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BASICS
you that the continents, landmasses above water on earth, fit together core hydrosphere
like a huge jigsaw puzzle. South America and Africa are good examples. mantle biosphere
With imagination, you can see how other continents might fit together
magma continental
as well. The first person to suggest that the seven continents were once drift
crust
all one supercontinent was Englishman Francis Bacon in 1620. Bacons
idea received support in the early 1900s, when scientists found rocks
in Africa that matched rocks in South America. Other evidence also
supported the idea of a supercontinent millions of years ago.
Pluto
Earth Venus
Mars
asteroid belt
Sun
Mercury
Jupiter
Saturn
comet
Uranus
Neptune
27
The Structure of the Earth
The earth is about 24,900 miles in circumference and about 7,900 miles
in diameter. Although the earth seems like a solid ball, it is really more
like a series of shells that surround one another.
INSIDE THE EARTH The core is the center of the earth and is made up
of iron and nickel. The outer core is liquid, but the inner core is solid.
Surrounding the core is the mantle, which has several layers. The man- Background
tle contains most of the earths mass. Magma, which is molten rock, can Part of the upper
portion of the
form in the mantle and rise through the crust, the thin layer of rock at
mantle is known
the earths surface. Study the diagram below to learn more about the as the asthenos-
earths interior. phere. It is the hot,
but still mostly
ON AND ABOVE THE EARTH Surrounding the earth is a layer of gases solid, rock below
called the atmosphere. It contains the oxygen we breathe, protects the the cold, brittle
earth from radiation and space debris, and provides the medium for rock of the
lithosphere.
weather and climate. The solid rock portion of the earths surface is the
lithosphere, which includes the crust and uppermost mantle. Under the
ocean, the lithosphere forms the seafloor. The huge landmasses above
water are called continents. There are seven continents: North America,
South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. The
hydrosphere is made up of the water elements on the earth, which
include oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, and water in the atmosphere.
Together, the atmosphere, the lithosphere, and the hydrosphere form
the biosphere, the part of the earth where plants and animals live.
Crust
The earth is made up of the core,
Lithosphere the mantle, and the crust.
Ocean
Asthenosphere Crust Upper Mantle
1937 miles thick approximately
500 miles thick
Mantle Lithosphere
3090 miles thick
Asthenosphere
400 miles thick
Outer Core
SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting Graphics 1,380 miles thick
LOCATION Approximately how thick is the core
of the earth?
Iron Core
LOCATION In what part of the earth would the 760 mile radius
lithosphere be found?
28 CHAPTER 2
CONTINENTAL DRIFT In 1912,
Alfred Wegener of Germany
presented a new idea about 200 million y
200 million years
continentsthe continental drift ago The super-
hypothesis. It maintained that the continent was
P
PANTHALASSA
earth was once a supercontinent named Pangaea.
A
Tethys OCEAN
An ocean called
N
G
that divided and slowly drifted Panthalassa
A
E
Sea
A
apart over millions of years. surrounded it.
Wegener called the supercontinent
Pangaea (from a Greek word mean-
ing all earth). An ocean called 65 million years ago
Panthalassa surrounded it. The
supercontinent split into many 65 million years NORTH
AMERICA A S I A
ago The super-
plates that drifted, crashed into
continent split apart
each other, and split apart several and began moving
times before they came to their cur- in different direc- SOUTH
AMERICA
AFRICA
INDIA
rent positions. This process tions. Notice that
occurred over millions of years. India broke away
from Antarctica AUSTRALIA
In the 1960s, scientists study- and Australia and ANTARCTICA
ing the sea floor discovered that drifted toward Asia.
the youngest rocks were in the ANTA
Today
middle of the ocean, at long NORTH
Eurasian
Plate
cracks in the crust. This suggested AMERICA EUROPE
A S I A
Chicxulub
Mrida n X
I C
e O Yucatn
Peninsula
Acanch Izamal D ir P Caribbean Sea
ec
Mayapn Chichn Itz tio
no
fa
ste
roi
Uxmal Labn d
The asteroid hit near
n
t
20N
Chicxulub (CHEEKshoo
a
Peninsula of Mexico. It
Y
N
dug a crater about 62
0 50 100 miles E
W miles (100km) across.
0 50 100 kilometers
S
Azimuthal Equidistant Projection
30 CHAPTER 2
CREATING A FRONT PAGE
With a small group, use the Internet
to research the Chicxulub event.
Then create the front page of a
newspaper describing the event.
TUNGUSKA EVENT
On June 30, 1908, at about 7:30 A.M.,
an explosion occurred over the
Tunguska region of Siberia. This event
might have been an asteroid hit.
The force of the explosion was
estimated at between 10 and 20
megatons of TNT.
The fireball and explosion were
seen and felt 500 miles away.
Five hundred thousand acres of
forest were flattened and burned.
A thick layer of carbon dioxide
More than 600 grazing reindeer
is trapped in the atmosphere,
were roasted instantly.
creating a greenhouse effect
for perhaps a thousand years No crater could be found.
or more. Ferns, burrowing
mammals, and some freshwater
animals survive. Some even
thrive in the new climate.
Disasters! 31