EARTH SCIENCE.docx

Earth Science

The study of the dynamic Earth, including its processes, properties, structures, and relationship with neighboring space.

Earth's Vital Statistics

Key measurements of Earth include age, circumference, radius, mass, volume, surface area, and density.

Atmosphere

A layer of gas surrounding Earth that shields from UV radiation, maintains warmth, and contains essential gases for life.

Hydrosphere

Bodies of water on Earth's surface, including saltwater and freshwater, crucial for life.

Biosphere

The area on Earth's surface where all biological life exists.

Geosphere

The largest sphere, extending from Earth's surface to its center, comprising soil as an interface of the spheres.

Layers of the Earth

Earth's layers based on composition and physical properties, including the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core.

Minerals

Building blocks of rocks with specific criteria like being naturally-occurring, inorganic, having a definite chemical composition, and ordered crystalline structure.

Properties of Minerals

Characteristics like color, luster, hardness, cleavage, density, tenacity, diaphaneity, magnetism, effervescence, odor, and taste.

Igneous Rocks

Rocks formed from molten material cooling and solidifying, classified as intrusive or extrusive based on formation location and grain size.

Sedimentary Rocks

Rocks formed from sediments through weathering, erosion, and diagenesis, including clastic and non-clastic types.

Metamorphic Rocks

Rocks formed from the alteration of existing rocks due to temperature and pressure changes, categorized as foliated or nonfoliated.

Depositional Environments

Locations where sediments are deposited, influenced by weathering, erosion, and depositional processes.

Terrestrial Environments

Land and water forms like fluvial, eolian, alluvial, glacial, and lacustrine environments, with associated landforms and waterforms.

Wetlands

Areas near rivers or coastlines where soils are saturated or submerged in water.

Swamps

Wetlands dominated by trees.

Marshes

Wetlands where moss and soft-stemmed vegetation are prominent.

Marine Environments

Environments in open waters, from shallow depths to the deepest parts of the ocean.

Oceans

Large bodies of water surrounding continents; seas are smaller bodies of saltwater connected to the ocean.

Atolls

Rings of coral forming around a volcanic island or volcano.

Guyots

Elevated platforms with flat tops formed by volcanic activity near the ocean floor.

Stratigraphy

Branch of geology studying rock layers and correlating rocks with time.

Law of Superposition

In an undisturbed sequence, lower layers are older than upper layers.

Law of Lateral Continuity

Strata extend laterally until encountering a barrier.

Law of Original Horizontality

Strata are deposited horizontally.

Law of Cross-cutting Relationships

Geologic bodies cutting across strata are younger.

Unconformities

Gaps in rock sequences indicating missing time.

Absolute Dating

Determines the specific age of a rock layer using methods like radiometric dating.

Fossils

Remains of life preserved in sediments and rocks.

Paleontology

Study of fossils linking geology and biology.

Plate Tectonics

Theory explaining the movement of Earth's lithosphere plates.

Continental Drift

Hypothesis suggesting the movement of continents.

Seafloor Spreading

Process forming new oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges.

Plate Boundaries

Regions where tectonic plates meet.

Earthquakes

Ground shaking caused by the slipping of earth blocks along faults.

Seismic Waves

Waves released during an earthquake, including body waves and surface waves.

Seismology

Study of earthquakes using seismographs to record seismic activity.

Ground Shaking

The shaking of the ground at a specific location due to an earthquake, leading to potential damage to property, life, and nature.

Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale

A scale used in the United States to measure the intensity of an earthquake based on observed effects.

PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale (PEIS)

A scale used in the Philippines to measure the intensity of earthquakes.

Magnitude

The quantitative measurement of the energy released at the source of an earthquake.

Moment Magnitude (Mw) Scale

A scale used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes, replacing the Richter Scale.

Faults

Fractures in the Earth's crust where tectonic plates meet, causing earthquakes when they move.

