Course Details

Course: ECS-201 (Earth System I)

Credit: 03

Nature of course: 3 contact hours/week

Tuesday (4.30-5.30);
Thursday (4.30-5.30) - Tutorial
Friday (10.15-11.15)

Evaluation: Quiz ~ 30%

Mid-Sem ~ 35%
End-Sem ~ 35%
(Total three Quizzes)

Quizzes before mid-sem: 16th August; 06th Sept.

 Suggested Readings

1. Early Earth Systems by Hugh Rollinson, Blackwell Publishing,

2007

2. Earth Science by Tarbuck, Lutgens and Tasa, Pearson

publishers, 2015

3. The Blue Planet by B J Skinner and B W Murck, Wiley

Publications, 2011
 Geology- The Science of Earth
(Origin, History, Processes and dynamics of how it changes)

• Existence of life and water

• Active geological activities

Relative Scaling: Sand (Earth) rotating ~9 m away around an Orange (Sun)

The Earth system:

Life Volcanoes

Mountain Ocean

What, How, When, Why? –Geology, Chemistry, Physics, Biology

 Key topics in Earth system science:

• Formation and evolution of Earth

• Origin of oceans and Hydrology

• Evolution of life: Terrestrial and oceanic biosphere

• Tectonics: Mountain building and nutrient supply

• Natural hazards (landslides, earthquakes, floods)

• Natural resources (water, solid, minerals, fossil fuels)

• Past climate and its future prediction

 System
An entity made up of different parts, but are related. Together the
different parts function as a whole.

Individual parts are called components

The Blue Planets, 2011

 Reservoir
A part of a system contained defined amount of material (either as mass
units or volume).

Flux- The amount of energy or matter that is transferred into/out of a

reservoir in unit time.
A more general term for this process is Mass Transfer

The condition when a system is unchanging in time. A reservoir is in a

steady state when the inflow and outflow are equally balanced.
The Blue Planets, 2011
 Box models

• Residence time- The average length of time a substance

spends within a reservoir in a steady state with respect to the
abundance of that substance
Major reservoirs
 Spheres of the Earth: Inter-linked reservoirs
1. Atmosphere: Thin layer of gases that cover Earth’s surface.

2. Hydrosphere: Contains Earth’s water (~97% is in Oceans).

(if all the earth surface irregularity is smoothed out to form a perfect
sphere, the global ocean would cover Earth to a depth of 2.25 km)

3. Geosphere: Consists of the solid earth.

4. Biosphere: Composed of living entities on Earth.
Exogenic cycles:

Operate at the Earth’s

surface

Endogenic cycles:

Operate in the Earth’s

interior
Global inter-connectedness of air, water, rocks and life

• From space, we can view the Earth as a planet, seeing the

interconnectedness of the oceans, atmosphere, continents, ice
sheets, and life itself.
• we study planet Earth as a dynamic system of diverse
components interacting in complex ways- a challenge on a par
with any in science.

• We observe and track global changes, and we study regional

changes in their global context.
• We observe the role that human civilization increasingly plays
as a force of change. We trace effect to cause, connect
variability and forcing with response, and vastly improve
national capabilities to predict climate, weather, and natural
hazards.
NASA science Plan (2007-2016)
 Earth Observations

• Remote sensing

• Meteorites

• Astonomy

• Field expeditions

• Experimental investigation

• Mathematical Models
 Formation of Earth

Astronomical Observation Analysis of Meteorites

The scientific Approach
 Summary
System An entity made up of different parts, but which are related. Together the
different parts function as a whole. Individual parts are called components
Reservoir A part of a system, defined in terms of the amount of material contained
(either as mass units or volume). Usually one of the “boxes” in a box
model
Flux The amount of energy or matter that is transferred into/out of a reservoir in
unit time.
A more general term for this process is Mass Transfer
Feedback loops A linkage between two or more components of a system so that there is a
self-perpetuating mechanism of change. A set of actions produces
automatic reactions within the system.
Steady state The condition when a system is unchanging in time. A reservoir is in a
steady state when the inflow and outflow are equally balanced
Perturbation A temporary disturbance to a system

Forcing A long-term, persistent influence on a system bringing about a disturbance

to the system
Residence time The average length of time a substance spends within a reservoir in a
steady state with respect to the abundance of that substance
Rollinson, 2007