1. Earth’s Spheres, Landforms and Physical Processes
What does it all mean?
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4. Earth’s Spheres
Atmosphere: located right above the Earth’s surface and includes layers of gases (clouds, air pollution, sand storms, hurricanes, etc.)
It protects us by absorbing solar radiation.
Biosphere: life on land, rivers and oceans (Biomes) deserts, forests, grasslands
Hydrosphere: water in liquid and solid state (oceans, glaciers, snow, lakes, rivers, etc.)
Lithosphere: solids of the Earth (rocks, soils, landforms, etc.)
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5. Dissecting the Earth Inner core- very hot and solid
Outer core- hot molten liquid
Lower mantle- largest area, sticky-thick liquid
Upper mantle- solid rock
Crust- thin top layer of Earth’s surface
Atmosphere- air; layers of gases, clouds
Lithosphere- solids of the Earth; rocks, soil, landforms
Hydrosphere- water in liquid or solid state; oceans, glaciers, snow
Biosphere- life on land or in water; different biomes or habitats such as deserts or forests
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6. Dissecting the Earth
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7. Plate Tectonics: View direction of the arrows showing movement of the plates. What can you deduce from this image?
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8. Movement Along Plate Boundaries
Converging- Plates moving toward one another; plates colliding
Subduction- Plates moving underneath each other
Divergent- Plates moving away or apart from one another. Also known as “spreading”
Transform faulting- Plates moving side to side or sliding past each other
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9. Converging Consists of two types of plate boundaries…
*Continental-continental (mountains)
*Oceanic-oceanic (volcanic mountains and ocean trenches)
Oceanic-oceanic plates are heavy, and move under the lighter continental plate. This in turns causes subduction.
All convergent plates experience landslides and volcanic mudslides
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10. Subduction Plates moving underneath each other
The subducted crust is always oceanic while the overriding crust may or may not be oceanic. Subduction zones are often noted for their high rates of volcanism, earthquakes and mountain building, also known as orogenesis.
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11. Divergent Plates moving apart from each other
On land, this is called a rift valley, and in the ocean it is called mid-oceanic ridge
Block-vaulted and volcanoes form here (When the continental crust fractures, large blocks of crust can drop into the space that opens up)
Earthquakes are experienced here
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12. Transform faulting Plates moving side by side Produces earthquakes
Relative motion is predominantly horizontal
Transform faults end abruptly and are connected on both ends to other faults, ridges, or subduction zones
While most transform faults are hidden in the deep oceans where they form a series of short zigzags accommodating seafloor spreading, the best-known (and most destructive) are those on land at the margins of tectonic plates
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13. Pangaea
Scientist Alfred Wegner theorized that at one time there was one huge super continent- Pangaea, that broke apart and separated into our seven (7) current continents
The continents continue to drift even today
Continental drift- Pangaean plates spliting and breaking apart several times to form the continents we know today; tectonic plates
In the 1960’s, scientist found eveidence on the sea floor that suggested that it was spreading and pushing the continents apart.
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14. Our next supercontinent, maybe?
The Earth has been covered by giant combinations of continents, called supercontinents, many times in its past, and it will be again one day in the distant future. The next predicted supercontinent, dubbed Amasia, may form when the Americas and Asia both drift northward to merge, closing off the Arctic Ocean, researchers suggest. Conventional models of how supercontinents evolve suggest they form on top of the previous supercontinent, known as introversion, or on the opposite side of the world from that supercontinent, known as extroversion. Under these models Amasia would therefore either form where Pangaea once was, with the Americas meeting with Asia to close off the Atlantic Ocean, or form on the other side of the planet from where Pangaea was, with the Americas merging with Asia to close off the Pacific Ocean.
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15. Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire is the circle of volcanoes bordering the Pacific Ocean.
An arc of islands east of China marks where the Pacific, Philippine and Eurasian tectonic plates meet. Most of the mountainous islands, including Taiwan and Japan, were formed by volcanic activity.
Plate movements cause frequent earthquakes that can generate tsunamis and violent volcano eruptions.
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16. Now lets read… Open your books and read pgs 26-29 and pgs 37-41
OH…. And you will have homework 
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