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Grade 11, Earth Science First Sem Reviewer
Grade 11, Earth Science First Sem Reviewer
• The terrestrial planets—Mercury, Venus, • Saturn’s atmosphere is very active with winds
Earth, and Mars—are relatively small and rocky. of 1500 kilometers per hour. It has 56 moons,
the largest of which, Titan, has its own
• The Jovian planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, atmosphere.
and Neptune—are huge gas giants. Density, Instead of being generally perpendicular to the
chemical makeup, and rate of rotation are other plane of its orbit like the other planets, Uranus’s
ways in which the two groups of planets differ. axis of rotation lies nearly parallel with the
According to the nebular theory, the sun and plane of its orbit.
planets formed from a rotating disk of dust and Winds exceeding 1000 kilometers per hour
gases. encircle Neptune, making it one of the windiest
• A cloud of dust and gas in space is called a places in the solar system. Pluto is considered a
nebula. dwarf planet because it has not cleared the
neighborhood around its orbit.
• As solid bits of matter began to clump
together, they formed small, irregularly shaped • A dwarf planet is a round object that orbits
bodies called planetesimals. 23.2 The Terrestrial the sun but has not cleared the neighborhood
Planets Mercury has the greatest temperature around its orbit. 23.4 Minor Members of the
extremes of any planet. Solar System Most asteroids lie in the asteroid
belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
• Mercury is only slightly larger than our moon, They have orbital periods of three to six years.
has cratered highlands and smooth terrains like
maria. It’s very dense, with a large iron core. • Asteroids are small rocky bodies that orbit
Data have confirmed that basaltic volcanism the sun.
and tectonic activity shape Venus’s surface. • Comets are pieces of rocky and metallic
materials held together by frozen water,
• Venus is similar to Earth in size, mass, and ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, and carbon
density. It is covered by thick clouds, and has a monoxide.
surface temperature of 475° C. Although the
atmosphere of Mars is very thin, extensive dust • The glowing head of a comet, called a coma, is
storms occur and may cause the color changes caused by vaporized frozen gases. A small
observed from Earth. glowing nucleus with a diameter of only a few
kilometers can sometimes be detected within a
• The surface features on Mars, including coma. As comets approach the sun, some, but
volcanoes and canyons, are 1–4.5 billion years not all, develop a tail that extends for millions
old. Recent evidence points to the possibility of kilometers.
that liquid water once existed on the surface.
23.3 The Outer Planets (and Pluto) Jupiter has a • Comets originate in two regions of the outer
mass that is 2 times greater than the mass of all solar system. Those with short orbital periods
the other planets and moons combined. come from the Kuiper belt, and those with long
orbital periods come from the Oort cloud. Most
• Although called a gas giant, Jupiter is believed meteoroids originate from any one of the
to be an ocean of liquid hydrogen. Jupiter has a following three sources: (1) interplanetary
ring system, large storms, and 63 moons. The debris that was not gravitationally swept up by
the planets during the formation of the solar
system, (2) material from the asteroid belt, or Astronomy
(3) the solid remains of comets that once the study of the sun, moon, stars, planets,
traveled near Earth’s orbit. comets, gas, galaxies, gas, dust and other non-
Earthly bodies and phenomena.
• A meteoroid is a small solid particle that
travels through space. Cosmology
the branch of astronomy involving the origin
• Meteoroids that enter Earth’s atmosphere and evolution of the universe, from the Big
and burn up are called meteors. Bang to today and on into the future.
