EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE

Quarter 1

EARTH’S INTERNAL HEAT

Sources of Earth’s Internal Heat

Earth’s interior is the site of great amounts of heat. Most of this heat is produced by the decay of
radioactive elements. When unstable atoms decay they releases thermal energy. This energy
released as a result of nuclear disintegration is known as radiogenic heat. It involves the
disintegration of natural radioactive elements inside the Earth. The radioactive isotopes uranium-
235 (235U), uranium-238 (238U), potassium-40 (40K), and thorium-232 (232Th) in Earth’s mantle
are the primary source. Radioactive elements are present everywhere on our planet in a fairly
significant concentration. Without the process of radioactive decay, there would be fewer volcanoes
and earthquakes
Another source of heat in the Earth’s interior is primordial heat which is the heat contained in the
objects that accreted to form Earth, and the heat produced when they collided. As Earth grew larger,
the increased pressure on Earth’s interior caused it to compress and heat up. The core is a storage
of primordial heat that originates from times of accretion when kinetic energy of colliding particles
was transformed into thermal energy. This heat is constantly lost to the outer silicate layers of the
mantle and crust of the earth through convection and conduction. In addition, the heat of the core
takes tens of thousands of years to reach the surface of the Earth. Today, the surface of the Earth
is made of cold rigid rock, the Earth’s surface cools from the outside but the core is still made of
extremely hot material.

How hot is it inside Earth?

No one has come close to exploring Earth’s interior directly. So not all geophysicists agree on how
hot it is at Earth’s core. But the rate of travel of waves from earthquakes – called “seismic waves”
– tells scientists a lot about what materials make up the planet. Seismic data also reveal whether
these materials are liquid, solid or partially solid. Meanwhile, laboratory data indicate at what
temperatures and pressures the materials inside Earth should begin to melt.
From this evidence, Earth’s core temperature is estimated to be around 5,000 to 7,000 degrees
Celsius. That’s about as hot as the surface of the sun, but vastly cooler than the sun’s interior.
By the way, while the heat energy produced inside Earth is enormous, it’s some 5,000 times less
powerful than what Earth receives from the sun. The sun’s heat drive the weather and ultimately
causes erosion. So it’s ironic that – while Earth’s heat makes mountains – the sun’s energy tears
them down again, bit by bit.

Heat Transfer

Three are three processes on how heat can be transferred. This includes conduction,
convection, and radiation.
Conduction governs the thermal conditions in almost entire solid portions of the Earth and plays
a very important role in the lithosphere. Its processes happen in the earth’s surface. Conduction is
one of the three main ways that heat energy moves from place to place. Technically, it can be defined
as the process by which heat energy is transmitted through collisions between neighboring atoms or
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molecules. Heat from the Earth's core and radiation from the Sun is transferred to the surface of
the Earth by conduction. Contact of the atmosphere with these warm surfaces transfers thermal
energy, which then heats up the rest of the air through convection.
Convection involves transfer of heat by the movement of mass, which is a more efficient means
of heat transport in the Earth compared to pure conduction. It dominates the thermal conditions in
the zones where large quantities of fluids (molten rocks) exist, and thus governs the heat transport in
the fluid outer core and the mantle.

Convection in Earth’s Mantle

Convection relates to heat flow in liquids and gases. Warmer parts of a fluid tend to rise, while
cooler parts tend to sink. This results in convection currents that help distribute heat more evenly
throughout the fluid. See image below.

warm particle rises

Convection can also occur in some solids. For example, pressure and temperature conditions in
the Earth’s mantle allow rock to slowly convect. Hotter rock rises and cooler rock sinks in mantle
convection cells or currents
In geological time scale, the mantle behaves as a viscous fluid due to the existence of high
temperatures. In convection current, the mantle of the earth moves slowly because of transfer of
heat from the interior of the earth up to the surface. This result to the movement of tectonic plates.
Hot materials are added at the edges of a plate and then it cools. At those edges, it becomes
dense by its exposure from the heat and sinks into the earth at an ocean trench. This start the
formation of volcanoes.