Tectonic Earthquakes

The most common type of earthquake caused by the movement of tectonic plates along faults.

Volcanic Earthquakes

Earthquakes triggered by volcanic activity or eruptions.

Volcanism

The geological process where molten rock from beneath the Earth's surface reaches the top, often resulting in volcanic eruptions.

Magma

Molten rock beneath the Earth's surface that becomes lava when it reaches the surface during a volcanic eruption.

Coriolis Effect

The deflection of free-moving objects, including wind, due to the Earth's rotation, causing objects in the Northern Hemisphere to be deflected to the right and in the Southern Hemisphere to the left.

Typhoons, Hurricanes, and Cyclones

Different names for areas of low pressure characterized by a spiral movement of winds, with typhoons in the Western Pacific, hurricanes in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific, and cyclones in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Thunderstorms

Weather phenomena associated with cumulonimbus clouds, heavy rainfall, thunder, lightning, and sometimes tornadoes, caused by the upward movement of moist and warm air.

Tornadoes

Violently spinning columns of air extending downwards from cumulonimbus clouds.

Precipitation

Any form of water particle descending from the atmosphere to the Earth's surface, including rain, sleet, hail, snow, and drizzle.

El Niño

A weather pattern affecting countries near the Southern Pacific Ocean, part of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) warm phase.

Astronomy

The study of celestial objects and phenomena in space.

Heliocentric Model

A model where the Sun is at the center of the universe, proposed by Aristarchus and later advocated by Copernicus.

Laws of Planetary Motion

Formulated by Johannes Kepler, including the Law of Ellipses, Law of Equal Areas, and Law of Harmonies.

Law of Universal Gravitation

Formulated by Sir Isaac Newton, stating that every body in the universe attracts every other body with a force proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Big Bang Theory

The theory explaining the origin of the universe, suggesting rapid expansion from a high-temperature and high-density state, leading to the formation of matter, energy, space, and time.

Nebular Theory

The theory explaining the origin of the solar system, proposing that it formed from a rotating cloud of dust and gas called the solar nebula nearly 4.6 billion years ago.

Inner Planets

The first four planets from the Sun, separated from the outer planets by the asteroid belt, consisting of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Sun

A yellow dwarf star at the center of the solar system, comprising nearly 99.8% of the solar system's mass, with temperatures ranging from 5,600℃ on the surface to 15,000,000℃ in the core.

Kuiper Belt

A region in the outer solar system containing icy bodies known as Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) or trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs).

Dwarf Planets

Celestial bodies that meet some criteria of a planet but have not cleared their orbit of other debris, such as Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris.

Core Accretion Model

The process by which Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago from planetesimals through accretion, leading to the differentiation of layers.

Giant Impact Hypothesis

The theory that a celestial body named Theia collided with Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, resulting in the formation of the Moon and the tilt in Earth's axis.

Cyanobacteria

Aerobic bacteria crucial for producing oxygen during the Late Heavy Bombardment stage, leading to the Great Oxidation Event and increased salinity in the oceans.

Earth Rotation

The spinning of Earth on its axis, causing day and night, with variations in axial tilt affecting the length of days and seasons.

Earth Revolution

The orbit of Earth around the Sun, taking 365.25 days to complete a revolution, leading to the creation of leap years to synchronize with the calendar.

Lunar Eclipse

Occurs when Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the Moon, with the Moon falling within Earth's umbra, causing a shadow on the Moon's surface.

Stars

Luminous celestial bodies formed from interstellar clouds through gravitational collapse, undergoing nuclear fusion to produce energy and elements essential for life.

Comets

Small space bodies composed of dust, ice, and frozen gases that release gas through outgassing when close to the Sun, leaving trails of gas and dust.

Asteroids

Small rocky bodies found in the asteroid belt region, remnants from the formation of the Solar System, varying in size and shape, with meteoroids becoming meteors upon entering Earth's atmosphere.