A planet’s mass must be
and are not able to move. large enough to retain the
atmosphere and have a molten core
• The inner core is a solid.
that serves as a heat engine driving
• Lehmann discontinuity- boundary the geological processes.
between inner and outer core
• Orbital eccentricity – The greater the
• In 1936, Danish seismologist Inge eccentricity, the greater the
Lehmann discovered that Earth has temperature fluctuation. This makes
solid inner core. temperature range on the planet’s
surface too extreme for life.
• It has radius of 1250km which consists
mainly of iron nickel alloy and • Axial tilt– If the tilt is great, the
believed to be magnetic. surface temperature difference would
be too great to sustain diverse forms
EARTH’S HABITABILITY of life. Seasons will be extreme and
To allow life to flourish, a star must have the the biosphere will have difficulty to
following characteristics achieve homeostasis.

• Age of the star – along with other • Rotation – If the rotation of a planet
characteristics such as luminosity, is too short, the atmospheric wind
size, and lifespan, is determined using and velocity will be too great for life.
its initial mass. The star must al least • Geochemistry – The planets should
be 3 Ga old to give life an ample time have elements most vital to life.
to evolve.
Based on Habitable Exoplanets Catalog
• Stable planetary habitable zone – (HEC) as of 2017 has categorized a total of
“Goldilocks zone” is a shell shaped 51 potential habitable exoplanets, which
region of space surrounding a start include 31 super Terran and 20 Terran
where the temperature is just right. planets.
• High metallicity – Metallicity refers to • Earth Similarity Index (ESI) –
the presence of heavier elements Proposed by Schulze – Makuch et. al
(metals) that the star contains. (More in the International Journal of
metals Astrobiology. It uses the scale 0f 0 – 1,
• Low stellar variation – Stellar with earth given a value of 1.
variation refers to fluctuation in a EARTH’S SUBSYSTEM
star’s luminosity.
Lithosphere
HABITABLE PLANETS
• The solid outer section of our earth. It
Planetary habitability index (PHI) – is a includes the entire Earth’s crust and
measure of an astronomical body’s potential the rigid upper mantle.
to have habitable environment to sustain life. • It is not a continuous layer. It is
It considers the following principles: divided into a number of huge plates
• Distance from a star – The planet that move in relation to one another.
must be in a comfortable distance • It was believed that at the beginning
from a star. of Earth, the continents are all locked
up into a huge landmass called
Pangaea, (Alfred Wegener)
 • It is divided into major plates and • Temperatures in the stratosphere are
smaller plates resting upon the lower highest over the summer pole, and
soft layer called asthenosphere. there lowest over the winter pole.
are 15 major tectonic plates, Plates •
are layers of rigid, solid rock that are
Mesosphere
moving
• Plate boundary. – border between • The region above the stratosphere is
tectonic plates. called the mesosphere.
• Here the temperature again
Continents are not the same as plates,
decreases with height, reaching a
Continents are large, continuous, discrete
minimum of about -90°C at the
masses of land separated by vast expenses of
"mesopause".
water.
• The coldest layer of the atmosphere is
Atmosphere the upper mesosphere. This layer
protects the Earth from meteoroids

Thermosphere

• It lies above the mesopause, and is a

region in which temperatures again
increase with height.
• The region of the atmosphere above
about 80 km is also caused the
Layers of Atmosphere "ionosphere", since the energetic
solar radiation knocks electrons off
Troposphere molecules and atoms, turning them
This is the lowest part of the atmosphere - the into "ions" with a positive charge.
part we live in. • The temperature of the thermosphere
varies between night and day and
• It contains most of our weather - between the seasons, as do the
clouds, rain, snow. numbers of ions and electrons which
• In this part of the atmosphere the are present.
temperature gets colder as the • The ionosphere reflects and absorbs
distance above the earth increases, by radio waves, allowing us to receive
about 6.5°C per kilometer. shortwave radio broadcasts in New
• The actual change of temperature Zealand from other parts of the
with height varies from day to day, world.
depending on the weather.
Exosphere
Stratosphere
• The region above about 500 km is
This extends upwards from the tropopause to called the exosphere.
about 50 km. • It contains mainly oxygen and
hydrogen atoms, but there are so
• It contains much of the ozone in the
few of them that they rarely
atmosphere. The increase in
collide –
temperature with height occurs
• they follow "ballistic" trajectories
because of absorption of ultraviolet
under the influence of gravity,
(UV) radiation from the sun by this
ozone.
 and some of them escape right characterized by adaptations of organisms to
out into space. that particular environment.

