Lesson 1 - Lesson 8
SCIENCE Reviewer | 1st Quarter Exams
EARTH LAYERS
The earth is divided into 4 major layers. These layers
are composed of the crust, mantle, liquid outer core,
and solid inner core.
● Lithosphere — crust and the uppermost part of
the mantle.
○ Rigid layer that can break under stress
○ Composed of major and minor blocks
(tectonic plates).
○ MAJOR — African, Antarctic, Eurasian,
Indo-Australian, North American, Pacific and
South American
○ MINOR — Arabian, Caribbean, Nazca, and
Scotia plates
● Asthenosphere — 180 km thick and contains
molten rocks or magma.
○ Can deform and reshape driven by heat
energy, which circulates as convection
currents, traveling upward from the hot
lower mantle to the cooler upper mantle.
● Crust — outermost layer of the earth. The
thinnest layer
○ Continental crust — makes up the
continents
○ Oceanic crust — makes up the ocean floor.
○ Made up of rocks and organic matter
● Mantle — Thickest layer of the earth.
○ Semi-solid, rocky, and very hot.
○ Makes up 80% of the earth and carries most
of its mass.
○ Made up of molten rocks & magma
● Core — the innermost layer of the earth and is
composed of two parts
○ Outer core — liquid. Made up of molten
nickel and iron.
○ Inner core — solid. Made up of solid iron.
The hottest layer of the earth.
BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THE LAYERS
● Mohorovíčić Discontinuity — the interface
between the crust and the upper mantle.
● Gutenberg Discontinuity — the interface
between the lower mantle and the outer core.
● Lehmann Discontinuity — the interface
between the outer core and inner core.
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE THE LAYERS
● The layers of the earth can be differentiated
from each other by its state of matter, materials
it is composed of, and the density of the layer.
SEISMIC WAVES
● Seismic waves — the vibrations after the
release of energy from within the earth. There
are 2 types of Seismic Waves: Body waves &
Surface waves.
○ Seismic waves are detected by
Seismometers and recorded by
Seismographs.
○ Seismologists — Earth Scientists,
specialized in geophysics.
● Body waves — waves that travel through the
inner layers of the planet.
● Surface waves — travels only through the
surface.
● Intensity — the strength of shaking produced
by the earthquake
○ It is determined from effects on people,
human structures, and the natural
environment.
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SCIENCE Reviewer | 1st Quarter Exams
● Magnitude — the energy released at the
source of the earthquake
○ It is determined from measurements on
seismographs.
TYPES OF BODY WAVES
● Primary Waves (P-Waves) — Compressional
Waves. The first to be felt on the Earth’s
surface.
○ They are faster than s-waves as they can
pass through solid and liquid sections of the
earth.
○ Shakes the ground back and forth.
● Secondary Waves (S-Waves) — Transverse
waves. Felt after p-waves.
○ Felt in an up-and-down motion.
○ Cannot travel through liquids.
The difference in speed of P-waves and S-waves help
seismologists determine the epicenter of an
Earthquake.
TYPES OF SURFACE WAVES
● Love Waves — Shear waves trapped near the
surface.
● Rayleigh Waves — Rock particle motions
○ Similar to motions of water particles in
ocean waves
○ The slowest type of seismic wave.
Studying surface waves helps us know the damage
that is induced by the earthquake (intensity)
PLATE TECTONICS
THEORIES
● Continental Drift Theory — Alfred Wegener.
○ Suggests that in the past, there was a
supercontinent called Pangaea.
○ Overtime, this continent split to form the 7
continents we have today.
○ Only covers the movements of continents.
○ EVIDENCES: Jig-saw fit, Placer Deposits,
Distribution of Fossils, & Geological
Features.
○ Does not give future predictions.
● Tectonic Plate Theory — Alfred Wegener.
○ Theory of global tectonics which proposes
that the earth’s lithosphere is divided into 7
major and minor plates.
○ Covers movement of both continents and
oceans.
○ Based on scientific analysis of the
processes inside the earth.
○ Says that all plates shall continue to move in
the future period as well.
● Seafloor Spreading Theory — Harry Hess.
○ As tectonic plates slowly move away from
each other, heat from the mantle’s
convection currents makes the crust more
plastic and less dense. The less dense
material rises, forming mountains or
elevated areas of the seafloor.
● Pangea Proxima — Christopher Scotese
○ A prediction that the continents will reform
into a supercontinent.
○ This supercontinent is called Pangea
Proxima which means The Next Pangea
while Pangaea Ultima means The Last
Pangaea.
○ He believes that the cycle of a
supercontinent splitting into smaller
continents and recombining as a single
landmass will continue in the next billions of
years.
MECHANISM OF PLATE MOVEMENTS
According to the theory of plate tectonics, the plates
on the earth’s crust continually move, although the
speed at which they do so is very small. The
movement of plates is influenced by 2 types of forces:
Driving forces & Resisting forces.
● Driving forces — either push tectonic plates
toward one another or pull them apart.
1. Mantle Convection — It is caused by the
rising of heat from the core toward the
mantle.
○ Convection currents drive the plates
away from one another.
○ This heat dissipates and creates a
convection current due to the difference
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SCIENCE Reviewer | 1st Quarter Exams
in temperature between the mantle and
crust.
2. Ridge Push — It occurs when the
lithosphere is pushed up by the RING OF FIRE
asthenosphere because of convection
The Pacific Ring of Fire is frequented by geologic
currents from the mantle
activities and other associated phenomena such as
○ Gravity pushes the plates down the
ridge and a new crust is formed. volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, faulting, and
3. Slab Pull — Takes place when a subducting tsunamis.
slab sinks into the hot mantle because of a
difference in temperature.
4. Slab Suction — Occurs between two
colliding plates, one subducting underneath
the other, where convection currents in the
upper mantle suck both plates down.