• According to the big bang theory, the universe Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
began as a violent explosion from which the is often credited with the creation of the optical
universe continues to expand, evolve, and cool. telescope, though in truth he improved on
existing models. The astronomer (also
mathematician, physicist and philosopher) world as he broke down complicated subjects in
turned the new observational tool toward the a way that interested television viewers even as
heavens, where he discovered the four primary he educated them.
moons of Jupiter (now known as the Galilean
moons), as well as the rings of Saturn. Though a STANDARD MODEL
model of the Earth circling the sun was first Everything in the universe is found to be made
proposed by Copernicus, it took some time from a few basic building blocks called
before it became widely accepted. Galileo is fundamental particles, governed by four
most widely known for defending the idea fundamental forces.
several years after Kepler had already
calculated the path of planets, and Galileo Fundamental Particles
wound up under house arrest at the end of his Made up of elementary particles known as
lifetime because of it.. QUARKS and LEPTONS
Properties of Minerals
Small amounts of different elements can give • Sediment is made up of weathered pieces of
the same mineral different colors. Streak is the earth materials. Eventually, sediment is
color of a mineral in its powdered form. Luster compacted and cemented to form sedimentary
is used to describe how light is reflected from rock.
the surface of a mineral. Crystal form is the • Sedimentary rocks buried deep within Earth’s
visible expression of a mineral’s internal surface are subjected to great pressure and high
arrangement of atoms. The Mohs scale consists temperatures. Under extreme pressure and
of 10 minerals arranged from 10 (hardest) to 1 temperature conditions, sedimentary rock will
(softest). change in metamorphic rock.
• Hardness is a measure of the resistance of a Processes driven by heat from Earth’s interior
mineral to being scratched. Diamond is the are responsible for forming both igneous and
hardest mineral and talc is a softest mineral metamorphic rocks.
Weathering and the movement of weathered
• You can test hardness by rubbing a mineral materials are external processes powered by
against another mineral of known hardness. energy from the sun and by gravity.
One will scratch the other, unless they have the
same hardness. Cleavage is the tendency of a Processes on and near Earth’s surface produce
mineral to cleave, or break, along flat, even sedimentary rocks. 3.2 Igneous Rocks Rocks that
surfaces. form when magma hardens beneath Earth’s
• Minerals may have cleavage in one or more surface are called intrusive igneous rocks.
directions. Minerals that do not show cleavage
when broken are said to fracture. • The root word of igneous means “fire.” When
lava hardens, the rocks that form are called
• Fracture is the uneven breakage of a mineral. extrusive igneous rocks. Texture and
Density is a property of all matter that is the composition are two characteristics used to
ratio of an object’s mass to its volume. Some classify igneous rocks.
minerals can be recognized by other distinctive
properties. • Texture is determined by the size, shape, and
the arrangement of crystals.
The Rock Cycle A rock is any solid mass of
mineral or mineral-like matter that occurs • Composition is determined by the proportions
naturally as part of our planet. The three major of light and dark minerals. Slow cooling results
types of rocks are igneous rocks, sedimentary in the formation of large crystals. Rapid cooling
rocks, and metamorphic rocks. Interactions of magma or lava results in rocks with small,
among Earth’s water, air, and land can cause interconnected mineral grains.
rocks to change from one type to another. The
continuous processes that cause rocks to • Porphyritic texture occurs in rocks with
change make up the rock cycle. When magma different-size minerals that cool at different
cools and hardens beneath the surface or as the rates.
result of a volcanic eruption, igneous rock • Granitic composition occurs when igneous
forms. rocks contain mostly quartz and feldspar.
• Magma is molten material that forms deep • Basaltic composition occurs when rocks
beneath Earth’s surface. contain many dark silicate materials.
• Lava is magma that reaches the surface. • Andesitic composition occurs in rocks with a
combination of granitic and basaltic rocks.
• Weathering is a process in which rocks are • Ultramafic rocks are composed almost
physically and chemically broken down by entirely of dark silicate minerals. 3.3
water, air, and living things. Sedimentary Rocks Erosion involves weathering
and the removal of rock. When an agent of
erosion—water, wind, ice, or gravity—loses • Hydrothermal solutions occur when hot,
energy, it drops the sediments. This process is water-based solutions escape from a mass of
called deposition. magma. The texture of metamorphic rocks can
• Sediments form when solids settle out of a be foliated or nonfoliated.
fluid, such as water or air.
