WEATHERING is the process in which rocks break
down.
o MECHANICAL WEATHERING happens
when rocks are broken into pieces by
physical means.
AGENTS OF MECHANICAL WEATHERING:
 ICE-cycles of freezing and thawing can
cause ice wedging, which can break rock
into pieces.
-water seeps into the cracks in the rock,
when the water freezes, it expands then
the ice pushes against the cracks which
causes the cracks to widen. When the ice
melts, the waters seeps into further into
the cracks. The cycle repeats, the cracks
get bigger and then causes the rocks to
break apart.
 WIND, WATER,AND GRAVITY- Abrasion is
a kind of mechanical weathering that
happens when rocks are worn away by
contact with other rocks
-Water can cause abrasion by moving
rocks and making them hit with each
other.
-Wind can cause abrasion when it blows
sand against rocks
-Gravity can cause abrasion by making
rocks rub against each other as they side
downhill.
 PLANT GROWTH-the growing roots can
make the cracks in the rocks grew wider.
 ANIMALS- Earthworms tunnel through
the soil and move pieces of rocks around.
This motion breaks the rocks into smaller
pieces.
-Any animal the burrows in the soil can
cause mechanical weathering.
o CHEMICAL WEATHERING happens when
rocks break down because of chemical
reactions.
AGENTS OF CHEMICAL WEATHERING:
 WATER- it can dissolve some of the
chemicals that make up rocks.
CHEMICAL WEATHERING IN GRANITE:
1. Granite is made up of different minerals.
Rain and air can contain chemicals that
react with the minerals.
2. The chemicals in rain and air can break
down the bonds in the minerals. Rain can
dissolve some of the minerals in the rock
and wash them away.
3. Eventually, many of the minerals in the
granite will be broken down. The small
pieces of minerals that are left are called
sediment.
 ACID PRECIPITATION- rain, sleet,
or snow that contains more acid
than normal.
-it forms when small amounts of
certain gases mix with water in
the atmosphere. The gases come
from natural sources, such as
active volcanoes. They are also
produces when people burn
fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
 ACIDS IN GROUNDWATER-
groundwater may contain weak
acids. And when it touches some
rocks, a chemical reaction
happens which dissolves the
rocks.
 ACIDS FROM LIVING THINGS-all
living things make weak acids in
their bodies and when they touch
rocks, some of these acids are
transferred to the surface of the
rock. The acids react with
chemicals in the rocks and
weaken it.
 AIR- the oxygen can react with
many metals called oxidation.
-oxidation can happen even
without water around. However,
when water is present, oxidation
happens more quickly.
-oxidation can cause rocks to
widen. Oxidation changes the
metals in rocks into different
chemicals.
LAYERS OF THE EARTH ACCORDING TO
COMPOSITION:
-When the planet was still young, it was very hot
and the interior was partially molten. This allowed
the components that make up the earth to
separate. The heavier elements sank, while the
lighter components floated to the surface. The
earth’s interior is not homogenous but layered
according to composition.
- CRUST is very thin compared to the earth’s
radius. MANTLE represents more than 80% of the
volume of the earth. The composition of the
volume of the mantle may be taken as
representative of that of the whole earth. CORE
makes up about sixth of the earth’s volume and
nearly a third of its total mass.
 CRUST-Continental crust is about 35 km
thick and is found under the continents of
very large islands. In places with high
 mountain peaks, the thickness may reach
up to 60 km. It is rich in the elements K,
Na, Al and Si. The average composition of
the continental crust has been compared
to the rock granite.
-Oceanic crust is about 7-10 km thick and found
beneath the oceans. It covers about 70.8% of the
surface of the earth. It is rich in Fe, Si, and Mg, the
characteristics found in the rock basalt.
-the oceanic crust is denser than the continental
crust.
 MANTLE-the boundary between the crust
and the mantle is called the Mohorovicic
discontinuity. The Moho was named after
the Croatian meteorologist and
geophysicist Andrija Mohorovicic who
discovered it into 1909.
-It has a thickness of 2885 km. The upper portion
of the mantle is made up of peridotite, a rock
made up of the minerals olivine and pyroxene.
Deeper into the mantle approx. 400 km, the
olivine became unstable due to higher pressures
thus, it is compressed into a more compact
mineral called spinel. With increasing depth the
spinel turns into perovskite, which is thought to be
common in the lower mantle.
 CORE-metallic ball located at the center
of the earth which is composed of mainly
iron and nickel. It has a radius of 3486 km
larger than the planet Mars. Its density is
13.5 times greater than the density of
water.
-The temperature at such depths (2885 to 6370
km) is estimated to range 4000 to 5000 deg. The
pressure is million times greater than at the
surface of the Earth.
-The boundary between the mantle and the core
is called the Gutenberg discontinuity, after the
discoverer, the German seismologist Beno
Gutenberg. It is simply known as the G or the
core-mantle boundary, specifies the lower
boundary of plate tectonics.
LAYERS OF THE EARTH ACCORDING TO PHYSCAL
PROPERTIES:
 LITHOSPERE (rocky sphere)- composed of
the entire crust plus the uppermost part
of the mantle. This layer extends from the
surface of the earth to a depth of 100 km.
The crust and the uppermost mantle are
considered to be a single layer because
they share similar physical properties.
(cooler, solid, and rigid)
 ASTHENOSPHERE (weak sphere)-located
at a depth of 100-350 km, within the
upper mantle. It may extend down to 700
km. Temperatures are much higher than
the lithosphere. The rocks are very near
their melting points and are capable of
flowing.
