Geography 12 
Unit 3 Planet Earth  
Simrit Kaur Rakhra  
 

25 September 2020: pg. 49-116 

Chapter 4 

4.1: The Earth’s Internal Heat Source  

It is thought that the earth formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a vast cloud of gases and dust gradually 
pulled inward by the force of gravity on the sun and the planets of the solar system. 

○ The earth continues to grow because its gravitational attraction acting like a magnet to small 
planets 
○ The explanation of the origin of the earth is called the cold accretion theory 
○ The term accretion refers to a gradual increase in size resulting from the addition of materials 
beyond earth  
○ Heat ( inner region of the earth): Kinetic energy 
○ Compression of rock materials inside the earth due to enormous pressure of the materials 
above 
○ The decay of unstable radioactive elements within the rocks 

4.2: A layered Earth  

○ Heavier elements begin to differentiate from the surrounding lighter elements and settle 
towards the centre of the earth under the effect of gravity 
○ That’s why molten is in the middle of our 
○ Lighter materials above (mantle) 
○ Silicates are minerals that combine the two most abundant elements in the Earth's crust 
oxygen and silicon  
○ Layers in the earth can be determined in two ways 
■ chemical composition 
■ By their physical properties  
○ The core of the earth is composed of iron-nickel and other heavy metals  
○ The inner core is solid because of its high temperature and extreme pressure 
○ The outer core is liquid because it is under less pressure  

 
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○ The mantle is composed of silicates of magnesium and iron  

○ The mesosphere is largely solid in nature 
○ asthenosphere was identified when the crust moved through continental drift 
■ partly solid and liquid 
○ The outer layer consists of a thin layer of light materials called the crust 

4.3: uncovering the Earth interior 

○ Average density of the earth is about 4.3 grams per centimetre cubed 
○ three different sources of a direct information has been used to gain an understanding of the 
interior of the Earth 
■ Meteorites 
■ scientists use seismology 
■ seismology technology 
● meteorites evidence about the interior 
○ they are fragments of asteroids and small early planets that broke up on impact with our 
bodies out in space 
○ they fit in three main divisions 
■ iron nickel 
■ Stony 
■ Johnny nickel 
● seismology key to the Earth's interior 
○ scientific study of earthquakes and seismic waves 
○ three main types of waves that are generated by earthquakes are 
■ primary waves 
● the fastest ways that can penetrate through the Earth's interior 
■ secondary waves 
● slower transverse waves that travel to the Rock by moving it from side to 
side 
● can only pass through solids 
■ long waves 
● can pass through both solids and liquids  
○ only P & S waves are used in finding out about the Earth interior  
○ size of wave is related to the density of the interior 
● seismic tomography: a window into the Earth's interior 
○ seismic tomography is the latest technique used to uncover greater details about variations in 
the density and temperature of the mantle 
● the importance of the Interior heat engine 
○ the magnetic field of the earth is generated by movements of the molten iron and nickel layer 
of the outer core  

 
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■ conduction currents in the electrically conducting fluid of the core act as a Dynamo, 
generating and maintaining a magnetic field 
○ the heat generated by radioactive decay Powers very slow-moving convection currents in the 
asthenosphere and mantle 
■ movements make ridges in lithosphere 

chapter 5 

5.1: the minerals and rocks of Earth's crust 

● Most important elements in the Earth's crust is oxygen silicon 

○ there are 91 naturally occurring elements in the rocks that make up the Earth 
○ when two or more elements combine in a crystalline structure they form minerals  
○ the 91 elements combine to form at least 2,000 different minerals 
○ a rock is any Consolidated mixture of one or more minerals  
● There are rocks that are old but not as old as the Earth so where did all the old rocks go? 
○ decay of radioactive elements in the interior of the earth drives convection currents in the 
outer core and mantle 
○ these currents put pressure on the crust which causes the Rocks the ocean for us to move 
○ this results in the constant recycling of the ocean crust: Rock cycling 
○ Erosion 

5.2: born of Fire ingenious rocks  

● Igneous rocks are formed by the cooling and solidification of molten materials or magma 
● the term igneous comes from the Latin word meaning fire and refers to the origin of such rocks in 
volcanic eruptions common in southern Italy 
○ physical geographers most frequently classify igneous rocks according to the location of the 
magma as it solidifies into rock 
■ the two main divisions within this are extrusive or volcanic and intrusive or plutonic 
● extrusive igneous rocks: cools very quickly  
● Intrusive igneous rocks: coolers very slowly (ex. granite)  

Metallic mineral deposits 

● Metallic mineral deposits are commonly associated with the intrusive igneous rock formations 

5.3: born of erosion and deposition sedimentary rocks 

● The energy for the creation of sedimentary rocks come from the Sun rather than the Earth's interior 
● closely related to the movement of water 
● Cemetery rocks are found over much of the surface of the continents and Continental shelves 

