The Oort Cloud

● At 3500 AU starts the Oort cloud

● Populated by specks, flakes, and balls of ice (water, CO2, ammonia, and methane ice)

The Heliosphere and Kuiper Belt

● Heliosphere - at 200 AU - edge of the Solar System
● Heliosphere represents the outer reach of solar winds (charged particles from the Sun)
● 55-30 AU
● Kuiper belt -> collection of icy objects, including the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris
● Neptune’s orbit = Kuiper’s belt inner ridge

Comets and Asteroids

● Comets expel gas and dust as they warm approaching the Sun
● Comets made of H2O, CO2, CH4, NH3, other compounds, and rock dust (hence the
name “dirty snowballs”)
● Comet “tails” always point away from the sun, regardless of direction of comet motion
● Asteroids and comets are Solar System materials that escaped being incorporated into
planetesimals
● Meteorites that strike Earth are fragments of these bodies
● Asteroid Ida resides in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter

Interplanetary Space
● Denser than interstellar space
● Most asteroids lie between the orbit of Mars and Jupiter
● Some asteroids border Jupiter’s orbit, while the Hildas lie between the main asteroid belt
and Jupiter

Terrestrial Planets
● 4 terrestrial planets are all very different in terms of size, atmosphere, surface features,
and the form and presence of water

Earth’s Magnetic Field

● Earth’s magnetic field is represented by a giant bar magnet
● Earth’s present magnetic field has southern polarity in the north
○ This is why the N compass needle points north
● Magnetic field of a bar magnet has invisible lines of flux
● Flux lines point out from the N pole and in toward the S pole
● Lines of flux cause iron fillings to align
● Distorted by solar wing
● Van Allen belts are stronger parts of the magnetosphere that deflect or trap the majority
of solar wind charged particles
○ Magnetosphere shields us from cosmic radiation and allows life on Earth

Auroras: Trapped Solar Radiation

 ● Charged particles that make it past Van Allen belts, pulled toward the magnetic poles
● Interacting with atmospheric gases, these ions create the glowing aurora observed in
polar regions
● Aurorae create spectacular patterns of moving colour in the night sky
● Aurora borealis = “northern lights”
○ In the South -> Aurora australis

Earth’s Atmosphere
● Astronauts can see the “haze” of the atmosphere as it thins away from Earth
○ Nitrogen and oxygen are the dominant gases in the atmosphere
● Atmosphere is denser than interplanetary space
○ Molecules more densely packed at the base of atmosphere -> higher pressure
○ Pressure decreases upward
○ Atmosphere is divided into distinct layers (troposphere, stratosphere,
mesosphere, and thermosphere)
○ Each layer is separated by a pause (tropopause, stratopause, mesopause)
○ All weather occurs in the troposphere

Earth System
1. Atmosphere
2. Hydrosphere
3. Cryosphere
4. Biosphere
5. Lithosphere

Habitable Zone (Goldilocks Zone)

● Hydrosphere -> only Earth has liquid water
● Habitable zone lies between ~0,8 and 2.5 AU
● Depends on temp. and distance to Sun

Earth’s Surface: Hypsometric Curve

● Hypsometric curve -> proportion of Earth’s solid surface at different elevations
● Earth’s surface is mostly continent (plains and shelf) or ocean floor
● Mountains and deep trenches are rare

Composition of the Earth’s Interior

● Proportions of major elements making up the mass of the whole Earth
● Iron and oxygen dominate
● Materials:
○ Organic chemicals
○ Minerals
○ Glass
○ Melts
○ Rocks
 ○ Grain
○ Sediments
○ Metals
○ Volatiles

Geothermal Gradient
● Geothermal Gradient: Measure of the increase in temp. with depth
● Differing rates of change with depth reflect variation in Earth’s layers
● Ex. Rapid decrease in the rate of temp. change at the base of the crust… variation in the
rate of temp. change across the core-mantle boundary
● Earth’s temp. Gradually increases with an increase in depth at a rate known as the
geothermal gradient
○ Varies from place to place
○ Averages between ~10C - 20C/km in the crust(rate of increase is much less in
the mantle and core)
● Why is there heat?
○ Heat flow in the crust -> Conduction
■ Rates of heat flow in the crust varies
○ Mantle convection
■ No large change in temp. With depth in the mantle
■ Mantle must have an effective method of transmitting heat from the core
outward
○ Radioactive decay

Determining Earth’s Interior

● No open spaces, but rocky shells surrounding a metallic center
● Surveyor discovered that the mass of a nearby mountain would exert a pull on a plumb
bob
○ The angle of deflection represents the ratio between the mass of the mountain
and the mass of the whole Earth
○ That deflection angle was used to calculate the avg. density of the density

Early View of Earth’s Interior

● Internal layers
● Wiechert made important contributions:
○ Metal must be present in Earth’s interior and metal must occur at the Earth’s
center
○ Earth as Egg Model: thin, light crust (eggshell), thicker, more dense mantle (egg
white), innermost, very dense core (yolk)

Determining Earth’s Interior

● Earth is layered, but…
○ Competing P and T forces complicate things:
 ■ Increase depth -> increase T -> melting
■ Increase depth -> increase P -> increase rock strength
● Layers defined by physical properties
○ Depending on the temp. and depth, a particular Earth material may behave like a
brittle solid, deform plastically, or melt and become liquid
○ Main layers of Earth’s interior are based on physical properties and hence
mechanical strength

Earthquakes - Clues about Earth’s Interior

● Strain released during an earthquake is like the snapping of a benth stick
● When rocks in the subsurface break and slip along a fault, they generate shock waves
that travel outward to form an earthquake
● The speed with which seismic waves travel through the Earth can tell us much about the
composition of the Earth’s interior

Earthquakes
● Earthquake: Vibration of Earth produced by the rapid release of energy stored in rock
subjected to stress (plates rubbing past each other)
● Energy released radiates in all directions from source (like sound), in form of waves
● Body and surface waves

How can we “use” earthquakes?

