Grade 11- Earth and Life Science

ASYNCHRONOUS SCHEDULE
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Name: ____________________________________________
Grade & Section: ____________________________________ Score:

WEEK 6

DAY LEARNING LEARNING LEARNING TASK MODE OF

AND AREA COMPETENCIES & (Please refer to DELIVERY
TIME OBJECTIVES your book)
A READ
S  Pages Parents,
Y Lesson 1 hand- in
N Planet Earth  Describe the ACTIVTIES the
C layers of the outputs
H Earth; See your activity to class
R  Discuss the on the next page adviser.
O Lesson 2 different Please
N Movement of methods make
O the Earth’s (relative and sure that
U Crust absolute outputs
S datings) in are with
determining the names of
S age of stratified your
C rocks; learner.
H  Cite evidence
E that support
D continental
U drift; and
L  Explain how the
E seafloor
spreads.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Use the attached
activity sheet on
the next page. You
can write your
answer there.
Additional activity
is also attached.
Revisit all worksheets and check if all required tasks are done.
Parents/Learners meet to return all answer sheets for the week, and get new
worksheets to be used for the following week.
 Grade 11- Earth and Life Science

LESSON 1: OUR EARTH

Earth’s Early Evolution

As material’s continued to accumulate, the high velocity impact of interplanetary

debris and the decay of radioactive elements caused the temperature of our planet to
steadily increase. During this period of intense heating Earth became hot enough that
iron and nickel began to melt. This process occurred rapidly on the scale of geologic
time and produced Earth’s dense iron-rich core. This early period of heating also
resulted in a magma ocean, about hundred kilometers deep. Within the magma ocean
buoyant masses of molten rock rose toward the surface and eventually solidified to
produce a thin, primitive crust – thus, the three major divisions of the Earth’s interior – a)
the iron – rich core, b) the thin primitive crust, and c) its thickest layer, the mantle. In
addition, the light materials – including the water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases
escaped to form a primitive atmosphere and shortly thereafter the oceans.
A. Relative Dating
Earth scientists use five principles to discern the nature and sequence of
geologic events and the relative ages of rocks.
1. Original horizontally – layers of sediments are deposited evenly with each
new layer laid down nearly horizontally over older sediment.
2. Superposition – in an unreformed sequence of sedimentary rocks, each layer
is older than the one above and younger than the one below.
3. Cross – cutting – an igneous intrusion or fault that cuts through preexisting
rock is younger than the rock which it cuts.
4. Inclusion – inclusions are pieces of one rock type contained with another. Any
inclusion is older than the rock containing it.

B. Radiometric Dating
The actual age of a rock can be estimated by radiometric dating, which entails
measuring the ratio of radioactive isotopes to their decay products.
Using both relative and radiometric dating, scientists learn the sequence of
events and how long ago each occurred. Radiometric dating gives the age of
sedimentary rocks in which the datable material is found. The rock can be no older
than the age of datable material within it.

Geologic Time Scale

The geologic time scale was developed through the use of relative dating, and
specific dates were applied to it via radiometric dating. The geologic time scale is
divided into three eras – the Paleozoic (time of ancient life), the Mesozoic (time of
middle life), and the Cenozoic (time of recent life). Each era is further divided into
periods and further into epochs. The largest span of time, the time period preceding the
Paleozoic is known as the Precambrian (the time of hidden life).
a) The Precambrian Time
The era ranges from about 4.6 billion years ago, when the earth formed, to
about 544 million years ago, when abundant microscopic life appeared. Most of
the rocks in this early part of Earth’s history have been extensively eroded away,

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metamorphosed, obscured by overlying strata or recycled into the Earth’s

interior.
The most common Precambrian fossils are stromatolites. These are not
remains of actual organisms, rather indirect pieces of evidence of algae. Many of
the Precambrian fossils were preserved in hard, dense chemical sedimentary
rock known as chert. Fossils of plants date from middle Precambrian, but fossils
of animal’s date in the late Precambrian. Towards the end of this period, fossil
records revealed that diverse and complete multi-celled organisms existed.
b) The Paleozoic Era
Paleozoic era began about 544 million years ago and lasted about 300 million
years, during which time sea levels rose and fell worldwide, allowing shallow seas to
cover the continents and marine life to flourish – from marine invertebrates to fishes,
amphibians, and reptiles.
The Paleozoic Era is divided into six major periods:
a.) Cambrian b.) Ordovician c.) Silurian
d.) Devonian e.) Carboniferous f.) Permian