 
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● Cemetery rocks are formed from sediments particles lava rock material that have been transferred to 
a new locations 
● classified in two ways 
○ clastic or non clastic 
■ inorganic sediments are carried by the world's Rivers into Lake season oceans. these 
sediments are produced by the breaking down of rocks and are known as clastic 
materials 
■ non clastic chemical or organic sediments are precipitated as solids from ocean 
waters are made up of animal or plant remains 
● clastic sedimentary rocks 
○ build up horizontal layers 
○ two main processes 
■ the first is pressure for more recent overlying layers of sediment and the second is 
the process of cementing together known as lithification 
■ slowly forming 
● non clastic sedimentary rocks 
○ originated from remains that accumulate on the ocean floor 
● fossil fuel deposits 
○ deposits of fossil fuels are formed in areas of sedimentary rock formations  
○ Various forms of plants and animals lived and died in swamps 
○ if there's a shortage of oxygen in the mods where the remains of these plants and animals 
are deposited they did not detain decay 
○ instead the accumulated in the mud's as layer of thick plant remains or a small globules of 
animal names 
○ later deposits of sand slits and Clay's very these organic remains 
○ as sediments were created the organic materials were transformed into valuable fossil fuels  
● Non-metallic industrial mineral deposits 
○ they include a wide variety of salts that were deposited as shallow Seas evaporated from Bad 
scenes with in hot desert areas 
○ thousands left deck bags of salt behind 

5.4: born of great heat and pressure metamorphic rocks 

● Rock that have been greatly altered from their original form through a tremendous heat and pressure 
are metamorphic rocks 
○ metamorphism takes place while the rock is still in solid-state 
○ if the Rocks melt and then solidify they are known as igneous 
● uses of metamorphic rocks 
○ useful for building purposes as durable exterior services for monuments or for attractive 
effects inside buildings 

 
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● oceans and continents 

○ you can classify rocks as igneous sedimentary and metamorphic or you can divide them into: 
■ found on the continents 
■ found in the oceans 
● theory of isostasy: balance between crust and mantle 
○ various blocks of the crust float on the softer materials of the asthenosphere 
○ principle of displacement state that an object floating in a liquid this place has a weight of the 
liquid equal to its own weight 
○ the denser ocean floor rocks must think more deeply into the plastic asthenosphere to 
displace their own way then the lighter rocks of the continents: known as isostasy 
● differences between ocean basins and continents 
○ ocean basins are made up of rocks that are less than 200 million years old 
○ ocean basins are almost entirely made up of basalt, an igneous rock 
○ Continents  
■ oldest rocks known on the continent date 3.96 billion 
■ made up of complicated mixtures of intrusive and extrusive igneous and 
sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of various ages and type 

chapter 6 

6.1: a stable Earth 

● A plate is a rigid flap of solid lithosphere rock that has clearly defined boundaries or edges 
○ each plate is approximately 100 kilometres thick and consists of a dinner upper layer of 
crustal rock and a thicker underlayer of Upper Rock mantle 
● asthenosphere is the layer of the upper mantle that lies directly below the lithosphere 
○ although it is a solid it is so hot that it is made up of a small portion of metal two materials 
that give it the properties of a plastic meaning it can flow slowly when put under constant 
pressure 
● The plates are set in motion by convection currents in the asthenosphere 
● the energy that creates the convection currents to power the constant motion of the plates come from 
the heat generated by the decay of radioactive elements within the Earth's interior 
● the study of the movement of plates and the effects they have on the surface features of the 
lithosphere is known as plate tectonics 
○ tectonics refer to the process that change and deform the Earth lithosphere under the rock 
structures and surface features that are produced by these processes 

6.2: Lithosphere: a simple but elegant idea 

● Earthquake belts Mark the boundaries of large moving plates that work lighting separating is slipping 
against one another 

 
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the major tectonic processes 

● Plate movements produce three tectonic processes:  

○ Folding 
■ process that bends and twists rock usually due to compression or squeezing 
■ commonly found when plates move together 
○ Faulting 
■ process where rocks move past each other along a fracture or crack 
■ Occurs when plates are separating sliding past one another are moving together 
○ Volcanicism 
■ describe the movement of molten rock or magma 

plate boundaries: Zone of tectonic activity 

● The only mountain building process that is not related to plate boundaries is volcanic activity found 
within the interior of plates 
○ known as hotspots 
● plate boundaries 
○ converging plate boundaries where two plates are moving towards one another 
○ divergent plate boundaries that develop where plates are moving apart or separately from 
one another 
○ transform fault boundary where plates are slipping and sliding past one another 

convergent plate boundaries are of two types:  

