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Inheriting the Earth

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Inheriting the Earth Earth Science, Astronomy and Space Astronomy Inheriting the Earth The Structure of the Earth The Crust as a Dynamic System Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Tsunamis Geological History The Universe The Journey of a Star The Solar System Space Technology Project by Asian Geographic Magazines Pte Ltd Publisher: John Thet Senior: Editor Lunita S V Mendoza Editor: Shreya Gopi Proofreader: Ian Seldrup Writers: J R Kayal, Yoav Bar-Ness, Astrid S Tiefholz and Moustafa Osman (Osman Consulting Ltd.) Designer: Zoey Lim Photos: Wikimedia Commons, USGS, NASA, NOAA Distributed by Young Prodigy Production (Thailand) co., Ltd 71/26 Soi Tan Phu Ying Phahol, Ladyao, Jatujak, Bangkok 10900 Tel: 02 – 9412349 ext 36 Fax: 02 – 941 2969 1 Chapter page CONTENTS 1 4 THE STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH • A Spherical Orb • The Spheres – Inside the Earth • The External Spheres • The Dimensions of the Sphere • The Heart of the Planet • The Furnace at the Core • The Mantle • The Crust: Ocean and Continent 2 10 THE CRUST AS A DYNAMIC SYSTEM • What Are Tectonic Plates? • The Dance of the Continents • Evidence for Continental Drift • The Supercontinents of the Distant Past • Plate Tectonic Boundaries: • Understanding the Map • Divergent Plates – Drivers of Motion • The Mid-Atlantic Ridge – Mover of Continents • Magnetic Stripes • Convergent Plates – Titanic Collisions • Smashing Lands – Continental Convergences • Destruction: Ocean Crust versus Continental Crust • Ocean Crustal Collisions – Arcs of Islands • Transform Boundaries – When Plates Slide Past • On Land and Under Sea 3 20 EARTHQUAKES, VOLCANOES AND TSUNAMIS • A Sampler Of Geological Phenomena • The Building of the Mountain Ranges • Seamounts and Coral Atolls – Dry Land in the Mid Ocean • Earthquakes o Teleseismic, Regional and Local Earthquakes o Foreshocks, Aftershocks and Swarms o Earthquake Magnitudes, Intensity and Energy o Earthquake and Faulting o Earthquake and Seismic Waves o Indian Plate Movement • Volcanoes • Tsunami • Concluding Remarks 4 42 GEOLOGICAL HISTORY • A Long History • Relative Ages and Sedimentary Rocks • What Is Sediment? • What Is Sediment Made of? • The Great Journey Downwards • The Journey Ends • Four Principles to Study the Strata • Deep Time and Naming Strata • Seeing Sedimentary Landscapes – The Grandest Canyon • The Karsts of Southeast Asia • Absolute Age and Radioactive Elements • Fossils in Thailand 5 60 THE UNIVERSE • Introduction • Historical Concepts of the Universe • The Sumerians and the Babylonians • The Ancient Greeks • Kepler and the Cosmographic Mystery • The Big Bang • Developing the Big Bang Theory • Nebula and Galaxies in the Universe 6 72 THE JOURNEY OF A STAR • Observing and Understanding Stars • The Life Cycle of Stars • Protostars Grow within a Giant Molecular Cloud • The Main Sequence • Cataloguing the Stars • Red Dwarfs Fade Away • Giants, Planetary Nebula, Supergiants, Hypergiants • White Dwarfs – A Second Life for Stars • Supernovae and Neutron Stars • Black Holes • Our Star • Colours of Stars • Brightness Categories of Stars • The 88 Constellations 7 84 THE SOLAR SYSTEM • Introduction • An Overview • The Origin of the Solar System • The Inner Planets and their Moons • Asteroids • The Outer Planets and their Moons • Trans-Neptunian Objects: • Dwarf Planets and Comets 8 100 SPACE TECHNOLOGY • Introduction • Telescopes – Viewing at a Distance • Satellites and Rockets • Types of Satellites • Humans in Space • Thailand in Space CHAPTER 1 THE STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH The two hemispheres of the Earth: the Western Hemisphere (left) and Eastern Hemisphere (right) A Spherical Orb The Spheres – Inside the Earth Our Earth is a spherical orb orbiting the Sun. The planet is The interior of the spherical planet Earth is divided into a dynamic system that has been developing for 4.5 billion three major layers. At the centre is the liquid core, which is years, and we have been present on the Earth for only surrounded by the thick mantle. This is in turn surrounded the last few hundred thousand years. Over the history of by a thin crust. Each of these layers can be divided again: humanity, we have used a variety of scientific techniques, there is an inner and an outer core, and a lower and an thoughtful insights, and intuitive leaps to learn about what upper mantle. exists in the interior of Earth. Often, these intuitive leaps were remarkably incorrect, and sometimes, the results from 30-65 km the scientific work were completely unexpected. Let’s take a journey from the dark, liquid core of the Schematic view of the 2885 km planet outwards to the beautiful surface that we call home. interior of Earth 1 continental crust We’ll explore what humans have learned about the Earth’s 2 oceanic crust interior and how this knowledge was gained. Along the 3 upper mantle 4 lower mantle way, we’ll check in on the chemistry and composition of the 2270 km 5 outer core rocks, and discover the dynamic changes that are occurring 6 inner core A: in these unimaginably strange places. Mohorovičić Discontinuity B: Gutenberg Discontinuity We’ll meet some of the geologists that have devoted their 1216 km C: Lehmann–Bullen thoughts and energies to the study of the Earth, and we’ll Discontinuity Read the boxes on pages 6-7 for ponder some of the great unknowns of geology on Earth and more on these discontinuities 0 35 700 2885 5155 6371 km the other planets in our universe. 