Our Earth: A Brief Description Of The Layers
Our earth has four major layers that constitute the entire planet. We are just living on the crust. It goes way down and covers a radius of 6357 km. The core, as we all know, comprises the liquefied lava. The temperature of the core is 6000°C. The temperature decreases as we move to the top. The core is subdivided into the inner core and the outer core. The temperature of the outer core ranges from 4500 to 5500°C.
Above these concentric cores, we find the mantle. The mantle is 2890 km in thickness. It is also called the transition between the core and the crust. It is also the thickest part of the earths entire radius. It rests on the core region and has the crust above it. The crust part of the earth has a thickness ranging from 5 to 70 km. It is the thinnest part of the earths foundation and constitutes the outer surface of the planet. This is where our ocean floors, tectonic plates, and the entire ecosystem of the planet reside.
How Much Gold Is In The Earths Core
Wood has calculated that 1.6 quadrillion tons of gold must lie in Earths core. This may sound like a lot but it is really only a tiny percentage of the cores overall massabout one part per million. The core holds six times as much platinum Wood notes but people get less excited about that than gold.
The Interaction Of The Lithosphere With Other Spheres
The cool, brittle lithosphere is one of five great spheres that shape the Earths environment. The biosphere the cryosphere the hydrosphere and the atmosphere are the other spheres. These spheres interact to influence a wide range of factors, including ocean salinity, biodiversity, and landscape.
The pedosphere, for example, is a component of the lithosphere composed of soil and dirt, and the interaction of the lithosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere results in the formation of the pedosphere. The powerful movement of a glacier can reduce massive, hard rocks to powder. Weathering and erosion from wind or rain can wear down rocks in the lithosphere. The pedosphere is formed when organic components of the biosphere, such as plants and animals remain, combine with eroded rocks to form fertile soil.
To influence temperature differences on Earth, the lithosphere interacts with the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere. Tall mountains, for example, typically have much lower temperatures than valleys or hills. The lithospheres mountain range interacts with the atmospheres lower air pressure and the hydrospheres snowy precipitation to create a cool or even icy climate zone. The climate zone of a region, in turn, influences the adaptations required by organisms in the regions biosphere.
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Weathering Erosion & Deposition
Introduction: Learning Objectives
- differentiate between chemical and mechanical weathering
- identify the processes of mechanical and chemical weathering
- explain how karst topography is formed
- identify the climatic factors that influence mechanical and chemical weathering
- justify the erosion and deposition processes of meandering rivers
- explain differential weathering
- describe the four agents of erosion
- explain the factors that cause vertical and horizontal deposition
- differentiate between agents of sorted and unsorted deposition
Essential QuestionKey Vocabulary Climate Effect On WeatheringThis needs be completed by
How Is Lithosphere Formed Class 9
Due to the cold temperature of space the surface layer of earth cooled off quickly. And forms solidified outer layer of the earth called lithosphere. Differentiation of magma makes two types of lithosphere oceanic and continental which is characterized in the continents by basalt in oceans and granite.
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The Four Main Spheres Of Earth: Hydrosphere Biosphere Lithosphere And Atmosphere
The earth is the 3rd planet from the sun between Venus and Mars. The earth is made up of several unique properties, characteristics, composition and they all affect the processes of the earth differently. Every of these properties and elements in Earths system are largely categorized into one of the four major subsystems including water, living things, land, and the air. These are regarded as the four interlocking wonders that create the earths diversity. Cumulatively, they are primarily grouped into biological and physical .
These four wonders of the earth are dependent upon each other and have been used to make the study of biological and physical components of the earth easily comprehendible. They are scientifically called the biophysical elements namely the hydrosphere , biosphere , lithosphere , and atmosphere . These spheres are further divided into various sub-spheres.
According to Wikipedia,
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, the densest planet in the Solar System, the largest of the Solar Systems four terrestrial planets, and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. According to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence, Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago. Earth gravitationally interacts with other objects in space, especially the Sun and the Moon.
Lower Boundary Of Asthenosphere
The lower boundary of the asthenosphere is less well defined, but has been placed at the base of the upper mantle. This boundary is neither seismically sharp nor well understood but is approximately coincident with the complex 670 km discontinuity. This discontinuity is generally linked to the transition from mantle rock containing ringwoodite to mantle rock containing bridgmanite and periclase.
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Ionosphere: Overlaps The Mesosphere Thermosphere And Exosphere
The ionosphere is an active part of the Earths atmosphere that overlaps the the mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere.
Like its name, the ionosphere is the ionized part of the Earths atmosphere and is found between 48 km to 965 km altitude.
Auroras occur in the ionosphere where high-energy particles from the sun interacting with the atoms in this layer.
