Download Unit 1: Basics of Geography Chapter 2

Unit 1:
Basics of Geography
Chapter 2: A Living Planet
Chapter 2, Section 1:
The Earth Inside and Out
Earth’s Structure
• Inside Earth:
– Core: center, iron and nickel
• Inside = solid; outside = liquid
– Mantle: outside of the core, has
multiple layers and contains
most of the earth’s mass
• Magma: molten rock
– Crust: thin layer of rock at
earth’s surface
Earth’s Structure
• On and Above Earth:
– Atmosphere: layer of gases surrounding the earth
– Lithosphere: solid rock portion of the earth’s
surface
• uppermost mantle and crust
• Seafloor
– Hydrosphere: all the oceans, seas, rivers, lake, and
water in the atmosphere
– Biosphere: part of earth where plants and animals
live.
Earth’s Continents
How Has the Earth Changed?
• Continental
Drift
– Alfred Wegener
(1912)
– Earth was once
a
supercontinent
that divided
and drifted
apart over
millions of
years
Chapter 2, Section 2:
Bodies of Water and Landforms
Bodies of Water
• Hydrologic cycle- continuous circulation of
water between atmosphere, oceans, and
earth.
Bodies of Water
• Lakes, rivers, streams
– Drainage basin-area drained by
a major river and its tributaries
– Ground water-water held in
pores of rock
– Water table- level at which the
rock is saturated
• Rise or fall depending on amount
of precipitation in the region
Landforms
• Naturally formed features on the surface of
the earth
– Examples???
Landforms
• Oceanic
– Continental shelf- edge of a continent to the deep
part of the ocean
• Ridges, valleys, canyons, plains, mountain ranges
Chapter 2, Section 3 & 4:
Forces Shaping the Earth
Plate Tectonics
• Enormous moving pieces of the earth’s
lithosphere
Plate Tectonics
• Divergent boundary-plates move apart,
spreading horizontally
• Convergent boundary- plates collide, causing
either one to dive under the other or the
edges of both to crumple
• Transform boundary- plates slide past one
another
Earthquakes
• As plates grind past at a fault, earthquakes
happen.
– Measure using seismograph
– Richter Scale: determines strength
• The point directly above the focus of the
earthquake is the epicenter
Tsunami
• Caused by
earthquakes,
giant wave in the
ocean
• 50-100 feet tall
Volcanoes
• Magma, gasses, water from lower part of the
crust collect in underground chambers
• Magma pours out of a crack in the earth’s
surface
– Lava
Weathering
• Physical and chemical processes that change the
characteristics of rock
– Breaks down rocks into smaller pieces: sediment
• Mud, silt, sand
• Mechanical Weathering
– Physical, does not change the composition of the rock,
just the size
• Chemical Weathering
– Rock is changed into a new substance due to reactions
w/ elements in air or water
Erosion
• Weathered material is moved by wind, water,
ice, gravity
Building Soil
• Loose mixture of weathered rock, organic
matter, air, and water that supports plant
growth
• Soil factors:
– Parent material
– Relief
– Organisms
– Climate
– Time