The Big Blue Marble

Taking a Closer Look

Standards in Middle Grades

• Concept 1: Structure of the Earth• Describe the composition and interactions between the

structure of the Earth and its atmosphere.

• Concept 2: Earth’s Processes and Systems• Understand the processes acting on the Earth and their

interaction with the Earth systems.

• Concept 3: Earth in the Solar System• Understand the relationships of the Earth and other

objects in the solar system.

Standards for High School

• Concept 1: Geochemical Cycles• Analyze the interactions between the Earth’s structures,

atmosphere, and geochemical cycles.

• Concept 2: Energy in the Earth System (Both Internal and External)

• Understand the relationships between the Earth’s land masses, oceans, and atmosphere.

• Concept 3: Origin and Evolution of the Earth System• Analyze the factors used to explain the history and

evolution of the Earth.

Vital Statistics

• Earth is OLD (4.5 billion years old)

• The Earth is continually changing

Alfred Wegner

• 1912 proposed the Theory of Continental Drift (via Centripetal force).

• Evidence: fossils, rock age, continental boundaries.

• Prevalent Theories at the time: Land Bridges, “Contraction Theory”

Mini investigation

• So what did “Pangaea look like?”

• Using the continent maps with fossil indicators, how might Wegner’s Pangaea have looked?

Pangaea

Plate Motion

Plate discovery

Volcanoes

Plate discovery

Earthquakes

Delayed support

• 1929 Arthur Holmes discovers mantle convection.

• 1960 mantle convention accepted as the mechanism driving plate tectonics.

Earthquake Investigation

Earth’s Interior

EpicenterP waves felt …

(travel through both solid/liquid)

S waves felt … (travel through liquid

only)

A A, B, C, D, E, F A, B, D, E

B A, B, C, D, E, F A, B, C, E

C A, B, C, D, E, F B, C, F

D A, B, C, D, E, F A, D, E, F

E A, B, C, D, E, F A, B, D, E

F A, B, C, D, E, F C, D, F

Earth’s Interior

• Crust (solid)

• Mantle(“plastic”)

• Outer Core (liquid)

• Inner Core (solid)

Its actually a bit more complicated….

4 ideas behind Plate Tectonics

• The Earth's surface is covered by a series of crustal plates.

• The ocean floors are continually moving, spreading from the center, sinking at the edges, and being regenerated.

• Convection currents beneath the plates move the crustal plates in different directions.

• The source of heat driving the convection currents is radioactivity deep in the Earths mantle.

Boundary Interactions

• Convergent • Divergent • Transform

Plate Boundaries

Landforms

• All of earth’s landforms are a function of the interaction between the crust, the mantle, and the atmosphere.– Continent vs. Continent– Continent vs. Ocean– Ocean vs. Ocean

3 “Types” Rocks

• It is the process that determines the “type” of rock, so rocks can be linked to areas and give us information about past geologic activity.– Igneous– Metamorphic– Sedimentary