To sum, the five mains layers in the Earths atmosphere are:
- Exosphere: 700 to 10,000 km
- Thermosphere: 80 to 700 km
- Mesosphere: 50 to 80 km
- Stratosphere: 12 to 50 km
- Troposphere: 0 to 12 km
Why Is The Asthenosphere Liquid
The asthenosphere is a shallow layer of the upper mantle and lies directly below the lithosphere. The state of matter of the asthenosphere is a solid however it has plasticity that allows it to flow. It is a layer of solid rock where the extreme pressure and heat cause the rocks to flow like a liquid.
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Different Spheres Of The Earth
Lets take a look at these four spheres of the earth in bit more detail to understand how they help make up the earth.
The hydrosphere includes all the gaseous, liquid, and solid water of the planet earth. The hydrosphere stretches all the way from the Earths surface downward numerous miles into the lithosphere and high above the crust into the atmosphere. Most of the water in the atmosphere is in gaseous form and as it rises higher into the atmosphere it condenses to form clouds which fall back on earth as precipitation.
All the water in the hydrosphere is always in motion just like the atmospheric gases. The natural earth features depicting the hydrosphere are the rivers, streams, lakes, seas, oceans and the water vapor. Glaciers, which are the slowly moving masses of ice, are also part of the hydrosphere. 97% of all earths water is salty. Oceans carry most of the salty water while the majority of lakes and rivers carry fresh water. The earths temperature is highly influenced by the hydrosphere.
Very low temperatures are associated with icebergs, glaciers or icecaps low to moderate temperatures are associated with the common types of precipitation like snow, rain, drizzle, sleet or hails and high temperatures are tied to dry and hot conditions and evaporation. The glaciers, icebergs, and icecaps are also categorically called the cryosphere.
Troposphere: The Densest Layer In The Atmosophere
The bottom layer, which is the layer closest to the Earth, is the most dense of the five layers. This layer is known as the troposphere.
The troposphere is the layer of the Earths atmosphere that humans live and breathe in.
The troposphere starts at ground level and extends to 10 kilometers in altitude.
The troposphere is also the layer where almost all clouds form because 99% of the water in the Earths atmosphere is found in this layer.
This layer mostly contains a mixture of mostly nitrogen , oxygen , and argon . In addition, trace gases account for another tenth of a percent.
Water vapor, dust particles, pollutants, and pollen also can be found in mixed into the atmosphere at this level.
The higher the altitude, the thinner the atmosphere is.
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The Composition Of Lithosphere
The key to understanding lithosphere definition is learning about its compositions. However, due to the uneven distribution of rocks and other materials, pinpointing all the components of the lithosphere can be difficult.
Earths lithosphere composition varies greatly depending on whether it lies under oceans or on land. Nevertheless, chief components for this layer as a whole include metamorphic rocks, sedimentary rocks and granitic deposits.
The Mantle Of The Earth
The Earths mantles most important characteristics are that it is made of solid rock and is extremely hot. Seismic waves, heat flow, and meteorites have all provided evidence that the mantle is composed of rock, and its properties of ultramafic rock peridotite , which is composed of iron- and magnesium-rich silicate minerals also attest to the fact that it is made of solid rock. . The mantle is known to be extremely hot because of the heat that radiates from it as well as its physical properties.
Within the Earth, heat moves in two ways conduction and convection. Conduction is described as heat transfer that occurs as a result of rapid atom collisions, which can only occur if the material is solid. Heat moves from warmer to cooler areas until they are all at the same temperature. The mantle is hot primarily as a result of heat conducted from the core.
Convection on the other hand is the process by which a material with the ability to move and flow develops convection currents. Convection in the mantle is identical to convection in a pot of water on the stove. This is because as material near the core heats up, convection currents form within the Earths mantle, and as the core heats the base layer of the mantle material, particles accelerate, causing their density to decrease and rise.
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Lithosphere Interior Of The Earth
Lithosphere constitutes the Earths rigid outer vertical layer, including the uppermost mantle and crust. This layer is bounded by the atmosphere above and the asthenosphere below.
Table of Content
The lithosphere is the hard top layer of the Earth or the solid crust. This layer is made up of various minerals and rocks. The lithosphere is covered by a thin layer of soil. The surface of this layer is irregular, consisting of various landforms like plains, valleys, deserts, mountains, and plateaus. The temperature of the lithosphere ranges from a crustal temperature of 0 degrees Celsius to a temperature of the upper mantle of 500 degrees Celsius. The Lithosphere forms the outer layer of the structure of Earth and mainly includes the crust and the uppermost portion of the Earths mantle.
Earth Divided Into Two Major Systems
Some scientists organized of the parts of the Earth can be divided into two main systems. These two systems include all the organic and inorganic matter of the world.
