Asif uz zaman (Lecturer) Civil Engineering Department Faculty of Engineering Rabigh King Abdulaziz University

Planet Earth
Roughly 4.5 billion years old Third planet orbiting around the sun Only planet in our solar system to have surface liquid water Home to the only known life in the universe

Structure of the Earth

The Earth is made up of 3 main layers:
Core Mantle Crust
Mantle Outer core Inner core

Crust

The lithosphere is made up of the crust and the upper part of the mantle.

Earth's outer most layer of solid rock. Two types of crust exist:

Oceanic crust and Continental crust.

The Crust
This is where we live! The Earths crust is made of:

Continental Crust -

Oceanic Crust

Mantle
The mantle is one of the three main layers of the Earth. It lies between the innermost layer, the core, and the thin outermost layer, the crust. The mantle consists of hot, dense, semisolid rock and is about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) thick.

The core is a layer rich in iron and nickel found in the interior of the Earth. Earth. It is composed of two subsub-layers layers: : the inner core and outer core. The Earth's core is solid mass of iron plus some nickel surrounded by a fluid (water (water-like) outer layer layer. . The closer you get to the core, the hotter it becomes and the greater the pressure. pressure .

Central University of Kerala

Inner Core : Inner region of the Earth's core. It is

thought to be solid iron and nickel with a density of about 13 grams per cubic centimeter. It also has a diameter of about 1220 kilometers.

Outer Core : Outer region of the Earth's core. It is

believed to be liquid nickel and iron and has a density of about 11 grams per cubic centimeter. It surrounds the inner core and has an average thickness of about 2,250 kilometers.

Lithosphere (Geosphere)
Greek for rocky sphere. The lithosphere is the hard solid shell of the Earth, consisting of the crust and the topmost part of the upper mantle. It is about 55 km (34 mi) thick beneath the oceans and up to about 200 km (124 mi) thick beneath the continents It is an average of 100km thick. It contains the minerals, rocks and soils that humans have used for building materials, metals and agriculture.

Internal Structure of the Earth

Hydrosphere
All of water that is part of Earth is called the hydrosphere. It is total water presence on the earth, encompassing all that is found in the largest oceans and the smallest ponds, in the soil and that contained in the air. 71% of the earth is covered by water and only 29% is terra firma (University of Florida).
Blue Planet

water is not found on any other planets in our

solar system. It is because the Earth has just the right mass, the right chemical composition, the right atmosphere, and is the right distance from the Sun (the "Goldilocks" principle) that permits water to exist mainly as a liquid (U of F).

The great variety of surface temperatures and pressures allows water to exist in all three states.
Solid = Ice Liquid = Water Gas = Water Vapour

Unusable water: water: Oceans and other saline bodies: bodies: over 97% 97% Of the remaining 3 percent, a little over 2% is tied up in ice caps and glaciers and, along with atmospheric and soil moisture, is inaccessible inaccessible. . Usable water: water: Only 0.62 % of the total supply is found in fresh water lakes, rivers, and ground water supplies that can be used for our general livelihood and general activities

Table: World Water Distribution

Location Volume, 1012 m3 % of total

Land areas
Fresh water lakes Saline lakes and inland seas Rivers(average instantaneous volume) Soil moisture Groundwater(above depth of 4000m)

125 104 1.25 67 8,350 29,200 37,800 13 1,320,000 1,360,000

0.009 0.008 0.0001 0.005 0.61 2.14 2.8 0.001 97.3 100

Icecaps and glaciers Total land area(rounded) Atmosphere(water vapor) Oceans Total all locations(rounded)

Source: Adapted from Todd, D.K.: The Water Encyclopedia

Fresh Water
Lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams are freshwater

habitats. So too are swamps, bogs, and marshes.

The distribution of fresh water is uneven globally. Four

countries hold nearly 50% of all the fresh water on Earth.

The water cycle

There is a constant cycle of water between the atmosphere and the hydrosphere that plays a big role in determining weather patterns and climates. Bodies of water evaporate due to the suns energy and enter the atmosphere as water vapor. When the water vapor cools it returns to earth as liquid in the form of rain or solid snow. That cooling process of water vapor is called condensation.

The water cycle

When condensation occurs very high with in the atmosphere, clouds form. Clouds are made of tiny water droplets that eventually collide with other tiny water droplets to form rain. The rain that falls from clouds is called precipitation. And completes the water cycle.