• Compaction and cementation change • Foliated metamorphic rocks have a layered or
sediments into sedimentary rock. Compaction is banded appearance.
a process that squeezes, or compacts,
sediments. Cementation takes place when • Nonfoliated metamorphic rocks do not have a
dissolved minerals are deposited in the tiny banded texture and usually contain only one
spaces among the sediments. Just like igneous mineral.
rocks, sedimentary rocks can be classified into
two main groups according to the way they RESOURCES
form.
• Clastic sedimentary rocks are made of Earth’s Resources Summary
weathered bits of rocks and minerals.
• The size of the sediments in clastic Energy and Mineral Resources
sedimentary rocks determines their grouping. A renewable resource can be replenished over
• Chemical sedimentary rocks form when fairly short time spans such as months, years, or
dissolved minerals separate from water decades. By contrast,
solutions. The many unique features of a nonrenewable resource takes millions of years
sedimentary rocks are clues to how, when, and to form and accumulate.
where the rocks formed.
• The oldest layers in sedimentary rock • Population growth and a higher standard of
formations are at the bottom. living are depleting existing resources. Fossil
• Fossils are found in sedimentary rocks and can fuels include coal, oil, and natural gas.
provide much information about the rocks that • A fossil fuel is any hydrocarbon used as a
contain them source of energy. Some energy experts believe
that fuels derived from tar sands and oil shales
Metamorphic Rocks Most metamorphic could become good substitutes for dwindling
changes occur at elevated temperatures and petroleum supplies.
pressures. These conditions are found a few • Mining tar sand has significant environmental
kilometers below Earth’s surface and extend drawbacks.
into the upper mantle. • Oil shale has less heat energy than crude oil
and is costly to process. Some of the most
• Metamorphism refers to the changes in important mineral deposits form through
mineral composition and texture of a rock igneous processes and from hydrothermal
subjected to high temperature and pressure solutions.
within Earth. During contact metamorphism, • Ore is a useful metallic mineral that can be
hot magma moves into rock. mined at a profit.
• This usually results in minor changes in rocks. • Gold, silver, copper, mercury, lead, platinum,
Regional metamorphism results in large-scale and nickel are examples of metallic minerals
deformation and highgrade metamorphism. produced by igneous processes.
• Most hydrothermal deposits are formed by
• This usually results in intense changes such as hot, metal-rich fluids left by magma.
mountain building. The agents of • Placer deposits are formed when eroded
metamorphism are heat, pressure, and heavy minerals settle quickly from moving
hydrothermal solutions. water. Nonmetallic mineral resources are
extracted and processed either for the • Geothermal energy is harnessed by tapping
nonmetallic elements they contain or for their natural underground reservoirs of steam and
physical and chemical properties. hot water.
• Geothermal power is nonpolluting but
• Nonmetallic mineral resources are useful for reservoirs are easily depleted. Tidal power is
building materials, industrial minerals, and harnessed by constructing a dam across the
manufacturing chemicals and fertilizers. 4.2 mouth of a bay or an estuary in coastal areas
Alternate Energy Sources Solar energy has two with a large tidal range. The strong inand-out
advantages: the “fuel” is free, and it’s flow that results drives turbines and electric
nonpolluting. In nuclear fission, the nuclei of generators. 4.3 Water, Air, and Land Resources
heavy atoms such as uranium-235 are Each day, people use fresh water for drinking,
bombarded with neutrons. The uranium nuclei cooking, bathing, and growing food.
then split into smaller nuclei and emit neutrons
and heat energy. • Less than one percent of Earth’s water is
usable fresh water.
• About 7% of U.S. energy needs are met by • Point source pollution is pollution that comes
nuclear power. from a known and specific location.
• Fears about radioactive materials were • Water pollution can have serious health
realized in 1986, when a reactor at Chernobyl effects for humans. The chemical composition
caused two explosions. Some experts estimate of the atmosphere helps maintain life on Earth.
that in the next 50 to 60 years, wind power
could meet between 5 to 10 percent of the • Pollution can change the chemical
country’s demand for electricity. composition of the atmosphere and disrupt its
natural cycles and functions.
