Today: Lecture Overview

 Prelude: What is Geology?

Nature of the scientific method
- Class discussion
 Overview of Earth Systems
 Origin of the Earth and Solar System
Nebular hypothesis
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http://geology.asu.edu/jfarmer/g_stu_1.html

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 Prelude:

“And just what is Geology?”

Solid Earth Interior of the
Earth is losing
heat.
Primary source
of heat:
Radioactive decay
Heat loss drives
convection, based
on density
differences
Hotter stuff is
lighter and rises
Cooler stuff is
denser and sinks.
 Prelude: Earth’s internal structure

3 distinct divisions:

crust Oceanic 0-6 km (“young”, < 180 m.y.)

Continental 0-34 km (older, up to 3.8 b.y.)

mantle Upper 34-670 km

Lower 670-2900 km

core Outer (liquid) 2900-5160 km

Inner (solid) 5160-6370 km
 Prelude: Plate Tectonics

Earth’s dynamic interior and crust

 Heat loss drives plate tectonics
Three types of plate boundaries
Prelude: Earth Systems

 Solid Earth

 Atmosphere

 Hydrosphere

 Cryosphere

 Biosphere
 Atmosphere
Blanket of gases surrounding the Earth

 Protection from Sun’s heat & UV rays

 Weather: due to exchange of energy

between Earth’s surface & atmosph.
between atmosph. & outer space

 Strongly interacts w/ surface

 Hydrosphere
Water portion of Earth

 Oceans (most prominent)

71% of surface of Earth

 Streams, lakes, glaciers, underground water

 Atmosphere
 Cryosphere
Icy portion of Earth’s crust

 Glaciers

 Permafrost and ground ice

 Polar ice caps

 Frozen polar seas

Water is the primary agent of crustal weathering
 Biosphere
Earth’s Ecosystems

 Earth’s biosphere occupies both the surface and

subsurface to depths of a few kilometers

 Life occupies an extreme range of environments

 Life strongly interacts with the atmosphere, the

hydrosphere and the solid earth to affect their
composition and long-term evolution (these
interactions are called ecology!)
Earth: The Living Planet
Most of the biodiversity on our planet is microbial!
The Three Domains of Life
Boiling mudpot, Yellowstone

Some extremes of life

Fungi and Plants
Plants consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen
via photosynthesis. Most of the 21% oxygen in our
atmosphere derives from this process!
Fungi and and plants form symbioses called Lichens and
Mycorrhizae that alter rocks and produce soils.
Lichens
Mycorrhizae

Credit: INVAM

Credit: Sharnoff
 Against a constant backdrop of gravity,
the atmosphere, hydrosphere and
biosphere interact with the rocks of the
Earth’s crust to break them down and
transport them to depositional basins
(e.g. the oceans) as sediment. The cycle is
renewed as internal processes of plate
tectonics create new crust and uplift
it to form mountain ranges.
Earth is one of nine planets comprising the Solar System

Earth
How did the Solar System form?
Earth Formation
Planets thought to
have formed:

 At same time

 From same
material as the
Sun

Nebular hypothesis

 Solar system formed from giant cloud of mostly

hydrogen and helium, and a small percentage of heavier
elements.
 Nebular Hypothesis:

States that the planets of

our Solar System were
formed by the “accretion”
of materials from a cloud
of gas and dust
called a solar “nebula”.

Collapse of the nebula under

its own gravity formed a
rotating disk around
a dense, central core of
material. This core
eventually became hot
enough to form the Sun.