Cambrian Period
Almost all marine organisms came into existence as evidenced by abundant
fossils. A most important event is the development of organisms having the ability to
secret calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate for the formation of shells.
Ordovician Period
All major groups of animals that could be preserved as fossils had appeared.
This period marks the earliest appearance of vertebrates – the jawless fish known as
the agnatha.
Silurian Period
The Silurian brought about the emergence of terrestrial life, the earliest being the
terrestrial plants with well-developed circulatory system (vascular plants). As plants
move ashore so did other terrestrial organisms. Air breathing scorpions and
millipedes were common during the period.
Devonian Period
This period is known as the “age of fishes” lowland forest of seed ferns, scale
trees and true ferns flourished. Sharks and bony fishes developed. Today the lung
fishes and coelacanth, a living “fossil” have such internal nostrils and breathe in a
similar way. The first amphibians made their appearance, although able to live on
land, they need to return to water to lay their eggs.
Carboniferous Period
Warm, moist climate conditions contributed to lash vegetation and dense
swampy forests. Insects under rapid evolution led to such diverse forms of giant
cockroaches and dragonflies. The evolution of the first reptiles took place with the
development of the amniotic egg, a porous shell containing a membrane that
provided an environment for an embryo.

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Permian Period
The reptiles were well-suited to their environment that they ruled the Earth for
200 million years. The two major groups of reptiles – diapsids and synapsids
dominated this period. Diapsids gave rise to the dinosaurs. Synapsids gave rise to
mammals.
c) Mesozoic Era
Known as the age of reptiles, it is made up of three periods: Triassic,
Jurassic, and Creataceous. The most significant event was the rise of the dinosaurs.
A famous Jurassic deposit is the Morrison Formation, within which the world’s
richest storehouse of dinosaurs was preserved. True pines and redwoods appeared
and rapidly spread. Flowering plant arose and their emergence accelerated the
evolution of insects. A major event of this era was the breakup of Pangea.
By the end of this period, the dinosaurs and reptiles were completely wiped
out.
d) The Cenozoic Era
This era is known as the “age of mammals” because mammals replaced
reptiles as the dominant land animals. It is also sometimes called “age of flowering
plants” because angiosperms replaced gymnosperms as the dominant land plants.
Cenozoic era is made up of two periods: Tertiary and Quaternary. From oldest to
youngest the periods are broken up into the Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene,
Miocene, and Pliocene for the Tertiary period, and the Pleistocene and Holocene for
the Quaternary period. Climates cooled during this era, hence the widespread
glaciation. This era also brought about the advent of humans. The lowered sea level
resulted in the “land bridges” connections between land masses. One of these land
bridges provided the route for the human migration from Asia to North America, also
throughout the world.

Earth as a System

To fully understand our planet, we must learn how its individual components
(land, water, air, and life forms) are interconnected. Earth as a system is composed of
numerous interacting parts or subsystems. Earth system science attempts to integrate
the knowledge from traditional sciences – geology, atmospheric science, chemistry,
biology, and so on. Earth is just a small part of a layer of a larger system known as the
solar system.
Earth system has nearly endless array of subsystems in which matter is recycled
over and over again. The hydrologic cycle represents the unending circulation of Earth’s
water among the hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and geosphere. Water enters
the atmosphere by evaporation from the surface and by transpiration from plants. Water
vapor condenses in the atmosphere to form clouds, which in turn produce precipitation
that falls back to Earth.

Earth Subsystem

The physical environment of our Earth is traditionally divided into three major
spheres: the water portion, the hydrosphere, the gaseous envelop, the atmosphere, and
the solid part, the geosphere.

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a. Hydrosphere
The hydrosphere is a dynamic mass of water that is continuously moving,
evaporating from the oceans to the atmosphere, precipitating to the land, and
returning to the ocean. The global ocean is the most prominent feature of the
hydrosphere, blanketing nearly 71% of Earth’s surface to an average depth of about
3,800 meters.
b. Atmosphere
It is a very shallow layer. One half lies below an altitude of 5.6 kilometers of
Earth’s surface. Thus thin blanket of air provides us with air that we breathe. It also
protects us from the sun’s dangerous ultraviolet radiation. The energy exchanges
that continually occur between the atmosphere and Earth’s surface and between the
atmosphere and space produce our weather and climate.
c. Geosphere
The geosphere extends from the surface to the center of the planet, a depth
of 6,400 kilometers, being the largest of the four spheres. Most surface features give
us a clue of the dynamic processes occurring at the Earth’s interior.
d. Biosphere
The biosphere includes all life on Earth. Ocean life is concentrated in the
sunlit waters on the sea. Most life is on the surface, with tree roots and barrowing
animals. Reaching a few meters underground. Flying insects and birds reach a
kilometer above.

