Quarter: 1st

Subject: SCIENCE - 10

Activity: Review Notes

Topic: Earth Science

I: The Planet Earth

Our home planet Earth is a rocky, terrestrial planet. It has a solid and active surface with
mountains, valleys, canyons, plains and so much more. Earth is special because it is an ocean
planet.

1. Crust
 Outside layer of the earth
 Made of solid rock, mostly basalt and granite.
 Two types of crust; oceanic and continental.

 Oceanic - below the ocean; consists of basalt and very dense

 Continental– forms and contains large landmasses; consists of granite and less dense

2. Mantle
 Lies below the crust and is up to 2900 km thick.
 It consists of hot, dense, iron and magnesium-rich solid rock.
 Upper and Lower Mantle

3. Core
 The center of the earth and is made up of two parts: the liquid outer core and solid
inner core.
 The outer core is made of nickel, iron and molten rock.
 Temperature: 5,000 Celsius.
 Quarter: 1st
Subject: SCIENCE - 10

Activity: Review Notes

Topic: Earth Science

Key terms:
 Lithosphere – solid part of the Earth; Crust and upper mantle
 Moho – Division between crust and mantle
 Asthenosphere - Is the hotter upper mantle below the lithospheric plate
Able to flow, slowly; Is a viscoelastic solid, NOT liquid!

Modes of Heat Transfer:

1. Radiation - energy that comes from a source and travels through space at the speed of
light.
2. Conduction - the process by which heat energy is transmitted through collisions between
neighboring atoms or molecules.
3. Convection - The transfer of heat by the movement of a fluid (liquid or gas) where hot air
rises, allowing cooler air to come in and be heated

A "convection cell" is an area within a fluid where warm material is rising in the center and cold
material is sinking at the edges. Process is called Convection Current.

 The driving force behind

plate tectonics is
convection in the
mantle—in the
What drives the asthenosphere.
plates to move?  Hot material near the
Earth's core rises, and
colder mantle rock sinks.

II : Theories on the movement of the lithosphere

A. What is Seafloor Spreading Theory?

 States that the seafloor is continuously spreading and the extra crust gets
recycled into the mantle
 Proposed by Harry Hammond Hess
 A sounding gear called Sonar produced new evidence of what the seafloor
looked like. It bounced sound waves off the seafloor to determine its depth and
features.

B. What is Continental Drift Theory?

 Quarter: 1st
Subject: SCIENCE - 10

Activity: Review Notes

Topic: Earth Science

 Continental drift describes one of the earliest ways’ geologists thought

continents moved over time.
 Proposed by Alfred Lothar Wegener
 States that the Earth was once composed of only one supercontinent called
Pangea.
 Through time, this supercontinent split into two sub-continents, Laurasia and
Gondwanaland.
 Million years further, Laurasia split into a few smaller continents forming the
continents in the northern hemisphere of the Earth. This includes Asia, Europe,
North America, South America, and Africa.
 On the other hand, the continents of the southern
 hemisphere, Australia and Antarctica, are the two continents divided from
 Gondwanaland.

C. What is Plate Tectonic Theory?

 It also states that the Earth’s crust is composed of several broken plates that
continuously move either away, past, or towards each other.
 Proposed by Alfred Lothar Wegener

Principles of Plate Tectonics

III. Plate Tectonics and Boundaries

Also called lithospheric plate is a massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock, generally
composed of both continental and oceanic lithosphere.
 Is rigid and brittle
 Contains crust and upper mantle
 Is 100km thick at the surface of the Earth
 Fractures to produce earthquakes
 Plates move 1-10 cm per year (= rate of fingernail growth)

Subduction
 Where they collide and one plate is thrust beneath another (a subduction zone), the most
powerful earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and landslides occur.
 Where Earth's tectonic plates dive back into the mantle

Interactions at the Plate Boundaries

 A plate boundary is the border between two tectonic plates.

A. DIVERGENT PLATES: Divergent plates pull apart from each other.

B. CONVERGENT PLATES: Convergent plates push boundaries together.
 Quarter: 1st
Subject: SCIENCE - 10

Activity: Review Notes

Topic: Earth Science

C. TRANSFORM (CONSERVATIVE) PLATES: Conservative (transform) plate boundaries slide

across from each other.

IV. LOCATIONS OF EARTHQUAKES, VOLCANOES, AND MOUNTAIN RANGES and ITS EFFECTS

1. Earthquakes
 An earthquake is a weak to violent shaking of the
ground
 Produced by the sudden movement of rock
materials below the earth's surface.
 The earthquakes originate in tectonic plate
boundary.
Effects:
 Ground shaking
 Soil liquefaction
 Landslides
 Fissures
 Avalanches
 Tsunamis

2. Volcanic
 Volcanoes are formed NOT only in convergent and divergent plate boundaries, but
also within the plates themselves in hotspot.
 Hotspot - where heat in the mantle can produce magma.
Effects:
 Ashfall
 Acid rain

3. Mountain Ranges
 Mountains form where two continental plates collide.
 Since both plates have a similar thickness and weight, neither one will sink under the
other.
 Instead, they crumple and fold (Subduction) until the rocks are forced up to form a
mountain range.