-It behaves like an iron bat that is so hot can be
easily deformed. It is also said to exhibit plastic
behavior which has the ability to flow like a fluid
that allows the lithosphere to move like a raft
floating on a stream.
THE LOW-VELOCITY ZONE-when earthquakes
occur; they send seismic waves through the earth.
Seismologists have observed that seismic waves
slow down as they pass a certain region in the
asthenosphere. This region, which is located
between the depths of 100-250 km, has been
called the LVZ. They said that it was probably
because of the molten rock. Seismic waves slow
down when they are passing through liquid
material and speed up when they encounter solid
material.
 MESOSPHERE (middle sphere)- found in
the remaining lower part of the mantle. It
is solid despite the very high
temperatures at this depth because the
pressures are also very high. The rocks
are so highly compressed that the
component atoms are prevented from
separating.
 OUTER CORE AND INNER CORE- the
outer core is the molten portion and
exhibits the characteristics of a mobile
liquid while inner core is the solid portion.
The temperatures at the center of the
earth are believed to be extremely high
yet the inner core is solid.
-Some proposed that the whole core was probably
liquid from the start. They were able to separate
from one another; the heavier components sank
to the inner core while the lighter ones floated to
the outer core. Those in the inner core have
melting points higher than the temperatures
found at that depth that’s why it is solidified.
-Others believed that the inner core is solid
because of the very high pressures present at that
depth.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY
-development of the plate tectonics theory
started with the idea of continental drift. Alfred
Wegener in 1912 proposed that the continents
had once been joined together in a single
landmass which he called PANGAEA (all land). He
hypothesized that it broke apart into smaller
pieces-one piece becoming Africa, Australia, and
so on-that slowly drifted away from each other.
EVIDENCES SUPPORTING CONTINDENTAL DRIFT
-THE FIT OF THE CONTINENTS- Africa and South
America seemed to fit each other. He suggested
that these 2 continents had once been joined
together and the two seemed like neighboring
pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
-THE SIMILARITY OF FOSSILS IN DIFFERENT
CONTINENTS- Fossils is traces and remains of
organisms that lived in prehistoric times. Fossils of
the Mesosaurus were found along the Africa and
South America, suggesting the two were once
been linked together. He said that if the reptile
was able to swim the long distance from one coast
to the other, across the Atlantic Ocean, then it
would have been able to swim to any place. Plant
fossil like Glossopteris were found widely
distributed in all the continents.
-THE SIMILARITY OF ROCK TYPE AND AGE ALONG
THE MATCHING COASTLINES- there is a close
match between the rocks found in the
northwestern coast of Africa and the rocks found
in Eastern Brazil, South America. The ages of the
rocks are also similar like the 500-million-year-old
rocks are found side by side with 2-billion-year-old
rocks.
-THE CONTINUITY OF GEOLOGIC FEATURES FROM
CONTINENT TO CONTINENT-Geologic features
such as mountain ranges line up along coastlines.
The Appalachian Mountains trend northeast along
the east coast of US. On the other side of Atlantic
Ocean, in Scandinavia, another mountain belt of
similar age and structure is formed.
-THE PRESENCE OF COAL SEAMS IN ANTARCTICA-
Coal is formed from organic matter such as dead
plants and animals. The presence of coal in
Antarctica means that is used to be inhabited by a
lot of organisms. This indicates that Antarctica
was once closer to the equator because that is the
place where plants and animals are abundant.
-TILLITES-these are deposits of rock debris left by
glaciers . Tillites of similar ages are found in Africa,
South America, India and Australia. The presence
of tillites means that glaciers were formed in
those places in the past.
WHY CONTINENTAL DRIFT WAS INITIALLY
REJECTED?
-it was rejected because Wegener could not
present a plausible mechanism that would explain
how or why the continents drifted. He proposed
that it was the gravitational pull of the moon that
made the continents move. But Harold Jeffreys
explained that if it was because of that, it would
also make the Earth stop rotation after a few
years.
PALEOMAGNETISM
-when magma crystallizes, one of the minerals
that may form is magnetite. As magnetite cools
below a certain temperature (called the Curie
point, around 573C), it becomes magnetized in
the direction parallel to the surrounding magnetic
field. Thus the magnetite records the direction of
the lines of force of the earth’s magnetic field. The
rocks containing the magnetite are said to possess
paleomagnetism. The rocks ‘remember’ the
magnetic field of the earth at the place and time
the rocks are formed.
-At the magnetic poles, the lines of force are
oriented vertically. Thus, igneous rocks that
crystallized at the magnetic poles would contain
magnetite in an upright position.
-At the magnetic equator, the lines of force are
oriented parallel to the ground. The rocks that are
formed there would contain magnetite in a
horizontal position.
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
In the 1950s and 1960s, scientists turned their
attention to the bottom of the sea.
1. The presence of a belt of underwater
mountains (oceanic ridges) that encircles
the globe
2. The presence of a central valley (rift
valley) at the summit of the oceanic
ridges
3. The oceanic ridges, which are made of
volcanic rocks, are giving off an
abnormally high amount of heat.
4. Earthquakes in the deep-sea areas were
found to be associated with trenches
5. The older seafloor is surprisingly young
(only 170 million years old) compared to
the oldest rocks on land (more than 3
billion years old).
-No one could make sense out of these
discoveries until Harry Hess introduced the
concept of seafloor spreading.