 “Earth is a complex system of interacting physical,

chemical and biological processes, and provides a natural

laboratory whose experiments have been running since the
beginning of time.”
 Earth is a dynamic body
with many separate, but
highly interacting parts or
spheres.
 Earth system science
studies Earth as a system
composed of numerous
parts, or subsystems.

These are Geosphere,

Hydrosphere, Atmosphere
and Biosphere.
Earth’s Four Spheres
 Geosphere: comprises the solid Earth and includes
both Earth’s surface and the various layers of the
Earth's interior.
 Atmosphere: gaseous envelope that surrounds the
Earth and constitutes the transition between it
and the vacuum of space
 Hydrosphere: includes all water on Earth (including
surface water and groundwater)
 Biosphere: the life zone of the Earth and includes all
living organisms, and all organic matter that has
not yet decomposed.
GEOSPHERE
 It is the portion of Earth that includes the interior
structure, rocks and minerals, landforms and all
physical processes on land that shape Earth’s surfaces.
 All the continents and the ocean floor
 This is the solid ground of Earth
 Scientist who study this part of Earth are called
Geologists.
 Geosphere covers all the solid part of Earth from its
surface up to the deeper depth of the core, as opposed
to lithosphere that covers only the crust.
EARTH’S INTERNAL STRUCTURE
EARTH’S INTERNAL STRUCTURE
 Three main layers:
> Crust, Mantle and Core
• Each layer has unique features
• We can only see the surface of the crust because this is
the part of Earth where we live.
• Modern technology has allowed the identification of
materials in the interior of Earth through seismic
waves.
• There are two types of waves traveling through Earth.
> The P- waves, which travel fast through both solids
and liquids
> The S-waves which travel slower than P-waves and
can travel only through solids.
CRUST
 It consists of a 5 to 70 km thick layer of oceanic and
continental crusts.
 The continental crust is thicker than the oceanic crust.
 Most of the crust is composed of eight elements
namely, oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium,
sodium, potassium and magnesium.
 These are the same elements that we process to
produce things we commonly use today, such as glass
(SiO2), concrete (CaCO2), and steel.
 MOHOROVICIC DISCONTINUITY or
simply Moho
- the transitional boundary that divides the crust
from the mantle
- discovered by Croatian seismologist Andrija
Mohorovicic in 1909
- The velocity of the seismic waves behaved
differently as they traveled through this layer
before the mantle, which is why it was termed as
“discontinuity.”
MANTLE
 It is the layer below the crust.
 Scientists through recent discoveries added a sublayer
of the mantle, known as the asthenosphere.

 ASTHENOSPHERE – it explains the occurrence of

earthquakes and seismic activities.
- it lies on the upper part of the mantle and is directly
below the crust.
- It has extreme temperature and pressure that causes
the rocks to become ductile and thus move like
liquid.
MANTLE
 The mantle is made up of silicate rocks.
 It is considered to be the thickest layer of Earth.
 It holds almost 84% of the volume of Earth.
 Most of it is solid, but it behaves like a viscous fluid.
 The limited knowledge that scientists have on the mantle is
derived from xenoliths.
 Xenoliths are rocks that are embedded or trapped in rocks
that come straight from a volcano.
 The rocks trapped inside magma apparently contain most
of the primary rocks that originated from the interior of
Earth.
 These are thought to be the rocks in the mantle.
Xenolith
GUTENBERG DISCONTINUITY
 It serves as a transitional boundary between the lower
mantle and the outer core.
 It was named after its discovery by Beno Gutenburg in
1913.
 This boundary does not remain constant because of
changes in heat flow.
 When heat in the mantle dissipates, the molten core
gradually solidifies and shrinks, moving this boundary
deeper and deeper within Earth’s core.
CORE
 It is chiefly made up of iron and nickel.
 The iron in the outer core is in liquid form, which is
why the outer core is known to be liquid while the
inner core is solid.
 Iron is particularly important because this is the
primary source of Earth’s magnetic field.
 The magnetic field extends outward to protect Earth
from solar winds by deflecting them.
 Without this magnetic field, the solar winds could
damage Earth’s atmosphere and all living forms on
Earth.
LEHMAN DISCONTINUITY
• It is the transitional boundary between the inner core
and the outer core.
 It was discovered in 1929 by Danish seismologist
Inge Lehmann when a large earthquake occurred in
New Zealand.
• Lehmann studied the shock waves and realized that
these waves had traveled some distance into the core
and then bounced off to some kind of boundary.
• With this distinct behavior of the waves, it was
accepted that there indeed lies a layer that separates
the solid inner core from liquid outer core.