V. EARTHQUAKE and TYPES OF WAVES

Earthquakes
• An earthquake is a weak to violent shaking of the ground
• Produced by the sudden movement of rock materials below the earth's surface.
• The earthquakes originate in tectonic plate boundary.
 By definition, earthquake is the shaking and trembling of the Earth’s crust caused by a
sudden release of stored energy creating seismic waves.

Magnitude VS Amplitude

 Magnitude is used to measure the extent of an earthquake or an explosion.

Magnitude is the most common measure of an earthquake's size.
 Amplitude is also known as Intensity.
How much the ground shakes at a specific location.
 Quarter: 1st
Subject: SCIENCE - 10

Activity: Review Notes

Topic: Earth Science

 Earthquakes occur where

why are plates are subducting,
earthquakes spreading, slipping, or
generated at plate colliding. As the plates
grind together, they get
boundaries?
stuck and pressure builds
up.

Seismology Seismologists Seismograph Richter Scale

The study of The people who An instrument used Used to rate the
earthquakes (from studies earthquakes to detect and magnitude of an
the Greek word record seismic earthquake.
“seismos” which waves.
means “to shake”).

 Landslide
 Avalanche
 Tsunami
How would the  Soil liquefaction
surroundings be  Ground shaking
 Fissures
affected during an
earthquake?

VI. SEISMIC WAVES

 Seismic waves are vibrations that carries the energy
Types of Seismic Waves:
Body Waves Surface Waves
P-waves/Primary S-waves/Secondary Love Waves Rayleigh Waves
Waves Waves

 Travels faster  A type of elastic  Augustus  Move in an

than other wave, also Edward elliptical
seismic waves. called as shear Hough Love motion,
 Considered as waves.  It has a producing both
the first signal  May be horizontal vertical and
from an transmitted motion that horizontal
earthquake to through solids is transverse motions.
be felt. but not in liquids. to the  This moves the
 May be direction ground up and
transmitted the wave is down and side
through liquids travelling to side in the
and solids. same direction
 Quarter: 1st
Subject: SCIENCE - 10

Activity: Review Notes

Topic: Earth Science

 Considered that the wave is

to be the moving.
fastest  It is named after
surface Lord Rayleigh
wave and (John William
moves the Strutt).
ground from
side to side.

VII. SEISMIC WAVES CALCULATION

Calculation of time taken by P wave to the S wave:

First, calculate the time taken by the P wave to reach the city.
Apply the formula speed = distance/time.
Therefore, the time to reach the city

(P wave time) = Distance (d)/speed (s).

Example Problem:
An earthquake 45 km from a city produces P and S waves that travel outward at 5000 and 3000
m/s, respectively. Once city residents feel the shaking of the P wave, how much time do they
have before the S wave arrives?

Step by step solution:

1. Calculation of time taken by P wave
First, calculate the time taken by the P wave to reach the city. Apply the formula speed =
distance/time. Therefore, the time to reach the city (P wave time) = Distance (d)/speed (s).
Here, the distance is 45000 m (45 km) and the speed of the P wave is 5000 m/s. Substituting
these values into the formula gives

P wave time = 45000/5000 = 9 seconds.

2.Calculation of time taken by S wave

Second, calculate the time taken by the S wave to reach the city. Like in step 1, use the same
formula for speed. This time, the speed of the wave is 3000 m/s. Hence,

S wave time = 45000/3000 = 15 seconds.

3. Subtraction to find the difference in times

Finally, subtract the P wave time from the S wave time to find the time difference between the
sensations of both waves.

Time difference = S wave time - P wave time = 15 - 9 = 6 seconds.

Additional Notes:
4 Subsystems of the Earth
1. Lithosphere – Solid Earth.
2. Hydrosphere – All water found on, under, and over the surface of Earth.
3. Atmosphere – The gases that surround the Earth (its air).
 Quarter: 1st
Subject: SCIENCE - 10

Activity: Review Notes

Topic: Earth Science

4. Biosphere – All life on Earth.

What causes the plates to move?

The driving force behind plate tectonics is convection in the mantle — in the asthenosphere.

Evidence (for the different theories)

- Geological "fit" evidence is the matching of largescale geological features on different
continents.
- Glaciers carve rocks and leave marks as they move. In this evidence, scientists can
determine the direction of movement of each continent.
- Coal deposits in Antarctica suggested that it was once located near the region of the Earth
where the climate is enough to support complex life forms such as plants and tall trees.

Mesozoic periods of the Earth:

Permian Period – Super landmass called “Pangaea” was once on Earth
Triassic Period – Pangaea split into 2 continents
- Laurasia – North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa
- Gondwanaland – Australia, Antarctica
Jurassic Period – Dinosaurs once dominated the planet (Jura Mountain; French-Swiss Alps)
Cretaceous Period – Mass extinction of dinosaurs
Cenozoic Period – Present day, rise of homosapiens (us humans)