• Wind energy is a promising source of energy,
but technological advances are needed to fully • Global warming, caused by increased carbon
realize its potential. The water held in a dioxide in the atmosphere, is the unnatural
reservoir behind a dam is a form of stored warming of the lower atmosphere. Earth’s land
energy that can be released through the dam to provides soil and forests, as well as mineral and
produce electric power. energy resources.
• Hydroelectric power, which is generated by • Removing and using resources from Earth’s
falling water, drives turbines that produce crust can damage the environment. 4.4
electricity. Protecting Resources Starting in the 1970s, the
• About 5% of the country’s electricity comes federal government passed several laws to
from hydroelectric power. prevent or decrease pollution and protect
• Limited usable sites and the finite lifetime of resources.
hydroelectric dams are both obstacles to
further expansion. Hot water is used directly for • Although they comprise only 6% of the
heating and to turn turbines to generate electric world’s population, Americans use about one
power. third of the world’s resources.
important factors in soil formation are parent
• Conservation is the careful use of resources. material, time, climate, organisms, and slope.
In 1970, Congress passed the Clean Air Act, the
nation’s most important air pollution law. • Parent material is the source of the mineral
matter in soil.
• The Clean Air Act limited the amount of • Temperature and precipitation, or climate,
pollutants allowed in the air, resulting in has the greatest effect on soil formation.
improved air quality. Protecting land resources • In the nitrogen cycle, bacteria convert
involves preventing pollution and managing nitrogen gas into nitrogen compounds that
land resources wisely. plants can use. Soil varies in composition,
texture, structure, and color at different depths.
• Farmers are using new soil conservation
practices to prevent the loss of topsoil. • These variations divide the soil into zones
known as soil horizons.
• Some farmers and gardeners use fewer
pesticides and inorganic fertilizers. • A vertical section through all of the soil
horizons is called a soil profile.
• Compost is partly decomposed organic
material that is used as fertilizer. • Mature soils often have three distinct soil
horizons—the A horizon or topsoil, the B
• Better landfill management and disposal horizon or subsoil, and the C horizon, which
techniques prevent waste seepage. contains partially weathered parent material.
Three common types of soil are pedalfer,
• Recycling is the collecting and processing of pedocal, and laterite.
used items so they can be made into new
products. • Pedalfers usually form in temperate areas that
receive more than 63 cm of rain each year. They
Soil Soil is the part of the regolith that supports contain large amounts of iron oxide and
the growth of plants. aluminum-rich clay.
• Regolith is the layer of rocks and mineral
fragments that covers nearly all of Earth’s land • Pedocals are found in the drier western
surface. United States in areas that have grasses and
• Composition, texture, and structure are three brush vegetation. They contain abundant calcite
important characteristics of soil. and are a light gray-brown.
Soil has four major components: mineral • Laterites form in hot, wet tropical areas where
matter, or broken-down rock; organic matter, chemical weathering is intense. These are rich
or humus, which is the decayed remains of in iron oxide and aluminum oxide. Laterites
organisms; water; and air. contains almost no organic matter and few
nutrients. Human activities that remove natural
• The amount of these components in soil vegetation, such as farming, logging, and
varies depending on the type of soil. construction, have greatly accelerated soil
erosion.
• Soil texture is the proportions of different • Soils are one of the most abused resources on
particle sizes in soil. Texture strongly affects a Earth.
soil’s ability to support plant life.
• Water, wind, and other forces such as climate,
• Plant cultivation, erosion, and water solubility soil characteristics, and slope all affect the rate
are all affected by soil structure. The most of erosion.
2. in suspension (suspended load)
• Erosion can be controlled through planting 3. scooting or rolling along the bottom (bed
windbreaks, terracing hillsides, plowing in load)
contours, and rotating crops.
Running Water and Groundwater
Running Water Water constantly moves among
the oceans, the atmosphere, the solid Earth, • Bed load is the sediment that is carried by a
and the biosphere. This unending circulation of stream along the bottom of its channel.
