Interior of the EarthCore, Mantle, Crust

The Earths InteriorComposition

The inner core
Composed of Iron and Nickel. Pressures are so great that metals are solid, despite the high
temperature.
The outer core
Metals (Iron and Nickel) are molten and exists as a liquid.

The Mesosphere .. Hot rocks, but relatively rigid due to high pressure
The mantle between the bottom of the asthenosphere to the core-mantle boundary.
The temperature at the core-mantle boundary is about 50000C.
The Asthenosphere..hot, molten (plastic) rocks
The region of the mantle where rocks become ductile, have little strength, and are easily deformed.
It lies at a depth of 100 to 350 km below the surface.

The Lithosphere:
The outer solid crust of the solid Earth, where rocks are harder and more rigid than those in the
plastic asthenosphere
The oceanic crust on average is about 8 km thick.
The continental crust on average is about 45 km thick.
The EarthElemental Composition

Relative
Abundance
of Elements
on Earth
Origin of Earth.First Atmosphere
The early atmosphere of the earth was mainly hydrogen and helium, but this atmosphere
was lost quickly, since the the gravity of the modest size earth was not strong enough to
prevent such light gases from escaping to space.

The surface of the earth during this period was extremely hot with numerous volcanoes.
The earth was under near constant bombardment by objects of varying sizes. Slowly, the
earth started to cool down and the second atmosphere began to form.

Origin of the Earth..Second Atmosphere

A new atmosphere was established by the out-gassing of volcanoes,

H2O vapor (roughly 80%)

CO2 (roughly 10%)
N2 (few percent)

Small amounts of CO, HCl, H2S (Hydrogen Sulfide), SO2, CH4 (Methane), Ammonia
(NH3), and other trace gases.

Virtually no oxygen in the second atmosphere.

Thus, no ozone layer, so ultraviolet radiation flooded the earths surface.

Origin of the Earth..Third Atmosphere
In the first two billion years of the planets evolution, the atmosphere acquired a small
amount of oxygen, probably by the splitting of water molecules by solar radiation.

The oxygen also led to the establishment of an ozone layer that reduced UV radiation at
the surface.

With the rise of photosynthetic bacteria (cyanobacteria) and early plants, oxygen levels
began to rise rapidly.

Between 2.5 billion years ago to about 500 billion years ago, O 2 rose to near current
levels.
Formation of the ozone layer

Ultraviolet radiation forms O3

from O2 in the upper atmosphere

Prevents UV from reaching Earth

Decreased mutagenesis

Enabled organisms to live in

surface waters and on land
Origin of the Earth..Third Atmosphere
While O2 was increasing, CO2 decreased due to several reasons:

(1) In photosynthesis CO2 is used to produce organic matter, some of which is lost to the
system (e.g., drops to the bottom of the ocean or is buried)

(2) chemical weathering, which removes CO2

Sulfur compounds were taken out of the atmosphere as acid rain and were deposited on
the ground as sulfates.

N2 gas increased slowly but progressively since it was relatively inert.

Current composition of the atmosphere was established approximately a billion years

ago.

With lower CO2 levels the earth became more susceptible to ice ages when solar
radiation decreases due to orbital variations,

It appears that around 750-550 million years ago the earth cooled down and became
nearly entirely glaciated.

Volcanoes were still putting CO2 into the atmosphere. Weathering was greatly
reducedsince little liquid water.

So CO increased until the greenhouse effect was so large the earth warmed up.
 History of Earth Humans Appear
At 23:59:52
Plants Invade Birth of planet
land Earth

23 24
00 1 Ancient
Multicellular 2 Bedrocks
22
Organisms 21 3
20 4
19 5 First Bacterial
Modern cells The Earth 6
Organisms
18
17 and Life 7
16
8
15
9
14 Blue-green Algae;
13 12 11 10
Photosynthesis
Atmospheric Oxygen
The Evolution of Life
The Tree of Life