Earth's Systems

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Earth

and
Earth’s
Systems
Shape of Earth
 Earth’s present shape is not a perfect sphere but an oblate
spheroid. Earth got its present shape specifically because of its
gravity and rotation.
 As in other planets, gravity pulls the mass closer to its center or
its core. In this case, Earth’s core is the center of gravity. This
internal gravitational force makes planets contract and form a
spherelike shape.
 However, since Earth is also rotating, the sphere is distorted by
centrifugal force. Hence, as Earth continues to spin, its angular
momentum (i.e., what makes it continuously rotate) is at its
maximum at the equator, making this region slightly bulging
outward when compared to the other areas of the sphere.
Shape of Earth
 Isaac Newton actually predicted an almost similar
shape to describe Earth during his time. He based
his presumption on Earth’s daily rotation and on his
studies of other planets.
 Today, the study of Earth’s shape is covered in the
field of geodesy. It is now considered as an important
branch of science in understanding satellite orbits,
creating navigational tools, and improving global
positioning system (GPS) satellites.
History of Earth
 The age of Earth is deemed to be around one-third of the age of
the universe. Hence, it is estimated to be 4.56 billion years old.
Earth, based on the nebular hypothesis theory, just like the other
planets that flung out of the solar nebula, started out as an immensely
hot and gaseous mass.
 Earth was said to be constantly bombarded by meteorites, comets, and
other planetary bodies. Most of the parts of Earth were molten because
of its collision with other planetary bodies, leading to extreme volcanic
activities. Some scientists even speculate that a large collision could
have caused its present tilt.
 The primitive volcanoes would continuously and randomly erupt
during the formative period. At the same time, flying planetary debris
and other masses were said to smash onto Earth. These events
continued while Earth was spinning.
History of Earth
 In the end, all these occurrences would contribute to the
present shape of the planet, which is an oblate spheroid. Over
time, Earth cooled and formed a solid crust. The denser
materials later on sank to the core. Volcanic out-gassing
continued to form steam and eventually rain.
 Some of the water on Earth is also believed to have come
from the outer space. During the formative phases of Earth,
there was no protective layer of atmosphere that could
prevent planetary objects from entering the planet. Hence,
meteors were assumed to have randomly bombarded Earth
with ice that eventually melted to liquid water.
History of Earth
 The lower elevations or low-lying surfaces of Earth would
collect water and eventually formed the ocean basins. On the
other hand, continuous out-gassing of volcanoes gradually
formed the primordial atmosphere which was devoid of
oxygen and made up mostly of toxic gases.
 It was later on believed that the formation of the very first
inhabitants of Earth such as photosynthetic bacteria led to
the production of oxygen and other gases that comprise the
present atmosphere. The continuous evolution of Earth for
another significant period of time led to the formation of
materials and substances vital to life.
Earth’s
Subsystems
GEOSPHERE
 The geosphere is the portion of Earth that includes
the interior structure, rocks and minerals, landforms,
and all physical processes on land that shape Earth’s
surface.
 All the continents and the ocean floor are considered
parts of the geosphere. Essentially, this is the solid
ground of Earth.
 Scientists that study this part of Earth are called
geologists.
 It should be clear that the term geosphere covers all of
the solid parts of Earth, from its surface up to the
deepest depth of the core, as opposed to the lithosphere
GEOSPHERE
 The lower elevations or low-lying surfaces of Earth
would collect water and eventually formed the ocean
basins.
 On the other hand, continuous out-gassing of
volcanoes gradually formed the primordial
atmosphere which was devoid of oxygen and made up
mostly of toxic gases.
Earth’s Internal Structure
The interior structure of Earth is composed of
different layers, each having unique features. As a
review, there are three main layers of Earth: crust,
mantle, and core. You can see only the surface of
the crust because this is the part of Earth where
you live.
Earth’s Internal Structure
Earth’s Internal Structure
 The different layers of the geosphere vary in density, mineral
composition, temperature, and thickness. Modern
technology has allowed the identification of these
materials in the interior of Earth through seismic waves.
 There are two types of waves traveling through Earth: the
p-waves, which travel fast through both solids and liquids,
and the s-waves, which travel slower than p-waves and can
travel only through solids.
 Seismologists and volcanologists incessantly study the
internal components of Earth through these seismic waves.
Crust
 The crust consists of a layer of oceanic and
continental crusts about 5 to 70 km in thickness.
 The continental crust is thicker than the oceanic
crust.
 Most of the crust is composed of eight elements,
namely, oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium,
sodium, potassium, and magnesium. These are the
same elements that we process to produce things that
we commonly use today, such as glass (SiO2),
concrete (CaCO3), and steel.
Crust
 Just above the upper mantle and still part of the crust is the
Mohorovičić discontinuity or simply the Moho. This layer
was discovered by Croatian seismologist Andrija
Mohorovičić (1857–1936) in 1909 while studying the
seismic waves in an earthquake in Croatia.
 Mohorovičić observed that the velocity of the seismic
waves behaved differently as they traveled through this
layer before the mantle (which is why it was termed as
“discontinuity”). The Moho, is now recognized as the
transitional boundary that divides the crust from the
mantle.
Mantle
 Below the crust is the mantle. However, through
recent studies, scientists added a sublayer of the
mantle, known as the asthenosphere, that explains
the occurrence of earthquakes and various seismic
activities.
 The asthenosphere lies on the upper part of the
mantle and is directly below the crust.
 The extreme temperature and pressure in the
asthenosphere cause the rocks to become ductile and
thus, move like liquid.
Mantle

 The flow of semimolten rocks in some parts of the brittle


crust causes it to break. Some rigid parts of the crust, on the
other hand, just “float” or move about slowly on this liquid-
like layer, supporting the movement of plates as described in
the plate tectonics theory.
 The mantle is made up of silicate rocks. It is considered to be
the thickest layer of Earth as it holds almost 84% of the
volume of the planet.
 Most of it is solid, but it behaves like a viscous fluid.
Mantle
 The limited knowledge that scientists have on the
mantle is derived from xenoliths, which are rocks
embedded or trapped in rocks that come straight
from a volcano. The rocks trapped inside the
magma apparently contain most of the primary
rocks that originated from the interior of Earth.
 Hence, these are thought to be the rocks in the
mantle. Volcanologists collect samples from rocks
coming from volcanic activities or from the
spreading mid-oceanic ridge.
Mantle
 The Gutenburg discontinuity serves as the
transitional boundary between the lower mantle and
the outer core. It was named after Beno Gutenburg
(1889–1960) who discovered it in 1913. This
boundary does not remain constant because of the
changes in heat flow. When heat in the mantle
dissipates, the molten core gradually solidifies and
shrinks, moving this boundary deeper within Earth’s
core.
Core
 The core is chiefly made up of iron and nickel.
 The iron in the outer core is in liquid form, which is
why the outer core is known to be liquid while the
inner core is solid.
 Iron is particularly important because this is the
primary source of Earth’s magnetic field. The
magnetic field extends outward to protect Earth from
solar winds by deflecting them. Without this magnetic
field, the solar winds would damage Earth’s
atmosphere and all living forms on Earth.
Core
 There also exists a transitional boundary between the
inner core and the outer core. The Lehman
discontinuity was discovered in 1929 when a large
earthquake occurred in New Zealand. Danish
seismologist Inge Lehmann (1888–1993) studied the
corresponding shock waves and realized that these
waves had traveled some distance into the core and
then bounced off to some kind of boundary. With this
distinct behavior of the waves, it was accepted that
there indeed lies a layer that separates the solid inner
core from the liquid outer core.

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