LU 3 STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION OF THE EARTH

◊ THE EARTH

Spheres

A physical subdivision of the natural world, that acts semi-independently

and in which one or more classes of processes occur, is into what is called
spheres.

The Atmosphere

The atmospheric is a layer of gases enveloping the earth.

It is about 250 miles thick whose bottom 5 - 11 miles (7 - 16 km) contains

most (75%) of the air.

Stratification:
The Earth’s atmosphere is stratified as it is composed of a number of
layers. These layers are shown below.

Composition:
The atmosphere is a mixture of gases.

The gaseous composition of clean and dry air according to percent by

volume is shown below.
The Hydrosphere

The hydrosphere includes all

water on Earth.
71% of the Earth is covered by
water and only 29% is terra firma.
The abundance of water on Earth
is a unique feature that clearly
distinguishes our "Blue Planet"
from others in the solar system.

• Not a drop of liquid water has been found anywhere else in the solar
system.
It is because the Earth has just the right mass, right chemical
composition, right atmosphere and is the right distance from the Sun
(the "Goldilocks" principle) that permits water to exist mainly as a liquid.

• However, the range of surface temperatures and pressures of our planet

permit water to exist in all three states: solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas
(water vapor).
Most of the water is contained in the oceans and the high heat capacity
of this large volume of water (1.35 million km3) buffers the Earth surface
from large temperature changes such as those observed on the moon.

• Water is the universal solvent and the basis of all life on our Planet.

• Scientists estimate that the hydrosphere contains about 1.36 billion km3
of water mostly in the form of a liquid that occupies topographic
depressions on the Earth.

The Biosphere
 • The biosphere is the life zone of the Earth and includes all living
organisms, including man, and all organic matter that has not yet
decomposed.

• Life evolved on earth during its early history between 4.5 and 3.8 billion
years ago and the biosphere readily distinguishes our planet from all
others in the solar system.

• The chemical reactions of life (e.g., photosynthesis-respiration,

carbonate precipitation, etc.) have also imparted a strong signal on the
chemical composition of the atmosphere, transforming the atmosphere
from reducing conditions to and oxidizing environment with free oxygen.

• The Geosphere

The geosphere is the solid Earth that includes the crust as well as the
various layers of the Earth's interior.

The interior of the earth is layered both chemically and mechanically

◊ THE EARTH SYSTEM

A system is defined as a collection of interacting objects.

A system consists of two basic elements:

(1) a functioning set of components,
(2) a flow of energy which powers them

The Earth’s components define the Earth system.

The Earth system is a complex functioning system that includes all the
components of the various "spheres" like the solid Earth surface or
geosphere, the gaseous envelope surrounding the Earth that is the
atmosphere, biosphere comprised of all living organisms and the
hydrosphere or "water sphere".

The Earth system represents flows of energy and mass that connect and
intertwine the four spheres.

Solar energy drives many of the environmental processes operating in

the four spheres.
Additional sources of energy to drive earth systems come from the Earth's
internal heat engine and the gravitational attraction of the moon.

Therefore, forces that shape the Earth derive their energy from a number of
different sources.

The Earth System Interactions

The combined forces of nature cause materials to move about Earth from
sphere to sphere.

This movement of matter often includes chemical transformations

conducted by geologic, hydrologic, atmospheric or biologic agents.
Cycles of Matter

The pathways and rates of material or energy transfer between spheres are
referred to as cycles.

Cycles on Earth are often separated into two sub-cycles, the endogenic
and exogenic cycles (for interior and exterior or surficial process).

Processes
• Exogenic processes are those driven by exogenic forces that primarily
derive their energy from solar radiation.

Example: Soil erosion caused by the force of wind acting on bare ground.
We can trace the energy that causes wind erosion to the receipt
of solar radiation.

How?
• Wind is a product of horizontal differences in pressure over distance
caused by the unequal heating of the Earth's surface.
• Low pressure is created when heated air rises from the surface and then
flows outward at a higher elevation.
• As air is moves upward, the surface pressure decreases relative to the
air around it.
• The variation in surface pressure causes air to move into the region of
low pressure to replace that which is rising, thus creating a wind.
• Soil is detached when wind blows over an erodible surface. Water and
glacial erosion are other examples of exogenic processes

Endogenic processes are those that get their energy from endogenic
forces originating deep within the Earth.

