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# Age of the earth ~4.56 Gyr

# Populating the periodic table:

Big Bang: upto He
Stellar Nucleosynthesis: upto Fe
Neutron Capture: Heavier metals

# Goldschmidt classification:
Lithophile; Sideophile; Chalcophile; Volatile

# Typical metallicity of stars < 2% (depends on the mass)

# CO2 is a trace gas in our atmosphere, unlike our neighboring

planets (Venus and Mars).
 Reservoirs of the Earth

• Biosphere

• Geosphere

• Hydrosphere

• Atmosphere

Major elemental concentrations in the ocean and

atmosphere are mostly uniform
 Composition of Atmosphere

By volume
Nitrogen 78.084%
Oxygen 20.946%
Argon 0.934%
CO2 360 ppm
Neon 18.18 ppm
He 5.24 ppm
 Composition of major Reseorvoirs

Biosphe Atmosp Hydrosp Crust Mantle Core

re here here
H N H O O Fe
O O O Si Si Ni
C H Cl Al Mg C
N Ar Na Fe Fe S
Ca C Mg Mg Al Si
Spatial variation in atmospheric composition
 Primitive Radiogenic
Helium He-3 He-4
Argon Ar-40 Ar-36, Ar-38

Primitive atmosphere:
H2, He, Ne, Ar etc,
After core formation:
H2, CH4 and NH4
water vapour released > Ocean >
CO2 (10 bar )> CaCO3 precipitated

The atmosphere most likely

generated through degassing of
volatiles contained within the
original solid materials that
formed the Earth.
Sulphur isotopes: 32S, 33S, 34S, 36S

Mass dependent fractionation: evaporation and/or biological processes

Mass Independent fractionation: photochemical reactions

involving high UV light flux. (A prerequisite for these photochemical
reactions is the absence of an effective UV shield such as ozone)