4 The interior structure of the four inner planets and the Earth’s Moon The outermost crust consists of two types: a heavy The Dimensions of the Sphere oceanic type and a lighter continental type. We inhabit the The solid Earth is an almost perfect sphere, with a radius dry land on the continental crust, and the oceanic crust is of 6,371 kilometres. If you could somehow dig downwards hidden away beneath the waves. to the absolute centre of the world, you’d have to dig a hole 6,371 kilometres deep – directly downwards. To put this The External Spheres into perspective, if you are 1.5 metres tall, you’d have to dig On top of the crusts are several other complex systems a hole more than four million times your own height. that we conceptually describe as spheres. These have only The Earth is the densest planet in the Solar System, with recently been considered as spherical layers regarded as a an average density of 5.5 grams per cubic centimetre. This is portion of the Earth’s geology. As a greater understanding of about five times that of water, and five thousand times that their planetary significance is gained, these external spheres of the air we breathe. are increasingly being linked to geological processes, and, sometimes, being observed on other planets. Primary and Secondary Waves • The hydrosphere is the liquid water on the planet, The force from an earthquake travels through the centre of the including both salt and fresh water. planet as energy waves. These can be classified as primary • The cryosphere is the ice water, including both and secondary waves. The primary, or P, waves are direct and temporary seasonal snow and accumulated glacier and lengthwise, whereas the secondary, or S, waves are sideways. ice-cap ice. These waves have helped us determine the Earth’s structure. Secondary waves travel slower through the Earth than primary • The pedosphere is the soil layers at the interface waves. Secondary waves also cannot travel through liquids. between rock and the living world. Geologists can use seismic meters, or seismographs, to monitor The atmosphere is the gaseous layers held to the Earth tremors in the Earth. Following an earthquake, the difference by gravity, including the oxygen that we need. This can be in arrival times at the sensors can be used to shed light on the further divided into sublayers: structure of the Earth’s interior. • The lowest is the troposphere, where most life as we As the sophistication of seismic sensors has increased, events besides earthquakes are now detectable: nuclear explosions, know it exists. undersea landslides, avalanches, and unknown tremblings deep • Above this is the stratosphere, which is often visited within the Earth. by aircraft. • Above this is the ionosphere, where the solar wind P wave Compressions causes colourful displays known as the aurora. • The outermost layer is the exosphere, where atmospheric gases are at their thinnest. Dilations There are also special layers that are not physically wave direction defined but represent flows of energy: The magnetosphere is the area in space that is influenced by the Earth’s magnetic S wave field. We can utilise this for navigation using compasses. It also protects us from deadly solar radiation. The biosphere is the layer of the Earth to which you, the food you eat, the forests, and all of the living things on Earth belong. Wavelength 5 CHAPTER 1 The Heart of the Planet Andrija Mohorovičić The core occupies about 15 percent of the Earth’s volume. and the Moho The distance from the Earth’s geometric centre to the upper portions of the core is almost 3,500 kilometres – the lowest Andrija Mohorovičić (January 23, 1857 – December 18, 1936) was a 54 percent of the hole that you dug. Croatian scientist who detected the The core is much, much denser than the rocks closer boundary zone between the crust and to the surface. Its density is about 13 grams per cubic the mantle. Early on, he was a teacher centimetre – a piece the size of a one-litre water bottle would at a naval school and then began weigh 13 kilograms. Like objects floating or sinking in water, teaching at the University of Zagreb. His studies included meteorology and or gases rising or falling in the air, denser things move seismology. He established a weather station and observed a rare towards the centre of gravity. Early in Earth’s history, the local tornado.
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