Science Reviewer

INTERNAL STRUCTURES OF EARTH

EARTH’S LAYER FOUR EARTH’S SPHERE
 Atmosphere
 Hydrosphere
 Geosphere
 Biosphere
GEOSPHERE
 Is considered as the portion of the Earth's system that includes the Earth's interior, rocks and
minerals, landforms, and the processes that shape the Earth's surface.

EARTH’S INTERNAL STRUCTURE

CRUST
 Earth's crust is a thin shell on the outside of Earth, accounting for less than 1% of Earth's volume.
 It is made up of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.

TYPES OF CRUST
Continental Crust
 It covers almost 40 percent of Earth and makes up the continents. It is a relatively thick part of the
earth's crust that forms large landmasses. It is generally older and more complex than the oceanic
crust.

Oceanic Crust
 Found beneath the ocean floor. It is formed from the lava that seeped up from the mid-ocean
ridges. These undersea mountain ranges have openings where the lava covers the sea floor.

MANTLE
 The thickest (80%) layer of the earth.
 It consists of a hot, dense silicate rock shell that is made up of silicon, oxygen, and other elements.
 The mantle lies between the core and the crust.

UPPER MANTLE
 Composed of a variety of rocks. This layer includes all layers below the crust down to a depth of
about 447 miles. It includes the asthenosphere and lithosphere.

LITHOSPHERE
 The upper part of the mantle is about 60 miles thick. Like crust, it is made up of a variety of rocks,
but it is cooler and more rigid.
ASTHENOSPHERE
 Located below the lithosphere. It is softer, hotter, and more fluid than the lithosphere.

LOWER MANTLE
 The layer is found between the upper mantle and core. It is denser and hotter than the upper
mantle. It is about 1349 miles in depth and plays a major role in controlling the thermal evolution of
the planet.

CORE
 The deepest and the hottest layer of the earth is found beneath the mantle. It is made up of iron
and nickel.
 Some scientists believe that the metals in the core are in constant motion and that the inner core
rotates faster.

OUTER CORE
 1400 miles thick. Temperature ranging from 4000°C to 5000°C.
 The outer core is very important to Earth as it creates the magnetic field.
 It shields the planet from the Sun’s damaging solar wind.

INNER CORE
 The inner core is the innermost layer of the Earth, with A radius of about 759 miles.
 Temperature ranging from 5000°C to 7000°C
 Still solid even though it is hot.

INTERFACES MARK BETWEEN THE LAYERS OF THE EARTH

MOHOROVICIC DISCONTINUITY
 It is the interface between the crust and upper mantle.

GUTENBERG DISCONTINUITY
 It marks the boundary between the lower mantle and the outer core.

LEHMANN DISCONTINUITY
 It is located between the liquid outer core and the solid inner core.

Seismic Waves
SEISMOLOGY
 The study of earthquakes and seismic waves that move through and around the earth.

SEISMOLOGIST
 A scientist who studies earthquakes and seismic waves.
SEISMIC WAVES
 These are the waves of energy caused by the sudden breaking of rock within the earth or an
explosion.

BODY WAVES
 Waves that travel below the surface of the Earth. There are two types which both can travel
through the interior of Earth’s crust

PRIMARY WAVE (p-wave)

 P-wave is the fastest kind of seismic wave, and, consequently, the first to 'arrive' at a seismic
station.
 The P wave can move through solid rock and fluids, like water or the liquid layers of the earth.

SECONDARY WAVE (s-wave)

 S-wave or shear wave, which is the second wave you feel in an earthquake.
 An S wave is slower than a P wave and can only move through solid rock, not through any liquid
medium.

SEISMIC WAVES
 When an earthquake occurs the seismic waves (P and S waves) spread out in all directions
through the Earth's interior.
 Seismic stations located at increasing distances from the earthquake epicenter will record seismic
waves that have traveled through increasing depths in the Earth.

SURFACE WAVES
 It travels only through the crust. Surface waves have a lower frequency than body waves, and are
easily distinguished on a seismogram as a result.