Hydrosphere

• A hydrosphere is the total amount of

water on a planet. The hydrosphere
Aquatic biomes
includes water that is on the surface
of the planet, underground, and in the • Includes freshwater and marine
air. biomes. The aquatic regions house
• Viewing the Earth from space, you will numerous species of plants and
notice that Earth consists mostly of animals.
water that’s why it is called “blue
planet”. Nearly 71% of the Earth’s Forest biomes
surface is covered by the 5 recognized • Includes tropical, temperate, and
oceans. boreal forest known as taiga. Each
Sea – is a part of an ocean that is partially type of forest has distinctive features
surrounding a landform. dominated by trees another woody
vegetation.
Ocean – is a body of salt water with almost no
boundaries and has limitless volume. Grassland biomes

Composition of HYDROSPHERE • Characterized by dominance of

grasses rather than large shrubs or
Salinity – the proportion of dissolved salts to trees.
pure water.
Desert biomes
BIOSPHERE
• Characterized by low rainfall. Most
Contains the entirely of Earth’s living things desert have specialized vegetation as
(Plants and animals). “Zone of life” . well as specialized animals that can
adopt to its condition.
The term biosphere was coined in 1875 by
Austrian geologist Edward Suess. Tundra biomes
Ecosystem • The coldest of all biomes. It has low
biotic diversity simple vegetation
The interaction between the biotic and abiotic
structure.
environment.
Flow of Matter and Energy
Studying the ecosystem entails knowledge of
the processes such as energy transformation Movement of the chemicals through the
and biogeochemical cycling that link the biotic biosphere is known as biogeochemical cycle.
components with the abiotic components.
NITROGEN CYCLE
Biomes
• Nitrogen makes up 78% of the
Biomes are large ecosystems classified atmosphere, but it is present in a
according to the predominant vegetation form that cannot be used directly by
the large majority of living things.
 • It must be fixed by specialized OXYGEN CYCLE
organisms or by industrial processes.
Oxygen not only supports life; it arises from
• Fixing means the nitrogen must be
life. In the origin of life, oxygen was not
incorporated in a chemical compound
present in the primordial atmosphere; rather,
that can be utilized by plants and
it was of biological origin.
animals.
• A smaller percentage of atmospheric • It was the product of the
nitrogen id fixed by ionizing photosynthesis of plants.
phenomena such as cosmic radiation • Oxygen plays a fundamental role as a
and lighting. building block of practically all vital
• Nitrogen is also fixed by marine molecules. Almost all organic matter
organisms but the single largest in the present biosphere originates in
source of fixed nitrogen is terrestrial the process of photosynthesis.
microorganisms.
The three nonliving sources of oxygen atoms
In actual fixation, two atoms of nitrogen are CO2, H2O, and molecule O2 from physical
combine with three molecules of hydrogen to processes.
form two molecules of ammonia. Once NH3
or NH4+ appears in the soil, it is absorbed by Common minerals oxide such as nitrate and
plants by plant roots. Nitrogen is incorporated sulfates are also oxygen sources for living
into amino acids then into proteins. organisms, which in turn reduce them to
ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.
Proteins are ultimately returned to the soil
when the animals die (decomposed through Molecular oxygen passes from a free state to
bacterial action into components of amino a combined form – the water molecules –
acids). through respiration. It is returned in the form
of O2 through photosynthesis. Water
The amino acids are oxidized back to CO2, molecules take part in ionization and in
H2O, and NH3 due to the action of certain hydrolytic reactions.
microorganisms.
CARBON CYCLE
Ammonia in the presence of oxygen is
oxidized as nitrite (NO2-). The process called Carbon cycle on land begins with the fixation
nitrification. of atmospheric carbon dioxide by the process
of photosynthesis conducted by plants and
Nitrate is utilized by green plants and other microorganisms.
microorganisms as a nitrogen source; thus,
closes the ring to complete the cycle. The carbohydrates produced are directly
consumed to supply the plants with energy
In the nitrogen cycle, another group of and generated CO2 is released either through
bacteria has great significance. These are the the plant’s leaves or through its roots.
denitrifying bacteria. Under anaerobic
conditions, they attack nitrate to obtain Part of the carbon fixed plants is consumed by
oxygen as source of energy and release animals, which also respire and release CO2.
gaseous nitrogen. (Denitrification) Plants and animals die and are ultimately
decomposed by microorganisms in the soil.
The two groups of microorganisms The carbon in their tissues is oxidized to CO2
responsible for nitrogen fixation in the soil and returns to the atmosphere
• Acetobacter WATER CYCLE
• Clostridium pasteranium)
Water enters the atmosphere through
evaporation of water from seas, ocean, lakes,
rivers, and other water bodies, and from
transpiration of water from plant leaves.

ENERGY MOVEMENT in the BIOSPHERE

• The sun is Earth’s major source of

energy. When light energy strikes
Earth, three things can happen:
• Light is reflected back into space.
• Light is transmitted through an object.
• Light is absorbed and captures in
photosynthesis

Once the energy is captured by autotrophs as

stored energy, it can be transferred from one
tropic level to another. Tropic level represents
the feeding position that a biotic component
occupies in a food chain.

In Layman’s term, Energy can neither be

created nor destroyed, and that there is no
transfer of energy that is 100% complete.

Ten percent rule – only 10% of the energy

contained in the organisms of one tropic level
are available to consumers in the next level.