Earth Science

Characteristics of Earth that are Necessary to Support Life

Earth is the only planet known to cater life forms. This planet underwent massive change in the environment million years ago
to enable living organisms to thrive and survive in it. From single simple microorganisms, Earth’s environment allowed these
organisms to evolve into a more complex and diverse organisms.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EARTH NECESSARY TO SUPPORT LIFE

Earth has been existing 4.543 billion years. In its early formation, life was not possible because the environment did not
permit it. However, as time went by, life flourished from microorganisms into a more complex organism. The presence of life on
Earth was made possible due to the following factors:

1. Temperature. It influences how quickly atoms, molecules or organisms move. Low temperature slows down chemical
reaction and produces ice that makes liquid water unavailable. High temperature can cause break down of important
biological molecules. In Earth’s condition, temperature is just right to support life.

2. Water. It is one of the important ingredients in the different biological processes. Absence of this will interfere
reactions necessary for life. However, solid form of this will also hinder living organisms to use it. Water on Earth has
different forms. It is solid (ice) in the two poles and liquid along the equator which allows living organisms to
consume it.

3. Atmosphere. It provides significant insulation or shielding from the sun and impact of small to medium size
meteorites. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) trap heat and protects our planet from
freezing. Moreover, ozone (O3) layer shields the Earth’s surface from harmful UV radiation. Atmosphere also provides
chemicals needed for life, such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The size of the planet and its distance from the sun
affects its ability to hold significant amount of atmosphere. Earth has a right size and distance from the sun that
permits it to have a right amount of atmosphere. The presence of gravity also helps in sustaining its atmosphere.

4. Energy. Earth has available energy- rich sunlight to support life. Living organisms like plants and photosynthetic
bacteria use light as the source of their energy. Some chemosynthetic organisms rely on chemical energy to support
various biological processes.

Earth is at right position from the sun that enables it to harness enough amount of sunlight.

5. Nutrients. It is an essential factor used to build and maintain organism’s body structure. Insufficient or absence of
nutrients can impede synthesis of the different biological molecules.
In our planet, there are processes that recycle nutrients. Water, carbon and oxygen, phosphate and nitrogen cycles
are some of the examples. Volcanism also helps in cycling the nutrients.

Earth’s Subsystems

Earth is the third planet from the sun and considered as haven for many life forms. As a closed system, it serves as harbor of
life for billions of years and still continue to comfort innumerable life forms. Thus, Earth itself has different systems that
interact with other to provide all the necessities in order for life to continue to prosper.

Earth’s Subsystems and the Flow of Matter and Energy

Earth is a complex system of interrelating physical, chemical, and biological processes. It is a system in
which sets of interconnected components are interacting to form a unified whole. Earth is comprised of
four major smaller systems known as subsystems. These are also called as spheres of the Earth. These are
the atmosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.

Atmosphere serves as the Earth’s blanket. Its name rooted from the Greek word atmos which means gas
and sphaira which means globe or ball. It is composed of gases in varying amount and its relative
abundance is also crucial in different parts of the earth. The air in the atmosphere is generally
composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon and the remaining 0.10% is made up of different
trace gases and vapor. It serves as the Earth’s protection form harmful UV rays and keeps the planet
warm through greenhouse gasses. Atmosphere is affected by the Earth’s gravity, so this is the reason
why as the altitude increases the amount of gases in the atmosphere decreases. It is composed of
layers namely: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere.

Geosphere comes from the Greek word geos meaning ground.

It pertains to the solid part of the earth. It is divided in to three layers such as the crust, mantle, and
the core. It is composed of naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals, organic material or
natural glass called rocks. It is also composed of loose particles of rocks that enveloped the surface
of Earth called regolith. It contains all the soil, rocks, and minerals present in the crust to the core of
the Earth. It comprises the geologic landforms such as mountains and hills.

Hydro is a Greek word which means water. Hydrosphere is composed of all the water on Earth in any
form. This includes ice, water vapor and liquid water. The permanently frozen part of this subsystem is
called cryosphere. Earth is the only planet in the solar system that are known to contain water in all
three phases.
Water on Earth is constantly and consistently moving because of temperature and salinity. It also plays
an important role in absorption and redistribution of solar radiation.

