Earth Science
Earth Science
Earth Science
Constantly, the world faces the challenges involved with the quality of life of
the planet's individuals. It is necessary to implement solutions that help optimize
the management of natural resources. Knowledge of geosciences serves as a key
piece to find more sustainable ways to use the Earth's resources and thus try to
stop or mitigate the problems caused until now. One way to find solutions
gravitates towards the inclusion of geosciences, since the study of the Earth, its
history and functioning provides essential knowledge, experience and guidance on
how to face the most serious planetary challenges caused by society.
The Geosciences.
Earth sciences or geosciences are the disciplines (table I) of the natural sciences that
study the structure, morphology, evolution and dynamics, as well as the understanding,
graphic representation, uses of materials and processes of our planet.
The study of the Earth from different points has allowed human beings to
understand the different phenomena through which the planet has gone through, is
going through or will go through. This has helped us recognize which of these
events can affect the existence of life in a negative way, such as earthquakes and
earthquakes.
In our daily lives, knowing about this topic can help us, for example, in
preventing risks such as earthquakes or even volcanism, depending on the
geographical area. It also allows us to recognize and take advantage of the natural
resources that were caused by these natural phenomena.
Studied by astronomy that involve the Earth as a planet and other stars that
may or may not have an influence on the Earth.
Solar radiation is the set of electromagnetic radiation that originates from the
Sun and affects the rest of the bodies in the solar system depending on their
distance, including the Earth and its Moon.
The phases of the Moon are the changes in the appearance of the satellite
due to its change in position with respect to the Earth and the Sun.
Geological phenomena.
Studied by geology and related to the solid part of the planet Earth. Some
examples are:
The process of forming coal, oil, or gas from organic matter that takes place
over thousands or millions of years.
Hydrological phenomena.
The flow of water in a river bed due to relief and gravity, which depending on
the slope, can constitute waterfalls, rapids or meanders.
The movement of water in the ocean, known as ocean currents.
Atmospheric phenomena.
Which take place in the atmosphere. They are studied by meteorology and,
in turn, determine the climate, which is the object of study of climatology.
Rain consists of water falling from the clouds. This falls in the form of water
droplets, although it can also fall in the form of snow or hail.
Fertilization is the process by which two gametes (male and female) fuse
during sexual reproduction to create a new individual.
The sustainability.
The importance of preservation lies in the fact that without it, many of the
material and natural assets that our society currently has would not exist in the
future. Therefore, as rational beings that we are, we must include this preservation
of heritage as one of our moral priorities, being careful with the historical, cultural
and natural heritage that previous generations left us. I mportance
The resources consumed in the form of food, simultaneously with air and
water, form the set of basic needs for human beings. Anthropic interference in
ecosystems has gone beyond primitive hunting and collecting specimens for food;
went through the domestication of species for agriculture and breeding, the
introduction of new species in environments different from the original ones, the
intensive use of forest resources, such as wood, and the drastic alteration of
ecosystems through the felling of forests, swamp drainage and land flooding.
Engineering projects have affected the biotic environment through actions such as
the disposal of pollutants, the homogeneous establishment of plant species, the
felling of natural vegetation, the clogging of the bottoms of bodies of water, the
bombardment of clouds to avoid rain or hail, etc. Mining and the hydrocarbon
industry are also activities that inevitably cause impacts on environmental
components.
Natural risks are part of life on Earth, they adversely affect the world's
population every day. Earth processes include volcanic activity, floods,
earthquakes and landslides; however, these geological risks are natural processes.
They become dangerous when the population lives close to where these
processes occur. The extraction of resources such as water and soil, metallic and
non-metallic minerals, as well as energy represent another focus of Geology, which
is of great practical value for people and which, together, form the basis of modern
civilization. . Geology addresses not only the formation and existence of these
resources, but also the maintenance of their stocks and the environmental impact
of their extraction and use. Rapid global population growth has complicated
environmental issues, resulting in increasing demand for resources and increasing
pressure as people inhabit environments with significant geological hazards.
The earth, like all the stars in the solar system and in the universe, is in
constant motion; Rotation and translation are the displacements that manifest their
effect in a more direct way in the phenomena that occur on the surface.
ROTATION
TRANSFER
The translational movement corresponds to the
movement of the Earth around the sun, describing an elliptical
orbit, which is called the ecliptic.
This movement is carried out in a direct direction (counterclockwise) and
maintaining the inclination of 23° 27' of its axis of rotation. The time it takes to cover
the exact revolution around the sun is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46
seconds, a period called the tropic year, which begins with the sun's first passage
through the equator. on March 21st. The calendar year is the conventional period
established by humans with a duration of exactly 365 days, which begins on January
1 and ends on December 31. The difference between a tropical year and a civil year
is compensated every 4 years, with the latter forming a leap year of 366 days.
The speed of the translation depends on the gravitational attraction that the
sun exerts on the planet, in such a way that it varies depending on the distance;
Thus, when the Earth approaches the sun (perihelion) it reaches 30.3 km/s, while
when moving away from the star (aphelion) it decreases to 29.3 km/s.
Moon phases.
The moon rotates around the earth while it does so around the sun, its
sidereal revolution takes place in about 27 days. The combination of lunar rotation
and translation movements causes the occultation of a region of the lunar surface
that we can never observe from Earth (hidden hemisphere).