Example: Many of the great mountain systems are a product of the

movement of geosphere thought to result from convection
currents in the mantle.

How?
Deep within the core of the Earth, heat is generated by the radioactive
decay of elements like uranium, thorium, and potassium.
The heat is transferred upward to warm the mantle causing it to slowly
circulate and tug on the crust above.
The movement of geosphere fractures and folds rock, and their collision
creates vast mountain chains and volcanic cones.
◊ THE GEOSPHERE

Four Main Layers Making Up The Geosphere:

1. Core
Inner Core –
It is a mass with a temperature of about 7000º F.
In spite of such temperatures immense pressure on it keeps it in a
solid form.
Outer Core –
It is a molten surrounding the solid inner core.
2. Mantle
It is a rock layer
Parts of this layer become hot enough to liquefy and become slow
moving molten rock or magma.
3. Crust
A layer consisting of solid rock

• The whole geosphere is made of rocks & minerals.

• Inside the earth there is a liquid core of molten rock and on the outside
there is a hard crust. If you compare the earth to an egg, the shell on an
egg is like the crust on the earth.
• The core, mantle and crust of the earth can be envisioned as a giant rock
recycling machine.
• However, the elements that make up rocks are never created or
destroyed although they can be redistributed, transforming one rock
type to another.
◊THE CRUST

The crust is made up of rocks and minerals.

Much of the crust is covered by water, sedimentary particles (e.g. sand),
soil and ice.
If you dig deep enough, you will always hit rocks.
Below the loose layers of soil, sand & crumbled rocks that are found on the
Earth’s surface is bedrock, which is solid rock.
◊ROCKS

The earth’s crust is made up of rocks. A rock is defined as a compact and

consolidated mass of minerals.

Minerals as Constituents of Rocks

A rock is a solid aggregate of one or more minerals that have been

cohesively brought together by a rock-forming process.

The materials constituting the earth’s crust are a result of the processes at
work in and on the crust. The processes and products are best described
through the rock cycle.

The Rock Cycle:

The rock cycle is a general model that describes how various geological
processes create, modify, and influence rocks.
The rock cycle never stops.
The rock cycle is shown on a global scale below.
All this Earth action is linked by the rock cycle, as you can see in the
drawing below.
Main Rock Types

The classification of the rocks into three main categories is thus a genetic
classification.

A simplified schematic version below reviews the origin of the rocks by the
earth processes at work.

Each of these three classes has by virtue of their formation individual

physical characteristics as shown in the diagram below.

• Igneous rock
Igneous rock forms when magma cools and makes crystals.
Magma is a hot liquid made of melted minerals.
The minerals can form crystals when they cool.
When it pours out on Earth's surface, magma is called lava.
Yes, the same liquid rock matter that you see coming out of volcanoes.
Igneous rock can form underground, where the magma cools slowly.
Or, igneous rock can form above ground, where the magma cools
quickly.

• Sedimentary rock

On Earth's surface, wind and water can break rock into pieces.
They can also carry rock pieces to another place.
Usually, the rock pieces, called sediments, drop from the wind or water
to make a layer.
The layer can be buried under other layers of sediments.
The deposited sediment undergoes lithification (the processes that turn
it into a rock). These include cementation and compaction.
 It takes a long time for the sediments to be cemented together to make
sedimentary rock. In this way, igneous rock can become sedimentary
rock.

• Metamorphic rocks
All rock can be heated.
But where does the heat come from?
Inside Earth there is heat from pressure (push your hands together
very hard and feel the heat).
There is heat from friction (rub your hands together and feel the heat).
There is also heat from radioactive decay (the process that gives us
nuclear power plants that make electricity).
So, what does the heat do to the rock?
It bakes the rock.
Baked rock does not melt, but it does change.
It forms crystals.
If it has crystals already, it forms larger crystals.
Because this rock changes, it is called metamorphic.
Remember that a caterpillar changes to become a butterfly. That
change is called metamorphosis.
As the sedimentary rock is buried under more and more sediment, the
heat and pressure of burial cause metamorphism to occur.
This transforms the sedimentary rock into a metamorphic rock.
Metamorphosis can occur in rock when they are heated to 300 to 700 º C.
Earth's tectonic movements produce heat and build mountains and
metamorphose (met-ah-MORE-foes) the rock.