LOVE WAVES ♥
 A wave that moves transverse to the direction of the propagation but has no vertical motion
 They cause rocks to move horizontally or side to side

RAYLEIGH WAVES
 Also called ground roll
 It causes rock particles to move upward, up, backward, and down

Plate Tectonics
Pangea (Pangaea)
A supercontinent that existed during the Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic eras that formed about 240
million years ago.
 Continental Drift Theory
ALFRED WEGENER
 Wegener was a German meteorologist, geophysicist, and polar researcher.
 In 1915 he published ‘The Origin of Continents and Oceans, which outlined his theory of
Continental Drift.
 Continental drift was a good hypothesis that was rejected by other scientists.
 A key part of Wegener’s hypothesis was that some unknown force had caused the continents to
slide over, or push through, the rocky bottoms of the oceans. Yet, neither he nor anyone else could
identify the source of the force needed to move continents.

HARRY HESS
 During World War II, the United States Navy needed to locate enemy submarines hiding on the
bottom of shallow seas. Therefore, large areas of the ocean floor were mapped for the first time.
American geophysicist and naval officer Harry Hess did some of the mappings. His work helped
develop the theory of plate tectonics.
 The naval maps showed huge mountain ranges that formed a continuous chain down the centers
of the ocean floors. These mountain ranges are called mid-ocean ridges.
 Hess was intrigued by their shape and location. He wondered if a new ocean floor might have been
created at the mid-ocean ridges. If new ocean floor formed at the ridges, then continents on either
side would get pushed apart during the process.

MID-OCEAN RIDGES
 Hot magma rises to the crust’s surface, cracks develop in the ocean floor, and the magma pushes
up and out to form mid-ocean ridges.
 Mid-ocean ridges or spreading centers are fault lines where two tectonic plates are moving away
from each other.

SEAFLOOR SPREADING
 Convection currents drive the movement of Earth’s rigid tectonic plates in the planet’s fluid molten
mantle.
 In places where convection currents rise up towards the crust’s surface, tectonic plates move away
from each other in a process known as Seafloor Spreading.

Theory of Plate Tectonics

Was formulated in the 1960s and 1970s as new information was obtained about the nature of the ocean
floor. The theory states that the lithosphere is broken into large, rigid pieces called Plates.

THREE DRIVING FORCES OF PLATE TECTONICS

RIDGE PUSH
 The ridge push is the driving force caused by the magma that seeped out from a divergent
boundary.
 The hot lava pushes the old plates away
SLAB PULL
 The slab pull is the driving force caused by the sinking of the denser oceanic crust.
 The sinking then pulls the other plates down to the mantle.

CONVECTION CURRENT
 A convection current in the mantle is also considered a driving force.
 When convection occurs in the mantle, the crusts above are pushed causing them to move relative
to one another.

Evidence of Plate Tectonics

POSITIONING TECHNOLOGIES
 GPS or the Global Positioning System
 Satellite laser ranging and very long baseline interferometry show direct measurement as the crust
moves in well-defined patterns.

CONTINENTAL MARGINS
 Continental margins have a close fit like South America and Africa.

AGE OF SEAFLOOR
 The youngest crust of the ocean floor can be found near the seafloor spreading centers or mid-
ocean ridges.

EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES

 If plates that are made up of huge slabs of rock are grinding past or under each other, then those
would be the places where the vast majority of earthquakes would take place.

PLATE BOUNDARIES
 Plates that makeup Earth’s crust meet at place boundaries. When plates move, stress builds up at
those boundaries.

3 Types of Plate Boundary

CONVERGENT BOUNDARY

DIVERGENT BOUNDARY

TRANSFORM BOUNDARY

CONVERGENT BOUNDARY
 This is a boundary between colliding plates.
 Plates only move a few centimeters each year, so collisions are very slow, and they last for millions
of years.
 Volcanic activities can occur at this type of boundary.
 Subduction zones occur when one or both of the tectonic plates are composed of oceanic crust.
DIVERGENT BOUNDARY
 This is a boundary between plates that separates from one another.
 As the plates separate along the boundary, the block between the faults cracks and drops down
into the asthenosphere.
 Volcanic activities can also occur in this type of boundary.

TRANSFORM BOUNDARY
 This is a boundary where plates slide past one another.
 It is marked in some places by linear valleys along the boundary where the rock has been ground
up by the sliding.
 Volcanic activities do not occur at this boundary.

Anatomy of an Earthquake
WHAT IS AN EARTHQUAKE
 An earthquake is the shaking of the ground when rock below Earth's surface breaks.
 When the energy is released it radiates outward in all directions.

