EARTH SCIENCE

STEM

MARIA JOMA S. MORALES

EARTH’S LAYERS
EARTH’S LAYERS
The Earth can be divided into one of two ways –
mechanically or chemically. Mechanically – or
rheologically, meaning the study of liquid states
– it can be divided into the lithosphere,
asthenosphere, mesospheric mantle, outer
core, and the inner core. But chemically, which
is the more popular of the two, it can be divided
into the crust, the mantle (which can be
subdivided into the upper and lower mantle),
and the core – which can also be subdivided into
the outer core, and inner core.
UPPER MANTLE
Movement in the mantle is expressed at the
surface through the motions of tectonic plates.
Driven by heat from deeper in the interior, the
movement in the upper mantle is responsible
for Continental Drift, earthquakes, the
formation of mountain chains, and a number of
other geological processes.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Continental drift is the movement of the
Earth's continents relative to each other, thus
appearing to "drift" across the ocean bed. The
speculation that continents might have 'drifted'
was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in
1596. The concept was independently and more
fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912, but
his theory was rejected.
REJECTION OF WEGENER’S THEORY
One problem was that a plausible driving force
was missing. A second problem was that
Wegener's estimate of the velocity of
continental motion, 250 cm/year, was
implausibly high. And it did not help that
Wegener was not a geologist.
EVIDENCE OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT
 Similar plant and animal fossils are found
around the shores of different continents,
suggesting that they were once joined. The
fossils of Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile
rather like a small crocodile, found both
in Brazil and South Africa, are one example
 There is also living evidence—the same
animals being found on two continents.
Some earthworm families are found in South
America and Africa.
SEAFLOOR SPREADING
 Similar plant and animal fossils are found
around the shores of different continents,
suggesting that they were once joined. The
fossils of Mesosaurus, a freshwater reptile
rather like a small crocodile, found both
in Brazil and South Africa, are one example
 There is also living evidence—the same
animals being found on two continents.
Some earthworm families are found in South
America and Africa.
EVIDENCE OF SEAFLOOR SPREADING
 Seafloor spreading helps explain continental
drift in the theory of plate tectonics. When
oceanic plates diverge, tensional stress
causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere.
The evidences include eruptions of molten
material , magnetic stripes in the rock of the
ocean floor and ages of the rocks.
PLATE TECTONICS
There are basically three different types of plate
boundaries (divergent, convergent, transform), and a
fourth type (boundary zones) is sometimes designated
when it is difficult to define a clear boundary:
 Divergent boundaries -- where new crust is
generated as the plates pull away from each other.
 Convergent boundaries -- where crust is destroyed
as one plate dives under another.
 Transform boundaries -- where crust is neither
produced nor destroyed as the plates slide
horizontally past each other.
CONTINENTAL MARGINS
 Continental margins are in a geological sense
not part of the oceanic crust. They consist of
continental crust and material that was
eroded from the continents and is now piled
up along the margins of the continents. The
margins are subdivided into CONTINENTAL
SLOPE and SHELF with the latter simply
being a submerged part of shield or platform.
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