Reviewer Earth Science

EARTH SCIENCE
- the study of Earth systems and systems in space; including weather and climate
systems, and the study of nonliving things such as rocks, oceans, and planets
Earth Systems
1. Atmosphere: the blanket of gases that surrounds our planet.
2. Hydrosphere: all the water on Earth.
3. Biosphere: all organisms on Earth and the environments in which they live.
4. Geosphere: the area from the surface of Earth down to its center.
Three main parts:
- Crust
- Mantle
- Core
 Inner core
 Outer core
The Layers of the Earth
Crust - Thinnest and outermost layer of the Earth
- layer that you live on, and it is the most widely studied and
understood.
- Two types of crust: oceanic crust and continental crust
- Composed of plates on which the continents and oceans rest
Consists of 2 layers:
* Upper layer – composed of granite and is found only in the continental crust.
* Lower layer – made mainly of basalt .
- found on both continents and the oceans.
* The crust is composed of two rocks. The continental crust is mostly granite. The
oceanic crust is basalt. Basalt is much denser than the granite. Because of this the less
dense continents ride on the denser oceanic plates.
CONTINENTAL CRUST
o Made up of less dense rocks (e.g. granite)
“sial”
o Thicker than sima (as thick as 70km or 44 miles) but also slightly less dense
o Other minerals: oxygen, calcium, sodium & potassium.
o Created by plate tectonics
o Older than oceanic crust
o Cratons – the oldest and most stable part of continental lithosphere
- usually found deep in the interior of most continents
2 categories: 1. Shields - are cratons in which the ancient basement rock crops out
into the atmosphere
2. platforms - cratons in which the basement rock is buried beneath
overlying sediment
OCEANIC CRUST
o Found under the ocean floor and is made of dense rocks (e.g. basalt)
“sima”
o Heavier than the continental crust or dense
o Constantly formed at mid-ocean ridges
o Destroyed in subduction zones
o much, much younger than continental crust
Ophiolites : are sections of oceanic crust that have been forced above sea level through
tectonic activity.
The Lithosphere
o crust and the upper layer of the mantle
Mantle – layer beneath the crust
- is the mostly-solid bulk of the Earth's interior.
- lies between Earth's dense, super-heated core and its thin outer layer, the crust.
- Other composition:
- silicon,
- oxygen,
- iron, and
- magnesium.
- Slowly moves (convection currents)
- Mainly made up of silicate rocks and is solid but capable of flowing (like hot
asphalt or fudge).
- S-waves and P-waves pass through it.
- Lower part: consists of more iron
- The temp. and pressure increase with depth.
ASTHENOSPHERE
- the soft, weak layer beneath the lithosphere
- Made of hot molten material
* 1909, Yugoslav scientist Andrija Mohorovicic observed a change in the speed of
seismic waves as they moved through the earth.
Discovered a boundary bet. Earth’s outermost layer and the mantle.(Mohorovicic
Discontinuity)
PLATE TECTONICS
o Explains the configuration of topographic features of the Earth- mountains,
valleys, volcanoes, islands, oceanic trenches, faults
o Are composed of the lithosphere
o Move as a coherent mass
o May contain oceanic crust and continental crust
o Direction of Movement is perpendicular to mid-oceanic ridges
Plate Boundary
- lines where plates meet/separate
DIVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARIES
 tectonic boundary where two plates are moving away from each other and
new crust is forming from magma that rises to the Earth's surface between
the two plates. Also called passive margin spreading zone.
 Forms mid-ocean ridges, transform faults and rift valleys, formation of the
ocean floor
What is continental rifting?
 Rifting is the process by which the continental lithosphere stretches.
 A Continental rift is the belt or zone of the continental lithosphere where
the extensional deformation (rifting) is occurring.
1. Active Rifting - due to thermal erosion of the lower lithosphere

due to the upwelling of mantle material from convection or
plumes.
- The erosion of the lithosphere creates a higher gravitational potential for the
material above. This causes the material to collapse under gravitational forces
and spread, resulting in rifting.
2. Passive Rifting - caused by the direct application of opposing
forces to the lithosphere to create extension.
- The forces may originate from:
- mantle plumes,
- mantle convection or
- by trench pull resulting from subduction.
Transform Plate Boundaries

- Boundary where the two plates slide against each other in a sideways motion. As
two plates slide past one another, in a transform boundary, neither plate is added
to at the boundary, nor destroyed.
- The fracture zone that forms a transform plate boundary is known as a transform
fault. Most transform faults are found in the ocean basin and connect offsets in
the mid-ocean ridges.
- Transform boundaries are places where plates slide sideways past each other. A
transform boundaries lithosphere is neither created nor destroyed. Many
transform boundaries are found on the sea floor, where they connect segments of
diverging mid-ocean ridges.
- Form strong earthquakes
- Have shallow focus
- Forms faults
Hot Spots
- Stationary plumes of hot material that initiate at the core/mantle interface
- Hawaii: the plume is beneath oceanic crust
Convergent Plate Boundaries
- Oceanic crust subducts under continental crust
- Forms deep sea trenches, volcanic island arcs or volcanic mountain ranges and
folded & faulted mountain ranges
Three Types of Convergent Plate Boundaries
o Oceanic – Oceanic lithospheric plates
Features include trench and volcanic islands
- Two oceanic crusts
- Oceanic crust subducts under opposing oceanic crust
- Oldest oceanic crust subducts
- As volcanic islands increase in size more sediment contributed to trench
- Magma becomes more felsic due to melting of sediments subducted on plate
- Subduction of water & sea shells in sediments adds carbon dioxide and water
vapor to magma – result explosive eruptions
- Island arc can be welded on to nearby continent as subduction continues.
o Oceanic – Continental lithospheric plates

Features include trench and volcanic mountains
o Continental – Continental lithospheric plates
Features include folded and faulted mountains
- Two continental crusts
- Neither subduct due to buoyancy of crusts
- Mountains are formed
2 types according to process
Subduction
- One plate is pushed down into the mantle where it melts producing magma for
volcanoes
- explains why there is no old seafloor (it subducts and melts)
- explains why there are explosive volcanoes in the ring of fire (subducted sediment
contains water)
Collision
Continental Collision
o Continental crust cannot be subducted
o Density is too low
o Remnants of subducted ocean crust provide uplift (low density) until it melts
o Erosion carves out mountain ranges & valleys
o Intense folding & faulting & metamorphism
o No volcanic activity remains; remnants of magma chambers become batholiths

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EARTH SCIENCE

1. Active Rifting - due to thermal erosion of the lower lithosphere

Transform Plate Boundaries

o Oceanic – Continental lithospheric plates

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