EARTH AND EARTH SYSTEMS

EARTH’S FOUR SUBSYSTEMS

1. ATMOSPHERE
2. HYDROSPHERE
3. BIOSPHERE
4. LITHOSPHERE
 ATMOSPHERE

It is a delicate life giving blanket

of air that sorround the fragile
earth.
 Consist of about 79% nitrogen,
29% oxygen, 1% argon and trace
amounts of other gasses such
as carbon dioxide.
 Regulates the flow of solar
energy to and from earth’s
surface and transports heat and
water vapor from one region to
another.
Shields earth surface from high
levels of ultraviolet radiation,
charged particles from the sun,
small meteors and cosmic rays.
 LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE
• TROPOSHERE – it is where the weather
occurs, clouds are formed.
• STRATOSPHERE – where ozone layer is
found
• MESOSPHERE – found almost nothing;
between stratosphere and thermosphere
• EXOSPHERE – outermost layer of the
atmosphere
 HYDROSPHERE
• Water layer of the earth.
• The vast majority of earth’s water is the oceans.
• The oceans are the great heat reservoir of earth
and the principal source of water vapor for
precipitation.
• Running water and glacial ice, both fed by
precipitation are the principal agents that sculpt
the surface of the earth, although wind can be
important locally.
 BIOSPHERE
• Includes all areas of earth occupied by
organisms.
• Plays a profound role in shaping the
surface of the earth.
• Soil microorganisms assist in the
chemical breakdown of rocks to
sediment and soil.
• Vegetation cover modifies erosion
processes.
• Forest darkens the land absorb solar
energy and help warm earth’s surface.
• Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere and relase oxygen,
creating the atmosphere as we know it.
 LITHOSPHERE

• Together the crust and the upper part of

the underlying mantle form the lithosphere
which is fragmented into a mosaic of
individual segments called plates.
• These lithospheric plates move with respect to
one another, separating in some areas colliding
in others and simply sliding past one another in
others. This concept of moving plates is the
basis of plate tectonic theory or what is
popularly known as continental drift.