TRUE MENTORS BY ARUN KUMAR AIR-5 SSC CGL 2023

Arun Kumar
(SSC CGL-2023 AIR -5)

Geography
Notes

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 TRUE MENTORS BY ARUN KUMAR AIR-5 SSC CGL 2023

Internal Structure of the Earth

• Structure of earth’s interior is fundamentally divided into three layers – crust, mantle
and core.
• Father of Geology-James Hutton
• Continental drift theory-Alfred Wagner in 1912
• Seafloor spreading theory-Harry Hess
• Plate Tectonic Therogy-Harry Hess-1960
• Most abundant mineral in the earth’s continental crust is-feldspar
• Correct order of abundance-Oxygen>Silicon>Aluminum>Iron
• Water on earth =70%
• Sedimentary Rock-Arkose
• Dolomite is a Sedimentary rock
• Crust is the thinnest layer of the earths
• Hottest place on earth-El AZIZIA-in Libya
• Batholiths-created by Volcanic activites.
• Pangaea was surrounded by a universal ocean called Panthalassa
• The largest ridge on Earth is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
• The average Temperature of the Earth is-14-16 Celsius
• Formation of Earth-4.6 Billion Years ago

Continental Drift Theory

• Given by Alfred Wegner in 1912
• Due to Force b/w and Sun and moon Pangaea divided into 2 parts-Angara land &
Gondwanaland

1. Angara land
1. North America
2. Europe
3. North Asia
2. Gondwanaland
1. South America
2. Antarctic
3. Peninsular India
4. Australia
5. Africa

Plate tectonic Theory

• Given by Harry Hess in 1960
• Main reason for the formation of continents is conventional current
• Conventional current formed due to the presence of radioactive elements inside earth

There are three kinds of plate tectonic boundaries

• Divergent Boundaries: Plates move away from each other, creating tension and Cause
volcanic eruptions and earthquake
• Convergent Boundaries: Plates move toward each other, leading to compression and
causing earthquakes.
• Transform Boundaries: Plates slide past each other horizontally, generating shear stress and
causing earthquakes.

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Layers of Earth
1. Crust
2. Mantle
3. Core

Crust
• It is the outermost solid part of the earth, normally about 8-40 kms thick.
• It is brittle in nature.
• Nearly 1% of the earth’s volume and 0.5% of earth’s mass are made of the crust.
• Oceanic crust is thinner (about 5kms) as compared to the continental crust (about 30kms).
• Major elements of crust are Silica (Si) and Aluminum (Al) it is often termed as SIAL
• The discontinuity between the hydrosphere and crust is termed as the Conrad
Discontinuity.
• Oceanic crust is mostly composed of different types of basalts. The rocks of the oceanic crust
as “sima.” Sima - silicate and magnesium
• Continental crust is mostly composed of different types of granites. The Rocks of
Continental Crust is termed as Sial)
• Sial is much thicker than sima

Mantle
• The portion of the interior beyond the crust is called as the mantle.
• It is in a solid-state.
• The discontinuity between the crust and mantle is called as the Mohorovich Discontinuity
or Moho discontinuity.
• The mantle is about 2900kms in thickness.
• About 84% of the earth’s volume and 67% of the earth’s mass is occupied by mantle.
• The major constituent elements of the mantle are Silicon and Magnesium and hence it is also
termed as SIMA.
• The uppermost solid part of the mantle and the entire crust constitute the Lithosphere.
• The asthenosphere (in between 80-200km) region of the upper mantle which lies just below
the lithosphere.
• The asthenosphere is the main source of magma and it is the layer over which the lithosphere
plates/ continental plates move. The upper mantle is known as Asthenosphere
• The discontinuity between the upper mantle and the lower mantle is known as Repetti
Discontinuity.
• The portion of the mantle which is just below the lithosphere and asthenosphere, but above
the core is called as Mesosphere.
• The crust and the uppermost part of the mantle are called the lithosphere

Core
• It is the innermost layer surrounding the earth’s centre.
• The core is separated from the mantle by Guttenberg’s Discontinuity.
• It is composed mainly of iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni) and hence it is also called as NIFE.
• The core constitutes nearly 15% of earth’s volume and 32.5% of earth’s mass.
• The Core consists of two sub-layers: the inner core and the outer core.
• The inner core is in solid state and the outer core is in the liquid state (or semi-liquid).
• The discontinuity between the upper core and the lower core is called as Lehmann
Discontinuity.
• Barysphere is the core of the earth or sometimes the whole interior.

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➢ Temperature is always increasing from the earth’s surface towards the centre
➢ Pressure is also increasing from the surface towards the centre of the earth.
➢ Density of earth’s layers also gets on increasing towards the centre

Sources of Information about the interior of the earth

• Natural Source-Seismic wave and Volcano
• Artificial Source- Pressure, Temperature

Earthquake- Seismic Waves

• The seismic waves are recorded by an instrument called the seismograph
• Invented by Zhang Heng from China in 136 AD
• The point within the earth’s crust where an earthquake originates is called
the focus hypocenter or seismic focus.
• The point vertically above the focus on the earth’s surface is called as the epicenter.
• Epicenter is always perpendicular to focus
• All natural earthquakes take place in the lithosphere

➢ Richter Scale - measure the 'Magnitude' of an earthquake based on the amount

of seismic energy released, Scale Range- 1 to 10
➢ Mercalli scale measures the 'Intensity' of an earthquake based on based on the
amount of destruction caused, Scale Range- 1 to 12.

Seismic Zone
• On the basis of intensity of seismic wave world is divided into 3 seismic zone
1. Pacific Belt-63% of world earthquake
2. Mid Continental Belt -21% of world
3. Mid-Atlantic Belt-16% of world
• Japan Comes into Pacific Belt
• India Comes under the mid continental Belt
➢ On the basis of Intensity of Seismic waves- India is classified into four seismic zones.
• Zone II, Zone-III, Zone-IV,& Zone-V
• Zone V is seismically the most active/Sensitive region, while zone II is the least sensitive

Types of Earthquake Waves or seismic wave

1. Body waves-P Waves and S waves
2. Surface waves- L-Wave and R- Wave

P waves or Primary waves

1. The first waves to hit the seismographs & earth’s surface
2. They are longitudinal waves -direction of motion and propagation are the same.
3. These waves can travel through solid, liquid, and gas
4. Maximum Speed among all the waves-6.5 to 8.5 km/sec

S-Waves -also called secondary waves and shear waves,

1. The second waves to hit the seismographs.
2. They are transverse waves- the motion is perpendicular to the direction of wave
propagation.
3. Travel through only solids & Speed-3.5 Km/sec

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Surface Waves
1. Surface waves are those waves that travel on the surface of the earth.
2. Most destructive wave
3. Surface waves usually have larger amplitudes and longer wavelengths than body waves
4. they travel more slowly than body waves
5. Last to recorded by Seismograph

Surface waves-
• Love waves
• Rayleigh waves

L waves or Love waves

• They travel along the Earth's surface, they cause horizontal shearing
• L waves are the slowest of all seismic waves & the last to be recorded by seismographs.
• Most Destructive earthquake wave

R waves:-also known as the Rayleigh wave.

• It has both compression and shear motions.
• These waves result from the interaction of P-waves and vertically polarized S-waves with
the surface and can exist in any solid medium.

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