● Collision zones where two plates containing continents are meeting and subjective zones where an 
oceanic plate is sinking below a plate containing continents 

6.3: mid ocean ridges divergent plate boundaries 

● Centre of the Antarctic Ocean is named the mid-ocean ridge 

● seafloor spreading 
○ suggested that the sea floors are splitting and moving apart at the mid-ocean ridges powered 
by convection currents in the asthenosphere 
○ as to spreading occurs magma from the upper mantle feels the opening cracks, cools, and 
hardens adding to the ocean floor on each side of the bridge 
○ the first evidence of seafloor spreading was the pattern of magnetic variations on the seafloor 
on either side of the mid-ocean ridges in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean 
○ is is the 
■ during a reversal which happens approximately every 500,000 years the same 
compass needle would point to South magnetic pole in Antarctica 

 
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● tectonic processes at the mid-ocean ridge 

○ divergent plate boundaries are less violent than other types of boundaries. this is because: 
■ the lithosphere is the dentist near the middle ocean ridges 
■ the plates are splitting apart allowing hot magma from the upper mantle to move 
easily towards the Earth's surface 
■ low viscosity of magma itself 
● influenced by two factors: composition and temperature 
○ eruption of magma at the crest of mid-ocean ridges is the most freaking type of volcanic 
activity: creates pillow lavas 
■ pillow lavas have distinct pillow like shapes and have been identified along the crest 
of all Oceanic ridges  
○ Faulting is responsible for the formation of a rift valley 
■ a rift valley is formed when a block of the Earth's crust falls down between two 
parallel fault lines 

6.4: transform fault boundaries: plates sliding past one another 

the second type of plate boundary occurs where plates are sliding past one another along transform faults 

● Transform faults are associated with mid-ocean ridges and a rather short 
● it is broken up into segments 
● tectonic processes along transform fault boundaries 
○ as plates slide past one another the enormous pressure between them shatter the Rocks 
along the fault line. on land the shattered rocks are easily eroded to create a narrow Valley 
along the fault line. there's little up list 
■ micro earthquakes create faults known as creep 

the San Andreas Fault 

● Transform fault boundaries are zones a severe earthquake activity 

● in San Andreas fault cuts across the western side of California marking the boundary line between the 
North American and Pacific plates 
○ plates are grinding slowly past one another 
○ the notoriety of the San Andreas fault is due to its location close to the two major population 
clusters of the State of California: the Los Angeles Basin and the San francisco-oakland San 
Jose Urban region 
● Collision and subduction zones: converging plate boundaries 
● converging plate boundaries are divided into two types 
○ subduction zones where an oceanic plate is flipping below a continental plate 
○ Collision what continent 
● tectonic processes at convergent plate boundaries 

 
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● Volcanism 
○ produced by the melting of subducting oceanic plates in the asthenosphere the and 
anddesitic Magma's erupted at those boundaries have more silica and dissolved gases in 
lower temperatures than the basaltic Magma's are ridges and hot spots 
○ the volcanic Peaks built up on continents from Arc like chains known as Continental volcanic 
arcs 
● Folding 
○ folding is caused when rocks are compressed into mountain ranges by converging plates 
○ Continental rocks are scraped off the surface of the descending ocean floor plate at are 
severely folded as they are plastered onto the edge of the advancing continental plate 
● earthquake activity 
○ major fault lines Mark the outer edges of the descending plates that are moving into the 
asthenosphere 
○ Faults also develop within the mountains created along collision zones 
○ they combined with folding activity to distort and uplift The Rock strap between the two 
converging plates 

6.6: Plates Interiors: Zone inactivity  

● The ocean Basins  

○ Basalts, The rock type found beneath the ocean is denser and younger than granitic 
Continental rocks 
○ away from the mid Oceanic ridges the ocean floor is gradually slope downward into huge 
planes or basins  
○ hear the rocks of the oceanic plane to cool down and become thicker and denser than the 
ridges 
○ these dents are all the parts of the plate sinks deeper into the underlying asthenosphere 
● The continents  
○ Cratons: the oldest most stable parts of continents occur where ancient rocks are found at 
the surface or overlain by flat-lying sedimentary rock 
○ Originally the roots of mountain chains that were exposed over hundreds of millions of years 
by erosion  
○ The continents are not entirely composed of cratons 
○ their edges are plate boundaries and are active zones of mountain building 
○ the great ages of Continental rocks result from the fact that they are buyont compared to the 
denser rocks of the lower Lego sphere and mantle 
● continents: there assembly and break up 
○ the reasons for the breakup of continents are still being debated by earth scientists 
○ recent explanation suggest that supercontinents active thermal caps showing The Escape of 
heat energy from the mantle below them 

 
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○ Pangea, broke up 200 million years ago  

 
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