EARTH SCIENCE

First Quarter
What is Earth?
 Earth, otherwise known as the world, is the third planet from the sun and the only object in the universe
known to harbor life.
 It is the fifth-largest planet in the Solar System
 the largest of the terrestrial planets with the highest density.
Earth’s Characteristics to Support Life
1.The presence of liquid water. The existence of water at the earth’s surface is neither too much nor too little
that is in liquid form. Water is an excellent solvent, capable of dissolving many substances, seventy (70%) of
Earth’s surface is covered by water.
2. Right distance to the Sun. Proximity to the sun is neither too much heat nor too little. It is just the right
distance for water, an indispensable inorganic substance for life to exist in its three physical forms: liquid, solid
and gas. If earth were too close to the Sun, water would vaporize and be useless to life. If it is too far, water
would be rock hard to be of any use to living things.
3. Plate Tectonics: It is vital for a world to host life- that is, planet whose shell is broken up into plates that
constantly move around. Plates cover the entire Earth and their boundaries play an important role in geologic
happenings. The movement of these plates atop a thick, fluid “mantle” is known as plate tectonics and is the
source of earthquakes and volcanoes. System of plate tectonics that enables carbon-silicate cycle regulating
temperature.
4. The right strength of gravity. Its protection by “big brother Jupiter” whose gravity helps divert and vacuum up
incoming debris and keep Earth safe. Earth’s gravity is a decisive factor for life’s existence.
5. The presence of an atmosphere. It contains 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1 % argon. It blocks some of
the Sun’s dangerous rays from reaching Earth. It traps heat, making Earth a comfortable temperature and the
oxygen within our atmosphere is essential for life. The ozone layer protects living things from the damaging
ultraviolet rays of the sun. The presence of the right amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases helps retain
enough heat for living things. Oxygen supports respiration; it is needed for energy production, a constant
requirement of living things.
6. Energy. Life needs energy. Without energy, virtually nothing would happen. The most obvious source of
energy is a planet or moon’s host star, as in the case on Earth, where sunlight drives photosynthesis in plants.
The nutrients created by photosynthesis in turn are what the bulk of life on Earth directly or indirectly relies on
for fuel. There may be no shortage of energy sources for life to live off.
EARTH SUBSYTEMS
Atmosphere
 The atmosphere contains all the air in Earth's system.
 It extends from less than 1 m below the planet's surface to more than 10,000 km above the planet's
surface.
 The upper portion of the atmosphere protects the organisms of the biosphere from the sun's ultraviolet
radiation.
 It also absorbs and emits heat.
 troposphere (0-10 km) constitutes the climate system that maintains the conditions suitable for
life on the planet's surface.
 The stratosphere (10 to 50 km), contains ozone that protects life on the planet by filtering
harmful ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.
 The mesosphere extends 80km high. Meteors usually burn up in this region as they approach
our planet.
 The thermosphere extends up to 600 km above the mesosphere. Aurora and satellites are
located here.
 The exosphere is the upper limit of the atmosphere that extends from the top of the
thermosphere up to 10,000 km.
 The ionosphere extends about 48km above the surface to the edge of space up to 965km. It is
the part where abundant layers of electrons, ionized atoms and molecules occur.
 The mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere are zones of diffuse atmospheric components
in the far reaches of the atmosphere.
Biosphere
 The biosphere is made up of the parts of the Earth where life exists.
 It is the life zone of the Earth that includes all living organisms, and all organic matter that has not yet
decomposed.
 The biosphere contains all the planet's living things.
 This sphere includes all of the microorganisms, plants, and animals of Earth.
 Within the biosphere, living things form ecological communities based on the physical surroundings of
an area. These communities are referred to as biomes.
Lithosphere
 The lithosphere is the solid, outer part of the Earth.
 The lithosphere 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.
Hydrosphere
 About 70% of the Earth is covered with liquid water (hydrosphere) and much of it is in the form of ocean
water.
 Only 3% of earth’s water is fresh: two-thirds are in the form of ice, and the remaining one-third is
present in streams, lakes and groundwater.
 Cryosphere is the frozen part of the hydrosphere such as glaciers, ice caps and icebergs.