Earth’s Internal Structure

The Earth’s compositional (density) differences resulted in the formation of three

layers – the crust, mantle, and core. Based on physical properties, Earth is also divided
into layers.
LAYERS OF THE EARTH

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 Grade 11- Earth and Life Science

a. Crust
The crust is the thin, topmost layer of the Earth. It is said that the crust is
divided into two layers: sial and sima. The sial is the uppermost layer whose name is
derived from the first two letters of the two most abundant elements found in it,
silicon (Si) and aluminum (Al). The sima is the lower crust made up mostly of silicon
(Si) and magnesium (Mg).
The earth’s thin rocky crust is of two different types – continental crust and
oceanic crust. The continental crust averages about 35 km thick and exceeds 70 km
in mountainous regions. The oceanic crust is roughly 7 km thick and is composed of
the dark igneous rock basalt. The upper crust has a composition of granitic rock.
Continental rock has an average density of about 2.7 g/cm 3. The rocks of oceanic
crust are younger and denser. Separating the crust and the Earth’s second layer is a
boundary called Mohorovicic discontinuity or simply Noho discovered by a Croatian
scientist, Andrija Mohorovicic in 1909.
b. Mantle
More than 82% of Earth’s volume is contained in the mantle, a solid rocky
shell that extends to a depth of nearly 2, 900 km. the dominant rock type in the
uppermost mantle is the peridotite, which is richer in the metals magnesium and
iron. A boundary called Gutenberg discontinuity separates the mantle and the
Earth’s third layer. It was discovered by a German seismologist, Beno Gutenberg in
1914.
c. Core
The composition of the core is an iron-nickel alloy with minor amounts of
oxygen, silicon, and sulfur elements that readily form compounds with iron. The core
is divided into two regions. The outer core is a liquid layer 2,200 km thick. It is the
movement of this zone that generates of Earth’s magnetic field. The inner core is a
sphere with a radius of 1, 216 km. the iron in the inner core is solid due to the
immense pressures that exist in the center of the planet.

Activity 1
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 Grade 11- Earth and Life Science

Directions:
1. Slice an apple into two.
2. Observe closely the compositions of the apple.
3. Relate the compositions of the apple to the layers of the Earth.
4. Draw the sliced apple and label it using the layers of the Earth.

Guide Questions:
a. What are the thickest and the thinnest parts of the apple? How would you relate
each to the layers of the Earth?
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b. What can you conclude from this activity?
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Movement of the Earth’s Crust

LESSON 2:

A. The Continental Drift Theory

Movement of the Crust
In 1912 a German meteorologist Alfred Wegener set forth the Continental
Drift Theory. He believed that there was once a supercontinent Pangaea,

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meaning “all land” that existed. This giant supercontinent was surrounded by a
single giant sea known as Panthalassa, a Greek word for “all seas”. According to
Wegener, Pangaea split into two smaller continents. The northern continent was
called Laurasia and the southern continent was called Gondwanaland. He
pointed out how South America and Africa fit together. Ancient climatic
similarities, fossil evidences, and rock structures support the idea of
supercontinent.

Mountains systems in Africa and South America show strong connection.

Fossils of identical trees are found in both continents.

There are three kinds of continental drift:

1. Divergent movements occur when plates pull apart from each other. When 2
plates diverge, pieces from such plates sink towards the Earth’s core.
2. Convergent movements occur when plates crush into each other and land
crumples, forming trenches and mountains. Examples are the Marianas Trench
in the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountain in South America.
3. Lateral movements occur when plates move alongside each other in different
directions. The sideswiping motion cause earthquakes.