Every living and non-living thing on Earth falls under one of these two main spheres which are the Earths geosphere and biosphere.
As with the four system organization, the biosphere represents all of the Earths living organisms.
The geosphere is the collective name for the earths atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere.
The atmosphere is the space above the Earths surface. This includes the air that we all breath. The lithosphere is the solid part of the Earth such as rocks and mountains.
The hydrosphere is the liquid water such as the rivers, lakes, and oceans.
The cryosphere is the frozen water of the earth and is further broken into four types: glaciers, snow cover, floating ice, and permafrost.
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Examples Of Biosphere In A Sentence
biosphereWiredbiosphereThe Hollywood Reporterbiosphere The AtlanticbiosphereSan Diego Union-TribunebiosphereThe AtlanticbiosphereRobb ReportbiosphereBGRbiosphere Ars Technica
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘biosphere.’ Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Mesosphere: Highest Layer That Has Mixed Gases
Above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere is the mesosphere. This layer in the Earths atmosphere is the highest layer in which the gases are still mixed up rather than layered .
The mesosphere is the layer where meteors entering the Earths atmosphere break up.
There are enough gases in the mesosphere to create friction which causes the meteors to burn up. We can see those at night as shooting stars.
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Asthenosphere And Lithosphere Definition And Properties
Our earth has different layers below the topsoil. All these layers are concentric in nature. The two layers that constitute the upper mantle region and the crust above it are the asthenosphere and lithosphere. In this section, we will study the lithosphere and asthenosphere in detail and learn their characteristics. The properties of these layers should be learned properly to answer specific questions asked in the exams. Learn what is the asthenosphere and lithosphere here.
What Is The Lithosphere Made Of
The lithosphere is made up of rocks from 2 major layers of the Earth . It contains the entire planets outer, thin shell, known as the crust, as well as the uppermost portion of the next-lower layer, known as the mantle. The lithospheres thickness varies it is thickest below the continents and thinnest at mid-ocean ridges, which are raised areas of the seafloor where new seafloor crust is formed.
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Composition Of The Lithosphere
- Chemical composition
Physical composition
The physical properties of the lithosphere are composed of the crust as well as a portion of the upper mantle that is brittle and rigid.
Chemical composition
The chemical composition of the lithosphere varies according to the layers. For example, soil, a mixture of weathered rock materials and organic matter makes up the crust and some of the elements discovered in the soil include oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. While magnesium and iron make up the mantle and the core is mostly made of iron.
The Lithosphere / Geosphere
The Geosphere or Lithosphere is the sphere that refers to the solid part of the Earth, which includes the crust and the upper mantle.
We can distinguish two types of lithosphere: continental crust, above sea level, a thick layer of around 200 km, and oceaniccrust, below sea level, denser but thinner than the continental crust.
Continental Drift and Tectonic Plates
The Continental Drift theory was one of the first theories that tried to describe the continents movements across time. Developed by geologist Alfred Wegener, it establishes that 200 million years ago all the continents were united into a single supercontinent called Pangea. Pangea broke up because of the internal forces of the mantle and the tectonic plates gradually moved apart.
Today, geographers do not fully accept Wegeners theory of continental drift, but prefer the science of plate tectonics. Geographers believe that several supercontinents like Pangea had been formed and broken up over the course of the Earths history.
Continents rest on massive slabs of rock called tectonic plates that are constantly moving over the mantle. Changes in the mantle cause tectonic plates to slide against each other or to move apart. Thus, the plates boundaries are unstable.
This instability causes the creation and destruction of the different forms of relief we can see in the crust.
Internal Forces that create Relief
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What Is Formed In Lithosphere
It is what forms earthquakes volcanoes mountain ranges and deep ocean trenches. Both oceanic and continental lithospheres are thinnest at rift valleys and ocean ridges where tectonic plates are shifting apart from one another. The solid rock of the lithosphere is one of five systems that shape the planet.
What Is The Composition Of Earths Crust
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History Of The Concept
The concept of the lithosphere as Earth’s strong outer layer was described by A. E. H. Love in his 1911 monograph “Some problems of Geodynamics” and further developed by Joseph Barrell, who wrote a series of papers about the concept and introduced the term “lithosphere”. The concept was based on the presence of significant gravity anomalies over continental crust, from which he inferred that there must exist a strong, solid upper layer above a weaker layer which could flow . These ideas were expanded by Reginald Aldworth Daly in 1940 with his seminal work “Strength and Structure of the Earth.” They have been broadly accepted by geologists and geophysicists. These concepts of a strong lithosphere resting on a weak asthenosphere are essential to the theory of plate tectonics.