Ores and Minerals

 Ores are naturally occurring materials that can be profitably mined.
 It can be metallic or non-metallic, depending on the economic requirement.
 A deposit is considered a potential ore body it its localized abundance is greater than its average
abundance or distribution on Earth’s crust.
 A rock or mineral is considered an ore based on:
1. Overall chemical composition
2. Percentage of extractable resource with respect to its total volume
3. Market value of the resource

Mineral Resources Development Cycle

In general, the following steps in developing a mine are:
1. Available Land Resources
▪ Unlike other natural resources, mineral resources are commonly hidden. Finding a deposit worth
mining is very difficult. It is because of this unique challenge that access to large areas of land is necessary for
mineral exploration.
2. Prospecting or exploration
▪ Looking for the ore body – a deposit that can yield a large amount of required ore mineral
▪ Exploration work relies on many others besides geologists, many workers are involved: pilots, drillers,
assayers, equipment operators, surveyors, mechanics, camp cooks, and many others all play essential roles in
the discovery of viable mineral deposits.
3. Environmental Assessment and Approval
▪ It is an extremely complex one that can take years to complete.
▪ It is at this stage that a company proposing a mine project includes a complete reclamation,
satisfactory land-use end goal, and monitoring plan.
▪ The proposal must be submitted to government agencies (the Environmental Assessment office) at
the provincial and federal government levels for approval.
4. Designing and constructing the mine –
▪ Engineers and scientists work hard hand in hand to create the appropriate mine and operational
design, and proceeds with the construction once all the necessary permits are acquired from the government
and local communities.
5. Operation
▪ Extraction
- Surface mining methods are used to extract ore close to the surface of the Earth.
- Large-scale equipment - drills, shovels and trucks - are use to make operations efficient and
economical
- High grade ores are separated from the rest of the deposit
▪ Processing
- These are the steps required to change raw, broken ore into useable material or to liberate and
separate valuable minerals from waste rock.
6. Reclamation-mine site decommissioning
▪ Closure of the depleted mine; the mine site is cleaned up and reclaimed or rehabilitated for other
purposes.
▪ Workers in this department at a mine carry out long term monitoring, and design and implement plans
to prevent deliberate harm and to minimize or remediate impacted areas.
▪ Environmental engineers work with biologists, chemists, ecologists, wildlife specialists, and ranchers,
along with equipment operators, nursery staff, and agronomists so that when mining is over, the site is left in a
safe and productive state, as similar in appearance to the surrounding landscape as possible.

Fossil fuel is a chemical and biological form of energy.

 The word fossil refers to the remains or traces of living things from previous geologic eras.
 An era is a unit of geologic time that lasted for hundreds of millions of years.
 Fossil fuels developed from the remains of ancient living things, mostly plants.
 There are three main categories of fossil fuels; coal oil, and natural gas. These fossil fuels are burned
to produce heat, light, electricity and other forms of energy.
 The different fossil fuels formed depending on the action of four factors:
1. organic matter source
2. pressure
3. time
4. heat
Coal
Coal is a black combustible rock made up of elemental carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and varying
amounts of sulfur. Coal is formed from the remains of plants that once grew in swamps and adjacent forests
millions of years ago. These organisms were then buried under oxygen-poor or anoxic conditions. Coal
formation goes through four stages, namely, peat, lignite, bitumen, and anthracite.
1. Peat
- is considered the precursor form of coal, contains less than 60% carbon and composed wholly
of volatile matter.
- Left to itself, it burns like wood, gives less heat, emits more smoke and leaves a lot of ash.
2. Lignite
- is also known as brown coal and is composed of 65-70% carbon and 53-63% volatile matter.
- It undergoes spontaneous combustion
3. Bituminous coal
- is a sedimentary rock composed of 70-86% carbon and 31-46% volatile matter.
- Calorific value is very high due to high proportion of carbon and low moisture.
4. Anthracite
- is deemed the highest form of coal due to its carbon content ranging from 86-98% with 3-8%
volatile matter.
- Ignites slowly and burns with a nice short blue flame.
Petroleum and Natural Gas
 Petroleum comes from the Latin words petra which means “rock”, and oleum which means “oil”.
 It is a naturally occurring liquid composed of complex hydrocarbons and is found in geologic formations
underneath Earth’s surface.
 Petroleum is a fossil fuel derived from large quantities of microscopic aquatic organisms such as algae
and planktons.
 The remains of these organisms remain settled in the sea or lake bottoms millions of years ago and
were buried beneath fine sediments anoxic conditions.
 With increasing pressure and temperature due to continuous burial, the organic matter in these
organisms transform into a waxy material known as kerogen and eventually into hydrocarbons through
the process of catagenesis.
Kerogen
 is the insoluble organic portion of sedimentary rocks.
 It is a waxy mixture of different organic materials (like algae and pollen) and is insoluble in
organic solvents because of the high molecular weight of the compounds present.
 Petroleum forms within a specific depth, pressure, and temperature range known as “oil window”.
 Below this temperature range (50ºC to 150ºC) kerogen is not transformed into hydrocarbons. On the
other hand, if the temperature increases beyond oil window, oil is converted into natural gas in a
process called thermal cracking.