Biosphere came from the Greek word bios meaning life. It is composed of all living things and the areas
where they are found. It includes all animals, microbes, and plants. It extends to the upper areas of
the atmosphere where insects and birds can be found. It also extends to the deep parts of the oceans
where marine organisms can still survive. It is also in this zone that the interaction between the different
subsystems is most dynamic. In biosphere, each organism plays an important role to the food web. If one
is lost the others will be affected.

Matter and energy flows and cycle between the four subsystems to sustain and make life on Earth possible.
Both of it can flow across the boundaries between each subsystem. The geosphere is where the rocky part
of the earth is in contact with water, air, and life. It is also generally where the spheres intersect and
affect each other. The processes that move matter and energy from one sphere to another is called as
sphere interactions. Changes in any sphere greatly affect the other spheres as well since all the spheres
are interconnected system.
The four subsystems are closely linked through the biogeochemical cycles which involves biological,
geochemical, and chemical factors. These cycles are alleyways by which substances move through biotic
which is the biosphere and abiotic which is the geosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere, components
of Earth. It allows the circulation of important nutrients that form and support life like carbon, oxygen,
nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and water. It also maintains the balance of substances in the different
subsystem of the Earth. Any interference and disturbances in the flow of matter and energy may
cause damage to any of the subsystems and its components.

Physical and ChemicalProperties of Minerals

Minerals are important component of the Earth’s lithosphere. They are naturally occurring materials
that play a significant role in human civilization. This module will give you clear understanding of the
physical and chemical properties of minerals.
Minerals are naturally occurring substances that are harnessed and used by humans in everyday life.
The poem below will give you an idea on the different characteristics of minerals.

Minerals are present everywhere and some examples can be found at home. Example of these are: Hematite
(hinges, handles, make-up color), Chromite (chrome plating, dyes), Copper (electric wiring), Quartz (clocks,
mirrors), Gold (jewelries), Feldspar (porcelain, ceramics) and Fluoride (toothpaste). Because of its
importance, we need to determine its physical and chemical properties.

This part of the module will give you details on the different physical and chemical properties of minerals.

PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS

Minerals can be distinguished using their physical and chemical properties.

Physical properties include habit, luster, cleavage and fracture, hardness, color, and streak.

1. Crystal Habit – refers to the overall shape or growth pattern of the mineral. It can be
described as equant, elongate and platy.

Equant – three dimensions of the mineral have about the same length, like that of a
cube or sphere. (ei. garnet)

Elongate – forms prismatic or prism-like crystals that are thicker than the needle as
in a pencil. (ei. Indicolite)

Platy – looks like a flattened and thin crystal (like plate). (ei. Wulfenite)
2. Luster - describes the appearance of a mineral when light is reflected from its surface.
It can be described as opaque, transparent, dull, or shiny.

Metallic luster is opaque and very reflective like gold and silver.
Nonmetallic luster is dull, silky, greasy, and pearly like silicates.
3. Cleavage and Fracture – Cleavage refers to the tendency of minerals to break along
very smooth, flat and shiny surfaces. It can be described as one, two, three, four or all
direction. A mineral fracture may break along random, irregular surfaces. It can be
classified as conchoidal, uneven, hackly, splintery, and earthy. Some minerals break
only by fracturing, while others both cleave and fracture.

Biotite and mica have one direction, orthoclase has two directions, galena has three directions
and fluorite has four directions.

Quartz has a conchoidal fracture while asbestos has a splintery fracture.

4. Hardness – is a measure of the mineral’s resistance to scratching. Harder minerals will

scratch softer minerals. Friedrich Mohs in 1812 ranked minerals according to hardness.

5. Color - is one of the most obvious properties of a mineral but not reliable alone. Some
minerals come in just one color, while others come in many colors and varieties. Quartz
varies widely in color, due to minor (parts per billion) impurities and even defects in its
crystalline structure.

6. Streak - refers to the color of the mineral in its powdered form, which may or may not be
the same color as the mineral. According to Bayo-ang (2016) streak is obtained by scratching
the mineral on an unpolished piece of white porcelain called a streak plate. When the
excess powder is blown away, what remains is the color of the streak. Streak is a more reliable
 property than color as streak shows the true color of minerals. It does not vary even if
color does.
Additional Properties

There are other properties of minerals.

(https://fac.ksu.edu.sa/sites/default/files/geo_221-unit-2_0.pdf )

Magnetism - Some minerals are attracted to a hand magnet. To test a mineral for
magnetism, just put the magnet and mineral together and see if they are attracted.
Magnetite is the only common mineral that is always strongly magnetic.