Earth’s water supply is the water cycle. • The capacity of a stream is the maximum load
it can carry. Deposition occurs as streamflow
• Energy from the sun and gravity power the drops below the critical settling velocity of a
water cycle. certain particle size. The sediment in that
• Infiltration is the movement of surface water category begins to settle out.
into rock or soil through cracks and pore spaces. • The sorted material deposited by a stream is
called alluvium.
• Plants also absorb water and release it into • A delta is an accumulation of sediment
the atmosphere through transpiration. Balance formed where a stream enters a lake or ocean.
in the water cycle means the average annual • A natural levee is a ridge made up mostly of
precipitation over Earth equals the amount of coarse sediments that parallels some streams. A
water that evaporates. The ability of a stream to narrow V-shaped valley shows that the stream’s
erode and transport materials depends largely primary work has been downcutting toward
on its velocity. base level.
• Gradient is the slope or steepness of a stream
channel. • A floodplain is the flat, low-lying portion of a
• A stream channel is the course the water in a stream valley subject to periodic flooding. It is
stream follows. caused by the side-to-side cutting of a stream
• The discharge of a stream is the volume of close to base level. Most floods are caused by
water flowing past a certain point in a given unit rapid spring snow melt or storms that bring
of time. While gradient decreases between a heavy rains over a large region.
stream’s headwaters and mouth, discharge
increases. • A flood occurs when the discharge of a
• A tributary is a stream that empties into stream becomes so great that it exceeds the
another stream. Base level is the lowest point to capacity of its channel and overflows its banks.
which a stream can erode its channel. Measures to control flooding include artificial
• There are two types of base level—ultimate levees, flood control dams, and placing limits on
base level and temporary base level. Sea level is floodplain development. A drainage basin is the
the ultimate base level. Temporary base levels land area that contributes water to a stream.
include lakes and main streams that act as base
level for their tributaries. • An imaginary line called a divide separates the
• A stream in a broad, flat-bottomed valley that drainage basins of one stream from another.
is near its base level often develops a course
with many bends called meanders.
The Work of Streams Streams generally erode Water Beneath the Surface Much of the water
their channels lifting loose particles by abrasion, in soil seeps downward until it reaches the zone
grinding, and by dissolving soluble material. of saturation. The zone of saturation is the area
where water fills all of the open spaces in
• Increased turbulence equals greater erosion. sediment and rock. Groundwater is the water
Streams transport sediment in three ways. within this zone.
1. in solution (dissolved load)
• The upper limit of the zone of saturation is the • Karst topography an area that has been
water table. Groundwater moves by twisting shaped largely by the dissolving power of
and turning through interconnected small groundwater, and has a land surface with
openings. The groundwater moves more slowly numerous depressions called sinkholes.
when the pore spaces are smaller.
• A sinkhole is a depression made in a region
• Porosity is the volume of open spaces in rock where groundwater has removed soluble rock.
or soil.
Glaciers, Deserts, and Wind Summary
• The permeability of a material is its ability to
release a fluid. Glaciers A valley glacier is a stream of ice that
flows between steep rock walls from a place
• Permeable rock layers or sediments that near the top of the mountain valley.
transmit groundwater freely are aquifers.
Aquifers are the source of well water. • An ice age is a period of time when much of
Earth’s land is covered in glaciers.
Running Water and Groundwater
• A glacier is a thick ice mass that moves slowly
A spring forms whenever the water table over the land surface. • The snowline is the
intersects the ground surface. lowest elevation in a particular area that
remains covered in snow all year.
• A spring is a flow of groundwater that
emerges naturally at the ground surface. • Valley glaciers are ice masses that slowly
advance down valleys that were originally
• A geyser is a hot spring in which a column of occupied by streams. Ice sheets are sometimes
water shoots up with great force at various called continental ice sheets because they cover
intervals. large regions where the climate is extremely
• A well is a hole bored into the zone of cold. They are huge compared to valley glaciers.
saturation.
