Earth System Flashcards
What are 3 classes of minerals?
- Igneous
- Metamorphic
- Sedimentary
What kind of system is the Earth?
A closed system where energy is exchanged but matter is NOT exchanged btwn the system and its surroundings
Name the 4 subsystems of Earth
-Geosphere (solid earth)
-Hydrosphere (all liquid water on Earth)
-Atmosphere (Earth’s envelope of gas)
-Biosphere (earth’s life + undecomposed organic matter)
What are the heat sources that heat Earth’s interior?
Heat is released:
- decay of radioactive elements
-compaction of early earth (gravitational nrg -> heat)
-meteorite impacts
What are Protoplanets?
-primitive atmospheres rich in Hydrogen and Helium
-impacted by solid bodies that add to their volume
How was the hydrosphere created?
Earth cooling down caused water vapour to condense producing liquid water
- rains of liquid water produced hydrosphere
What are the 3 basic divisions of Earth?
(Chemical Composition)
- Crust
- Mantle
- Core
What are the physical properties of Earth?
Lithosphere: Earth’s outer rocky shell made of upper brittle mantle rock + all of crust
Asthenosphere: near-liquid part of mantle which lithosphere “floats”
What are the 3 lithosphere plate boundaries?
- Divergent plate boundaries
- Convergent plate boundaries
- Transform plate boundaries
Define divergent plate boundaries
lithospheric plates diverge (move away) from one another
Define convergent plate boundaries
lithospheric plates converge (move toward) from one another
Who formulated Uniformitarianism?
What is uniformitarianism?
James Hutton
forces + processes observed to operate on Earth today did so the same way in the past
Who attributed Catastrophism?
What is catastrophism?
George Cuvier
Earth developed as a consequence of abrupt + catastrophic events