Natural gas
 is a hydrocarbon mostly made up of methane (CH4).
 Methane is a simple chemical compound that is made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms.
 This gas is lighter than air and is highly flammable.

Renewable energy is often referred to as clean energy.

 It is energy resulting from natural resources that replenish themselves over a period without exhausting
the Earth's resources.

Geothermal Energy
 Geothermal energy literally means heat from the earth. Geo is Latin for earth, therme is heat.
People can harness geothermal energy through:
• Geothermal power plants, which use heat from deep inside the Earth to generate steam to make
electricity.
• Geothermal heat pumps, which tap into heat close to the Earth's surface to heat water or provide heat
for buildings.
• Direct geothermal energy, in areas where hot springs or geothermal reservoirs are near the Earth's
surface, hot water can be piped in directly to heat homes or office buildings. Geothermal water is
pumped through a heat exchanger, which transfers the heat from the water into the building's heating
system. The used water is injected back down a well into the reservoir to be reheated and used again.

SOURCES of WATER
I. SALTWATER RESERVOIR
The saltiness of saltwater is called salinity. The major chemical elements present in seawater are sodium and
chlorine ions. Evaporation removes water, making the remaining solution saltier. Precipitation adds water,
causing dilution. Inflow from river and groundwater also makes the sea less salty. As sea water freezes, salt is
excluded because of its structure, making the unfrozen seawater saltier. Ocean is a vast body of saline water
that covers 71% of Earth. It is geographically divided into five distinct regions and into numerous seas, gulfs,
bays, and straits. It is the body of water surrounding Antarctica and is connected to the Pacific, Atlantic and
Indian Oceans.
II. FRESHWATER RESERVOIR
Most of the freshwater on Earth is stores in glaciers situated inaccessible area such as the Polar Regions and
high mountains. The readily available freshwater sources are the surface water reservoir and groundwater
reservoir.

A. Glaciers and Ice Sheets

 Glaciers is a permanent body of ice, which consists largely of recrystallized snow.
 About three-quarters of Earth’s freshwater is in glaciers.
 The world’s largest glacier today is the ice sheet that covers East Antarctica, which in places is over
4200 meters thick.
 The world’s longest glacier today, the Bering Glacier in Alaska (US), is 204 kilometers long.
 The freshwater stored in glaciers and ice sheets are estimated to exceed 24 million km3.
 Almost 90% is concentrated in Antarctica while the rest is found in Greenland and in mountain glaciers.

B. Permafrost
 is made of a combination of soil, rocks and sand that are held together by ice.
 The soil and ice in permafrost stay frozen all year long.
 It comprises about 0.8% of the total freshwater resource.
 Permafrost is any ground that remains completely frozen—32°F (0°C) or colder—for at least two years
straight.
 These permanently frozen grounds are most common in regions with high mountains and in Earth’s
higher latitudes—near the North and South Poles.

III. SURFACE WATER RESERVOIR

Surface water is any body of water above ground, including streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, reservoirs, and
creeks.
A. A stream is a moving body of surface water that flows downslope toward sea level because of gravity.
 It has clearly defined passageways called channels where particles and dissolved substances
are transported.
 A river is a stream which a considerable volume and a well-defined channel.
B. Lake is a body of fresh or saline water that is surrounded by land. T
 There are millions of lakes in the world. They are found on every continent and in every kind of
environment—in mountains and deserts, on plains, and near seashores.
 Lakes vary greatly in size. Some measure only a few square meters and are small enough to fit
in your backyard. Small lakes are often referred to as ponds.
 Other lakes are so big that they are called seas.
 The Caspian Sea, in Europe and Asia, is the world’s largest lake, with an area of more than
370,000 square kilometers (143,000 square miles).
 Lakes also vary greatly in depth. The world’s deepest lake is Lake Baikal, in Russia. Its bottom
is nearly 2 kilometers (more than 1 mile) below the surface in places.
C. Wetland is an area where covers the surface for significant periods. It is biologically diverse
environments filled with species that rely on both the land and water for survival. It is also a fragile
ecosystem that is sensitive to the amount of quality of water. Wetlands constitute about 8.5% of the
total land surface and atmospheric water. The largest wetland in the Philippines is Ligawasan Marsh
found in the provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat. It covers an area of
2200km2.

