1. Our Dynamic Earth

2. Earth as a System
The Earth is an integrated system that consists of rock, air, water, and living things that all interact with each other.
Scientists divided this system into four parts:
The Geosphere (rock)
The Atmosphere (air)
The Hydrosphere (water)
The Biosphere (living things)

3. Earth’s Interior
Scientists use seismic waves to learn about Earth’s interior.
Seismic waves are the same waves that travel through Earth’s interior during and earthquake.
A seismic wave is altered by the nature of the material through which it travels.

4. Layers of the Earth Scientists divide the Earth into three layers:
The crust
The mantle
The core
These layers are made up of progressively denser material toward the center of the Earth.

5. Processes and Forces that Affect the Lithosphere
Rock Cycle
Weathering
Erosion
Soil Formation
Plate Tectonics
Earthquakes
Volcanoes
Humans

6. Rockin’ the Rock Cycle

7. Rock Cycle
Rocks are continually changed by many processes, such as weathering, erosion, compaction, cementation, melting, and cooling
Rocks can change to and from the three types through the rock cycle. 7

8. What is a Rock?
Naturally-occurring mixtures of minerals, mineraloids, glass or organic matter.
Rocks are divided into 3 groups based on how they were formed:
IGNEOUS
SEDIMENTARY
METAMORPHIC 8

9. What Size Grains does it have?
Igneous Rock
Igneous rock is made when magma cools and crystallizes. (Igneous means “from fire or heat”)
Type of Igneous Rock
Where does it Form?
How does it Cool?
What Size Grains does it have?
Example
Intrusive
Inside Earth
Slowly
Large (Course)
Granite
Extrusive
Outside Earth
Quickly
Small (Fine) or Glassy (Very Fine)
Basalt
Obsidian

10. Examples of Igneous Rock
Granite: Large/Course Grains
Basalt: Small/Fine Grains
Obsidian: Glassy/Very Fine
Grains

11. What happens to the Igneous Rock?
1. It can be weathered and eroded and turned into small pieces, called sediment, which can then be turned into a sedimentary rock.
2. It can be put under high heat or pressure and form a metamorphic rock.
Could melt and become magma again

12. Sedimentary Rock 1. Rock is weathered and forms sediments
Sediments: smaller pieces of rock
Examples: Gravel, Sand, Mud, Soil

13. Sedimentary Rock 2. Erosion 3. Deposition
The process by which weathered rock and soil particles are moved from place to place by wind, water, gravity, glaciers, etc.
3. Deposition
The process by which weathered sediments are laid down in a new location creating new landforms through “bedding”. 13

14. 3. Deposition – Types of Bedding
Bedding – oldest sediments on the bottom, youngest sediments on top
2. Graded Bedding – biggest sediments on bottom, smallest on top (happens in water)
3. Cross Bedding – sediments are laid at an angle (ex: sand dunes)

15. Sedimentary Rock
4. Lithification - Sediments must be buried, compacted, cemented together to make a sedimentary rock.
Examples of Sedimentary Rock:
Coal Sandstone Shale

16. What happens to Sedimentary Rock?
1. Could weather and erode to become sediments which cement and compact to form sedimentary rock
2. It can be put under high heat or pressure and form a metamorphic rock.
Could melt to form magma which cools and hardens to form igneous rocks.

17. Metamorphic Rock Formed from existing rocks.
Are created by intense heat or intense pressure.
Can be foliated = looks like it has layers (made from pressure)
Can be non-foliated = does not look like it has layers (made from heat)
Limestone (Sedimentary)  Marble
Shale (Sedimentary)  Slate
Granite (Igneous)  Gneiss

18. What happens to Metamorphic Rock?
Could weather and erode to become sediments that cement and compact to form sedimentary rocks
2. Could melt to form magma which cools and hardens to form igneous rocks

19. How are rocks redistributed?
The core, mantle, & crust are one giant rock recycling machine changing the lithosphere. 19

20. Weathering

21. Weathering
Weathering is the breaking down of rocks and other materials on the earth’s surface

22. Physical Weathering
Breaks rock into smaller pieces without changing the overall composition.
Examples- Biological Activity (tree roots and animals burrowing), Frost Wedging (water freezing inside cracks of rocks causing them to expand and break), Gravity

23. Chemical Weathering
Chemical reactions that change the overall composition of the rock.
Examples- Water (most important agent), Acid Rain on gravestones (dissolves minerals), Oxidation

