INTRODUCTION TO EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE UNIT 3

Lesson 3.1: - Photosynthetic bacteria; oxygen-enriched; evolution

What is Earth System Science? of more complex organisms

Earth Systems Science (ESS) • Lynn Margulis

- integration of the different scientific fields
- study of Earth as an integrated system
- seeks to understand the past, current, and future
state of our planet
Notable Scientists
• Vladimir Vernadsky
- one of the founders of geochemistry
noosphere
- geosphere, biosphere
- sphere of human consciousness
→ humans’ actions greatly affect the Earth
sustainability
- capacity of Earth to continue to support human life
- Evolutionary theorist
- Further developed Gaia Hypothesis
- Noticed that all kinds of bacteria five off gases
Regulation of temperature and composition of
soil and atmosphere.
NASA Involvement
- NASA (1983) formed Earth System Science
Committee
NASA scientists aim to understand Earth’s systems by
using satellites for long-term observations.
Lesson 3.2:
Four Subsystems of Earth

• Alexander von Humboldt

- 19th century geographer Atmosphere
- Observations of nature; he traveled to America, then - makes up of all the gases on Earth; has no specific
he collected, recorded the location of the specimens boundary
& performed measurements
Karman line
Transport of heat in ocean currents
- imaginary line that separates the atmosphere and
Influence of temperature on plants
outer space
• James Hutton 78.1% nitrogen
- Father of modern geology; Scottish farmer & 20.9% oxygen
naturalist 0.9% argon
- Observed how land was shaped by destructive forces 0.1% carbon
of wind and weather systems Geosphere
- Repeated cycle of erosion & sedimentation; heat
from volcanic activity (driving force) - includes all the soil, rocks, and minerals present in
the crust to the core of Earth
Uniformitarianism - divided into three layers, namely: crust, mantle, and
- Geological forces are the same as those in the preset core
- Determine Earth’s history by studying rocks
crust
Weathering - outermost layer of the geosphere
- Changing rocks - made mostly of silicate materials
• James Lovelock two different types of crust
- British environmentalist
→ oceanic crust: lies beneath the oceanic
Gaia Hypothesis floors which is about 5 to 10 km thick
- Earth works as a self-regulating system → continental crust: makes up the continents
- Living organisms coevolve with non-living things and is about 15 to 70 km thick
 INTRODUCTION TO EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE
- Mohorovicic discontinuity or Moho:
→ boundary between the crust and mantle
→ named after the Croatian scientist, Andrija
Mohorovicic
mantle
- a 2 900 km thick layer below the crust
- mostly made up of silicate rocks rich in magnesium
and iron
- its temperature increases with its depth
uppermost mantle is cold and brittle;
lower mantle is hotter and denser
core
- has a radius of 3 480 km
- innermost layer of Earth
- made up of iron and nickel
- comprised of two layers: outer core and inner core
→ Bullen discontinuity: boundary that
separates these two regions
Hydrosphere
- composed of all water on Earth in any form
- includes all bodies of water such as oceans, lakes,
rivers, and marshes
- clouds and rain
Biosphere
- comprised of all living things
→ includes all microbes, plants, and animals
- extends to the upper areas of the atmosphere where
insects and birds can be found
- reaches the deep parts of the oceans where marine
organisms can still survive
- Biomes:
→ communities formed by organisms
→ exist all over the world.
→ deserts, tropical rainforests, swamps, or
coral reefs
UNIT 3
Lesson 3.3:
Earth’s Climate System
Weather and Climate
• Weather
- fluctuating state of the atmosphere over a short
period of time
- describing: temperature, wind speed and direction,
type of precipitation, and type of clouds.
• Climate
- the average weather over a certain period and area.
- varies depending on latitude, distance to large
bodies of water, and geography
Earth’s Climate System is an interactive system
consisting of the interactions of the atmosphere,
hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere.
Earth’s Subsystems and Climate
• atmosphere
- considered the most uneven, unstable, and fast-
changing part of the climate system
Greenhouse gases
- water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2 ), methane
(CH4 ), nitrous oxide (N2O,) and ozone (O3 )
- tend to increase the temperature of Earth’s surface
- water vapor: considered as the primary greenhouse
gas; most variable component of the atmosphere
• hydrosphere
- influences the climate system by storing and
transporting large amounts of energy
• geosphere
- crust: part of geosphere which affects climate
- topography: affects the wind that blows on the land
surface
• biosphere
- has significant effect on the atmosphere’s
composition
- removing large number of plants and trees in an
area can cause increase in free carbon dioxide due to
less plant absorbers
 INTRODUCTION TO EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE UNIT 3

→ long term, this may affect the climate over 40% returns to the ocean as runoff
the area
Lesson 3.4:
The Biogeochemical Cycles Nitrogen Cycle
biogeochemical cycle Nitrogen cycle
- a complete path an element or a compound takes - movement of nitrogen between the four spheres
through the four subsystems of Earth - involves the conversion of nitrogen into various
- the name “biogeochemical” implies the involvement forms
of life (bio-), Earth’s surface (geo), and substances - essential to life’s protein synthesis; from food
(chemical) present on Earth
Nitrogen fixation
Water Cycle - process of converting atmospheric nitrogen into
biologically available nitrogen
- nitrogen-fixing bacteria: group of prokaryotes that
can carry out reactions that break such bond

Nitrification
- process that converts ammonia and ammonium
compounds into nitrite and then to nitrate

Water or Hydrologic Cycle Ammonification

- the movement of water from the ocean to the - a.k.a. nitrogen mineralization
atmosphere to land and back to the; aided by the - process where fungi and prokaryotes decompose the
processes of evaporation, condensation, dead tissue of organisms and release the inorganic
precipitation, and runoff nitrogen back into the ecosystem as ammonia

Evapotranspiration. Denitrification
- involves the process of releasing nitrogen back to
- sun heats up bodies of water
the atmosphere
- evaporation: water transforms from liquid to gas
- transpiration: plants release water vapor through Carbon-Oxygen Cycle
the pores under the leaves
Carbon cycle
- evapotranspiration: process that transfers water
- a rather complex cycle
from land to the atmosphere
Carbon is present in many forms ranging from
Condensation.
compounds found in living organisms to fossil fuels.
- Lighter water vapor cools as it reaches a certain
altitude, and forms tiny floating droplets, which form Carbon (gas)
clouds. - carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4)
- ground-level fog and glasses fogging up - enters the atmosphere through respiration,
combustion or burning of organic compounds, and
Precipitation
diffusion from the ocean
- release of water from clouds in the form of rain,
sleet, hail or snow. For this to happen, water
- droplets must collide with each other or condense
on smaller dust, salt, or smoke particles which serve
as the nucleus

60% evaporates back to the atmosphere

INTRODUCTION TO EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE UNIT 3