● What would seismic waves through a uniform, homogenous planet look like?
● In Earth:
○ Pressure (P) increases with depth (h) = increase density (𝞺) (P = 𝞺gh)
○ Earth is chemically (vertically) differentiated
○ Waves can be refracted across boundaries
○ Angle of wave refraction dictated by Snell’s Law
● We’re using wave travel-times to measure the depth of the layers
○ Waves can be reflected off boundaries
○ Law of Reflection: Angle at which the wave is incident on the surface equals the
angle at which it’s reflected
● Abrupt changes in seismic-wave velocities that occur at particular depths helped
seismologists conclude that Earth must be composed of distinct shells
○ Bc of density sorting during an early period of partial melting, Earth’s interior isn’t
homogenous
○ Layer are defined by:
■ Composition = chemistry
■ Mechanics = physics

Earthquakes - Clues about Earth’s Interior

● Earthquakes -> seismic wave velocity -> material density -> internal structure

Earth’s Interior
 ● Earthquake (seismic) waves allowed geologists to refine the model of Earth’s interior
● Info on interior materials:
○ Meteorite composition
○ Igneous rock sources
○ Solid mantle fragments
○ Laboratory measurements of materials under high P and T

Meteorites: Clues about Earth’s Interior

● Meteors (meteorites, after landing) provide clues about Earth’s interior
● Stony meteorites and iron meteorites are thought to be fragments of planetesimals that
had differentiated into mantle and core
● The Barringer meteor crater (Arizona) was created by a meteorite 50m across
● Small by planetary standards, this meteorite blasted a crater 1.1km in diameter

Earth’s Crust
● Continental crust -> Thicker and less dense
○ Granitic
○ Si-O, Al (K, Na, Ca)
● Oceanic crust -> Thinner and more dense
○ Basaltic
○ Mg and Fe (Si-O)
● Lithosphere -> made of crust and upper mantle
● Contains 8 different elements (Oxygen + silicon -> 74.3%)
○ Elements that comprise mass of the entire Earth dominated by iron + oxygen

The Mantle
● Largest layer; made of 2 layers (upper/lower, separated by transition zone)
● Upper mantle is made of peridotite (abundant rock)
● Convection in the mantle transfers heat from the interior to the surface
The Core
● Densest layer
● There’s a liquid outer core and a solid inner core
● Convection in the liquid outer core generates the Earth’s magnetic field
● Seismic waves travel in/out of the core
○ Core is characterized by bending (refracting) of the P waves
○ The fact that S waves don’t travel through the core provides evidence for the
existence of a liquid layer beneath the rocky mantle (S-wave shadow zone)

The Core and the Magnetosphere

● Requirements for core to produce magnetic field
○ 1) Has to be composed of a material that conducts electricity
○ 2) Has to be mobile
● Liquid outer shell convecting around solid inner shell = magnetic field
○ Inner core rotates faster than the Earth’s surface
○ The axis of rotation is offset > 10º from the Earth’s poles
● Magnetic field occasionally ‘flips’
○ Normal polarity (now)
○ Reverse polarity (time of opposite poles)

Paleomagnetism
● Rock magnetism and paleomagnetism use mineral magnetic alignment to determine
the direction and distance to the magnetic pole
● Steeper dip angles indicate rocks formed closer to the magnetic pole
● Marine magnetic anomalies are bands of normal and reversed magnetic field
signatures
● Parallel magnetic bands preserved in ocean floor rocks
● Symmetric “bar-code” anomaly pattern reflects plate motion away from ridge coupled
with magnetic field reversals
● Paleomagnetic changes recorded in oceanic crust

Recap - Earth’s Layers

● Layers of Earth based on chemical and physical differences:
● Chemistry / Composition
○ Crust: Solid, strong, rigid, 30-70 km thick
○ Mantle: Solid, weak, ductile; 2900 km thick
○ Core: Outer (liquid) and inner (solid), 3480 km thick
 ● Physical / Mechanical
○ Crust + upper mantle = lithosphere (~100km)
○ Below lithosphere = asthenosphere (~140 km)
○ Below asthenosphere = mesosphere core

Recap - Earth’s Layers

● Lithosphere
○ Cool + strong, brittle
○ Continental: 100-200 km thick
○ Oceanic: 5-100 km thick
● Asthenosphere
○ Partially melted; ductile
○ Extends to a depth of 660 km
● Mesosphere
○ Hot + strong
○ Extends 660- 2900 km (depth)
● Core
○ Outer: liquid, metallic, Fe, 2300 km thick
○ Inner: Solid, Fe 10% Ni (S, O), 1200 km radius