The rock cycle continues.

Mountains made of metamorphic rocks can be broken up and washed away
by streams.
New sediments from these mountains can make new sedimentary rock.
As the metamorphic rock is buried more deeply (or as it is squeezed by
plate tectonic pressures), temperatures and pressures continue to rise.
If the temperature becomes hot enough, the metamorphic rock
undergoes melting.
The molten rock is called magma.

The Rock Cycle is a group of changes.

Igneous rock can change into sedimentary rock or into metamorphic rock.

Sedimentary rock can change into metamorphic rock or into igneous rock.

Metamorphic rock can change into igneous or sedimentary rock.

Please also note that:

1. Any rock type can undergo weathering (breakdown) to form

sediment, followed by transportation and deposition of the sediment.
Both metamorphic and sedimentary rocks can undergo weathering.

2. Igneous rocks can undergo metamorphism (as a result of heat and

pressure) to form metamorphic rocks.

Some Features of different types of Rocks

1. Igneous 2. Igneous 3.Metamorphic 4. Sedimentary

(Coarse crystals) (Fine crystals) (Banding) (Grains)

Find out for yourself how different parts of the rock cycle work. The cycle
is shown schematically in the diagram below. Each number in the diagram
corresponds to a process in the cycle.
◊MINERALS

A mineral is defined as a naturally occurring, homogeneous solid with a

definite, but generally not fixed, chemical composition and ordered atomic
arrangement

A mineral, by definition, must satisfy five conditions:

1. It must be naturally occurring.
2. It must be inorganic.
3. It must be a solid element or compound.
4. It must have a definite composition.
5. It must have a regular internal crystal structure.

• This definition excludes the thousands of compounds invented by

humans in laboratories because these compounds are not naturally
occurring.
• Compounds that are found in only plants or animals are also excluded.
• Liquids are excluded because they are not crystalline, atoms free to
move.

Minerals can be of
• A single element, like diamond, which is made of carbon
• A compound of two or more elements, like quartz, which
contains1silicon and 2 oxygen atoms.

Chemical Elements
o Elements are basic building blocks of minerals. Over 100
known elements.
• Atoms - smallest particle of matter that exhibits all the characteristics of
an element.

Combining Elements to Form Minerals

o Elements combine with each other to form a wide variety of minerals
(chemical compounds)
 Atoms combine chemically by gaining, losing, or sharing an electron
with other atoms (opposites attract).
 The new mineral (compound) will have very different physical properties
from the elements that combined to form it.
 Since rocks are mixtures (not chemical combinations) of minerals,
minerals keep their physical properties within a rock.
Common ions found in minerals.

Charges and relative sizes are shown below.

• Definite composition indicates that a chemical analysis of a given

mineral will always produce the same ratio of elements.
For example, the mineral quartz will always have one silicon for
every two oxygen atoms.
Therefore, minerals can be expressed by chemical formulas, such
as SiO2 for quartz.

• Regular internal crystalline structure indicates that the atoms are

arranged in a regular repeating pattern.
This diagram shows the structure of the mineral halite.
Atoms of chlorine and sodium are arranged in a three-
dimensional repeating pattern.
• Another basic arrangement, the silica tetrahedron, consists of one
silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms at the corners of the
tetrahedron.
The silica tetrahedron is a basic building unit for a major group of
minerals called the silicates.

The diagram below shows four representations of the silica tetrahedron.

A. Oxygen is represented by the white spheres and silicon
by the smaller red sphere.
B. An expanded view with rods representing bonds
between the atoms.
C. Diagrammatic representation of the tetrahedron, with
four points representing the locations of oxygen atoms.
D. Diagrammatic representation of the tetrahedron looking
down from above
By sharing adjacent oxygen atoms, the tetrahedron can form chains,
sheets, and three-dimensional frameworks.