24. In which shape will weathering occur faster?

25. Mechanical and chemical weathering work together
Factors that determine the rate of weathering:
Composition
Granite more resistant than marble.
Physical conditions of rock
Cracks, holes, crevices – easier weathering
Solid, unbroken – more weather resistant
Topography: the position of the rock
Air pollution
Exposure time
Surface area exposed
Climate
Cold Climates– mechanical weathering breaks down rocks rapidly
Warm, wet climates – chemical weathering breaks down rocks rapidly
Mechanical and chemical weathering work together

26. Erosion

27. 5 Agents of Erosion
Gravity
Glaciers
Wind
Water
Ocean Waves 27

28. Soil Formation 28

29. Soil formation starts with…
Weathering
Erosion
Deposition

30. Followed by…
Some living organisms such as bacteria, fungi and insects.
They die, decay and add nutrients to the soil.

31. So Basically…
Soil is a layer at the surface of the earth composed of a mixture of weathered rock, organic matter, mineral fragments, water, and air which is capable of supporting the growth of plants impacting the lithosphere. 31

32. Plate Tectonics

33. What observations can you make about the shape of the continents?

34. What’s interesting? Just 200 million years ago, this is what the world looked like:

35. Plate Tectonics
Tectonic plates - blocks of lithosphere that consist of the crust and the rigid, outermost part of the mantle and glide across the underlying asthenosphere.
The continents are located on tectonic plates and move around with them.
The major tectonic plates include the Pacific, North America, South America, Africa, Eurasian, and Antarctic plates

36. Plate Boundaries
Much of the geological activity at the surface of the Earth takes place at the boundaries between tectonic plates.
Tectonic plates may separate, collide, or slip past one another.

37. Plate Boundaries
Divergent Boundary:

38. Plate Boundaries
Divergent Boundary:
Plates are moving away from each other
Midocean ridges are created and new ocean floor plates are created

39. Rift Valleys
Leif the Lucky Bridge Bridge between continents in Reykjanes peninsula, southwest Iceland across the Alfagja rift valley, the boundary of the Eurasian and North American continental tectonic plates.

40. plates are moving toward each other and are colliding (3 types)
Plate Boundaries
Convergent Boundary:
plates are moving toward each other and are colliding (3 types)

41. Convergent Boundaries
Create subduction zones, trenches
Create near coast volcanoes
Island arcs are created
Mountain ranges are created
(example: Himalayan Mountains)

42. Himalayan Mountains

43. Plate Boundaries Transform Fault Boundary
Plates are neither moving toward nor away from each other, they are moving past one another.

44. Transform Fault Boundary
The plates may move in opposite directions or in the same directions but at different rates and frequent earthquakes are created (example: San Andreas Fault)

45. San Andreas Fault

46. So is the Earth getting bigger?No
Plates are destroyed as fast as they are created (2 ways)
Plates may be subducted and melted or may push be pushed upward to form mountains 46

47. What types of forces are created?
Tensional Force:
stretching or pulling
Creates a normal fault 47

48. What types of forces are created?
Compressional Force:
force pushing something together
Creates a reverse fault 48

49. What types of forces are created?
Shear or Transversal Force:
a system of forces that operates against a body from different sides
Creates a strike-slip fault 49

50. Earthquakes

51. Earthquakes
A fault is a break in the Earth’s crust along which blocks of the crust slide relative to one another.
When rocks that are under stress suddenly break along a fault, a series of ground vibrations, known as earthquakes, is set off.
Earthquakes are occurring all the time. Many are so small that we cannot feel them, but some are enormous movements of the Earth’s crust that cause widespread damage.

52. Earthquakes
The actual place underground where the earthquake starts and rocks break producing vibrations is called the focus.
The place on the surface directly above the focus is called the epicenter

53. Seismic Waves
Originate at the focus and travel outward in all directions
Three Types: P wave, S wave, surface waves
Foreshocks: small earthquakes that come before a major earthquake
Aftershocks: Are adjustments in the crust after in earthquake.
Smaller than main earthquake, but can cause as much or more damage. They can continue for weeks to months.

54. How do we Measure Earthquakes?
Earthquake waves are recorded by a seismograph and the recording of waves on paper is called seismogram

55. Measuring Earthquakes
Locating the epicenter
Lag time between the arrival of the P wave and the S wave to the seismograph station is converted to a distance
A circle with a radius that equals the distance is drawn around the station.
Three stations can narrow down the location to where the circles intersect
Locating the focus: the lag-time of the surface wave will determine the depth of the focus

58. Measuring Earthquakes

59. Where do Earthquakes Occur?
The majority of earthquakes take place at or near tectonic plate boundaries because of the enormous stresses that are generated when tectonic plates separate, collide or slip past each other.
Over the past 15 million to 20 million years, large numbers of earthquakes have occurred along the San Andreas fault in California, where parts of the North America plate and the Pacific plate are slipping past one another.

