apes unit 4 outline

APES Unit 4 Outline3


Natural History

  • The universe started with the Big Bang approximately 13.7 Billion Years ago.

  • Our solar system formed around the sun from the space dust being held in by its gravity approximately 4.5 Billion Years ago (This is the approximate age of the earth).

  • The space dust began to chemically bond in the vacuum of space because, due to the lack of air to passivate surfaces, chemical reactions happen easier in space.

  • When earth reached the size of a approximately ½ mile in diameter, the gravity of earth began to rapidly pull in other surrounding matter

  • This caused the earth to rapidly increase in size

  • In the first 200 to 500 million years of earth's existence it was incredibly volatile, with 100’s to 1000’s of meteors striking earth each day.

  • This caused the planet to be molten hot, and allowed for the heavier elements to sink to the middle of the earth. Lighter elements floated on top near the surface.

  • Eventually the earth calmed down and cooled, but not before the asteroids brought all of the water on the planet a few drops at a time, embedded in the asteroids. 

  • At some point in earth’s early history the moon was formed when a large asteroid/small planet collided with the outside of earth

    • The collision knocked off a portion of earth’s crust 

    • This crust was held in by earth’s gravity and formed into the moon.

    • There is very little to zero Iron and Nickel on the moon because the moon was formed from the material in the outer layers o the earth.

  • Bacteria arrived in Meteors and started to photosynthesize in the ocean.

    • Eventually the oxygen being created in the ocean from the bacteria could no longer be held in the ocean and escaped into the atmosphere

    • The oxygen formed o-zone (O3) in the upper levels of the atmosphere. 

      • The o-zone layer holds most gasses in the lower atmosphere (not letting them escape to space

      • The ozone layer also absorbs harmful U-V light from the sun, making the conditions more favorable for complicated life

    • The formation of the earth’s o-zone is the last step needed to allow for complicated life to form

  • Life evolved in the ocean and eventually spread to the land starting the process that lead to humans.


Geosphere

The Geosphere is defined as all of the solid material that makes up the earth. 

  • The geosphere is studied by Geologists who study rocks and plates.

  • Geological change occurs over millions of years, but can be used to explain the formation of the major features of our planet

  • We have learned about the geosphere using information gained from seismic waves.

    • Seismic waves pass through the earth and can be used to differentiate between different types of materials allowing us to map the make-up of the earth without digging. 

    • Seismic waves are also emitted from the earth in an attempt to release energy that is built up from the immense pressure and heat. 

    • People who study seismic waves are called seismologists.

  • The Geosphere is Can be broken up 2 different ways.

    • Chemical Layers

      • Crust – the smallest layer made up of the lightest elements, represents less than 1 % of the mass of the planet. Only 22 km deep at its deepest points.

      • Mantle – made up elements heavier than the crust but not as heavy as elements such as Iron and Nickel in the core. Second biggest layer.

      • Core – Largest chemical layer. Composed of Iron and Nickel

    • Physical Layers

      • Lithosphere – contains the crust and the upper part of the mantle. Is thought of as the solid puzzle pieces that click together to make the solid outside layer of the earth. The lithosphere is “floating” atop an active aesthenosphere, so movement in the aesthenosphere causes movement on the surface

      • Aesthenosphere -more ductile than the lithosphere. The built up heat and pressure from the above helps drive the formation of metamorphic rocks in this layer, but this process creates change and causes the lithosphere to move resulting in earth quakes.

      • Mesopsphere – middle physical layer… not really anything interesting happening here.

      • Outer Core- Liquid layer of the core. The heat caused by the pressure of 1000’s of pounds of earth on top of it causes the Iron and Nickel to melt to form a molten layer.

      • Inner Core – Solid layer of the core. Actually hotter than the outer core, but the immense amount of pressure in the inner core will not allow the Iron and Nickel to reach the liquid state. 

The Rock Cycle

  • The geosphere drives the rock cycle which “recycles” one type of rock by turning it into another type of rock.

    • The major forces that drive the rock cycle are Heat, Pressure, Erosion/weathering, and time

      • Erosion is when rocks are broken down by water

      • Weathering is when rocks are broken down by wind

    • The three rocks and how they are formed are as follows

      • Igneous – forms from when magma makes its way towards the surface and cools to solid rock. Pumice is an example

      • Sedimentary – forms when Igneous rock is broken down via erosion/weathering and the broken pieces begin to stack on themselves forming new types of “layered rocks.” Limestone is an example

      • Metamorphic- Eventually the layers of the limestone create so much pressure on the lower layers that the resulting heat turns the limestone into a denser type of rock called metamorphic rock. Granite is an example.

    • Metamorphic rock eventually turns back into liquid magma starting the process.

  • The rock cycle occurs over millions to 100’s of millions of years.

Plate Tectonics

  • The lithosphere is floating on an active aesthenosphere. 

  • The movements in the aesthenosphere cause movement in the lithosphere

  • These movements are most pronounced at plate boundaries (Faults)

  • There are 3 different types of faults that can create different geological phenomena

    • Convergent -    🡪 🡨  Convergent plate boundaries create mountains (or volcanoes if they happen between land and ocean plates). 

    • Divergent 🡨 🡪 Divergent plate boundaries create trenches (mostly occur in the ocean)

    • Transform ↑↓ Transform plate boundaries slide past each other and result in the most serious earth quakes. 

Soil

  • The characterization of different types of soil is referred to as soil taxonomy

  • Geologists think of soil as just a step in the rock cycle (broken down Igneous rock that has not quite stacked enough to form sedimentary rock) 

    • which is why their definition of soil is loose surfaces of earth. 

  • Plant Scientists highlight Soil’s ability to support life.

    •  Which is why their definition of soil is something that nourishes and supports growing plants.