Striations -presence of very thin, parallel grooves. The grooves are present in only one of
the two sets of cleavages and are best seen with a hand lens. They may not be visible on
all parts of a cleavage surface. Before you decide if there are no striations, look at all parts
of all visible cleavage surfaces, moving the sample around as you look wherein light is
reflected from these surfaces at different angles.

Specific Gravity - is the weight of that mineral divided by the weight of an equal volume
of water. The specific gravity of water equals 1.0. Most silicate, or rock-forming,
minerals have specific gravities of 2.6 to 3.4; the ore minerals are usually heavier, with
specific gravities of 5 to 8. For most minerals, specific gravity is not a particularly
noteworthy feature, but for some, high specific gravity is distinctive (examples are barite
and galena).

Taste, Odor, Feel – Some minerals have distinctive taste (halite is salt, and tastes like it). Some
give off a distinctive odor (the powder of some sulfide minerals, such as sphalerite, a zinc
sulfide, smells like rotten eggs), and some have a distinctive feel (talc feels slippery).

A. Chemical Properties

Chemical properties of minerals show the presence and arrangement of atoms in minerals.
Using their chemical properties, minerals are identified by how they react to certain
substances. Some minerals, especially carbonate minerals, react visibly with acid. (Usually,
a dilute hydrochloric acid [HCl] is used.) When a drop of dilute hydrochloric acid is placed on
calcite, it readily bubbles or effervesces, releasing carbon dioxide. Some are toxic like
cinnabar and soluble in water like halite.

Metallic sulfide minerals form into sulfuric acid when exposed to air and water. Uranium
and thorium containing minerals like Autunite (hydrated calcium uranium phosphate) and
Thorianite (thorium dioxide) are radioactive. Metals like magnesium are flammable.

Furthermore, Cuarto (2016) classified minerals according to their chemical composition

using Dana System which divides minerals into eight basic classes. The classes are native
elements, silicates, oxides, sulfides, sulfates, halides, carbonates, phosphates, and
mineraloids. This classification shows the chemical composition of minerals.

Classification of Rocks
How can we classify rocks? Would it be by color, hardness, texture, density, or other
physical properties? Is it by chemical composition? You may have a little knowledge that
rocks can be Igneous, Sedimentary, or Metamorphic. But how did geologists come into
these three classifications? What do you think was their basis for classification?
Rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals sometime withnonmineral solid
particles.

Classification of Rocks
Igneous rocks or magmatic rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of
magma or lava. Igneous rock can be classified into:

Intrusive igneous rocks. This type of igneous

rock is formed from solidification of magma
below the surface They have large crystals of
minerals that formed over time through the
slow process of crystallization in a magma.
Granite, diorite, gabbro, pegmatite, and
peridotite are examples of this type of rock.
Granite rock (own photo)

Extrusive igneous rocks. This type of igneous rock is

formed through a faster rate of solidification of
lava on the surfaceof Earth. They can become glassy
in appearance due to less crystallization or vesicular
like Scoria, due to the air that was trapped inside
when they solidified and formed on the surface of
the earth. Other examples of this type of rock are
andesite, basalt, dacite, obsidian, pumice, rhyolite,
and tuff.

Scoria (own photo)

Sedimentary rock is formed by the deposition and cementation of mineral or organic
particles on the floor of oceans and other bodies of water at the Earth’s surface. Sedimentary
rocks can be classified into clastic, chemical, and organic.
Clastic sedimentary rock. It is formed from the
mechanical weathering debris ofrocks. Examples
are breccia,
conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and shale.
Chemical sedimentary rock. It is formed when
dissolved materials precipitate from the solution.
Examples of these are rock salt, iron ore, chert,
flint, some dolomites.

Sandstone (own photo)

Organic sedimentary rock. It is formed from the build-up of plant or animaldebris. Examples of
this type are coal and fossiliferous limestone.

Metamorphic rock forms from existing rock types called “parent rock” in the process called
metamorphism, which means a change in form. The original rock which can be an igneous,
sedimentary, or another metamorphic rock is subjected to heat and pressure, causing a
profound chemical or physical change. Metamorphic rocks can be classified into:

Foliated metamorphic rock. It is formed through pressure due to compression of rocks that create bands
called foliation. Examples are gneiss, phyllite, schist, and slate.

Non-foliated metamorphic rocks. It has no foliation or bands. Examples of this type are hornfels, marble, quartzite,
and novaculite.