Types of Wetlands
1. Marsh is a shallow wetland around lakes, streams, and oceans where grasses and reeds are the
dominant vegetation.
2. Swamp is a wetland with lush tress and vegetation found in low-lying areas beside slow-moving rivers.
Oxygen content in the swamp water is typically low but swamp plants and animals are adapted to these
low oxygen conditions.
3. Estuary usually found where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries are home to unique plant and animal
communities that have adapted to brackish water—a mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty
seawater.
D. Groundwater is freshwater found in the rock and soil layers beneath the surface. The groundwater is
the largest reservoir of liquid fresh water on Earth. It constitutes about 30.1% of the total freshwater on the
planet.
There are different types of soil, each with its own set of characteristics. Dig down deep into any soil, and
you’ll see that it is made of layers, or horizons (O, A, E, B, C, R). Together they form a soil profile. Each
profile tells a story about the life of a soil. The horizons are:
O – (Humus or Organic) It is mostly organic matter such as decomposing leaves. The O horizon is thin
in some soils, thick in others, and not present at all in others.
 A - (Topsoil) It is a mixture of minerals with organic matter incorporated where plants and other
organisms live.
E – (Eluviated) It is composed of clay, minerals, and organic matter, leaving a concentration of sand
and silt particles of quartz or other resistant materials and often found in older soils and forest soils.
B – (Subsoil) It is rich in minerals that moved down from the A or E horizons.
C – (Parent material) The deposit at Earth’s surface from which the soil developed.
R – (Bedrock) Made of mass of rock such as granite, basalt, quartzite, limestone or sandstone tha
forms the parent material for some soils – if the bedrock is close enough to the surface to weather. This is
not soil and is located under the C horizon.
Soil Uses
1. Soil serves as media for growth of all kinds of plants.
2. Soil adjusts the atmosphere by emitting and absorbing gases and dust.
3. Soil provides habitat for living organims.
4. Soil absorbs, holds, releases, changes, and purifies most of the water in terrestrial systems.
5. Soil processes recycled nutrients, including carbon, so that living things can use them over and over
again.
6. Soil serves as materials for construction of infrastructures.
7. Soils act as a living filter to clean water before it moves into an aquifer
Human Activities That Affect Soil Quality and Quantity.
1. Agricultural Depletion - Farming can degrade the topsoil and lead to an increase in erosion.
2. Overgrazing Animals - Grazing animals are animals that live on large areas of grassland. Overgrazing
destroys natural vegetation and causes the soil to wash or blow away more easily.
3. Deforestation - Deforestation is another practice that can greatly increase the rate of erosion in a
region. One of the most important barriers to erosion is plant life, as long-lived trees and other species
put down roots that literally help hold the soil together.
4. Mining operations are major contributors to erosion, especially on a local level.
5. Development and Expansion - Urban and suburban development can also exacerbate erosion,
especially if the developers ignore the natural state of the land. Construction of a building often begins
by clearing the area of any plants or other natural defenses against soil erosion.
6. Recreational activities, like driving vehicles off-road or hiking - Humans also cause erosion when hiking
and riding off-road vehicles. An even greater amount of erosion occurs when people drive off-road
vehicles over an area.
Soil degradation
 is a human-induced or natural process which upsets the ability of land to function successfully within an
ecosystem.
 It is often linked to sustainability in terms of maintaining its efficiency.
 As sustainability and productivity are not easy to outline, degradation of land can better be defined in
terms of unsustainable activities or in terms of loss of resilience.
Soil Degradation Indicators:
1. Erosion - rate of soil loss (tons/ha/year);
2. Fertility decline - soil organic matter/topsoil carbon;
3. Soil nutrient balance (under present land use) – as the difference between the nutrient inputs entering
a farming system (mainly livestock manure and fertilizers and the nutrient outputs leaving the system (the
uptake of nutrients for crop and pasture production);
4. Occurrence of soil deficiencies – insufficient nutrients in the land;
5. Salinization - extent of patches of soil with increased salt content.
Vegetation Degradation Indicators:
1. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) – ratio of total plant cover in forests, woodlands, croplands,
grasslands;
2. Annual rate of forest clearance – the permanent removal of trees from forests or woodlands to make room
for something else.
Classification of Waste
Waste can be any solid, liquid, or gaseous by-products resulting from human biological processes,
manufacturing, materials processing, consumption of goods, or any other human activity. This does not include
the processing and storage facilities for such waste. This does not include any latent waste released into or
present in the environment.
General Classification
A. Solid Waste
• This can be garbage or refuse in solid forms from domestic, commercial and industrial wastes.
• Examples:
o Plastic waste – This consists of bags, containers, jars, bottles and many other products that can be found in
your household. Plastic is not biodegradable, but many types of plastic can be recycled.
o Paper/card waste – This includes packaging materials, newspapers, cardboards and other products.
o Tins and metals – appliances, product packaging, paint cans
o Ceramics and glass – figurines, jalousie, wine or liquor bottles. Glass can be recycled indefinitely.
B. Liquid Waste
• Liquid waste includes sewage as well as wastewater from industrial processes such as food and agricultural
processing, and manufacturing.
• Liquid waste can be subdivided into other waste types based on the nature of the liquid waste and the risks it
poses.
• Examples: wastewater, chemical refuse, sewage
C. Gaseous Waste
• Mostly generated by human activity.
• Examples: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx),carbon
monoxide (CO) etc.