• Ice sheets are enormous ice masses that flow
• In an artesian well, groundwater rises on its in all directions and cover everything but the
own under pressure. Overuse and highest land.
contamination threatens groundwater supplies
in some areas. • The Antarctic Ice Sheet holds nearly two-
thirds of Earth’s fresh water. The movement of
• Supplies of groundwater are finite. glaciers is referred to as flow. Glacial flow
Groundwater erosion forms most caverns at or happens two ways: plastic flow and basal slip.
below the water table in the zone of saturation.
• Plastic flow occurs when brittle ice begins to
• A cavern is a naturally formed underground distort and change shape.
chamber.
• Gravity causes basal slip, where the ice mass
• Travertine is a type of limestone formed over slips and slides downhill. The glacial budget is
great spans of time from dripping water the balance or lack of balance between
containing calcium carbonate. The resulting accumulation at the upper end of a glacier and
cave deposits are known as dripstone. Karst loss, or wastage, at the lower end.
areas typically have irregular terrain, with many
depressions called sinkholes. • When a glacier loses ice faster than it gains
ice, it retreats.
wastes, food wastes, paper, food processing by
• When a glacier gains ice faster than it loses products, manure, yard wastes etc. The non-
ice, it advances. Many landscapes were changed biodegradable wastes include plastics, metals,
by the widespread glaciers of the recent ice age. synthetic materials, polythene, radioactive
wastes etc.
• Glaciers erode the land by plucking and
abrasion. Glaciers are responsible for a variety The solid waste management involves disposal
of erosional landscape features, such as glacial of solid waste to land (or ocean) or recovering
troughs, hanging valleys, cirques, arêtes, and and reproducing useful substances from the
horns. waste through recycling.
• After glaciation, alpine valleys are no longer The entire methodology of solid waste
narrow. management is based on:
(A) Collection of Waste,
• As a glacier moves down a valley once
occupied by a stream, the glacier widens, (B) Disposal,
deepens, and straightens the valley. The once
narrow V-shaped valley is changed into a U- (C) Resource recovery.
shaped glacial trough.
(A) Collection of Waste:
• A glacier carves cirques, arêtes, and horns by The solid wastes are usually collected by a
plucking and removing rocks. covered truck.
The waste may be defined as material for which (B) Disposal of Waste:
no use or reuse is intended. The wastes After the collection of wastes, the wastes are
generated from the natural Processes and disposed of by any one of the methods
anthropogenic activities which pollute the described below
environment and make the earth an unhealthy
planet, is termed as environmental wastes, (i) Dumping:
depending upon the physical states of wastes, It is a process of controlled and final disposal of
these are of three types: waste at land fill sties which must be done using
(1) Solid waste, state of the art methods, {base sealing,
(2) Liquid waste treatment of percolated water, landfill gas
(3) Gaseous waste. disposal/utilisation etc.)
The accumulation of wastes in different forms
causes serious environmental hazards. So it’s
ADVERTISEMENTS:
high time for the present society to take
appropriate steps for the management of
(ii) Sanitary land fill:
waste, possibly through its recycling. The
It is a method of disposing of the waste without
management of waste is another way of
creating nuisances or hazards to public health
conservation of resources.
by using the principles of engineering. In the
1. Management of Solid Waste:
process, the waste is confined to smallest
practical volume by covering it with a layer of
Solid wastes include solid portions of the
earth, at the conclusion of each day’s operation.
discarded material such as glass bottles,
crockeries, plastic containers, metals and
(iii) Incineration:
radioactive wastes. The solid wastes may be
It is a method of converting the volume of
biodegradable or non-biodegradable. The
waste to ashes by burning. This method is
biodegradable solid wastes are agricultural
adopted when the cost of land filling is very 4. Metals can be recycled from the industrial
high. scrap.
(ii) Adsorption:
The effluent is treated with activated charcoal The gaseous wastes are generated in to
which adsorbs colour, odour and dissolved environment mainly due to anthropogenic
organic compounds. activities. The gaseous wastes include carbon
dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4),
chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), oxides of nitrogen
(NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of sulphur
(SOx) etc. These gaseous wastes can cause
serious environmental hazards. Therefore, it is
highly essential to take appropriate steps for
the proper management and control of gaseous
wastes in the environment.