SCIENCE

WEEK 1

LITHOSPHERE
- is the coolest and most rigid part of the Earth.
- Greek words “lithos” meaning “rocky” or “stone” and “sphaeros” meaning “sphere”
- It is the solid, outer part of the Earth.
- includes the brittle upper portion of the mantle and the crust, the outermost layers of Earth’s structure.
- It is bounded by the atmosphere above and the asthenosphere (another part of the upper mantle) below.

TWO TYPES OF CRUST

The Oceanic Crust
- is composed mostly of dark-colored mafic rocks.
- The density of the oceanic crust ranges from 2.9 to 3.1 g/cm3.
- The dark color and relatively high density can be attributed to the elevated iron, magnesium, and calcium content
of mafic rocks.
- The oceanic crust is thin with thickness varying from 5 to 18 km.
- Oceanic crust hosts feature such as volcanoes and canyons.
The Continental Crust
- is composed of many rock types.
- Its major component is granodiorite, a light-colored igneous rock.
- The thickness of the continental crust reaches up to 80 km in mountainous areas and has an average
- thickness of 30 km.
- The density of continental crust is lower compared to oceanic crust and may range from 2.6 to 2.9 g/cm3.
- It is relatively older than the oceanic crust as the rocks along trenches in oceans are continually recycled through
the process of subduction.

PLATE TECTONICS
- is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer
above the core.
- act like a hard and rigid shell compared to Earth's mantle.

TECTONIC PLATE
- also called a lithospheric plate
- a massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock, generally composed of both continental and oceanic
lithospheres.

ASTHENOSPHERE
- the upper layer of the earth's mantle, below the lithosphere, in which there is relatively low resistance to plastic
flow and convection is thought to occur.

SEVEN MAJOR PLATES

- North American plate
- South American plate
- Pacific Plate
- African plate
- Eurasian plate
- Antarctic plate
- Indo-Australian plate

EARTHQUAKE EPICENTERS
- is a point on the Earth's surface directly above an earthquake.
WEEK 2
SEISMIC WAVES
- waves of energy caused by the sudden breaking
of rock within the earth or an explosion.
- they are the energy that travels through the
earth and is recorded on seismographs.
THE TWO MAIN TYPES OF WAVES
Body Waves
- can travel through the earth's inner layers
- at a higher frequency than surface waves.
Primary Wave (P-Wave)
- Is a longitudinal or compressional
wave because of the pushing and
pulling they do.
- Subjected to a p wave, particles move in
the same direction that the wave is
moving in, which is the direction that the
energy is traveling in, and is sometimes
called the 'direction of wave
propagation.
- P-wave travels fastest in materials
- The p-wave is the first-arriving energy
on a seismogram.
- Generally smaller and higher
frequency than the s and surface
waves.
- P-waves in a liquid or gas are pressure
waves, including sound waves.
Secondary Waves (S-Wave)
- Can only move along the surface of
the planet like ripples on water.
- The second wave you feel in an
earthquake.
- It is a transverse wave because the
particles move perpendicular to the
direction that the wave is moving in.
- Do not travel through fluids, so do not
exist in earth's liquid outer core or in air
or water or molten rock (magma).
- S-waves travel slower than p-waves in
a solid
Surface Waves
- Lower frequency than body waves
- almost entirely responsible for the damage and
destruction associated with earthquakes.
- This damage and the strength of the surface
waves are reduced in deeper earthquakes.
Love Wave
- Named after a.e.h. love, a british
mathematician who worked out the
mathematical model for this kind of
wave in 1911.
- It's the fastest surface wave
- That moves the ground from side-to-
side
- Confined to the surface of the crust, love
waves produce entirely horizontal
motion.
Rayleigh Wave
- Named for john william strutt, lord
rayleigh, who mathematically predicted
the existence of this kind of wave in
1885.
- Rolls along the ground just like a wave
rolls across a lake or an ocean.
- Because it rolls, it moves the ground up
and down and side-to-side in the same
direction that the wave is moving.
- Most of the shaking felt from an
earthquake is due to the rayleigh wave,
which can be much larger than the other
waves.
Earthquakes radiate seismic energy as both body and
surface waves.
Seismograph
- is an instrument for measuring earthquake
(seismic) waves.
- They are held in a very solid position, either on
the bedrock or on a concrete base.
- It is securely mounted onto the surface of the
earth so that when the earth shakes, the entire
unit shakes with it EXCEPT for the mass on the
spring, which has inertia and remains in the
same place.
- As the seismograph shakes under the mass, the
recording device on the mass records the
relative motion between itself and the rest of the
instrument, thus recording the ground motion.
Triangulation Method
- to determine exactly where the earthquake was.
- It is called triangulation because a triangle has
three sides, and it takes three seismographs to
locate an earthquake.
- You need to use the compass, map, and
seismograph records.
WEEK 3

Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that
glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core. The plates act like hard and rigid
shells compared to Earth's mantle.

Plate tectonic theory explains the location of the different active volcanoes, earthquake epicenters, and major mountain
belts and how they are formed.

A hazard is a dangerous condition or event that threatens or has the potential for causing injury to life or damage to
property or the environment. They can be categorized in various ways but, based on their origin, hazards worldwide are
basically grouped in two broads headings:

1. Natural Hazards (hazards with meteorological, geological, or even biological origin)

2. Human-induced Hazards (hazards with human-caused or technological origin)

It is also important to know that natural phenomena are extreme climatological, hydrological, or geological processes that
do not pose any threat to persons or property. A massive earthquake in an unpopulated area, for example, is a natural
phenomenon, not a hazard. It is when these natural phenomena interact with the manmade environment or fragile areas
which cause damage.

Risk reduction can take place in two ways:

1. Preparedness - This protective process embraces measures that enable governments, communities, and individuals
to respond rapidly to disaster situations to cope with them effectively

2. Mitigation – Mitigation embraces all measures taken to reduce the effect of the hazard itself and the vulnerable
conditions to it in order to reduce the scale of a future disaster. Therefore mitigation activities can be focused on the
hazard itself or the elements exposed to the threat. Examples of mitigation measures that are hazard-specific include
modifying the occurrence of the hazard, e.g. water management in drought-prone areas, avoiding the hazard by sitting
people away from the hazard, and by strengthening structures to reduce damage when a hazard occurs. In addition to
these physical measures, mitigation should also be aimed at reducing the physical, economic and social vulnerability to
threats and the underlying causes for this vulnerability.
Week 4
TYPES OF PLATE BOUNDARIES

Divergent boundaries
- Are a zone in the Earth’s crust where the plates move away from each other.
- It is also known as the spreading center.
- It is where the continents split apart and form new continental margins containing precious resources of salt,
natural gas, and petroleum.

Convergent boundaries
- Are areas where tectonic plates move towards each other.
- Along convergent plate boundaries within the oceanic lithosphere, portions of the oceanic crust descend into the
mantle at a rate equal to the production of new seafloor along divergent plate boundaries.

Transform Plate Boundaries or Transform Faults

- Plates slide past one another in a horizontal motion parallel to the plate boundary separating the two plates.
- These boundaries connect the other plate boundaries, accommodating the opposite movements of the plates on
each side of the transforms.

Week 5

Oceanic-Continental Convergent Margins

The denser oceanic crust goes under the lighter continental crust. This process forms continental volcanic arcs. There
is commonly an ocean trench along the boundary between oceanic-continental convergent margins. Trenches are long,
narrow depressions on the seafloor.

Oceanic-Oceanic Convergent Margins

The older and much denser plate subducts under the younger plate. This process forms volcanic island arcs.
There is commonly an ocean trench along the boundary between oceanic-oceanic convergent margins.

Continental-Continental Convergent Margin

Collision of two continental plates. This process forms mountain ranges with linear elevated regions.