THE EARTH STORY

Our solar system began to form when a supernova explosion disturbed a nearby cloud of gas and dust. This rotating disk was not like the clouds we see in the sky, it was a cloud that contained mystery itself. Out of that mystery came our sun and its eight planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. Not only that -- it also created comets, asteroids and planetessimals.

As the disk got thinner and thinner, particles began to stick together and form clumps. This is known as accretion. Some clumps got bigger, as particles and small clumps stuck to them, eventually forming planetessimals and then planets or moons. This is how our Earth was born.

The baby Earth was very violent. It was con-stantly bombarded by meteors that broke through the crust as it was trying to form. The hot insides of the Earth came up in the form of volcanoes.

These volcanoes created rivers of lava that eventually hardened to form the first crust on Earth.

This is a picture of Mercury. Scientists think that after another 400 million years the Earth’s first solid crust looked alot like this.

Following the cosmic laws of the universe, a large planetessimal about the size of Mars collided with the Earth. It merged with the Earth, separated from it and then rejoined it, splattering bits of the Earth’s crust into space. These little bits, over time, came together through accretion and formed our moon. This happened about 100 million years after the Earth’s formation.

Metamorphic rocks are formed inside the Earth. They rise to the Earth’s surface where they cool and then go back inside the Earth to reform in new rocks. This is a cycle that takes millions and millions of years. A similar process builds the Earth’s tectonic plates. These plates move very slowly creating mountains and earthquakes and changing life on Earth.

Some of the oldest rocks in the world were found in the “Acasta” region of Northern Can-ada. These metamorphic rocks were formed around 4 billion years ago by the immense heat and pressure inside the Earth. It is named for the place in Canada where it was found and from the German word for “spark.” It is called Acasta Gneiss. (pronounced like “nice”)

The new Earth’s atmosphere was full of hot and heavy clouds from the volcanoes. This made it impossible for water to condense, but as the Earth cooled after millions of years of rain, liquid water began to form in the low places. The atmosphere, liquid water and volcanoes began to work together following the cosmic law of communion.

As the young Earth spun in space the heavy elements like iron and nickel sunk toward the centre and formed a liquid outer core andsolid inner core.

Some tube worms live in cracks on the floor of the ocean. They get energy from archea bacteria that can live at temperatures above 90° C. These bacteria may have been the first life forms on Earth and are called hyperthermophiles.

This core and the rotation of the Earth created a magnetic field. Our magnetic field protects the Earth from the sun’s radiation.

As the Earth continued to cool from its hot beginnings great masses of water formed all over the planet. We call these masses of wa-ter, oceans.

Creativity advanced further. By 2 billion years ago the Earth formed an atmosphere with oxygen. Now the hydrosphere, atmosphere and geosphere worked together to develop the biosphere. If you were looking at the Earth from space, it might resemble what it looks like today.

Acasta Gneiss

Solid Crust

Moon

Tectonic PlatesMagnetic Field

First Life

Oceans

Liquid Water

Rivers of Lava

Volcanoes

Solar System BeganTo Form

Accretion

Our _____ _____ began to form when a supernova explosion disturbed a nearby cloud of gas and dust. This rotating disk was not like the clouds we see in the sky, it was a cloud that contained mystery itself. Out of that mystery came our sun and its eight planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune. Not only that -- it also created comets, asteroids and planetessimals.

As the disk got thinner and thinner, par-ticles began to stick together and form clumps. This is known as ______. Some clumps got bigger, as particles and small clumps stuck to them, eventually forming planetessimals and then planets or moons. This is how our Earth was born.

Following the cosmic laws of the universe, a large planetessimal about the size of Mars collided with the Earth. It merged with the Earth, separated from it and then rejoined it, splattering bits of the Earth’s crust into space. These little bits, over time, came together through accretion and formed the ____. This happened about 100 million years after the Earth’s forma-tion.

This is a picture of Mercury. Scientists think that after another 400 million years the Earth’s first ____ ____ looked alot like this.

The baby Earth was very violent. It was constantly bombarded by meteors that broke through the crust as it was trying to form. The hot insides of the Earth came up in the form of _______.

These volcanoes created _____ __ ____ that eventually hardened to form the first crust on Earth.

Metamorphic rocks are formed inside the Earth. They rise to the Earth’s surface where they cool and then go back inside the Earth to reform in new rocks. This is a cycle that takes millions and millions of years. A similar process builds the Earth’s ______ ______. These plates move very slowly creating mountains and earth-quakes and changing life on Earth.

The new Earth’s atmosphere was full of hot and heavy clouds from the volcanoes. Rain poured down for millions and mil-lions of years. As the Earth cooled from the rain _____ filled the low places. The atmosphere, liquid water and volcanoes began to work together following the cosmic law of communion.

As the young Earth spun in space the heavy elements like iron and nickel sunk toward the centre and formed a liquid _____ _____ and solid _____ ____.

Some of the oldest rocks in the world were found in the “Acasta” region of Northern Canada. These metamorphic rocks were formed around 4 billion years ago by the immense heat and pressure inside the Earth. It is named for the place in Canada where it was found and from the German word for “spark.” It is called ______ _____.

This core and the rotation of the Earth created a ______ _______. This field protects the Earth from the sun’s radia-tion.

Some tube worms live in cracks on the floor of the ocean. They get energy from archea bacteria that can live at tempera-tures above 90° C. These bacteria may have been the _____ ____ forms on Earth and are called hyperthermophiles.

As the Earth continued to cool from its hot beginnings great masses of water formed all over the planet. We call these masses of water, ________.

Creativity advanced further. By 2 billion years ago the Earth formed an atmos-phere with oxygen. Now the hydrosphere, atmosphere and geosphere worked together to develop the _________. If you were looking at the Earth from space, it might resemble what it looks like today.

The Biosphere

Liquid Outer CoreSolid Inner Core