The Earth Contents

Contents

Structure

  1. Aims
  2. The layered internal structure of the Earth
  3. Monitoring of seismic waves to understand the Earth's internal structure
  4. The predominant mass of the core and the mantle
  5. The smallness of the Earth's crust and its crucial resource base for civilisation
  6. The differences between the core, mantle and crust
  7. The cause of the varied composition of the lithosphere (crust) relative to the mantle or core
  8. Heating and melting diversifying the lithosphere (crust)
  9. Analysis to estimate the average composition of the Earth's crust
  10. Heterogeneity of the Earth's crust
  11. The chemical abbreviations for each of the main chemical constituents of the Earth

Plate tectonics

  1. Aims
  2. Plate motion throughout geological time
  3. Three different types of plate motion, and regions of volcanic activity
  4. Constructive plate motion
  5. Destructive plate motion
  6. Conservative plate motion
  7. Plate motion locally and globally
  8. Plate movement and the creation of oceans
  9. Ocean expansion and contraction with continual plate movement
  10. Volcanoes and subducting plates
  11. Plate tectonics and the bottom topography of the world's oceans
  12. The continental shelf
  13. The abyssal plain

Weathering

  1. Aims
  2. Weathering: the adjustment of rocks to new environmental conditions
  3. Three main catalysts for physical weathering: heat; pressure and crystallization
  4. Thermal expansion and contraction
  5. Pressure release
  6. Ice crystallization
  7. Physical weathering and the reduction of massive rocks to small particles
  8. Three distinct mechanisms of chemical weathering
  9. Dissolution by water
  10. Chemical weathering by acid hydrolysis
  11. Acid hydrolysis and the neutralisation of the acid in rock waters
  12. Mineral oxidation

Rock cycle

  1. Aims
  2. The formation, breakdown, transportation and re-deposition of rocks
  3. The rock cycle and long geological time scales
  4. Water as a medium for erosion transport
  5. Variation in ionic bonding between different rock minerals
  6. Ionic potential as a measure of element behaviour during weathering and erosion
  7. Insoluble materials and materials transport
  8. The fate of residual materials
  9. Rivers and the deposit and erosion of material
  10. Glaciers and the erosion and transport of materials
  11. Wind erosion in arid regions
  12. Weathered material in the oceans, and differences in grain size and sedimentation rates
  13. Differences in the types of material found at different locations within the ocean basins
  14. Patterns in marine sediments between different locations

Soils

  1. Aims
  2. The key role of soils in the ecosystem
  3. The formation of soils over thousands of years
  4. Particle sizes in soil parent materials
  5. Parent material and the role of biological activities
  6. Distribution of soil types and their wider environmental conditions
  7. Soil horizons: the A horizon
  8. The B and C horizons
  9. The existence of A, B and C horizons in most soils
  10. The influence of erosion on soil structure
  11. The characteristics of different soils and the complex physical and chemical processes
  12. Ion exchange and soil structure
  13. The fertility of soils
  14. The water retention characteristics of soils
  15. Soil fertility, water retention and vegetation

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