Radiation is the least important mode of heat transport in the Earth. The process of heat
exchange between the Sun and the Earth, through radiation, controls the temperatures at the Earth's
surface. Inside the Earth, radiation is significant only in the hottest parts of the core and the lower
mantle. When the land and water become warm in summer, they emit long – wavelength infrared
radiation that is readily absorbed by the atmosphere. This continues during night time too.
Convection in the air then spreads out the thermal energy throughout the atmosphere.
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MAGMATISM
Magma is a partially melted rock thatv may contain suspended crystals, dissolved
gas and sometimes gas bubbles and it is the basis of all rock formation on Earth. It is
dramatically differentiated in terms of its chemical composition and the forces that changed its
mixture such as temperature and pressure. Magma’s temperature ranges from 7000C to 1300
0C, though some of the crystals may be formed from different ranges of temperature as magma
cools down. Magma can be generated when a partially melted rock or gradient carries along heat
energy, thus resulting in heat transfer to surrounding bed rocks this can generate local
geothermal gradient that can be a cause to create magma again these can occur in continental
rift, hotspots and subduction zones. Decompression melting occurs wherein hot material in the
mantle rises to lower pressure areas but carrying with it is heat resulting to partial melting, it
usually occurs in areas such as hotspots, oceanic ridges and continental rifts. On the other hand,
in the subduction zones, when a very high temperature material in the mantle is added with
carbon dioxide and water lowers down its temperature forming partial melting and generates
magma, flux melting can occur.

While it is true that the source of magma is mostly found 50 kilometers beneath the earth’s surface,
these depths includes the upper mantle specifically asthenosphere until the lower crust. It also has the
ability to intrude to cracks that will become different igneous rocks. The figure shows that there are six (6)
different ways on how magma intrudes in a bedding plane forming large intrusions creates large
crystals deposits when rocks are formed because of slow cooling like
batholith, plutons, stocks while the smaller
intrusions that easily cools down compared to large
intrusions forms smaller or finer crystals these are
sill, laccolith, and dike. Batholith occurs when
multiple intrusion takes place at the same time and
can form tens of kilometers wide. Plutons are largest
intrusion and can be replace rocks in an irregular
manner. Stocks are smaller intrusion compared to
batholith and plutons usually it is called a feeders
for volcanic eruption. Dike is the smallest intrusion
with a wide range of 20 km and cut across
preexisting rocks forming what we call discordant.
Another small shallow intrusion is sill that measures
50 km thick. During uplift and folding of preexisting
Retrieved from: rocks laccolith are formed usually it has a wide
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-082Ra1N3-
w8/Tt7uKyNK22I/AAAAAAAAAAo/LQQ range reaching until 100 km.
UpW1KYFA/s1600/dike.jpg June 23,
2020

During intrusion also it may occur the magma may

integrate with other to its surrounding rocks without
melting them, these inclusions of pieces of rocks to
the magma is xenolith.

The differences of intrusion depend on the site the magma is being found and eventually hardens to
rocks as temperature and pressure changes. And magma can also extrude into volcanoes that becomes
volcanic rocks, because of its lower density caused by lesser pressure thus making it more in a liquid form
compared to the solid to very viscous liquid of mantle, the process of which is called magmatism.
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The first stage of magmatism is partial melting or also

known as primitive magma, during this time magma doesn’t
undergo differentiation and it is the starting composition of
magma. The underlying composition of mantle of the partial
melt will be determine its chemical property. The possibility
of understanding its original composition of partial melt is
through parental melts coming from the igneous rock
fractional crystallization. During these time magma
differentiations can take place, a mixture of liquid rock (melt)
and crystalline minerals (phenocrysts). As magma goes up
from asthenosphere to the lithosphere, it will go through
different processes such intrusion, stagnation, crystallization
intrusion and underplating. The concentration of magma in
an area is called magma chamber. Here the Bowen’s
Reaction Series will give an overview of which silicate
mineral crystallizes first. The differences of density will let
the denser magma sinks and the lighter rise up. Pressure may
however break the rocks surrounding the chamber that may https://magmamovesinfits.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/ascencion.jpg
become a fissure or a vent that may lead to the formation of
volcanoes.

The assimilation of the chemical composition from the wall rock that contaminates the
ascending magma will determine the content of magma these would eventually lead to the
identification of its behavior and characteristics. During these processes melting, diffusion and
chemical reaction takes place. In the assimilation of chemicals, we have to take note that the
greatest percentage of the compound being mixed with other elements is the silicate compounds. The
percentage of the silicate compounds would differentiate the type of magma it is formed and how it
influences the formation of igneous rocks and the type of volcanic eruption that might occur. The greater
the silica content of the magma and low in temperature, this becomes more viscous. Viscosity
therefore is proportional to the silica content while temperature is inversely proportional. Gases of
magma predominantly contains water vapor, some carbon dioxide and traces of sulfur, chlorine and
fluorine gases. There is an association on the identification of other gases found in a magma from the
chemical composition it has and also its impact to the volcanic eruption.

