Group 2

Summary Report

“EARTH”

SUB TOPICS

*Basic facts about Earth

*Early history of planet Earth

*Plate Tectonics

*The Four layers of Earth base on their Compositions

*Layers of the Atmosphere

10 BASIC FACTS ABOUT EARTH

1. Earth Doesn’t Take 24 Hours to Rotate on its Axis.

2. The speed of rotation of Earth is gradually slowing down

3. Mantle is the Thickest of All the Four Layers of the Earth.

4. Earth is Mostly Iron, Oxygen and Silicon.

5. A year on Earth isn’t 365 days.

6. Earth has one of the most circular orbits of all the eight planets.

7. Earth is the only planet not named after a god.

8. There is a possibility that some asteroid/comet may hit earth and cause devastation to life.

9. Earth is the Only Planet with Plate Tectonics.

10. Earth itself is almost 5 billion years old!

Early history of Earth

- Concerns the development of planet Earth from its formation until the present day

- Earth was formed around 4.54 Billion years ago

Eons

- An indefinite period of time (Eons→ Eras→ Periods→ Epochs)

- Time is generally measured in MYA (Million Years Ago) in Geochronology

- Geochronology: The branch of geology concerned with the dating of rock formations and geological
events.

The History of Earth is divided into Four Eons

Hadean

* 4540-4000 (MYA)

* From the name of Greek God “Hades”

* Earth was hellish looking

*Creation of the Moon from the Protoplanet “Theia”

Phanerozoic

* 541 MYA- Present

* This eon means “Visible Life”

* Complex life including vertebrates like us dominated the earth

Proterozoic

* 2500-541 (MYA)
* Creation of more complex life form called “Eukaryotes”

* Bacteria began producing oxygen

* Fully developed atmosphere

* Earth undergone the state of below zero temperature and called “Snowball Earth”

Archean

* 4000-2500 (MYA)

* Creation of the Prokaryote (The first living thing)

* Premature creation of the atmosphere that contained no oxygen

PLATE TECTONIC THEORY

 From the Greek adjective "tektonikos" meaning "built".

 Refers to the theory that explains the large-scale Motion of the solid part of earth's surface.

BASIC PLATE TECTONIC CONCEPT

 1. Earth's crust and the uppermost layer of the mantle are composed of rigid units called
"plates".

 2. The movement of these plates is small, in the order of millimetres per year.

 3. Large-scale geological activity (earthquakes and volcanoes) occur on or near the plate
boundaries.

 4. Areas farther from plate boundaries are less prone to earthquakes.

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF PLATE TECTONICS

The theory of plate tectonics once started as a theory on continental drift, dating back to 1792 when
Benjamin Franklin hypothesized that Earth’s crust is floating on fluid interior thus, Earth’s surface would
be capable of being broken and disordered. This was supported by Alfred Wegener a few centuries later.

According to Alfred Wegener, around 200 million years ago, all continents were once joined together in
one single, giant landmass called Pangaea “All the Earth”, which covered 40% of Earth’s surface.
Pangaea’s existence was first proposed in 1912 by Alfred Wegener as a part of his theory of continental
drift. Several million years later, Pangaea eventually broke up and continued to do so until finally formed
the continents that you see today, a process he called the continental drift.

Modern geologist now believe that heat-driven, convective currents within the Earth’s mantle were the
driving force for plate movements, these currents, called convection cells, develop when a heated
substance becomes less dense and rises forward the surface, while cooler (more dense) material are
pulled down by gravity. As heated material from deeper in the mantle rises up, encountering the bottom
side of lithospheric plate, movement of this material turns from vertical to lateral motion, bringing the
overriding plate with it.

Sometimes, the drag of neighbouring convection cells would pull the lithospheric plate in opposite
directions causing a rift in the plate. The rifted plates are carried along in opposite directions causing
small amounts of mantle material to escape as lava between these two plates, forming new plate
boundaries in process.

The rising and sinking of rock materials create movement inside Earth called Convection currents.

A trench is a depression in the ocean floor where one plate is subducting under another plate.

Note that the movement of the Crustal plates produces LANDFORMS

FACTORS affecting plate tectonics

Thermal energy (heat transfer)

 1. Conduction - process wherein heat is transferred through direct contact with another object.

 2. Convection- where heat is transferred mainly through movements of a certain source.

 3. Radiation - involves the transfer of heat without necessary contact.

3 Types of plate tectonics boundaries

 1. Convergent - where plates collide, crust is destroyed as one plates dives under another.

 2. Transform - plates move past each other on opposite direction.

 3. Divergent - plates pull away from each other.

Layers of the atmosphere

1. The Troposphere

 Lowest layer of the atmosphere

 Nearly weather occurs in this lowest layer

 Clouds appear here

 It contains about 75% of all of the air in the atmosphere

 It is 4 to 12 miles (7 to 20 km) thick and contains half of Earth's atmosphere.

