Autumn Semester 2021

10 August

CE 309: Engineering Geology

L - T - P – Credits
2-1-0-3

Gourab Sil, Ph.D.

Room no: 405, Dept. of Civil Engg.
Email: gourabsil@iiti.ac.in
Origin of The Earth

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Hypothesis and Theory

❑A hypothesis is an assumption made before

any research has been completed for the sake
of testing. (i.e., tentative explanation based on
data)

❑A theory on the other hand is a principle set to

explain phenomena already supported by data.
(After a hypothesis survived repeated challenges and critically analyzed
by the scientists)

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Origin

❑Scientific literature is full of hypothesis on the origin of

the solar system.

❑The origin of the solar system and that of the Earth is

yet without any final agreement within the scientists
and geologists.

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Question??

• What are some hypothesis about how our solar

system began?

֎Nebular Hypothesis

֎Gaseous Tidal Hypothesis

֎Gas-Dust Cloud Hypothesis

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The Nebular Hypothesis

➢Solar nebular a rotating cloud of gas and dust from which

the sun and planets formed (Origin of Solar system).
Force of gravity: attraction between
pieces of matter because of their mass.

➢This diffused and slowly rotating nebula contracted under

the force of gravity.
➢Rotation of the particles accelerated and in turn the nebula
got flattened into a disc shape.
➢Under the pull of gravity, matter began to drift towards the
center, accumulating into the proto-sun.

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The Nebular Hypothesis

❑ The material in the proto-sun got pressed under its own weight, and
became dense and hot.
❑ The internal temperature of the proto sun rose to millions of degrees, at
which point nuclear fusion began.
❑ Most of the matter in the original nebula was concentrated in the proto-
sun, a disc of gas and dust, called the solar nebula, remained to encircle
it.

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The Nebular Hypothesis

❑ The solar nebula grew hot as it flattened into a disc, becoming hotter in
the inner region, where more of the matter accumulated, than in the less
dense outer regions (Fig.)
❑ Once formed, the disc began to cool and many of the gases condensed.
❑ According to the nebular hypothesis, the planetary system is considered
to have evolved from this originally hot, rarefied, disc-shaped rotating,
gaseous cloud which surrounded the proto-sun. From this original nebular
mass, the planets were supposed to have been formed.

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The Nebular Hypothesis

•Gravity contracts gas cloud

•Conservation of angular
momentum pulls cloud into a disk

•Disk start rotating

•Center mass forms (proto-Sun)

•Centrifugal F balances G & ring

forms
•Ring forms into a planet

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The Nebular Hypothesis

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The Earth

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Spheroid

Δ = 43km

Mean density of 5.517 gm/cm3, Volume of 1.083 x 102 cm3

Mass of 5.975 x 1027 gm
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Different Parts

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❑Lithosphere includes all the solid materials composing the Earth
from surface downwards.

❑The is subdivided—the crust, the mantle and the core.

❑ The lithosphere includes the

crust and the part of the
mantle up to which the solid
state material exists.

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Earth’s Interior

The Earth is divided into three main

layers.

• The dense, hot inner core

(yellow), the molten outer core
(orange),
• the mantle (red), and
• the thin crust (brown)

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Earth’s layers

Molten

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Earth’s layers

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Earth’s layers

Earth is comprised of three main concentric layers:

֎ An outer crust, ranging in thickness from 5 to 10 km
beneath the oceans and more than 40 km beneath the
continents, and beneath the mountains 70-100 km.
֎ The mantle, 2900 km thick, which is separated from the
crust by the Mohorovičić discontinuity (called Moho or M
discontinuity). The mantle contains several layers.
֎ The core is separated from the mantle by the Gutenberg
discontinuity, and is also layered with an inner and outer
core, the whole core being about 3500 km in thickness.

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Layering based on strength and
viscosity
❑lithosphere is the outermost shell and is about 100 km thick (thus
incorporating the crust and uppermost mantle). It can support
large surface loads, like volcanoes, without yielding and is
therefore rigid.
❑Asthenosphere underlies the lithosphere and is 700 km thick. It is
at a high temperature (melting point), has little strength, and can
flow when stress is applied over a period of time. The upper
asthenosphere is the zone where magma is generated.
❑Mesosphere is the innermost shell which is the thickest, including
most of the mantle and extending to the core. It is more rigid than
the asthenosphere and more viscous than the lithosphere.

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Earth’s layers

The crust, mantle and core and any internal

layers they may be distinguished from each
other by their different seismic velocities.

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Layers
Asthenosphere

Asthenosphere is composed
of partially molten rock material
Molten
consisting of solid particles with
liquid occupying spaces in between.

The asthenosphere represents no

more than six percent of the mantle,
the mobility of this layer allows the
overlaying lithosphere to move.

The asthenosphere is the weaker layer beneath the lithospheric mantle. It lies between
about 100 kilometers and 410 kilometers beneath.
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Measurement

Change in velocity
Indicates
Change in nature of medium (Material)
@Certain depth.
Seismic discontinuity

P-waves in km/s: 5.4—7.75—Gradual increase—13.64—8.1

S-waves in km/s: 3.35—4.35—Gradual increase—Stop

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Shadow zone

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Next Class

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