1. The Dynamic Earth and Space Geodesy
EATS [Fall 2012]
Instructor: Gary Jarvis, Department of Earth and Space
Science & Engineering (ESSE)
117 Petrie Science & Engineering Building
Ext
Laboratory Coordinator: Terry Du,
Text: The Dynamic Earth and Space Geodesy, SC/EATS (Custom Publication for York University)
ESSE office: 102 Petrie Science & Engineering,
Ext

2. The Dynamic Earth and Space Geodesy
EATS [Fall 2012]
Earth as a Planetary Body in Space
Topics
Origin of the Earth Large Scale
Impact Craters
Earth’s Interior
Plate Tectonics
Geomagnetism
Seismology
Space Geodesy & Geomatics
VLBI
GPS
GIS
Remote Sensing Small Scale
What is it?
How do we measure it?

3. The Dynamic Earth and Space Geodesy
EATS [Fall 2012]
Course Marking Scheme & Schedule
5 Laboratory Exercises: 20% Sept. 17 – Nov. 23
Mid-Term Test: 30% October 18
Final Exam: 50% December 5 – 21.

4. EATS 1010 3.0 Lab. Timetable (Fall 2012)
Group Day Time Lab 1 Lab 2 Lab 3 Lab 4 Lab 5
Planet Minerals Plate GPS Geomatics
Earth Tectonics
_______________________________________________________________________
1 M 11:30 Sept. 17 Oct. 1 Oct. 22 Nov. 5 Nov. 19
2 M 2:30 Sept. 17 Oct. 1 Oct. 22 Nov. 5 Nov. 19
3 T 11:30 Sept. 18 Oct. 2 Oct. 23 Nov. 6 Nov. 20
4 T 2:30 Sept. 18 Oct. 2 Oct. 23 Nov. 6 Nov. 20
5 W 11:30 Sept. 19 Oct. 3 Oct. 24 Nov. 7 Nov. 21
6 W 2:30 Sept. 19 Oct. 3 Oct. 24 Nov. 7 Nov. 21
7 R 11:30 Sept. 20 Oct. 4 Oct. 25 Nov. 8 Nov. 22
8 R 2:30 Sept. 20 Oct. 4 Oct. 25 Nov. 8 Nov. 22
9 F 8:30 Sept. 21 Oct. 5 Oct. 26 Nov. 9 Nov. 23
F 11:30 Sept. 21 Oct. 5 Oct. 26 Nov. 9 Nov. 23
F 2:30 Sept. 21 Oct. 5 Oct. 26 Nov. 9 Nov. 23

5. Attendance - Notes are essential – cover 80% of material Lectures
Text required - covers about 50% of material
Laboratory Sessions
- Mandatory – zero tolerance
- Change of lab group only with permission of lab. coordinator.
- Lab exercises must be submitted to your group TA. Otherwise no mark.

6. Powers of Ten Number Conventional Name Scientific Notation
One Thousandth 10-3
One Hundredth
0.1 One Tenth
1. One
10. Ten
One Hundred 102
1,000. One Thousand 103
10,000. Ten Thousand 104
100,000. One Hundred Thousand 105
1,000,000. One Million 106
10,000,000. Ten Million 107
100,000,000. One Hundred Million 108
1,000,000,000. One Billion 109
x 1000
Shifting of the decimal point
x 1000

7. Powers of Ten - Naming Convention
= decillion
= undecillion
= duodecillion
= tredecillion
1084 = septemvigintillion
= novenonagintanongentillion
103 = thousand
106 = million
109 = billion
1012 = trillion
1015 = quadrillion
1018 = quintillion
1021 = sextillion
1024 = septillion
1027 = octillion
1030 = nonillion

8. Measuring Distance or Mass
Conventional Name Number Scientific Notation
nanometre m m
micron m m
millimetre m m
centimetre m m
metre m m
kilometre , m m
Distance to the Moon : ,000 km x 105 km
Distance to nearest star: ,396,460,000,000 km x 1013 km
Distance to Quasars: 122,987,000,000,000,000,000,000 km 1.23 x 1023 km
Mass of the Sun:
1,998,920,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg or, x 1030 kg
Mass of a Galactic Black Hole:
399,784,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg
or, x 1038 kg.
≈ 4 x 1038 kg.

9. • • The Visible Universe • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
quasar
The Visible Universe • • • • • •
galaxy
galaxy cluster • • •
quasar • •
galaxy • • • •
Quasars – Quasi-stellar objects 10**13 times as bright as the Sun • • • • • • • • •
galaxy cluster •
quasar •
quasar •
Film: Powers of 10

10. Quasars
quasars, quasi-stellar radio sources (originally looked like a single point, i.e. star-like)
they emit enormous amounts of energy, equal to the energy of a trillion suns. Some quasars produce 1000 times more energy than our entire galaxy.
they are the most luminous, powerful, and energetic objects known in the universe. They tend to inhabit the very centers of active young galaxies
they are small (Solar System sized or less) – not star-like
the most distant quasars observed are over 10 billion light-years away.
Quasars are believed to be powered by the injection of material into supermassive black holes in the nuclei of distant galaxies. Since light can't escape the supermassive black holes that are at the center of quasars, the escaping energy is actually generated by gravitational stresses and immense friction on the incoming material.

11. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
quasar
Earth
The Visible Universe • • • • • •
galaxy
galaxy cluster • • •
quasar • •
galaxy
galaxy •
galaxy •
Milky Way Galaxy • • • • • • • • • • •
galaxy cluster •
quasar •
quasar •

12. Galaxies Astronomers can see billions of galaxies.
Photograph from the Hubble space telescope.
The Sun
There are 100 billion "Suns" in a galaxy like our own Milky Way Galaxy.

13. The Milky Way Galaxy as seen edge on from the Solar System

14. The Milky Way Galaxy
Fig

15. The Milky Way
With telescope and time exposure
On a clear dark night

16. Our Solar System
Our solar system consists of an average-size star we call the
Sun; the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus and Neptune; and the dwarf planet Pluto.
It also includes: the satellites of the planets; numerous comets,
asteroids, and meteoroids; and the interplanetary medium.
Sun
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Pluto
Relative sizes of planets

17. Formation of the Solar System
The “Nebular Hypothesis”
A cloud of interstellar gas/dust, the "solar nebula", including material formed in previous generations of stars, is disturbed (for example, by the shock wave from a nearby supernova).

18. Formation of the Solar System
1. Contraction: The cloud starts collapsing under its own gravity.
The collapsing, spinning nebula begins to flatten into a rotating pancake.

19. Formation of the Solar System
2. A Protostar forms in the centre, when the core becomes dense enough; later will become the Sun.
3. Dust grains stick to each other and sweep their paths, forming larger particles (Planetesimals).
4. Orbital paths are cleared.
5. The Sun and its planets all spin in the same direction.

20. The Sun Within the core of the Sun: temperatures exceed 15,000,000° C
and pressure is 340 billion times the atmospheric pressure at Earth's surface.
Conditions are so intense that nuclear fusion takes place creating new elements.

21. Nuclear Fusion in the Sun
Four hydrogen nuclei get fused into one helium nucleus,
Accompanied by the emission of neutrinos and release of energy:
4 H1  He4 + neutrinos + energy
H1 is the nucleus of a hydrogen atom (one proton)
He4 is the nucleus of a helium atom (two protons and two neutrons)

22. Conversion of Mass into Energy
The nucleus of the resulting helium atom is about 0.7 percent less massive than the four component protons.
During the fusion of hydrogen, approximately 0.7% of the mass of hydrogen is converted into energy.
E = mc2

23. The Solar Wind
Fast-moving ions can escape the Sun's gravitational attraction. Moving outward at hundreds of kilometres/second, these positive and negative charges travel to the farthest reaches of the solar system.
They are called the solar wind.

24. Solar Prominences
Bursts of solar wind accompany solar prominences (similar to nuclear explosions) which extend millions of km into space.
Earth
Solar
Prominence

25. Interstellar Distances
The Sun is massive – 99.9% of mass of Solar System.
- The planets are relatively minute:
- Jupiter makes up most of the remaining 0.1%.
The next nearest star appears as a point of light.
Similarly, from the nearest star, our Sun would appear as a point of light in the night sky
- the planets of our Solar System would not be visible.
- similarly planets of other stars are not visible to us,
but must exist
[detected by wobbles of star due to gravity of orbiting planets].
Distances between the stars are enormous.

26. A new unit of distance to measure interstellar space
Light Year:
The distance light travels in a year, travelling at a speed of 300,000 kilometres per second;
1 light-year is equivalent to x 1012 km
( almost ten trillion km).
The Sun's nearest known stellar neighbour is a star called Proxima Centauri, at a distance of 4.3 light years away (i.e., 4.3 LY).
Some Quasars are more distant than 10 billion LY.

27. The Solar System is Small
Solar System from a Cosmic Perspective
Facts:
Average distance from the Sun to Neptune is 4.5 x 109 km
Distance from the Sun to the nearest star is 4.1 x 1013 km (~ 9000 x distance from Sun to Neptune)
The Sun is one of 1022 similar stars.
On a cosmic scale the Solar System is microscopic.

28. The Solar System is Large
Solar System from an Earth Perspective
Facts:
The Diameter of Earth is 12.8 x 103 km (DEarth)
The distance from the Sun to Earth is x 108 km or about 12,000 x DEarth.
The diameter of Neptune’s orbit is 700,000 x DEarth.
On an Earth scale the Solar System is vast.

29. A new unit of distance to measure interplanetary space
Astronomical Unit (AU) :
The average distance from the Earth to the Sun;
1 AU = 149,597,870 kilometres (~150 million km)
1 LY= 63,240 AU.
We can measure distances within the solar system in units of AU’s.
e.g., The distance from the Sun to Earth is 1 AU
The distance from the Sun to Mars is 1.5 AU
The distance from the Sun to Venus is 0.72 AU