TYPES OF EARTHQUAKE STRESS

 This is the result of stress along plate boundaries on Earth. The plates are dynamic, so they are
always moving. Sometimes they move enough that they push into each other or pull apart.

COMPRESSIONAL STRESS
TENSIONAL STRESS
SHEAR STRESS

COMPRESSIONAL STRESS (Divergent)

 Occurs when rocks are pushed together, - they're pressed into one another

TENSIONAL STRESS (Convergent)

 Occurs when rocks are pulled apart - they're being stretched farther than they would be otherwise.

SHEAR STRESS (TRANSFORM)

 Is when rocks slide past each other in opposite directions - it's like rubbing your hands together.

 Earthquakes are recorded by instruments called seismographs. The recording they make is called
a seismogram.
 The Richter magnitude scale is the most common standard of measurement for earthquakes. It
was invented in 1935 by Charles F. Richter as a mathematical device to compare the size of
earthquakes.
 The Richter scale is used to rate the magnitude of an earthquake, that is the amount of energy
released during an earthquake.
HYPOCENTER
 The point underground where the actual breaking of the rock occurs is called the focus.

EPICENTER
 The point on the earth’s surface is directly above the focus. This is where the ground shaking is
usually the strongest.

FAULT
 Is a crack across which the rocks have been offset first.

Parts of Fault
Fault plane
 The first part and it is the area where the faults occur. This surface area may be slopping or
vertical.

Fault trace
 The visible crack in the Earth’s crust that indicates where a fault is.

Fault scarp
 the vertical step that rises during tectonic activity

Hanging wall
 the rock block that hangs over the fault plane

Footwall
 the rock block that occurs below the fault plane

TYPES OF FAULT
NORMAL FAULT
REVERSE FAULT
STRIKE-STIP FAULT
NORMAL FAULT
 They occur when the hanging wall drops down and the footwall drops down.

REVERSE FAULT
 Reverse faults look like two rocks or mountains have been shoved together.

STRIKE-SLIP FAULT
 Indicate rocks are sliding past each other horizontally, with little to no vertical movement.
 Types of Earthquake
TECTONIC EARTHQUAKE
EXPLOSION EARTHQUAKE
VOLCANIC EARTHQUAKE
COLLAPSE EARTHQUAKE
TECTONIC EARTHQUAKE
 Which happens when the shifting of Earth’s plates is driven by the sudden release of energy within
some limited region of the rocks of Earth.

EXPLOSION EARTHQUAKE
 This phenomenon often occurs in volcanic regions and can serve as an early warning of volcanic
eruptions.

VOLCANIC EARTHQUAKE
 It is an earthquake that results from the detonation of chemicals or nuclear devices.

COLLAPSE EARTHQUAKE
 It is caused by seismic waves produced from the explosion of rocks on the surface.

Effects of an Earthquake
AFTERSHOCK
After the major earthquake, smaller earthquakes called aftershocks to occur.

FORESHOCK
These are small earthquakes that commonly precede a major earthquake.

 GROUND SHAKING
 Ground shaking is the most familiar effect of earthquakes.
 LANDSLIDE
 Landslides are caused by earthquakes both by direct rupture and by sustained shaking of unstable
slopes.
 TSUNAMI
 A Japanese word for “tidal wave” or “big wave in the pot.” • The term was coined by fishermen who
return to their ports after villages had been devastated by a giant wave while the fisherman had not
seen any waves in the open sea.
 Volcano
A volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a reservoir of molten rock cold
magma below the surface of the Earth.
VOLCANISM
 Refers to the processes and phenomena associated with the surficial discharge of molten rock and
other materials into the surface of Earth and other heavenly bodies such as the moon and other
planets in the solar system.

HOT SPOTS
 These are locations on the earth’s surface that have experienced active volcanic activities for a
long period of time.

VOLCANO’S CYCLE
 Just like animals, volcanoes go through a life cycle of birth, growth, decline, and finally death; they
become extinct.

ACTIVE VOLCANO
 An active volcano is either currently erupting or is showing signs that it may erupt in the near
future. . You can think of an active volcano as being awake.

DORMANT VOLCANO
 A dormant volcano is not currently active, but it could become active and possibly erupt again. You
can think of a dormant volcano as being asleep.

EXTINCT VOLCANO
 An extinct volcano, or a dead volcano, is very unlikely to ever erupt again.