B. Seafloor Spreading
The mechanisms that operates along the ocean ridge system to create new
floor is called seafloor spreading. Harry Hess, an American geologist presented this
hypothesis and he proposed that the seafloor is not permanent but is continuously
being renewed. He theorized that the ocean ridges are located above upwelling
convection cells in the mantle. As rising material from the mantle oozes upward new
lithosphere is formed. The old lithosphere is simultaneously destroyed in the deep
ocean trenches. The theory of the seafloor spreading provided the mechanisms for
continental drift.
Seafloor Sediments
Seafloor sediments can be classified according to their origin: 1) trigenous 2)
biogenous 3) hydrogenous. Trigenous sediment consist of mineral grains that were
weathered from continental rocks and transported to the ocean. Biogenous sediment
consist of shells and skeletons of marine animals and algae. Hydrogenous sediments
consist of minerals crystallize directly from seawater through various chemical
reactions.
C. The Theory of Plate Tectonics
This theory describes the forces within the Earth that give rise to
continents, ocean basins, mountain ranges, earthquake belts, and other large
scale features of the Earth’s surface. The creation and destruction of lithosphere
takes place at such margins. Tectonics come from the word tekton which means
“to build”.
Folds
Rocks subjected to stress begin to deform into intricate and broad folds, and if
enough stress is applied, rocks break and then move along faults. Sediments setting
from water in an ocean are deposited in horizontal layers, with the layer at the bottom
deposited first. This bottom layer is the oldest. Each new layer is deposited on top of the
previous layer, with the youngest at the top. When the layer’s tilt toward the fold axis,
the fold is called a syncline. The rocks at the center of a syncline are the youngest and
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as you move away from the axis, the rocks get older and older. If the fold layer tilt away
from the axis, the fold is called anticline. Anticlines fold upward and synclines fold
downward.
Three common types of faults are a) normal, b) reverse, and c) strike-slip faults.
The normal fault and reverse, or thrust, fault involves vertical movement along an
inclined fault plane. The strike-slip or lateral fault is characterized by horizontal
movement. Devastating earthquakes can occur with horizontal faults.

D. Diastrophism
There is much evidence that the surface of the earth has not remained
stationary. Movements of the crust of the earth have been recorded along faults
during times of earthquake activity. A fault is a rock fracture along which movement
has taken place parallel to the fracture. Even after 4 to 5 billion years of erosion,
processes that uplift the land have been at work within the earth. Uplift is an
example of diastrophism. Diastrophism includes the uplift and folding of mountains,
faulting and other processes by which the earth’s crust is formed.
Diastrophism is likewise caused by convection currents. The mantle set up
forces of compression and tension that deform the crust. Convection current may
cause large continental land masses to break up and drift apart. The outlines of the
present shores of western Africa and eastern South America suggest that the two
continents would fit nicely together.

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I. Formative Assessment

Exercise 1.1
Directions: Identify the term described in each item. Write your answers on the blank
before each number.

_______________1. The solid part of the Earth.

_______________2. The topmost layer of the Earth.
_______________3. The boundary between the crust and the mantle.
_______________4. The region in the mantle which is the source of volcanic magma.
_______________5. The centermost part of the Earth
_______________6. The Erath’s land masses.
_______________7. The thickest layer of the Earth.
_______________8. The layer of the crust rich in silicon and magnesium.
_______________9. The layer that influences Earth’s magnetic field.
_______________10. The boundary between the mantle and the core.

Exercise 1.2
Directions: use the words inside the word pool to complete the following sentences
correctly.
Pangea mantle all seas Harry Hess

Alfred Wegener magma Panthalassa Mid-ocean ridge

all lands Continents plates to build

In 1912, a German meteorologist named ____________________ discovered

similarities in the fossils of plants on the edges of the continents. He theorized that the

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Earth comprised of a supercontinent called _____________________ which is a Greek

word meaning ___________________. This supercontinent was surrounded by a giant
sea called ________________, a Greek word for __________________.
In 1960, an American geologist named _____________________ claimed that
the _________________ has a giant crack where molten ______________________
from the mantle comes out.
The plate tectonics theory suggests that the lithosphere is divided into distinct
sections called __________________. Tectonics comes from the word tekton which
means “__________________”.

Exercise 1.3
Directions: Write True if the statement is correct and False if otherwise. Write your
answer on the blank before each number.
___________________1. Alfred Wegener is an American geologist.
___________________2. Plates move in different rates and in different directions.
___________________3. Gondwanaland is the southern part of Pangea.
___________________4. The mid-ocean ridge has a giant crack where molten magma
comes out.
___________________5. There are seven major continental plates.

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