The phases of the moon are completed in a synodic revolution that
corresponds to a period of 29 days called lunation.
1._Full moon.
2._Fourth shrink.
3._New moon.
4._Crescent quarter
Eclipses
1.- Lunar eclipse.
2.- Solar eclipse.
** Annular solar eclipse.
**Total solar eclipse.
Tide.
The tide corresponds to the cyclical rise and fall of the water level of the oceans,
caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon and the sun.
Due to its proximity, the effect of the moon is approximately twice that of the sun.
Physical phenomena.
Water cycle: Evaporation is carried out by heating the surface of water and
soil, causing the incorporation of moisture into the atmosphere.
Biological phenomena.
Photosynthesis: The chemical synthesis that takes place in plants from the
absorption of water, nutrients, carbon dioxide; It is done only through solar
energy.
Human phenomenon.
The stars we see in the sky influence life on Earth, although not in the way
horoscopes suggest. The Sun is the central presence, the source of the energy
that allows the existence of living beings on our planet, but the Moon also plays a
fundamental role. Its presence gives stability to the Earth, which, if it did not have
such a large satellite, would dance like a top about to fall. The large changes in the
inclination with respect to the Sun would mean that in relatively short periods of
time we would go from a planet without polar caps and up to 50 degrees hotter
than today to one with permanent ice.
3-. NOTION OF EARTH DYNAMICS, THE FIGHTING NATURE OF THE PLANET
AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE LIFE OF THE PLANET.
Earth Dynamics or Dynamic Geology studies all the geological changes that
modify the Earth's surface. These changes can be slow or manifest suddenly.
Earth dynamics
Earth Dynamics or Geology are all the geological changes that modify the
Earth's surface. The great changes in the Earth's relief have occurred over millions
of years of the long geological history of our planet. The dynamics of changes are
manifested through a series of facts that can be verified, explained and their
causes determined, through different agents, which can be divided into:
• External agents.
As they are, the winds, the temperature, the rays, the hydrological agents.
• Biological agents.
Among them we can mention plants, land animals, marine animals and
humans.
• Internal agents.
Volcanic agents, seismic agents, tectonic agents, epirogenic movements,
orogenic movements.
Earth dynamics studies the geological changes that alter the Earth's
surface; the changes can occur suddenly or can be rapid. There are two types of
agents that help geological changes.
Seismic agents are one of the agents that produce the most sudden and
violent changes in the earth's relief; Since an earthquake is simply a tremor caused
by sudden shaking or movements of the ground, generally produced by tectonic or
volcanic disturbances, however, it is called an earthquake when the movement has
a destructive power, accompanied by strong shaking and noise. subways
resembling thunder.
The devastation of the environment not only refers to the evident changes in
biodiversity, it also affects the relief itself and the natural processes specific to the
place, such as the surface and underground flow of water, or the interruption in the
evolution of the floors.
This is the case of natural resources previously called renewable: water and
soil, which are no longer renewable, due to abusive exploitation.
For all these reasons, there is a need for citizens to master some basic
criteria on the functioning of the exogenous and endogenous geological processes
that have been responsible for the configuration (relief and constituent materials) of
the territory in which they live, since these processes, will continue to act, with
different rhythms, opportunities and intensities.
Finally, the need to promote the use and understanding of time and space
scales is highlighted in order to explain the origin and global consequences of local
geological processes (earthquakes, volcanoes, etc.) as well as the local and
regional consequences of processes. global (melting ice, changes in ocean levels).
The Earth is a complex, dynamic and fragile scenario where life develops at
the expense of evolutionary and biogeographic transformations that began 4 billion
years ago. Due to these processes, the human species is found in practically every
corner of its surface since the end of the Pleistocene, 10,000 years ago.
Although we arrived recently, and we also only represent 0.01% of the total
biomass of the Earth, the negative effects of our activities on the natural
environment present an unprecedented magnitude and acceleration. As a
consequence, the Earth would be leaving the geological epoch of the Holocene
and entering another one called the Anthropocene.
Natural forests are home to 65% of terrestrial plants and animals in an area
that accounts for 31% of the world's continental surface. Although the rate of
deforestation has decreased over the last 25 years, an area equivalent to that of
Greece disappears annually.
The causes of forest deterioration are multiple and are associated with
different types of factors:
Since the industrial period, the average temperature of the atmosphere has
increased 1.1 °C, and 2019 could have been the second or third warmest year in
climatological records. This increase is associated with the emission of carbon
dioxide caused, among other causes, by deforestation and forest degradation.
From a pragmatic perspective based on the idea that the human species
constitutes the center stage, the justification is based on the risk to our own
existence associated with the limitation of the goods and services that the forest
and the atmosphere provide. However, these systems have their own intrinsic
value, independent of the well-being they provide to humanity.
“The Earth is just a small rock floating in a universe full of other rocks, large
and small, of immense gas spirals spinning in the heavens, of tumultuous magnetic
storms, of empty space and even more space. However, no matter how big and
majestic the universe is, there is nowhere for us humans to go.”
a) Education as a preventive and remedial tool to establish the good use of our
planet.
Bibliography.