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Transcript
THE PHYSICAL WORLD LET’S START WITH THE ‘SPHERES’ • Atmosphere – layer of gases surrounding the earth. • Lithosphere – the solid rock portion of the earth’s surface. Some of the Lithosphere is below water and forms the ocean floor. The huge landmasses above water on the earth are called continents. There are seven total. • Hydrosphere – the water elements on earth. Oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, and the water in the atmosphere make up the Hydrosphere. • Ecosphere – the part of the earth where plants and animals live. • Biosphere – all of the spheres combine for a livable habitat. LANDFORMS ARE NATURALLY FORMED FEATURES ON THE EARTH’S SURFACE. Topography – Is the combination of the surface, shape, and composition of the landforms and their distribution in the region. Elevation is the distance above sea level. It answers the question “How high is it? Relief is the difference in elevation of a landform from its lowest point to its highest point. It answers the question “How tall is it? The highest spot on earth is Mt Everest. The deepest is Mariana Trench. FORCES OF CHANGE INTERNAL FORCES • The earth is about 24,900 miles in circumference . • Although the earth seems like a solid ball, it is really more like a series of shells that float on one another.—Think of an egg! • Core – solid metallic center made of nickel and iron • Mantle – soft layer of molten rock (magma) • Crust – thin layer of rock on earth’s surface The internal forces that shape the earth’s surface begin just beneath the crust. These are called tectonic plates. These plates are enormous pieces of the earth’s crust that shift & move. Alfred Wegener first presented the theory of Continental Drift . He claimed that in Earth’s early existence there was only one body of land, Pangaea. That supercontinent then slowly split and separated into the continents we see today. WHEN PLATES MEET, THEY MAY CAUSE FOLDING AND CRACKING OF ROCKS. THIS FRACTURE IN THE EARTH’S CRUST IS CALLED A FAULT. IT IS AT THE FAULT LINE THAT PLATES MOVE PAST EACH OTHER. Divergent Boundary Where plates move apart or spread, creating rift valleys or seafloor spreading. Convergent Boundary Where plates come together . Can cause folding or subduction zones Transform Boundary Where plates slide past one another. NATURAL DISASTERS Earthquake – The violent movement of the earth produced when tectonic plates grind or slip past each other. • Seismograph – A device that measures the size of waves created by an earthquake. • Epicenter – The location on the earth’s surface directly above where an earthquake originates. • Richter Scale – Scale that uses seismograph results to determine the force of an earthquake. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoZB50LB5HE Tsunami – A giant wave in the ocean caused by an earthquake. https://www.youtube.c om/watch?v=EZCTV65 B-Io The Ring of Fire, a huge ring of volcanic and seismic (earthquake) activity, was noticed and described before the invention of the theory of plate tectonics theory. Today we now know that the Ring of Fire is located at the borders of the Pacific Plate and seven other major tectonic plates. It is home to 75% of the worlds Volcanoes and 90% of the world’s earthquakes. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=IfAcAxX81tk THE RING OF FIRE