Earth’s Surface Review

1. Earth’s Surface Review • Drill: Which sphere does a plant belong to; Geosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, or Biosphere? • How does it interact with the other spheres? • Objective: Students will be able to utilize the lesson outline in order to prepare for the test. • HW: Test on Thursday.

2. Earth’s Sphere • Geosphere: Earth’s entire solid body. It includes rocks and sediments that cover the core. The largest of the spheres. • Biosphere: All living organisms on Earth. They interact with all other spheres. • Atmosphere: Outermost system, it is the layer of gasses that surround Earth. • Hydrosphere: Earth’s waters. It can be on the surface, underground, or in the atmosphere.

3. Formation of Earth • Nebular Theory: Theory that the sun and all the planets were formed from a swirling mass of gas and dust. • Gravity pulled materials in all directions to make Earth spherical. • Densest materials pulled to the center. • Earth is not a perfect sphere but slightly flattened.

4. Layers of Earth • Crust: Brittle rocky outer layer. Thinnest of all layers • Mantle: Thick middle layer of the earth. Consists of upper and lower • Outer Core: Liquid center portion of Earth. Made of iron and nickel. • Inner Core: Inner most portion of core. Made of solid iron and nickel. • Lithosphere: Crust and the upper most mantle which consists of heated brittle rock. • Asthenosphere: Below the lithosphere, it is the liquid portion of the mantle where tiny rocks melt. • Magnetic field: Created by the rubbing of the inner and outer due to their different rates of spin.

5. Landforms: Topographical features formed by processes that shape Earth. • Plains: Low elevation and low relief (difference in height). • Coastal and Interior • Plateaus: High elevation and low relief. • Appalachians and Rocky Mountains. • Mountains: High elevation and high relief. • Piedmont, Appalachian, Ozark, Colorado, and Columbia Plateau