Magma Composition and Characteristics

Composition Source Viscosity Gas Silica Explosiveness Location
Material Content Content of Magma
Basaltic Upper low 1-2% About least both
magma mantle 50% oceanic
and
continental
crust
Andesitic Oceanic intermediate 3-4% About intermediate continental
Magma Crust and 60% margins
Oceanic associated
sediments with
subduction
zones
Rhyolitic Continental high 4-6% About greatest continental
Magma Crust 70% crust

When assimilation progresses magma differentiation will take place that identifies the
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different types of magma. To summarize and easier identification of these types a table presents
their characteristics.
Magma can be generated into
different location as a basis on the type of
magma it will form. The type of magma
that is present to these areas depends
on these factors: temperature,
composition, density, melt structure,
properties and polymerization and partial
melting. Earth’s movement creating
magmatic chamber would also be
considered in identifying the kind of
https://magmamovesinfits.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/ascencion.j
pg
magma being formed.

Source: Division of City Schools - Manila, Quarter 1 Week 3

Module 7, Earth and Life Science – Provoking Heat W.
 EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE
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FORMATION OF FOLDS AND FAULTS

The tectonic movement of the Earth's plates has resulted in folding and faulting of the Earth's
crust. This is caused by the Earth's plates converging, diverging or transversing against one another.
This causes the crust of the Earth to buckle and strain, generating incredible amounts of pressure
that build up as time progresses and may conclude in the release of this energy or pressure.

Tectonic Forces
The Earth has three layers, the crust, the mantle, and the core. The Earth's crust is like the
shell of an egg; it is the thinnest of the Earth's layers. The crust is broken into several parts, known
as the continental plates. When the plates are pulled or pushed together, stress or tectonic forces
occur. (Pierce, 2018). Stress will eventually lead to changes in the shape or form of a rock, a process
known as deformation. Rocks that are undergoing deformation are experiencing strain ("Stress in
Earth's Crust, accessed 2021)
Four types of stresses affect the Earth's crust: compression, tension, shear, and
confining stress (Pierce, 2018).

1. Compressional is when rock are compressed, they are squeezed or pushed. This is most
common at convergent plate boundaries.
2. Tension is the opposite of compression. Tension forces rocks to pull apart. Rocks under
tension lengthen or break apart. It is the major type of stress at divergent boundaries. This
force created continental drifts and mid-ocean ridges.
3. When forces are parallel but moving in opposite directions, the stress is called shear.
Shear happens in transform plate boundaries.
4. A deeply buried rock is pushed down by the weight of the material above it. Since the rock
cannot move, it cannot deform. This is called confining stress.

Compressional stress Tensional stress Shearing stress

(stretching) (squeezing) (side to side shearing)

Figure 1. Kinds of tectonic forces and their corresponding deformation. (Source: Noris W.
Jones, "The Three Principal Types of Stress," www.pinterest. com)

To be able to cause the crust to fold or fracture or to shear, the force must be very massive.
These tension forces are usually found at plate boundaries. At this point, it is now important to
introduce the plate tectonic theory.
The lithosphere is not a continuous layer. it is divided into a number of huge plates that move
in relation to one another. It is believed that at the beginning, the continents are all locked up into a
huge landmass called Pangea, as proposed by Alfred Wegener. They broke apart and gradually
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drifted from their positions. The large-scale movement of Earth's plates is explained by the plate
tectonics theory. It proposes that the lithosphere is divided into major plates and smaller plates
resting upon the lower soft layer called asthenosphere. The mechanism of movement is probably
related to the convection current within the mantle.
Source: Teresita F. Religioso and Lilia G. Vengco, You and the Natural World – Earth and
Life Science (Phoenix Publishing House, 2016) 45.
Below is an illustration that depicts the locations and the movements of the plates. The arrows
indicate the direction of their movements. From the illustration can you identify the names of the
major plates? How about the smaller or minor ones? hat plate/s does the Philippines belong?

Figure 2. Location and movement of plates. (Source: "Earth System's," last accessed October
6, 2021, www.summitlearning.org.)
Plate motion is driven by mantle convection (heat-driven) which is a combination of thermal
processes and gravity-driven mechanisms referred to as "slab-pull" and "ridge-push".
Source: "Evolution of Continental Drift Hypotheis," Quipper School, last
accessed October 6, 2021, www.quipper.com.ph

Plate Boundaries

The movement of the plates depends on the boundaries between them. A plate boundary is
a fracture separating one plate from one another. All major interactions among individual plates
occur along their boundaries. There are three types of boundaries based on the type of movement.
These are convergent, divergent, and transform fault (Religioso & Vengco, 2016).
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Convergent Boundary

Convergent boundary occurs when two plates move toward each other. Crust is destroyed
when two plates converge. The heavier plates divides (subducts) beneath the more buoyant plate.
Moreover, this type of boundary is also called subduction zone. There are three types of plate
convergence: oceanic-continental, oceanic-oceanic and continental-continental.

