Transcript Components of the Earth

Components
of the Earth
Components of the Earth
1. Hydrosphere
2. Lithosphere
3. Atmosphere
4. Biosphere
Introduction
• Imagine you are a first-class passenger on a
spaceship hurling through space at 100,000 km/h
• Poisonous gases are leaking into certain sections
of the craft and several passengers are dying
from the fumes.
• The water supply has been contaminated due to a
breakdown in the ship's waste expulsion system.
• Food supplies are running out.
Introduction
• Many passengers crowded into the economy
section of the craft are seriously ill, and only a few
of them are getting proper medical attention.
• The spaceship has an overall destruct system and
increasing numbers of technologists - some
mentally unstable - have gained access to the
controls of the destruct system.
• What would you do?
Introduction
•
List your 5 top priorities in order of importance
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Components of the Earth
Atmosphere is the mixture of gases surrounding
the Earth and other planets.
Components of the Earth
Components of the Earth
• Hydrosphere is the part of the Earth composed
of water, including:
• Approximately 71% of the Earth is covered by
water.
– 97% of this water is in the oceans (salt water)
– 3% is freshwater
• 77% of freshwater is locked in ice
• 22% of freshwater is in the ground
• <1% of freshwater is in lakes, rivers, and wetlands
Hydrosphere
Components of the Earth
• Lithosphere is the solid outer crust of the earth,
while the mantle and core comprise the interior of
the earth.
Components of the Earth
• Lithosphere is the outer part of the earth,
consisting of the crust and upper mantle.
Components of the Earth
• Biosphere is the life zone of the Earth and
includes all living organisms, including man, and
all organic matter that has not yet decomposed.
• The biosphere is structured into a hierarchy
known as the food chain whereby all life is
dependent upon the first tier (i.e. mainly the
primary producers that are capable of
photosynthesis).
• Energy and mass is transferred from one level of
the food chain to the next with an efficiency of
about 10%.
Components of the Earth
Biosphere
Biotic
Abiotic
Components of the Earth
• Biosphere is the combination of the lithosphere,
hydrosphere, and atmosphere that can support
life.
Components of the Earth
Problem solve: How have the 4 spheres interacted
to cause a forest fire and what effects does the
event have on them?
Earth System Science
Fire - Hydrosphere
A lack of moisture in the soil and in vegetation may have provided a dry environment in which the fires, once burning,
could continue to burn.
Heat from the fire may have further removed moisture from the air, soil, and vegetation through the process of
evaporation.
Fire - Atmosphere
A lightning strike from the air may have started the fires by igniting the dry vegetation.
Gaseous pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2) may have been produced during the burning of the vegetation and
carried into the air by the wind.
Fire - Lithosphere
The intense heat from the fires may have caused some rocks to break apart.
Fire - Biosphere
Dead branches and pine needles on the ground may have provided fuel for the fires.
The seeds of some plants may have required that their outer shells be burned before they could germinate; therefore
they benefited from the forest fires.