Earth Material and Structure
337
The Physical Environment: An Introduction to Physical Geography
CHAPTER 13: Earth Materials and Structure
Columnar Basalt Flows. Titon Valley, Yakama County, WashingtonCourtesy USGSPhysical geographers recognize that to uncover the spatial relationships of earth surface phenomena they must have a good understanding of what the Earth is composed of and howit affects landscape development. Here we will review the fundamental building blocks of Earth, how they change through time, and what effects they have on Earth surface processesand form.
Earth Material and Structure
338
The Physical Environment: An Introduction to Physical Geography
Earth Materials and Structure Outline
y
The Earth's Interior
o
The Crust
o
The Mantle
o
The Core
y
Forces that Shape the Surface of the Earth
y
O
rders of Relief
y
Minerals
y
Rocks
o
The Rock Cycle
o
Igneous Rocks
o
Sedimentary Rocks
o
Metamorphic Rocks
y
Review
Earth Material and Structure
339
The Physical Environment: An Introduction to Physical Geography
The Earth's Interior
The deep interior of the Earth remains somewhat of a mystery as we have only penetrated thevery most outer portion with our deep drilling exploration. What knowledge we do havecomes from seismic wave data or lava that has extruded onto the surface. What we do knowis that the Earth's interior is somewhat like a concentric series of rings, progressing from thedense and intensely hot inner core toward the brittle outer shell of the crust.
Figure EM.1
Seismograph recording seismicactivity.
(
Courtesy USGS Hawaii Volcano
O
bservatory)Seismic activity gives us clues as to the internal structure of the Earth. Geoscientists obtainseismic data from naturally occurring earthquakes or human-induced explosions. Seismicenergy produces two kinds of waves that are useful in studying the Earth'sinterior.
Compressional (P) waves
generate a back-and-forth motion parallel to the directionof travel.
Shear (S) waves
move up-and-down perpendicular to the direction of wavetransmission. Seismometers detect these motions and record them on a
seismograph
.When seismic waves pass through rock, their amplitude and direction changes. For instance,wave velocity generally increases as rock density increases. Shear waves do not penetratemolten masses and when they encounter a boundary between two rock types of differingdensities, a portion of the wave travels along the boundary while another part returns to thesurface. Such changes in seismic wave velocities led Yugoslavian geophysicist AndrijaMohorovicic (1857-1936) to discover the boundary between the crust and underlying mantle.Wave velocity increases through the "
Moho
" discontinuity. It is believed that thediscontinuity represents a zone where sima-type minerals undergo a phase change that produces a new and denser combination of minerals.
"
Examine P and S waves movingthrough Earth's interior." (Courtesy NSF/TERC/McDougall Littell)
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