 Air pressure drops, and temperatures get colder, as you climb higher in the troposphere.

 Boundary Layer

 lowest part of the troposphere

 this is where the air motion is determined by the properties of the Earth's surface.

 Turbulence
 top of the troposphere

 is generated as the wind blows over the Earth's surface, and by thermals rising from the land as
it is heated by the sun.

 it redistributes heat and moisture within the boundary layer, as well as pollutants and other
constituents of the atmosphere.

 Tropopause

 top of the troposphere

 lowest at the poles, where it is about 7 - 10 km above the Earth's surface. It is highest (about 17 -
18 km) near the equator.

2. The Stratosphere

 Extends from the top of the troposphere to about 50 km (31 miles) above the ground

 Infamous ozone layer is found within the stratosphere

 Absorbs dangerous UV radiation

 Jet aircrafts fly in the stratosphere because it is very stable

 Stratosphere actually gets warmer the higher you go

3. The Mesosphere

 above the stratosphere and below thermosphere.

 extends from about 50 to 85 km above our planet.

 coldest temperature in Earth's atmosphere about 90 •c

 still mysterious

4. The Thermosphere

 above the mesosphere and below the exosphere

 extends from about 90 km to between 500 and 1,000 km above our planet - typically about 200
•c hotter in the daytime than night, and roughly 500 •c hotter when the sun is very active than other
times.

5. The Exosphere

 (exo means outside)

 is the outermost layer of our atmosphere

 separates the rest of the atmosphere from outer space

 it is about 6,200 miles thick -exosphere has gases like hydrogen and helium Magnetosphere

 is strongly influenced by the configuration of Earth's magnetic field

 it traps electron and proton, concentrating them in two bands about 3,000 and 16,000 km above
the globe--the Van Allen "radiation" belts.

What is Van Allen?

 a constantly changing stream mostly electrons and protons and some heavier ions erupt from
the sun and streak across space at millions of kilometers per hour, often straight at Earth.

Layers of the Earth Based on Chemical Composition

*Crust

*Mantle

*Core

 Outer Core

 Inner Core

Crust

• The outermost and thinnest layer of the earth.

• divided into 15 major tectonic plates.

• Mostly made of silicate rocks: basal, granite

• Most abundant elements in the crust are oxygen, silicon, aluminium, iron, and calcium

• Most abundant minerals in the crust, members of the silicate family – plagioclase and alkali feldspars,
quartz, pyroxenes, amphiboles, micas, and clay minerals.

• Crust makes up less than 1% of Earth by mass.

• Two Types of Crust: Oceanic Crust and Continental Crust

Two Types of Crust: Oceanic Crust and Continental Crust

1. Oceanic Crust

- Underlines our ocean basins.

- About 5 - 7 km thick

- Composed of dense rocks primarily the igneous rock.

- Composed of magma that erupts on the seafloor to create basalt lava flows or cools deeper down to
create the intrusive igneous rock gabbro.

2. Continental crust

- Crust under which continents are built.

- Ranging from 10 to 75 km

- High abundance of the less dense igneous rock granite.

Mantle

• It is made of solid rock and it is hot

• About 68% of Earth's mass and 2900 km thick

Gutenberg Discontinuity

• The base of the mantle at the boundary with the outer core

• Made up of 44.8% of oxygen, 21.5% of silicon and 22.8% magnesium. There is also some iron,
aluminium, calcium, sodium and potassium.

• Hotness is 500 to 900 degrees Celsius

• Scientist knows that the mantle is extremely hot because of the heat flowing from it.

• Heat flows in two different ways: Conduction and Convection

Heat flows in two different ways: Conduction and Convection

 Conduction

- the heat transfer that occurs through rapid collisions of atoms, which can only happen if the material is
solid.

 Convection

- is the process of a material that can move and flow may develop convection currents.

Core

• Very centre of the Earth made mostly of metals like iron

• About 31% of Earth's Mass

• Core is about 85% metals with nickel

• If core were not metal, the planet would not have a magnetic field

*Outer Core

• Compose mostly of iron and nickel

• Outer core reaches between 4,000 and 5,000 degrees Celsius

• Goes from a depth of 2,550 km to 4,750 km

• It is the movement of the liquid within the outer core that generates Earth's magnetic field

*Inner Core

• Continues to the centre of the Earth at a total depth of 6470 km

• The hottest part of our planet at a temperature between 5,000 to 7,000 degrees Celsius

• Composed mostly of iron

• Inner core is solid because waves stop at inner core

• The strong magnetic field is caused by convection in the liquid outer space