By angela ferrer

DIFFERENT LAYERS OF THE EARTH

1. Crust
 thin outermost layer that wraps around the earth
 makes up only 1% of the earth’s volume
 split into two types (continental and oceanic crust)
 solid

CONTINENTAL CRUST

 makes up the land on earth

 found under land masses
 35-40km
 Less dense
 Thicker than oceanic crust
 Made up of rock granite
 Made up of old layers of rock
 Made up of silicon, oxygen, aluminum, calcium, sodium, and potassium

OCEANIC CRUST

 Makes up most of the ocean

 Found under the ocean floor
 5-7km
 denser
 Thinner than continental crust
 made up of rock basalt
 made up of young layers of rock

ADDITIONAL INFO:

o Basalt
 Darker in complexion
 Makes up the oceanic crust
 Fined-grained texture
 Consists of minerals such as magnesium and iron
 Extrusive (rapidly cooled inside the crust)
 Days to months
 Columnar planes
 Igneous rock

o Granite
 Lighter complexion
 Coarse-grained texture
  Intrusive (slowly cooled inside the crust)
 Millions of years
 Horizontal planes
 Igneous rock

2. Mantle
 Semi liquid
 Like malleable plastic
 Makes up 84% of the earth’s volume
 2900km thick
 Divided into three (3) main zones (lithosphere, asthenosphere, mesosphere)

LITHOSPHERE

 Makes up of the lower part of the crust and uppermost mantle

 Plates move away from one another, towards each other, and slide each other
 the layer of the earth that is divided into tectonic plates

ASTHENOSPHERE

 Where the mantle turns much more fluid and flows

 Allowing the above-lying tectonic plates to drift across the earth
 Where tectonic plates float

MESOSPHERE

 Deepest part of the mantle

 Solid due to high pressure
 Rock becomes more rigid and does not flow as easily
3. Outer Core
 Made up of iron and nickel
 Liquid
 Spins as the planet rotates and creates a magnetic field
4. Inner Core
 Deepest layer of the earth
 Made up of iron and nickel
 Solid
 Temperature is as hot as the surface of the sun
 1,230 to 1,530 km thick

Tectonic plates

 Also called lithospheric plates and crustal plates

 Floats on the top of the asthenosphere
  Consists of continental and oceanic crust
 Massive irregular shape plates
 Plates move away from one another, towards each other, and slide each other

Plate Tectonics Theory

 A theory that suggests that the earth’s crust made up of plates interacts in several ways
 It was accepted in the year 1960

Consequences of Plate Tectonics

 Earthquakes and Volcanic activity are linked to plate tectonic process

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Tectonics - a process affecting the structure of the crust movement

Plates – a massive irregularly shaped solid rock generally composed of continental and oceanic crust

Crust – O, N, Si, M, Ca, Ti, Al

Mantle – Fe, Ni, Si, Mg

Outer Core - Fe, Ni

Inner Core – Fe, Ni

Pressure Freezing –

WAVES
An earthquake generates seismic waves that penetrate the earth as body waves (P & S) or travel as
surface waves (love & rayleigh)

Seismic waves – result of the movement of Earth’s crust that starts at the fault.

Fault – Crack in the earth / Slippage of rocks

Vibration – moving back and forth motion

SURFACE WAVES:

1. Love-wave motion
 Moves like the movement of snake
 Surface wave
 Moves parallel to the earth’s surface and perpendicular to the direction of the wave
propagation
2. Rayleigh Waves
  Similar to the movement of sea waves
 Surface wave
 Moves in elliptical motion producing both vertical and horizontal component of motion
in the direction of wave propagation

BODY WAVES:

1. Primary Wave (P-Wave)

 First seismic wave detected by seismographs
 Able to move through liquid, solid, and gas
 Faster than S-wave
 Longitudinal Wave
2. Secondary Wave (S-Wave)
 Oscillate the ground perpendicular to the direction of wave travel
 Can travel only through solid
 Travel slower than P-waves
 Transverse wave
 Produce vertical and horizontal motion in the ground surface

Seismograph – device

Seismology – study

Seismologist – person

Seismogram – record

Longitudinal Wave – Parallel movement

 Movement of particles are back and forth (vibration)

Transverse Wave – move perpendicular to the direction of wave

 Movement of particles are up and down

Epicenter – is a point on the surface of the earth directly above the focus of an earthquake

Focus – is the origin of earthquake

Time difference - lag time

Triangulation Method – it locates the epicenter base on data from recorded stations

EARTHQUAKES
 Usually occurs at the edges/borders/boundaries of plates
 Not randomly distributed

Factors that Affect Earthquake Distribution

 1) Plate Boundaries
2) Fault lines
3) Presence of volcanoes

Pacific Ring of Fire (Circum-pacific Belt) – boundaries of major plates

Seismicity – Scientists consider this in dividing plates

1990 – the year when the most destructive earthquake happened in the Philippines

VOLCANOES AND MOUNTAINS

Basis in Dividing the Plates

- Volcanism
- Seismicity
- Mountain Formation

Mountain Range – a chain of mountains

Mountain System/Belt – series of mountain ranges

Orogeny – a process of mountain building

Mountain Ranges in the World:

 The Rockies – Mt. Elbert

 The Alps – Mont Blanc
 The Andes – Mount Aconcagua
 The Himalayas – Mt. Everest
 The Atlas – Mt. Toubkal

Biodiversity – Variety of life

BOUNDARIES
CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES

 Crust comes together

 Subduction occurs

Three Types of CONVERGENT BOUNDARIES:

1. Continental-Oceanic
- Destructive process
- Subductions occur
- Formation of volcanoes and trenches that results in a shallow earthquake
 Ex:

Andes Mountain – Nazca Plate and South America Plate

Cascade Mountain Range – Juan de Fuca and North America Plate

Marianas Trench – Pacific Plate and Philippine Plate

2. Oceanic-Oceanic
- destructive process

- accompanied by a shallow earthquake

Ex:

Philippine Archipelago – Philippine Plate and Eurasian Plate

Aleutian Island – Pacific Plate and North American Plate

Mediterranean Island of Cyprus – African Plate and Eurasian Plate

3. Continental-Continental
Ex:

Himalayas Mt. Range – Eurasian Plate and Indian Plate

DIVERGENT BOUNDARIES

 Constructive/extensional boundary
 Plates pull away or separate
 New crust is generated
 Mid- Ocean Ridge and rift valley are formed at the spreading centers
 Formation of linear sea
 Continental rifting happens
 Formation of shallow earthquake
 Formation of faults
 Eruption of Magma

Ex:

Red Sea – African Plate and Arabian Plate

Divergent boundary between CONTINENTAL PLATES

Ex:

East Pacific Rift – Kenya & Ethiopia

 Rio Grande Rift – New Mexico

Divergence of plates in OCEANIC CRUST

 Formation of new ocean floor/ formation of new crust

 Shallow earthquake activity
 Widening of the ocean basin
 Spreading center at mid-ocean ridges
 Mid oceanic ridges are formed
 Mid-Atlantic ridge (South America and African Plate)

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Continental Rifting – the breaking of the crust with segment

Rift Valley/Downfaulted Valley – is a central valley formed due to the sinking of the part of crust
because of forces that pull the crust apart

Mid-oceanic Ridge – Sea Mounts

Philippine Deep – the deepest trench in the Philippines

Trench – is a depression/ hole found in the oceanic crust

Subduction – a process whereby one plate moves beneath the other plate towards another

Mid-Atlantic Ridge – a submarine mountain range

TRANSFORM FAULT BOUNDARIES

 Is where two of the tectonic plates slide past each other

 Causes earthquakes
 Created when tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally along strike-slip faults or
transform faults
 Conservative (because they move laterally)
 No crust is created nor destroyed
 Take the shape of zigzag pattern
 Most intense earthquakes
 No subduction
 Same to strike-slip faults

Ex:

San Andreas Fault – Pacific Plate and North American Plate

Alpine Fault – Australian Plate and Pacific Plate

DIFFERENT TYPE OF FAULTS

1. Normal Fault
- Footwall up, hanging wall down
2. Reverse Fault
- Hanging wall up, footwall down
3. Strike-slip Fault
- Hanging wall and footwall are sliding each other

CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY 1912

200 million years ago, the continents were once joined together forming a huge landmass called
“Pangea” which means “all the earth”

 Proposed by Alfred Wegener, a German geologist

 the theory was accepted in 19th century
 Antonio Pellegrino first thought about this theory before Alfred did

Evidence of Continental Drift Theory

1. Jigsaw Puzzle Fit

- Fit of major continents (ex. West African Plate and South American Plate)
2. Fossil Evidence
- Glossopteris
- Mesosaurus fossil
3. Identical Rock/ Rock Evidence
- Same type of rock and age but different plate/ continent
4. Ancient Climate

Ex. Laurasia – large northern continent

Gondwanaland – large southern continent

5. Glacial Scars
- Same scars but different continents
- glaciation
6. Coal Deposits
- Decomposition of swamp plants
- Process of decay
- Coals could only be formed in the tropical region, but it was found at the polar region

Paleomagnetism
study of records of earth’s magnetic field

Compass – the north-seeking pole of the compass is the south

 Magnetic field reversal – It is when the south polar region became the north polar region and return
to being the south polar region. It is because basalt rocks are consisting of iron

How is the Paleomagnetism discovered?

The scientist notices the changing of formation of rocks. It is because basalt rock contains iron and
the rocks will align Itself according to the earth’s magnetic field.

 Earth is not changing size due to subduction process. It manages the state of balance, also
called equilibrium

SEAFLOOR SPREADING THEORY 1960

Harry Hess

 It is the other evidence of the continental drifting theory.

 The seafloor spreading theory is a theory of the convection
 At these divergent boundaries molten material cools and hardens, creating new oceanic
crust or seafloor. New crust is being made even today, but the earth's size is not increasing
because elsewhere at certain convergent boundaries plates collide. When one plate is
pushed beneath another, it will melt and become molten material again.

Convection current - is movement for fluids due to differences in density