Source: Teresita F. Religioso and Lilia G. Vengco, You and the Natural World – Earth and
Life Science (Phoenix Publishing House, 2016) 108.

The differences among these types are shown below.

Table 1. Types of Convergence

Type of Consequence
Convergent Description
Boundary
Oceanic- Continental crust remains buoyant Formation of trenches, destructive
continental while the oceanic crust starts to sink earthquakes, rapid uplifting of
into the mantle mountain ranges, building of volcanic
arc
Oceanic- Denser crust sinks beneath the Formation of trenches (Marianas
oceanic oceanic crust trench) and volcanic arc
Continental- Seafloor sediments that comprised the Formation of mountain range
continental old oceanic crust where they were (Himalayan range)
trapped between the closing continent
and were pushed upward
Sources: Quipper School, "Plate boundaries and Geologic Landforms," last accessed on October
6, 2021, www.quipperschool.com; Teresita F. Religioso and Lilia G. Vengco, You and the Natural
World – Earth and Life Science (Phoenix Publishing House, 2016) 108.
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Oceanic - continental Oceanic – oceanic

Continental - continental

Figure 3. Types of convergence. (Source: Quipper School, “Plate

boundaries and Geologic Landforms,” last accessed on October 6,
2021, www.quipperschool.com)

Divergent Boundary

Divergent boundary occurs when

two plates move away from each other,
causing the molten material to rise to the
surface. This type is also referred to as
constructive margins because as the
magma cools, new seafloor is formed,
called seafloor spreading (Quipper
School, 2021).

Figure 4. Divergent boundary. (Source: Quipper

School, "Plate boundaries and Geologic Landforms," last
accessed on October 6, 2021, www.quipperschool.com)

Furthermore, according to Religioso & Vengco (2016), divergent plate boundaries can also
occur within a continent resulting in the formation of a rift. Continental rifting has the potential to
cause volcanic activity and form a rift valley. Further rifting may form a narrow sea and eventually
form an ocean basin and ridge system (Figure 5).
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Figure 4. Plate movements along the

divergent boundary causes volcanic
activity and generates rift valley,
narrow sea, and ocean basin, and
ridge system. (Source: Quipper
School, "Plate boundaries and Geologic
Landforms," last accessed on October
6, 2021, www.quipperschool.com)

Transform Fault Boundary

Transform fault boundaries happen

when plates slide horizontally past one another.
Most transform faults can be found in the ocean
basin, and a few can be found in continental
plates. This type of plate boundary commonly
affects the active spreading ridges, resulting in
zig-zag plate margins defined by shallow
earthquakes. The San Andreas fault is one of
the few transform faults that may be found on
the surface of the Earth.

Figure 5. Transform fault boundary. (Source:

Quipper School, “Plate Boundaries and Geologic
Landforms,” last accessed on October 6, 2021,
www.quipperschool.com)

Rock Deformation
Plate movements cause rocks to be deformed due to compressional stress at convergent
boundaries, tensional stress at divergent boundaries, or shear stress at transform boundaries. As
previously mentioned, all the different types of stresses will eventually lead to changes in the shape
or form of a rock, a process known as deformation.
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Deformed rocks are common in geologically active areas. A rock's response to stress
depends on the rock type, the surrounding temperature, and pressure conditions the rock is under,
length of time the rock is under stress, and the type of stress. Rocks have three possible responses
to increasing stress: elastic deformation, plastic deformation, or fracturing. Elastic
deformation occurs when the rock returns to its original shape when the stress is removed. When
rocks under stress do not return to its original shape when the stress is removed, it is called plastic
or ductile deformation. Finally, when a rock under stress breaks, it's called a fracture or brittle
deformation ("Stress in Earth's Crust, accessed 2021).

Where can you normally expect to see each deformation happening on our planet? Look at
the image below. The plate boundaries are subjected to stresses daily. At the surface of the plate
boundaries rocks are cool. As you descend below the surface rocks get warmer. Most likely you can
see brittle deformation at the surface and plastic or ductile deformation at depth. Faults at the top.
Folds at depth. If folds happen at depth, but you see those folded rocks at the surface, it means that
all the rocks that were above the fold when it was forming have now been eroded away. The land is
uplifted and the older folded rocks are now exposed.

