Lithosphere

 It is the solid outer section of Earth

 It includes the entire Earth’s Crust (Oceanic and continental) and the upper mantle
 It is not a continuous layer

Pangaea
 The continents are all locked up into a large landmass
 The plates drift 12 cm per year

Plate tectonic theory

 It proposes that the lithosphere is divided into major plates and smaller plates
resting upon the soft layer called asthenosphere

15 major tectonic plates

1. Eurasian plate
2. North American Plate
3. Caribbean Plate
4. Juan de Fuca plate
5. Philippine plate
6. Cocos plate
7. Australian plate
8. Pacific plate
9. Nazca plate
10. South American plate
11. Antarctic plate
12. Scotia Plate
13. Arabian plate
14. African plate
15. Indian plate

3 types of Tectonic Plate Boundaries

(a) Divergent – plates move away from each other
(b) Convergent – plates move towards each other
(c) Transform – plates slide past each other

Atmosphere

 The Early earth had an atmosphere that was very inhospitable

 The temperature was very high causing the H and He to escape into outer space
 There are lots of water vapor but with no oxygen

Composition of Atmosphere
Nitrogen – 78.084
Oxygen – 20.946
Argon – 0.934
Carbon Dioxide – 0.036
Neon – 0.00182
Helium – 0.00524
Methane – 0.00015
Krypton – 0.000114
Hydrogen – 0.00005
Layers of the Atmosphere
1) Troposphere
 Lowest layer
 Contains 80% of the total mass of the atmosphere
 All weather happens in this layer
 Temperature decreases as the altitude increases, the temperature stops decreasing
at the TROPOPAUSE

2) Stratosphere
 It is where jet planes fly
 It lacks the weather-producing air turbulence and is almost completely free of
clouds and other forms of weather
 Temperature increases as the altitude increases due to the presence of ozone (O3)
that absorbs the UV rays from the sun
 The temperature stops increasing at the STRATOPAUSE

3) Mesosphere
 The coldest region in the atmosphere
 It protects earth from meteoroids
 Burning meteors is seen on Earth as “shooting star” or “burning meteors”
 Temperature decreases as the altitude increases, the temperature stops decreasing
at the MESOPOPAUSE

4) Thermosphere
 The temperature in this layer can rise to as high as 1500oC
 The hottest layer
 IONOSPHERE
o it is a layer consisting of highly ionized gas
o at the poles, ions interact with air molecules to form an AURORA – colorful
display of light
o “Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, Aurora Australis or Southern
Lights”
o KENNELLY-HEAVISIDE LAYER – layer of the ionosphere that reflects radio
waves
5) Exosphere
 The outermost layer
 Most of the orbiting satellites, as well as low-density elements, like hydrogen and
helium are found in this layer.

Hydrosphere

 Nearly 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by ocean

 The reason why it is called the blue planet

Four Major Ocean Basin

 Pacific Ocean
 Atlantic Ocean
 Indian Ocean
 Arctic Ocean

 A sea is part of an ocean that is partially surrounding a landform

 If it totally surrounds a landform, it is called an island sea
 An ocean is a body of saltwater with almost no boundaries and limitless volume
Composition
 Salinity refers to the proportion of dissolved salts to pure water
 Saltwater has an average 3.5 % salinity caused by several ions and dissolved solids
and gases, and 96.5% water

Distribution of water on Earth’s Crust

 Saltwater – 97.5%
 Freshwater - 2.5%
o Lakes and rivers: 0.3%
o Groundwater:30.8%
o Locked in glacier: 68.9%

Ocean Zones
a) Horizontal zones divide the ocean from land to the sea.
1. Coastal zone – is the region in which the sea bottom is exposed during low tide
and is covered during high tide
2. Pelagic zone – is located seaward of the coastal zone’s low tide mark. This is
always covered with water. Two divisions:
o Oceanic zone lies above the continental shelf. It begins from low tide mark
outward from the seashore
o Neritic zone extends from the continental shelf, over continental shelf and
over the ocean floor. It is characterized by darkness.

b) Vertical zones divide the ocean based on depth, beginning at sea level to the deepest
part of the ocean
1. Epipelagic zone or sunlight zone (0-200m) is the zone that gets a lot of sunlight,
resulting to an abundance of aquatic plants
2. Mesopelagic zone or twilight zone (200-1000m) is characterized by dim light due
to the limited amount of sunlight it receives
3. Bathypelagic zone or midnight zone (1000-4000m) does not receive any sunlight.
Animals that live here lack eyes.
4. Abyssopelagic zone or abyss (4000-6000m) is described as deep sea. Most
animals living in this area are invertebrates
5. Hadalpelagic zone or trenches (6000-bottom) is the deepest part of the ocean.
This zone is mostly found in deep water trenches and canyons.

Biosphere

 The biosphere contains the entirety of Earth’s living things.

 It sometimes referred to as the “zone of life”
 Geologist Edward Suess coined the term biosphere in 1875.

Biomes
 It is the world’s major communities. They are classified according to the
predominant vegetation characterized by adaptations of organisms to that
particular climate.

Four major biomes

1. Aquatic includes freshwater (ponds, lakes, rivers, etc.). The aquatic region houses
numerous species of plants and animals.
2. Forest includes tropical, temperate and boreal forests, as well as taiga.
3. Desert is characterized by low rainfall (less than 50 cm/year).
4. Tundra is the coldest of all biomes; it has low biotic diversity and simple vegetation
structure.
 Nitrogen Cycle

 Nitrogen is 78% of the atmosphere, but it cannot be used directly by the large
majority of the living things
 It must be ‘fixed’ – the nitrogen must be incorporated in a chemical compound that
can be utilized by plants and animals.

Five Steps in Nitrogen Cycle:

Nitrogen Fixation
 Two atoms of nitrogen combine with three molecules of hydrogen to form two
molecules of ammonia
 It can be carried out by electrical discharges and biological processes
Nitrification
 The process by which ammonia or ammonium is oxidized into nitrates
Assimilation
 Incorporation of ammonia and nitrates into biological tissues
Ammonification
 Organic nitrogen compounds to ammonia
Denitrification
 Under anaerobic condition (absence of oxygen), denitrifying bacteria attack nitrates
to obtain oxygen as a source of energy and release gaseous oxygen.