  • Soil has five key functions in our world

    • Sustain Plant life

    • Regulate and partition water

    • Filter, buffer, or regulate chemicals 

    • Store/Cycle chemical nutrients

    • Provide Foundation for structures

  • Soil is composed of 

    • 45 % mineral matter

    • 25 % air

    • 25 % water 

    • 5% organic matter

  • We differentiate the mineral matter by particle size 

    • Gravel has the biggest particles (size = 1-3mm)

    • Sand has the second biggest particles (size < 1 mm)

    • Silt has the second smallest particles(size <100 micrometers or .1 mm)

    • Clay has the smallest particles (micrometers)

  • We should be able to use the following chart to classify soil

    • For example something that is 60 % silt, 30 % clay and 10 % sand would be classified as a Silty, Clay Loam. 

    • Another example is something that is 60 % sand, 20 % clay and 20% silt would be classified as a Loam. 

LEARN ABOUT SOIL SALINIZATION

The Hydrosphere

Parts of the Hydrosphere

  • The Hydrosphere makes up over ¾ of our planet. It includes water in all of its forms on the planet (liquid water, ice, or water vapor). 

  • The hydrosphere is 97 % Salt Water

  • Of the 3 % fresh water approximately 2/3 of it is in glaciers and snow melts, while the other 1/3 is in the ground or in our rivers lakes and streams. 

  • The parts of the hydrosphere are all connected via the water cycle and earth’s drive to reach thermal equilibrium.

The Water Cycle

  • The water cycle connects all of the different parts of the hydrosphere, and is defined as the cycle of physical changes that water naturally experiences on earth. Some of the parts of the water cycle that students will be responsible for are listed below

    • Evaporation

    • Condensation

    • Precipitation

    • Transporation

    • Interception

    • Infiltration

    • Percolation

    • Discharge

    • Evapotranspiration

  • The energy required for the water cycle to run its course is provided by the sun and drive for thermal equilibrium that generates currents, and weather moving matter and energy around the planet.

The Atmosphere

       Parts of the Atmosphere

  • The atmosphere describes all of the gasses on our planet.

    • It is made up of 78.1% Nitrogen, 21 % Oxygen, up to 4 % water, 0.93 % Argon, 0.036% Carbon dioxide (CO2)

    • There are trace amounts of other gasses including greenhouse gasses and ozone. The most prevalent greenhouse gas is water. 

  • There are 5 different layers of the atmosphere that students will be responsible for knowing

    • The troposphere (holds 91 % of our gasses), and 

    • The stratosphere holds the 8 % of gasses and contains the o-zone layer

      • O-zone is O3 (Oxygen normally comes in pairs (O2), but at certain pressures and temperatures it forms O3. These conditions exist in the stratosphere.

      • The o-zone absorbs U-V radiation and therefore protects the earth’s surface from these high energy rays.

    • The mesosphere is the layer in which most meteors burn up

    • The thermosphere is the second to last layer and absorbs the easy to absorb radiation for the sun. The thermosphere holds .01 % of our gasses.

    • The exosphere is the layer that connects to outerspace.


Temperature and Pressure in the Atmosphere

  • Pressure exponentially decreases as altitude increases through the different layers.

  • The dependence on temperature is more complicated. It changes multiple times for various reasons.

  • The temperature initially decreases with altitude for the span of the entire troposphere. It does this because Temperature and Pressure are inversely related by the ideal gas law (PV = nRT) provided there are no other changes. 

  • It begins to increase in the stratosphere because in this layer the O-zone is absorbing high energy U-V radiation.

  • The mesosphere is another area where the temperature decreases with altitude. It does this for the same reason as it does in the troposphere.

  • The thermosphere is another area where the temperature increases with altitude. It does this because this layer absorbs all of the “easy to absorb” radiation from the sun. 

Weather

The hydrosphere and the atmosphere are connected via the water cycle and earth’s tendency to try and establish Equillibrium.

  • Equilibrium is defined as the stable state where both heat and matter are evenly distributed throughout a system. All systems try and establish equilibrium. 

  • The earth is being unevenly heated by the sun (areas on the equator are heated more than the poles).

  • That uneven heating by the sun drives currents in the hydrosphere, pressure systems in the atmosphere, and the water cycle. All of this is described as weather. 

  • Weather terms that should be understood include the following

    • Humidity

    • Precipitation

    • Dew point

    • Barometer – measures pressure

    • Low Pressure System

    • High Pressure System

    • El nino


Examples of Equllibrium (from documentary)

  • Excess heat at the equator caused vast amounts of evaporation that formed giant clouds. These clouds were driven spinning of the planet and the water  and fueled by the higher temperature water of the gulf coast. This system became hurricane Katrina.

  • The arctic winds insulate the south pole from ocean currents that would bring more water. This creates colder temperatures making ice. (the ice reflects the UV rays creating a feed back loop that keeps it cold and thus creating more ice). When the ice forms it expels the salt from the water creating extra dense salt water called brine. This brine sinks and circulates as a underwater river on the sea-floor. This higher Density water circulates at the seafloor throughout the planet occasionally being mixed by hydrothermal vents bringing additional nutrients from briny water to the surface.

  • Hydrothermal vents are cracks in the sea floor that emit heat from the geosphere. This warms the dense briny water at the ocean floor and brings it to the surface. This surplus of nutrients at the surface creates hot spots for life in an otherwise barren open ocean.

  • The winds of the Sahara desert blow sand into the atmosphere. The sands are trapped in clouds which cross the Atlantic and bring Nutrients to the Amazon rain forest. This additional  rain and nutrients allow this ecosystem thrive. 


LAKE AFFECT

Polar Vortex

Gulf Stream

Dyatomite from Africa helping Amazon

El Nino/La Ni