PLATE BOUNDARIES & INTERACTIONS

Tectonic plates move on top of the asthenosphere
at a rate between 1 to 10 cm per year. They move
with respect to each other in 3 ways. They may
move toward each other (converge), move apart
(diverse), or move past each other (transform).
● Plate Boundaries — regions between plates
● Faults — fractures that develop on Earth’s
crust.

PLATE BOUNDARIES
● Divergent Plate Boundary — When two plates
move away from each other, a gap or rift is
● Resisting forces — act against the driving created.
forces of plate tectonics ○ Divergent boundaries between oceanic
1. Slab Resistance — It is the force that plates produce mid-oceanic ridges.
resists all the forces associated with plate ○ Example: Great African Rift Valley
movement in subduction zones.
2. Collisional Resistance — occurs when a
heavy plate is pulled into the mantle but
resists subduction because of friction
○ Opposes the slab pull.
3. Transform Fault Resistance — the
frictional force due to the opposing
movement of plates moving past one
another between two spreading centers.
4. Drag Force — resists movement of
lithospheric plates.

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SCIENCE Reviewer | 1st Quarter Exams
● Convergent Plate Boundary — Occurs when
two plates slide toward each other and forms:
○ Subduction zone — one plate moves
underneath the other
○ Orogenic belt — if the two simply collide
and compress
○ KINDS: ocean-ocean, ocean-continent,
continent-continent
● Transform Plate Boundary — Occurs when
plates slide against each other in opposite
directions.
○ No mountains or volcanoes are produced.
○ Earthquakes result from the movement of
plates and release massive amounts of
energy.
MOUNTAINS AND MOUNTAIN RANGES
● Mountains — large landforms that rise well
above ground and have steep slopes and a
peak generally higher than a hill.
○ Orogenesis — refers to the process of
forming mountains and mountain ranges.
○ It involves the collision of plates and
forces of compression.
TYPES OF MT. & MT. RANGES
● Fold Mountains — formed through plate
convergence.
○ When a continental plate is subducted
beneath another continental plate, the
immense forces of compression fold the
crust and develop mountain ranges.
○ One continental plate moves downward as it
is much denser than the continental plate
that moves upwards.
○ EXAMPLE: Himalayas, Andes Mountain
Range, Pyrenees, Appalachians.
○ Mountain ranges can also form when an
oceanic plate subducts beneath a
continental plate.
● Volcanic Mountain Ranges — Thick segments
of crust that are formed by addition of thick piles
of volcanic rocks, generally above the
subduction zone.
○ These structures are constructed from
accumulated lava flows, pyroclasts, and
other igneous rocks that piled up over time.
○ This may be produced by a hotspot, which
causes magma to rise up, pushing its way to
the crust and accumulate in large amounts.
○ EXAMPLE: Islands of Hawaii
● Erosion-Formed Mountain Ranges — These
mt. ranges do not form because of the Earth’s
internal activity but because of rock erosion or
weathering.
○ EXAMPLE: Appalachian Plateau
● Dome Mountain Ranges — Results from the
upwarping of tectonic plates and are not
accompanied by the collision of plate
boundaries.
○ This movement can form isolated and large
folds in flat regions.
○ These produce elongated structures in the
crust called domes
○ EXAMPLE: Black Hills
● Fault-Block Mountain Ranges — The
movement of normal faults cause tensional
forces and can uplift large blocks of crust to
form fault-block mountains.
○ The displacement of the crust sometimes
produces numerous cracks and creates
parallel mountain ranges
○ Graben — The block that slides down
because of gravity. Usually becomes a
valley.
○ Horst — Refers to the crustal blocks that do
not slide down.
○ EXAMPLE: Sierra Nevada, Teton Range,
Marinduque mountains.
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SCIENCE Reviewer | 1st Quarter Exams
● Fault Plane — the surface where the blocks slip
past each other.
● Wave Front — a surface over which the phase
of the wave is constant.

EARTHQUAKES
● Earthquakes — any sudden shaking of the
ground caused by the passage of seismic
waves through Earth’s rocks.
● Underwater earthquakes associated with
oceanic-continental subduction cause a vertical
movement of the seafloor.
○ Tsunami — giant waves caused by
earthquakes or volcanic eruptions under the
sea. GETTING READY FROM AN EARTHQUAKE
● Before an earthquake
PARTS OF AN EARTHQUAKE
● Focus — also known as the hypocenter. It is
the point within earth where the rocks break and
where seismic energy is first released.
● Epicenter — the point on the crust directly
above the focus.
● Fault — cracks on the earth’s crust.
○ Dip-slip — the movement of faults along the
angle of the fault plane.
○ Normal Fault — a dip-slip fault where a
block that sits on a fault plane, called the
hanging wall, slips downward.
○ Reverse Fault — another type of dip-slip
fault where the block of the crust pushes
upwards and along the dip angle.
○ Thrust Fault — a type of reverse fault where
the angle of the dip is 45 degrees or less.
○ Strike-slip Fault — a fault in which nearly all
vertical fault planes slide in a parallel but
opposite direction.
○ Oblique-slip Fault — a combination of
strike-slip and dip-slip. Blocks of crust slide
horizontally and obliquely up or down from
each other.

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SCIENCE Reviewer | 1st Quarter Exams

EXTRA NOTE

GOOD LUCK !!!!