Terrestrial Worlds 2

Earth - The most unique of all

Earth basics

3rd planet from Sun (1 AU), 5th largest world

Orbit - 1 Earth year
Sidereal rotation - 23.9 hours (solar day -24 hrs)
Surface gravity- 9.8 m/s2.
1 bar of pressure

78% N2 21% O2 < 1% others 0.003 CO2.

Temperatures- ~100oF summer (max. 140oF, deserts)
- ~0 oF winter (min. -130 oF, poles)

Unique Features

oceans,
Plate tectonics
oxygen atm.
Life!

Earthquakes
Detected earthquakes form lines

Earths Lithosphere broken into pieces

~8 large and 10 small plates

Crust follows Convection Currents

Rising current (hot)
Plate dragged aside
Breaks at weakest point
(where it is hottest)
New lava wells into gap.
DIVERGENT boundary

Falling current drags plate

after it.
1 plate hits another and
sinks.
CONVERGENT boundary

Why Does This Happen?

The plates float
on a semi-liquid
layer called the
asthenosphere
The liquid allows
slabs to slide
under each
other.

Earth -tectonics
All a consequence of internal convection:
Extension faults occur at upwelling of mid-ocean
ridges (divergent boundary)
Compression faults occur at downwelling of
subduction zones (convergent boundary)
Strike-slip faults occur as plates jostle around,

Earth -Volcanism
All a consequence of internal convection:
Low viscosity lavas occur at upwelling of mid-ocean
ridges -shield volcanoes
High viscosity lavas occur at subduction zones as
crust is remelted - tall, explosive, stratovolcanoes

Result: Earth is the ONLY world to have

stratovolcanoes, because its the only world to
have plate tectonics

Lava erupted at the mid ocean ridge

Stratovolcano on continent
side of subduction zone

Earth - Erosion & Surface processes

Mass wasting
Wind -deserts
Biological (unique)
Water -main process
River Channels erode at head, deposit at mouth
Materials move along beaches
Glaciers grind material down

Water in
Action

Earth -Cratering
Earth has about 200 craters at the surface.

Earths Volatiles
(atmosphere and hydrosphere)
Earth is unique in that:
the majority of its volatiles are liquid.
Atmospheric composition is not all CO2
(78% N2 , 21% O2 ,<1% others, 0.003 CO2 )
Life affects the atmospheric balance.

Important Questions
Why does Earth have so little atmosphere,
unlike Venus?
Why does Earths atmosphere consist
mostly of nitrogen and oxygen, not CO2?
Why does Earth have oceans?

Why Does Earth have a

Nitrogen/Oxygen Atmosphere?
Most of the CO2 is locked up. Nitrogen is
the main ingredient left.
Plant life produces oxygen, as plants
increase oxygen levels increase. Large
excess over time.
Some of excess oxygen gets broken and
remade into ozone
(3 O2 molecules become 2 O3)

Earth Oceans and Temperature

Why does Earth have oceans
while Venus and Mars do not?
Earth is the right temperature to have liquid
water due to distance from the Sun.
Temperatures are maintained by moderate
greenhouse warming
CO2 balance maintained by oceans and life
(they act as a sink for all the CO2 that would
otherwise be in the atm. making extra warming)

Magnetic field prevents H2O breakup.

Why does Earth have the

youngest surface of all the
terrestrial planets today?
A. It is the largest terrestrial planet so its
interior has not cooled too much.
B. It is not so close to the Sun that it has lost
its water and developed a thick lithosphere.
C. It rotates rapidly.
D. all of the above
2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

Terrestrial Worlds 4
Our Moon

Moon basics

Earths nearest neighbor , 14th largest world

Orbit -27.3 Earth days
Sidereal day -27.3 Earth days
Surface gravity -1.61 m/s2 (16% of Earth)
No global magnetic field
Only world visited by humans

Compare and contrast the 2 sides of the Moon

Near Side

Far Side

Maria make up 16% of the Moons surface

and almost all of them are on the Near side

Main lunar materials

White highlands
Anorthosite (a rock full of white feldspar)

Dark maria
Basalt (black from iron content)

Volcanism Maria Formation

fluid basalts make flood plains that fill large craters
All occur early in lunar history, 3.8-3.2 billion yrs ago

Large impact
crater
weakens
crust

Heat build-up
allows lava to
well up to
surface

Cooled lava
is smoother
and darker
than
surroundings

Impact cratering
is dominant
process

Surface Processes
Mass Wasting
Radiation damage

Moon vs. Mercury

What do you think is similar about them? What is different?

 What processes shaped our Moon?

Early cratering still present
Maria resulted from early volcanic floods
no shrinkage scarps

What processes shaped Mercury?

Cratering similar to Moon,
some volcanism, but no large floods
Shrinkage scarps

Moon Formation
Early Theories: Capture, Co-formation(twin),
broken off from Earth (fission).
Chemistry of Moon rocks show Moon is both
like and unlike Earth
Result: Impactor Theory
Moon formed by a giant asteroid striking a
glancing blow on the Earth

Impactor Theory
Giant impact stripped matter from Earths crust
Stripped matter began to orbit

Then accreted into Moon

Lunar Atmosphere
10-14 bars of pressure (negligible)
Gas comes from impacts that eject surface atoms

Moon

Temperatures 225 oF in day

-243oF at night

Why are smaller terrestrial

bodies such as Mercury or the
Moon "geologically dead"?
A. They don't have volcanoes.
B. They cooled off faster than Earth did.
C. They don't have erosion.
D. They were hit by fewer meteorites than Earth.
2014 Pearson Education, Inc.