60. Where do Earthquakes Occur?

61. Earthquake Dangers
Landslides
Avalanches

62. Volcanoes

63. Volcanoes
A volcano is a mountain built from magma, or melted rock, that rises from the Earth’s interior to the surface, and can occur on land or in the sea.
Volcanoes are often located near tectonic plate boundaries where plates are either colliding or separating from one another.
The majority of the world’s active volcanoes on land are located along tectonic plate boundaries that surround the Pacific Ocean.

64. Volcanoes: The Ring of Fire

65. The Birth of a volcano

66. What comes out of volcanoes?
Lava
Tephra
Gases

67. Tephra Basically, rock fragments
Also known as pyroclastic rock fragments.
There are many different possible sizes, from very small (volcanic ash or dust to much larger rocks (called volcanic bombs)

68. GASES
water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, chlorine

69. Types of Volcanic Eruptions
Two factors determine the type of eruption:
Amount of water vapor & other gases in the magma
The chemical composition of the magma

70. Explosive Eruptions
Trapped gases under high pressure will violently explode
Has granitic magma
The high water content of the magma produces more water vapor which when mixed in granitic magma produces explosive eruptions

71. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980

72. Quiet Eruptions Low Pressure gas …and has low water content
Has basaltic magma (is more fluid and will flow instead of explode)
…and has low water content
Examples: Hawaii

73. A typical Hawaiian Eruption

74. Types of volcanoes

75. Local Effect of Volcanic Eruptions
Clouds of host ash, dust, and gases can flow down the slope of a volcano at speeds of up to 200 km/hr and sear everything in their path.
During and eruption, volcanic ash can mix with water and produce mudflow (lahar) that runs downhill.
In addition, ash that falls to the ground can cause buildings to collapse under its weight, bury crops, damage the engines of vehicles, and cause breathing difficulties.

76. Global Effect of Volcanic Eruptions
Major volcanic eruptions can change Earth’s climate for several years.
In large eruptions, clouds of volcanic ash and sulfur rich gases may reach the upper atmosphere, and spread across the planet reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches the Earth’s surface.
The reduction in sunlight can cause a drop in the average global surface temperature.

77. Human Impact on the Lithosphere

78. Urbanization
Destroying natural areas can reduce the beauty of an area and have a potential economic impact.
Rapid development can result in very high levels of erosion and sedimentation in river channels.
Pollution of soils is possible by leaking gas tanks and other chemicals.

79. Agriculture Agriculture takes space.
Use of chemical pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers can contaminate soil and affect soil fertility.
Organic fertilizers are better.
Planting the same crop over and over can strip vital minerals out of the soil.
Crop rotation can help.

80. Deforestation
Cutting down all the trees in an area loosens the soil and makes it very easy for extreme erosion to occur.
One solution is replanting and a system of harvesting that thins out the area.

81. Overgrazing
Overgrazing is the removal of excessive amounts of plant growth by animals in one area. This accelerates erosion and strips away topsoil, resulting in no plants able to grow.
It is best to rotate animals among pastures.

82. Mining
Underground mining requires digging out large areas, increasing the risk for sinkholes and cave ins.
Strip mining destroys the environment.
Mine operators must reclaim the land after mining is finished (put the land back together and restore it to its original condition).
Strip Mining

83. Harvesting Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation. Eventually, peat can turn into coal and be burned for fuel.
Advantages
low sulphur content
minimal mercury content
low ash content energy
values equivalent to coal, less expensive than oil and natural gas and competitive with other biofuels
minor engineering retrofit needed when substituted for, or blended with, coal
Since peat forms nearer to the surface, it requires less digging.

84. Drilling for Oil and Natural Gas
Oil and Natural Gas are nonrenewable resources.
Drilling can cause the lithosphere to be disturbed and can cause earthquakes.
Soil and groundwater can also be contaminated.
Fracking is a hot political topic.

85. Human Activity and the Coast
As more and more people retire, there is more development on our coast.
Removal of vegetation at the coast can cause serious erosion.
Man made erosion control, like sandbags, can make erosion worse downshore.
Erosion causes houses to be condemned and potentially fall into the ocean.