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A Living Planet
The Earth Inside and Out
• Continents
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North America
South America
Europe
Asia
Africa
Antarctica
Australia
The Solar System
• Consists of sun and
nine planets
– comets, asteroids
Earth’s Structure
• Three main layers
• Core
– Inner
• Iron and nickel
– Outer
• Liquid
• Mantle
– Most of Earth’s mass
Earth’s Structure
• Crust
– Thin layer at earth’s
surface
Earth’s Structure
• Atmosphere
– Layer of gas around Earth
• Lithosphere
– Crust and uppermost mantle
• Hydrosphere
– Water elements of the Earth
• Biosphere
– Atmosphere, lithosphere,
and hydrosphere
Earth’s Structure
• Continental Drift
– Wegener
• Pangaea or
supercontinent
Bodies of Water and
Landforms
• Oceans
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Atlantic
Pacific
Indian
Arctic
Bodies of Water and
Landforms
• Seas
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Bering
Caribbean
Baltic
Mediterranean
Black
Sea of Japan
North
Lakes, Rivers, and Streams
• Lakes
– Largest Freshwater
is Baikal (Russia)
– Largest Saltwater is
Caspian Sea
(Western Asia)
Internal Forces Shaping the
Earth
• Plate Tectonics
– Molten rock flows
slowly
– Tectonic plates ride
on flowing rock
– There are 7 large
plates
Plate Tectonics
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Eurasian
North American
South American
Antarctic
African
Indo-Australian
Pacific
Plate Tectonics
• Plates move in four
ways
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Spreading
Subduction
Collision
Sliding
Plate Tectonics
• Three types of
boundaries form
– Divergent
• Move apart
– Convergent
• Collide
– Transform
• Slide past
Plate Tectonics
• Find an example of
each in your
textbook and put
them in your notes
– Pg 38
Plate tectonics
• Folds and Faults
– Caused by extreme
pressure
– Flexible rocks fold
– Inflexible rocks crack
causing faults
Plate Tectonics
• Earthquakes
– Caused when plates
contact each other
– 95% of all earthquakes
occur around pacific
plates
– Tsunamis
• Caused by underwater
earthquakes
Plate Tectonics
• Volcanoes
– Found mostly along
plate boundaries
– What are hot spots?
– Ring of Fire
• Pacific Ocean
• Location of vast
majority of active
volcanoes
External Forces Shaping the
Earth
• Weathering
– Changes the
characteristics of rock
• Mechanical
– How does it occur?
• Chemical
– How does it occur?
• What is the difference
between the two types
of weathering?
External Forces Shaping the
Earth
• Erosion
– When weather
material is moved
from one location to
another
• Water
• Wind
• Glacial
Mount St Helens
• Before and After
– Erupted in 1980
Mount St Helens
This is an infra-red photo of Mount St.
Helens taken in March of 1980, before
the eruption. In an infra- red photo, all
living things register as red. The
picture was taken by a LandSat
satellite.
And this is an infra-red photo taken
by the same satellite, 3 months later.
Notice that almost all the red is gone,
which means that there is very little
life left on the surface.