Earth and its Subsystems

Earth Science
It is also called as “geoscience”. It is the
study of the Earth’s characteristics and
behavior.
Earth’s System as a Closed System
Closed System – it means that the something
gets what it wants but neither it returns it back.

The Earth gets energy or heat from the Sun but it

returns only some of the energy back to space.
Cycles
•It is one of the major themes of the Earth’s
subsystems
•It is the process wherein the material in the Earth
system was continuously recycled in numerous
overlapping cycles
4 Spheres
of the
Earth
Earth’s Subsystems
•Atmosphere
•Hydrosphere
•Geosphere
•Biosphere
Atmosphere
• Set of layers of gases that
surrounds or protects the
planet that is held by the
planet’s gravity
• Atmosphere of Earth
Compositions:
Nitrogen – 78%
Oxygen – 20.95%
Argon – 0.93%
Other Gases – 0.04%
Atmospheric Circulation
•It is the cycle happening in the
atmosphere that is a way of
redistributing the heat from the sun
to the surface of the Earth
Hydrosphere
• It is the liquid component of
the Earth (including glacial
waters)
• Covers 70% of the Earth’s
surface

98% of the water on Earth is

saltwater
• Helps the atmosphere to
become its current state
Hydrological Cycle (Water Cycle)
•It is the cycle that explains the continuous
movement of the water, above or below the
Earth’s surface
•It also involves the transfer of energy
(e.g. evaporation → condensation)
•The sun is the driving agent of this cycle
Processes of Hydrological Cycle (Water
Cycle)
•Evaporation
- Transpiration
•Condensation
•Precipitation
•Infiltration
Evaporation
•It is the first major step in the hydrological cycle
•The sun is the major driving force of this process
for it will heat the water and it will become water
vapor
•It involves the molecular change of water from
liquid to gas
Transpiration
•It is a type of water movement that is typically
happening in plants
•The sun absorbs the water from the aerial parts
of a plant (e.g. leaves) and it will evaporate and
become water vapor
•If there are many leaves in the plant, it would lose
more water because it has a bigger surface area.
Condensation
•It is the reverse process of the evaporation
•It is happening when the evaporated water vapor
cooled down to its dew point
•It is usually when the clouds are formed
Precipitation
•It is the water released from the condensed
clouds
•It is the primary connection in the water cycle that
provides for the delivery of the atmospheric water
to the Earth.
Types of Precipitation
•Rain
•It is the liquid water droplets that is responsible
for the bringing of freshwater into the Earth
Types of Precipitation
•Snow
•It is the solid type of precipitation that has a
temperature of below 0˚C
•It is the ice crystals that precipitate from the
atmosphere
•It is usually precipitated in the polar regions or
places with cold moistures
Types of Precipitation
•Hail
•It is the other type of solid precipitation
•Hails are small irregular lumps or balls of ice,
about the size of 5 mm to 15 cm
•Usually occurs in thunderstorms
Infiltration
•It is the process by which precipitation (water)
was absorbed by the soil and moves into the
rocks and usually replenishes the groundwater
system.
Geosphere
• It is the solid state of Earth
• It includes the structure,
composition, minerals, and
processes of Earth
• Lithosphere – it is a part
of the geosphere that is
composed of the solid,
outermost part of the planet.
Tectonic Plates
•These are the rocky parts of the lithosphere
that are divided into numerous plates due to
the drifting of the plates as times goes by.
•Estimated to move about 1-16 cm per year
 The Pioneers of
Continental Drift Theory
Eduard Suess
• Austrian geologist and a
pioneer of ecology
• Appointed professor of
paleontology in University of
Vienna in 1856
• Theorized that the continents
had once joined together
named Gondwana and had an
ocean beside it named Tethys
Ocean
Alfred Russel Wallace
• British naturalist, geographer,
and biologist
• Conceived the theory of
evolution through Natural
Selection before Charles
Darwin’s publication
• Father of Biogeography
• Discovered that different
locations have the same
topography as each other
Alfred Wegener
• German geophysicist and
meteorologist
• First to use the phrase “continental
drift”
• He organized the thoughts or
information about the continental
Drift Theory
– he saw that the continents are
like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and
argued that the continents once
was all joined together and since
drifted away
Alfred Wegener
• Urkontinent – the term called
by Wegener to the
supercontinent but later
replaced with the Greek word
“Pangaea”
Maurice Ewing
• American geophysicist and
oceanographer
• Discovered the mid-oceanic
range at the Atlantic ocean
floor
• Pioneered the study of ridge
system – the crust are
continuously replaced at the
ridge system
Biosphere
• It is the most important
subsystem on Earth
• It is the totality of all the
ecosystems in the whole
Earth
• It drives us to be in
constant need of
interaction with the planet
• Coined by the geologist
Eduard Suess in 1875