EARTH AND IT’S

NEIGHBORING
PLANETS
The humanity’s failure to protect the
environment and life here on Earth is likely
due to the following:
1. Inability to recognize the full consequence
of his/her actions
2. Lack of appreciation of how truly unique
the Earth is
Venus Earth Mars
 EARTH
SUBSYSTEM
 SYSTEM
- A set of interconnected components that are
interacting to form a unified whole.
EARTH
SUBSYSTE
M
 Atmosphere
A. The atmosphere is the thin gaseous layer that
envelops the lithosphere.
B. The present atmosphere is composed of 78%
nitrogen (N), 21% oxygen (O2), 0.9%
argon, and trace amount of other gases.
C. One of the most important processes by
which the heat on the Earth's surface is
redistributed is through atmospheric circulation.
D. There is also a constant exchange of heat and
moisture between the atmosphere and the
hydrosphere through the hydrologic cycle.
 Lithosphere
A. The lithosphere includes the rocks of the
crust and mantle, the metallic liquid outer
core, and the solid metallic inner core.
 Biosphere
A. The biosphere is the set of all life forms on
Earth.
B. It covers all ecosystems—from the soil to the
rainforest, from mangroves to coral reefs, and
from the plankton-rich ocean surface to the deep
sea.
C. For the majority of life on Earth, the
base of the food chain comprises
photosynthetic organisms.

D. Sunlight is not necessary for life.

 Hydrosphere
A. About 70% of the Earth is covered
with liquid water (hydrosphere) and
much of it is in the form of ocean water
(Figure 3).
B. Only 3% of Earth's water is fresh: two-thirds
are in the form of ice, and the remaining
one-third is present in streams, lakes, and
groundwater.
 THE ORIGIN OF THE
SYSTEMS APPROACH TO
THE STUDY OF THE
EARTH
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander
von Humboldt
• He considered the universe as one interacting entity.
•One of the first scientist to push for a more
integrated or holistic approach in the understanding
of the universe and by extension the Earth
•The term "biosphere" was popularized
by Vladimir Vernadsky (1863-1945),
a Russian -Ukranian scientist who
hypothesized that life is a geological
force that shapes the Earth.
In the 1970s, the Gaia Hypothesis was jointly
developed by James Lovelock, an English
scientist/naturalist, and Lynn Margulis, an
American microbiologist. According to Gaia
Hypothesis the biosphere is a self-regulating
system that is capable of controlling its physical
and chemical environment.
MINERALS
AND ROCKS
 MINERAL PROPERTIES
1. Luster – it is the quality and intensity of reflected light
exhibited by the mineral
a. Metallic – generally opaque and exhibit a resplendent
shine similar to a polished metal
b. Non-metallic – vitreous (glassy), adamantine
(brilliant/diamond-like), resinous, silky, pearly, dull
(earthy), greasy, among others.
 MINERAL PROPERTIES
2. Hardness – it is a measure of the resistance of a mineral (not
specifically surface) to abrasion.
a. The Mohs Scale of Hardness measures the scratch resistance of
various minerals from a scale of 1 to 10, based on the ability of a
harder material/mineral to scratch a softer one.
 MINERAL PROPERTIES
3. Crystal Form/Habit
• The external shape of a crystal or groups of crystals is displayed / observed as
these crystals grow in open spaces.
• The form reflects the supposedly internal structure (of atoms and ions) of the
crystal (mineral). It is the natural shape of the mineral before the development
of any cleavage or fracture.
Examples include prismatic, tabular, bladed, platy, reniform and equant.
• A mineral that do not have a crystal structure is described as amorphous.
 MINERAL PROPERTIES
4. Color and streak
• Minerals can exhibit same or similar
colors. Individual minerals can also
display a variety of colors resulting
from impurities and also from some
geologic processes like weathering.

Examples of coloring: quartz can be

pink (rose quartz), purple (amethyst),
orange (citrine), white (colorless quartz)
 MINERAL PROPERTIES
4. Color and streak
• Streak, on the other hand, is the
mineral’s color in powdered form.
• Color of a mineral can be different
from its streak.

Examples of streak: pyrite (FeS2)

exhibits gold color but has a black or
dark gray streak.
 MINERAL PROPERTIES
5. Cleavage – the property of some minerals to break along specific
planes of weakness to form smooth, flat surfaces. The weak plane
that developed after the crystal is formed.

When minerals break evenly in more than one direction, cleavage

is described by the number of cleavage directions, the angle(s) at
which they meet, and the quality of cleavage (e.g. cleavage in 2
directions at 90°).
 MINERAL PROPERTIES
Specific Gravity – the ratio of the density of the mineral and the density of
water.

•Others – magnetism, odor, taste, tenacity, reaction to acid, etc. For

example, magnetite is strongly magnetic; sulfur has distinctive smell; halite
is salty; calcite fizzes with acid as with dolomite but in powdered form; etc.
- Minerals can also be categorized.

- The most stable and least ambiguous

basis for classification of minerals is
based on their chemical compositions.
 1. Silicates – minerals containing the two most
abundant elements in the Earth’s crust, namely,
silicon and oxygen.
a. When linked together, these two elements form the
silicon oxygen tetrahedron – the fundamental
building block of silicate minerals.
b. Over 90% of rock-forming minerals belong to this
group.
2. Oxides – minerals composed of oxygen anion
(O2-) combined with one or more metal ions
3. Sulfates – minerals containing sulfur and oxygen
in the form of the (SO4)- anion
4. Sulfides – minerals containing sulfur and a metal;
some sulfides are sources of economically important
metals such as copper, lead, and zinc.
5. Carbonates – minerals containing the carbonate (CO3)2- anion
combined with other elements
6. Native Elements – minerals that form as individual elements
a. Metals and Intermetals – minerals with high thermal and electrical
conductivity, typically with metallic luster, low hardness (gold, lead)
b. Semi-metals – minerals that are more fragile than metals and have
lower conductivity
(arsenic, bismuth)
c. Nonmetals – nonconductive (sulfur, diamond)
7. Halides – minerals containing halogen
elements combined with one or more
metals
Rock-forming minerals are essential for the
classification of rocks such as igneous,
sedimentary, or metamorphic rocks.
CLASSIFICATIO
N OF ROCKS
Igneous Rocks
•rocks that are formed from the solidification of
molten rock material (magma or lava).
•Molten rock material can solidify below the surface
of the earth (plutonic igneous rocks) or at the surface
of the Earth (volcanic igneous rocks).
Question: Differentiate
magma and lava.
Sedimentary Rocks
•These are rocks that formed through the
accumulation, compaction, and cementation of
sediments.
•They generally form at surface or near surface
conditions.
Types of Sedimentary Rocks
1. Non-clastic / Chemical/Biochemical –
derived from sediments that precipitated from
concentrated solutions (e.g. seawater) or from
the accumulation of biologic or organic material
(e.g. shells, plant material).
Types of Sedimentary Rocks
2. Clastic/terrigenous - form from the
accumulation and lithification of sediments
derived from the breakdown of pre-existing
rocks. They are further classified according to
dominant grain size.
Metamorphic Rocks
• Rocks that form from the transformation of
pre-existing rocks (igneous, sedimentary, or
metamorphic rocks) through the process of
metamorphism.
Contact metamorphism
• Heat as the main factor: occurs when a pre-existing
rocks get in contact with a heat source (magma)
Regional metamorphism
•Pressure as main factor: occurs in areas that have
undergone deformation during orogenic event
resulting in mountain belts
•Creates foliated metamorphic rocks such as schist
and gneiss