Transcript Earth Science - My Teacher Pages

Earth Science
Chapter One – Mapping Earth’s
Surface
Section One – Exploring Earth’s
Surface
• Topography is the shape of the land. An
area’s topography may be mountainous, flat,
sloping, or hilly. Topography is determined
by elevation, relief, and landform.
– Landforms: this is the shape of Earth’s surface.
All landforms have elevation and relief.
Landforms
• There are three main types of landforms:
– Plains – a landform made up of flat or gently rolling land with low
relief. A plain that lies along a seacoast is called a coastal plain,
with low elevation – and a plain away from the coast is called an
interior plain with both high or low elevations.
– Mountains: is a landform with high elevation and high relief.
Mountains usually occur in a group called mountain ranges.
– Plateau: a landform that has high elevation and a more or less
level surface. Streams and rivers usually cut into the plateaus
surface – this is why the surface is not smooth.
Plains, Mountains, and Plateaus
Landforms
Rocky Mountains
Canyons
• The Grand Canyon
Sand Dunes
Volcanoes
Examples of Landforms
• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/geograp
hy/landforms/glossary.shtml
Relief Map of New Jersey
Four Spheres
• Scientists divide Earth into four spheres:
– Lithosphere: Litho=Land; Earth’s solid, rocky outer
layer. The lithosphere is made of the continents as well
as smaller landmasses called island. The lithosphere
included the entire ocean floor.
– Atmosphere: the outermost sphere, which includes a
mixture of gases that surrounds the planet.
– Hydrosphere: Hydro=water; this includes Earth’s
lakes, rivers, oceans, and ice.
– Biosphere: Bio=living; All living things in the air,
oceans, or on and beneath land.
Animation of Spheres
• http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_scie
nce/terc/content/visualizations/es0102/es01
02page01.cfm?chapter_no=01
Earth’s Three Layers
• Earth is made up of three layers.
– The core is the center of the Earth. There is the
inner core and the outer core.
– The mantle is the thick layer that surrounds the
core.
– The Crust is the thin, outer layer made of rock.
Diagram of the Earth’s Layers
Section Two – Mapping Earth’s
Surface
• A map is a model on a flat surface of all or part of
Earth’s surface – seen from above.
• A globe is a sphere that represents Earth’s entire
surface.
• Symbols are used on a map with an explanation of
their meaning – symbols represent topography and
other features on Earth’s surface. The map key
lists all the symbols used on the map.
Map
Globe
Using a Map or Globe
• Maps and globes show a grid based on two imaginary
lines. Half way between the North and South poles is the
equator. The equator divides Earth into the Northern
Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.
• The second imaginary line is the prime meridian – this line
makes a half circle from the North Pole to the South Pole –
dividing the Earth’s surface into the Western Hemisphere
and the Eastern Hemisphere.
• We live in the North-Eastern Hemisphere.
Equator
Prime Meridian
Latitude/Longitude
• The equator is the starting point for
measuring latitude – the distance in degrees
north and south of the equator.
• The distance in degrees east or west of the
prime meridian is called longitude.
Map with longitude/latitude
• Latitude
Longitude
Longitude/Latitude
Section Three – Maps in the
Computer Age
Satellites are designed to observe Earth’s
surface. Satellites use electronic devices to
collect information about the land surface in
the form of computer data Satellite images
are pictures of the surface based on these
data.
A Satellite image is made up of thousands
of tiny dots called pixels.
Satellites
• Image taken by a satellite in space
This image consists of 196 separate photographs taken with a 6 megapixel digital camera, and then
stitched together into one seamless composite. The final image is 40,784 x 26,800 pixels in size, and
contains about 1.09 billion pixels
Section Four – Topographic
Maps
• A topographic map is a map showing the surface features of an area.
• To represent elevation, relief, and slope on topographic maps,
mapmakers use contour lines.
– Closely spaced lines indicate a steep slope.
– Widely spaced lines indicate gentle slopes.
– A contour line that forms a closed loop with not other contour lines
inside it indicates a hill.
– A closed loop with dashes inside indicates a depression.
– V-shaped contour lines pointing uphill indicate a valley.
Topographic Map
Examples of Contour Lines