Source: Katryn Wiese, "Folds and Faults," last accessed on July 23,
2020, www.youtube.com

brittle deformation

plastic or ductile
deformation Figure 6. Rock Deformation. (Source: Katryn Wiese, “Folds
and faults,” last modified February 27, 2019, www.youtube.com)

Fracture
Since the pressure and temperature are low at the Earth's surface, rocks tend to break or
fracture when subjected to compressional and tensional stresses. This means that the pressure
exerted in the blocks of rocks exceeds the rock's internal strength. Fractures can either be a fault or
a joint. A fault is a fracture in the rock where there is considerable movement on the fracture surface
while a joint is a fracture where there is no considerable movement.

Fault
As previously mentioned, when rocks undergo brittle deformation they break and the plane
along which they have broken is called a fault. After a fault has formed, successive application of
stress can either cause continual movement of the rocks along each side of the fault, or if friction is
too high it can cause another break or fault to form elsewhere.
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Types of Faults
Faults can be classified by the type of movement that happens along them. These includes
dip-slip faults and strike-slip faults.
1. Dip-slip Faults

Faults that have planes that dip at an angle between horizontal and vertical and thus
have vertical slip are called deep-slip faults. The movements are described based on the
direction of the motion of the hanging wall with respect to the footwall. A hanging wall is the
block of rock that rests on the fault plane while a footwall is the one below the fault plane.
Dip-slip faults can be further classified by the stresses applied and the motion of rocks
on one side of the fault relative to the other. Dip-slip faults can either be a normal fault or a
reverse fault. The differences between these two are shown on the table below.
Source: Katryn Wiese, "Folds and Faults," last accessed on July 23,
2020, www.youtube.com

Table 2. Classification of Dip-slip faults.

Classification Cause Characteristic

Normal fault tensional hanging wall (HW) moves downward with

stress respect to the footwall (FW) in response to
gravity
Reverse fault compressional footwall moves downward with respect to the
stress hanging wall

tension
compression
HW
HW
FW

FW
Normal fault
Reverse fault
Figure 7. Normal and reverse dip-slip faults. (Source: Katryn Wiese, "Folds and faults," last
modified February 27, 2019, www.youtube.com)

2. Strike-slip Fault
Strike-slip fault involves involve near vertical fault planes and have horizontal slip along
strike. Strike is the orientation of the line that a fault plane makes when it intersects a horizontal
surface. Strike-slip fault is caused by shear stress. This type of fault can be further classified
into right-lateral or left-lateral. Along a right-lateral strike-slip fault one side of the fault appears
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to have slipped right relative to the other. Along a left-lateral strike-slip fault one side appears
to have slipped left. See image below.
Source: Katryn Wiese, "Folds and Faults," last accessed on July 23,
2020, www.youtube.com

Left-lateral strike-slip fault Right-lateral strike-slip fault

Figure 8. Left-lateral and right-lateral strike-slip faults. (Source: Earth Rocks, "Folds and faults,"
last modified February 27, 2019, www.youtube.com)

Fold
Deep within the crust, where pressure and temperature are high, rocks are plastic- like; thus,
they do not break but they tend to bend or fold. Folds occur in layers of rocks that were originally
laid down horizontally but have been since deformed plastically.
Types of Fold
Folds are classified based on their shape relative to the surface of the Earth. Have you tried
folding a stack of paper just like the one on the right? To classify folds correctly, you have to see the
fold from the surface and from the side, both the map view and the cross sectional view. A hinge
axis is an imaginary plane that bisects the fold and along which the fold drapes or hangs.

Source: Katryn Wiese, "Folds and Faults," last accessed on July 23,
2020, www.youtube.com

Source: Katryn Wiese, “Folds and

faults,” last modified February 27,
2019, www.youtube.com.

If a fold has a hinge axis, you can classify it by looking at its cross-section that cuts
perpendicularly through the hinge axis. Synclines are U-shaped, where the rocks are bent
downwards. Anticlines are the opposite and upside-down U or A-shaped. That is, rocks are bent
upwards (Figure 10).

Source: Katryn Wiese, "Folds and Faults," last accessed on July 23,
2020, www.youtube.com
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Figure 10. Synclines and anticlines.

(Source: Katryn Wiese, “Folds and
faults,” last modified February 27, 2019,
www.youtube.com)

For synclines the older rocks, the bottom rocks in the horizontal deposits appear furthest from
the hinge axis and the youngest are in the center. For anticlines oldest rocks are pushed up in the
center and the youngest rocks are farthest away. For anticlines oldest rocks are pushed up in the
center and the youngest rocks are farthest away (Figure 11).

Source: Katryn Wiese, "Folds and Faults," last accessed on July 23,
2020, www.youtube.com

Figure 11. Synclines and anticlines.

(Source: Katryn Wiese, “Folds and
faults,” last modified February 27, 2019,
www.youtube.com)