A. The structure of the mineral olivine is based on isolated silica

tetrahedra.

B. The pyroxene minerals are made of a single chain of tetrahedra.

C. The amphibole minerals are made of a double chain of tetrahedra.

D. Micas, like biotite, are sheets of tetrahedra.

E. Framework silicates, like plagioclase and quartz, are three-

dimensional networks of silica tetrahedra.

Mineral Classification.

Mineral classification is based primarily on the chemical composition,

atomic structure, degree of ionic substitution, and color and crystalline
state of minerals.

A. Mineral Classes

- Minerals are classified primarily on the main anion (O-2, S-2, etc.), anionic
complex (oxyacid anion) (OH-1, SO4-2, CO3-2, PO4-3, BxOy-Z, SixOy-Z, etc), or
lack of an anion (native elements)

- Some of the classes are as below

Native elements (comprised of atoms of only one element and no anion)

Sulfides, including Sulfarsenides, Arsenides, Sulfosalts (main anion is S-2)

Oxides (main anion is O-2)

Hydroxides (main anion complex is OH-1)

Halides (main anion is a halogen as Cl-1, Fl-1, Br-1, I-1)

Carbonates (the oxyacid anion, CO3-2)

Nitrates (the oxyacid anion, NO3-1)

Borates (the oxyacid anion, BxOy-Z)

Phosphates (the oxyacid anion, PO4-3)

Sulfates (the oxyacid anion, SO4-2)

Tungstates (the oxyacid anion, WO4-2)

Silicates (the oxyacid anion, SixOy-Z)

B. Mineral Subclasses

Some classes can be subdivided on chemical or structural grounds—e.g.

1. Native Element Class which is divided into minerals with metallic
bonding (metals), those with mostly covalent bonding (nonmetals), and
those with a mixture (semimetals);
2. the Silicate Class, into 6 subclasses (neso-, soro-, cyclo-, phylo-,
tecto-silicates) based on the linkage of the silica tetrahedra
 Silicates

• Importance of Silicates

Silicates account for 91.6% of the Earth's crust.

• Silicates - Structure

Tetrahedron - Shared Oxygens

Basic Building Block: Silica Tetrahedron

 •Composed of one silica atom bonded to four oxygen atoms

•50/50 mix ionic and covalent bonds - mixed bond

• Oxygens form isodesmic bonds, meaning that they equally distribute

their charge between the central Si and some other ion. (i.e., -1 to Si
and -1 to other = total -2)

• Silicates - Classification

Classes of Silicate Structures

Silicates are subdivided into 6 groups based on the arrangement of Si-

tetrahedra within their structure:

Si:O
Subgroup Structure
Ratio

Single tetrahedrons (no oxygens shared between

neighboring tetrahedra) joined by bonds with other
cations

Nesosilicates 1:4

Red circles denote other cations between the tetrahedra.

 Two neighboring tetrahedra share one point

Sorosilicates 2:7

All tetrahedra share 2 oxygens, each one with a different

neighbor, building up 3, 4, 6 or 12 tetrahedra into a ring
structure

Cyclosilicates 1:3

All tetrahedra share 2 oxygens, each one with a different

neighbor, building a chain structure

Inosilicates
1:3
Single Chain
 Alternate tetrahedra share 2 then 3 oxygens, each one
with a different neighbor, building a side-by-side double
chain structure

Inosilicates
4:11
Double Chain

Each tetrahedron shares 3 basal oxygens, each one with

a different neighbor, building a sheet structure

Phyllosilicates 2:5

Each tetrahedron shares all 4 oxygens, each one with a

Tectosilicates 1:2
different neighbor, building a 3-D framework structure
1. Single tetrahedral
olivine

2. Single chains
pyroxene

3. Double chains
amphibole

4. Sheets
muscovite
biotite

5. Frameworks
quartz
feldspar
potassium feldspars (orthoclase and microcline)
plagioclase feldspars
C. Mineraloids

Substances resembling minerals but are non crystalline since they have no
ordered atomic arrangement--these mineral gels or glasses are not true
minerals because they are amorphous

Composition of the Crust