Earth - Geography

Introduction

Solar System Formation

Our Sun

Earth

	Introduction
	Geography
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	Space Missions
	Additional Resources 1. Advanced Topics 2. Guest Contributions

The Moon

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto - now a Dwarf Planet

Asteroids, Comets, and Kuiper Belt Objects

Earth - Geography

The Earth is composed of a solid inner core, outer core, mantle, asthenosphere, lithosphere, and crust.

Name:	Ingredients:	Thickness:	Temperature:
Inner Core	Solid Iron and Nickel	1230 km	4300° C
Outer Core	Liquid Iron, Sulfur and Nickel	2250 km	3700° C
Mantle	Plastic Magnesium, Iron, Aluminum, Silicon and Oxygen	2500 km	1000° C
Asthenosphere	Elastic Mantle	250 km	1600° C
Lithosphere	Solid - Brittle Mantle	100 km	1400° C
Crust	Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminum, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Titanium, Hydrogen, Phosphorous, and trace elements.	Ocean: 8-10km Continental: 10-70 km	20° C to 1400° C (high temperature not a confident value)

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Convection is the engine driving the motions of the lithosphere and crust.

The Earth is comprised of 14 rigid continental and oceanic tectonic plates:

Major Plates:	Minor Plates:
African Plate Eurasian Plate Australia Plate Pacific Plate Antarctic Plate Nazca Plate North American Plate South American Plate	Philippine Plate Cocos Plate Caribbean Plate Scotia Plate Arabian Plate Indian Plate

These plates "float" on an "ocean" of hot magma called the asthenosphere. Each plate contains a layer of crust and a layer between the crust and asthenosphere called the lithosphere.

	This is an example of a converging continental plate with another continental plate. This motion is responsible for mountain formation.
	This is an example of a converging ocean plate with a continental plate. The crust layer of an ocean plate is much thinner than its continental counterpart, so magma from the asthenosphere can penetrate.
	This is an example of two converging ocean plates. This is the type of convergence that resulted in the 9.0 Indonesian earthquake resulting in the tsunami.
	The only ocean only plate is the Pacific Plate. Because of the ocean-continental interactions resulting in potential volcanism, the area surrounding the Pacific Plate is called the Ring of Fire.

Interactions between these plates result in sea floor spreading, earthquakes, volcanoes and mountain formation.

There are 5 types of tectonic movement: mid-ocean ridge, oceanic plate meeting (example - Mt. Pinatubo), diving plates (example - Andean Mountains), sliding plates (example - San Andreas Fault), and colliding plates (example - The Alps).

The shifting of these plates is such that there are 7 major periods of continental drift:

Cambrian Period	570 to 510 million years ago
Devonian Period	508 to 362 million years ago
Carboniferous Period	362 to 270 million years ago
Triasic Period	245 to 208 million years ago
Jurassic Period	208 to 145 million years ago
Cretaceous Period	145 - 65 million years ago
Tertiary Period	65 to 2 million years ago

There are three main categories of rock: igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks and metamorphic rocks.

There are several methods of land shaping: coastal waters, ground water, rivers, meanders, deltas, drainage basins, and gullies.

There are 5 major oceans: the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean.

There are 12 biographical regions:

Biome:	Characteristic:	Example:
The Polar Regions	Permanent Ice Caps	Antarctica
Tundra	Desolate Regions - Long Winters and Short Summers	Siberia
Needle-Leaf Forest	Mild Summers	Northern Canada
Broad-Leaf Forest	Northern Hemisphere - Seasonal Variations	Eastern North America, Japan
Temperate Rain Forest	Warm Climate - Wet Summers	Southeast Asia
Desert	Very Dry - Little Rain	Yuma, Arizona
Mediterranean	Hot and Dry Summers - Short Winters	Spain, Italy
Tropical and Temperate Grasslands	Large Regions - Seasonal Rains with Alternate Droughts	Argentina
Dry Woodlands	Dry Trees and Shrubs	South Africa
Tropical Rain Forest	Year Around Warm Weather - Large Quantities of Rain	Belize
Mountains	Vegetation Varieties	The Rocky Mountains
Wetlands	Tidal Flats, Marshes and Swamps - High Humidity	Florida

There are 8 types of natural hazards (with an associated website):

Earthquakes	Earthquake Hazard Program
Floods	USGS Water Watch
Geomagnetism	National Geomagnetism Program
Seismic Activity	Global Seismic Network
Hurricanes and Extreme Storms	Hurricane and Extreme Storm Impact Study
Landslides and Mudflows	Landslide Hazards
Tsunamis	Tsunamis and Earthquake Research and What is a tsunami?
Volcanoes	Volcano Hazard Program

The total population of Earth is around 5.5 billion people divided into 6 continental categories:

North America	Varied Settlements
Europe	Dense Settlements
South America	Increasing Settlements
Africa	Sparse Settlements
Asia	60% of World's Population
Australia and Oceana	Sparse Settlements

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