Classification of Waste According To Origin

A. Municipal/ Urban Solid wastes include household garbage, rubbish, construction & demolition debris,
sanitation residues, packaging materials, trade refuges etc. are managed by any municipality.
B. Industrial wastes are liquid and solid wastes that are generated by manufacturing & processing units of
various industries like chemical, petroleum, coal, metal gas, sanitary & paper etc.
C. Agricultural wastes are generated from farming activities. These substances are mostly biodegradable.
D. Fishery wastes are produced due to fishery activities. These are extensively found in coastal & estuarine
areas.
E. Radioactive wastes are byproducts of nuclear processes. Sometimes industries that are not directly involved
in nuclear activities, may also produce some radioactive wastes, e.g. radio-isotopes, chemical sludge.
F. E-wastes or electronic wastes generated from any modern establishments. They may be described as
discarded electrical or electronic devices. Some electronic scrap components, such as CRTs, may contain
contaminants such as Pb, Cd, Be or brominated flame retardants.
G. Bio-medical wastes: Solid or liquid wastes including containers, intermediate or end products generated
during diagnosis, treatment & research activities of medical sciences.

Classification of Waste According To Type

A. Biodegradable waste
• Materials which can be degraded such as paper, wood, fruits and others.
B. Non-biodegradable waste
• Items which cannot be degraded such as plastics, bottles, old machines, cans etc.
C. Hazardous wastes
• Substances unsafe to use commercially, industrially, agriculturally, or economically and have any of the
following properties- ignitability, corrosiveness, reactivity & toxicity.
D. Non-hazardous
• Substances safe to use commercially, industrially, agriculturally, or economically and do not have any of those
properties mentioned above. These substances usually create disposal problems.

Waste disposal can be defined as any process used to discard unwanted substances or materials.
 Improper waste disposal is the removal of waste in a way that has adverse consequences.
 Poor waste disposal activities prompt severe problems.
 The negative effects of improper waste management not only results to an undesirable view but also
affects the health of people and the environment.
Improper Waste Disposal Methods
▪ Incineration is the burning of waste materials at high temperatures to
transform them into gases or residue.
▪ Landfill refers to a cost effective method of waste disposal that involves
burying the waste in the land.
▪ Open Dumping is a simple and inexpensive method which involves the
deliberate disposal of garbage in an open space.
▪ Ocean Dumping occurs when sewage, garbage, construction debris,
hazardous chemicals etc. are intentionally discarded at sea by ships,
aircrafts and other man made machines. Incineration of trash at sea is
also included in this definition.