The biosphere is the outermost part of the planet's shell, including air, land, surface rocks, and water within which life occurs that is to say that the parts of the land, sea, and atmosphere in which organisms are able to live is called as biosphere. It is within the biosphere, that the life forms of earth, including humans live. live. Life sustaining materials in gaseous, liquid and solid forms are cycled through the biosphere providing sustenance to all living organisms. organisms . Life sustaining resources resources; ; air, food and water are withdrawn from the biosphere and the waste products in gaseous, liquid and solid forms are also discharged into the biosphere. biosphere.

Biosphere
Regions in which life

can exist
Made up of 3 parts Atmosphere (air) Hydrosphere (water) Lithosphere (rock and

sediments)

Biosphere Contd..
The biosphere is a shallow layer compared to the total size of the Earth and extends to about 20 km from the bottom of the oceans to the highest point in the atmosphere at which life can survive without man made protective devices.

Since the biosphere is very complex and large, it is usually divided into smaller units or ecosystems.

The Biosphere is organized in a hierarchical structure in which individual organisms are organized into Populations. Several interacting populations form Biotic Communities. And a distinctive community living in a certain physical environment forms an Ecosystem. The ecosystem includes all the organisms in an area and all of the abiotic factors that affect them. An ecosystem is a group of animals, plants, and microbes interacting with each other and with their physical environment in such a way as to ensure their existence. Thus An ecosystem can be visualized as a functional unit of nature, where living organisms interact among themselves and also with the surrounding physical environment.

Ecosystems
Ecosystem varies greatly in size from a small pond to a large forest or a sea. Many ecologists regard the entire biosphere as a global ecosystem, as a composite of all local ecosystems on Earth. Since this system is too much big and complex to be studied at one time, it is convenient to divide it into two basic categories, namely the terrestrial and the aquatic ecosystems. Forest, grassland and desert are some examples of terrestrial ecosystems; whereas pond, lake, wetland, river and estuary are some examples of aquatic ecosystems. Crop fields and an aquarium may also be considered as manmade ecosystems.

Components of Ecosystems
The components of ecosystems can be divided into two parts known as the biotic(living) and abiotic (non living) components. Abiotic substances are the basic elements such as phosphorous and nitrogen, and the compounds found in the environment. Among the main abiotic factors of the ecosystem are included the following: (1) The climatic factors as solar radiation, temperature, wind, water currents, rainfall. (2) The physical factors as light, fire, pressure, geomagnetism, (3) Chemical factors as acidity, salinity, Water depth, Soil/substrate, Water clarity or turbidity ,Water currents and the availability of inorganic nutrients needed by plants.

Contd..
Coral reefs, for example, require very low turbidity (maximum light), moderate to high temperatures (tropical climates), shallow depths (for effective light penetration and temperature limitations), and moderate to high salinity (30 - 40 ppt) to survive. A coral reef ecosystem will not develop if all of these abiotic factors are not met.

Other Abiotic Factors

Here are some abiotic factors that you may not have thought about.
Calcium: The lack of availability of calcium will restrict the distribution of land snails. If there is no calcium a shell cant be secreted. Sand: the size of the sand grains in the soil can impact animal that are burrowers. Nitrogen: Not just nitrogen, but nitrate (NO3). This is the form of nitrogen used by plants. When nitrate is not readily available in the soil, some plants supplement it with a meat diet. (insectivorous plants).

Biotic Components
The biotic components can further be sub divided into three functional groups: Producers or Auto-trophs: The autotrophic (self nourishing) organisms, largely the green plants and algae, Consumers or Hetero-trophs: The heterotrophic (other nourishing) organisms, chiefly all animal life, including mammals, fish, insects, and birds; these ultimately depend upon consumption of producers to sustain life. Decomposers: Heterotrophic organisms, chiefly the bacteria and fungi that break down complex compounds from waste material-including dead producers and consumers- to again make the chemical components available to producers.

Biotic Factors

A living organism is also affected by the living components of its environment. Competition exists for available food resources. Predators feed on members of the population. Microbes can bring diseases. (If time travel were possible, and you could be transported to the Cretaceous Era to look at dinosaurs, dont be afraid of fear Tyrannosaurus, fear the microbes. You would have no immunity to them!!) There may be competition for nesting space. Plants may compete for the light needed to carryout photosynthesis. These are many other biological factors determine the success of an individual or species.