The Earth Inside Main Ideas

The earth is the only

and Out habitable planet in the suns

solar system.
The drifting of the continents
shaped the world we live in
today.

Places & Terms

continent atmosphere
A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE A quick look at a world map will convince solar system lithosphere

BASICS
you that the continents, landmasses above water on earth, fit together core hydrosphere
like a huge jigsaw puzzle. South America and Africa are good examples. mantle biosphere
With imagination, you can see how other continents might fit together
magma continental
as well. The first person to suggest that the seven continents were once drift
crust
all one supercontinent was Englishman Francis Bacon in 1620. Bacons
idea received support in the early 1900s, when scientists found rocks
in Africa that matched rocks in South America. Other evidence also
supported the idea of a supercontinent millions of years ago.

The Solar System

The home address of the earth is the third planet in the solar system
of the sun, which is a medium-sized star on the edge of the Milky Way
galaxy. Its distance from the sun is 93 million miles. The solar system
consists of the sun and nine known planets, as well as other celestial
bodies that orbit the sun. The solar system also contains comets, LOCATION This not-to-scale
illustration shows the nine
spheres covered with ice and dust that leave trails of vapor as they race
planets and other objects
through space. Asteroidslarge chunks of rocky materialare found in our solar system.
in space as well. As you can see in the diagram, our solar system has an What is the earths relative
asteroid belt between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. location in the solar system?

Pluto

Earth Venus
Mars

asteroid belt
Sun

Mercury
Jupiter
Saturn
comet
Uranus

Neptune

27
 The Structure of the Earth
The earth is about 24,900 miles in circumference and about 7,900 miles
in diameter. Although the earth seems like a solid ball, it is really more
like a series of shells that surround one another.
INSIDE THE EARTH The core is the center of the earth and is made up
of iron and nickel. The outer core is liquid, but the inner core is solid.
Surrounding the core is the mantle, which has several layers. The man- Background
tle contains most of the earths mass. Magma, which is molten rock, can Part of the upper
portion of the
form in the mantle and rise through the crust, the thin layer of rock at
mantle is known
the earths surface. Study the diagram below to learn more about the as the asthenos-
earths interior. phere. It is the hot,
but still mostly
ON AND ABOVE THE EARTH Surrounding the earth is a layer of gases solid, rock below
called the atmosphere. It contains the oxygen we breathe, protects the the cold, brittle
earth from radiation and space debris, and provides the medium for rock of the
lithosphere.
weather and climate. The solid rock portion of the earths surface is the
lithosphere, which includes the crust and uppermost mantle. Under the
ocean, the lithosphere forms the seafloor. The huge landmasses above
water are called continents. There are seven continents: North America,
South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. The
hydrosphere is made up of the water elements on the earth, which
include oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, and water in the atmosphere.
Together, the atmosphere, the lithosphere, and the hydrosphere form
the biosphere, the part of the earth where plants and animals live.

Crust
The earth is made up of the core,
Lithosphere the mantle, and the crust.
Ocean
Asthenosphere Crust Upper Mantle
1937 miles thick approximately
500 miles thick
Mantle Lithosphere
3090 miles thick
Asthenosphere
400 miles thick

Continent Continental Oceanic

Crust Crust Lower Mantle
1,300 miles thick

Outer Core
SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting Graphics 1,380 miles thick
LOCATION Approximately how thick is the core
of the earth?
Iron Core
LOCATION In what part of the earth would the 760 mile radius
lithosphere be found?

28 CHAPTER 2
 CONTINENTAL DRIFT In 1912,
Alfred Wegener of Germany
presented a new idea about 200 million y
200 million years
continentsthe continental drift ago The super-
hypothesis. It maintained that the continent was

P
PANTHALASSA
earth was once a supercontinent named Pangaea.

A
Tethys OCEAN
An ocean called

N
G
that divided and slowly drifted Panthalassa
A
E
Sea
A
apart over millions of years. surrounded it.
Wegener called the supercontinent
Pangaea (from a Greek word mean-
ing all earth). An ocean called 65 million years ago
Panthalassa surrounded it. The
supercontinent split into many 65 million years NORTH
AMERICA A S I A
ago The super-
plates that drifted, crashed into
continent split apart
each other, and split apart several and began moving
times before they came to their cur- in different direc- SOUTH
AMERICA
AFRICA
INDIA
rent positions. This process tions. Notice that
occurred over millions of years. India broke away
from Antarctica AUSTRALIA
In the 1960s, scientists study- and Australia and ANTARCTICA
ing the sea floor discovered that drifted toward Asia.
the youngest rocks were in the ANTA
Today
middle of the ocean, at long NORTH
Eurasian
Plate
cracks in the crust. This suggested AMERICA EUROPE
A S I A

that the new sea floor was being American

Plate AFRICA Pacific
added, pushing the continents Pacific
Plate
African
Plate Indo-
Plate
SOUTH
apart. Later in this chapter, you AMERICA Australian
Plate
AUSTRALIA
will learn how the rocks of Earths
surface are broken into giant Today The contin- Antarctic Plate

plates that move and continue to ents continue to ANTARCTICA

drift even today.

shape the earth.

Places & Terms Taking Notes Main Ideas Geographic Thinking

Identify and explain PLACE Review the notes you took a. What makes up the Making Inferences How do
where on the earth for this section. interior of the earth? the earths spheres influence
these terms would be b. What makes up the one another? Think about:
Earth
found. biosphere? the function of the
Inside & Out Living
continent Planet c. How can the presence atmosphere
mantle of seven continents on the makeup of the
What are the three basic parts of the earths surface be biosphere
magma the earths interior? explained?
crust What are four basic spheres
See Skillbuilder
biosphere Handbook, page R4.
found on or above the earth?

MAKING COMPARISONS Study the diagrams of continental drift on this page.

Write a description of the location of the continents in the past in comparison with
their current location.

The Earth Inside and Out 29

 Asteroid Hit!
For years, scientists speculated that the extinction of
dinosaurs was due to one very large environmental
event. Today we know that event was most likely the
impact of an asteroid about six miles wide. Sixty-five
million years ago it slammed into the earth traveling a
thousand times faster than a rifle bullet. Fallout from the
asteriod impact changed the environment so drastically
that 50 to 70 percent of all living species on earth were
wiped out.

90W 100km crater diameter 88W

Gulf of UNITED S TAT E S

Mexico Chicxulub la
u Gulf of
Dzibilchaltn s Mexico
in
M E

Chicxulub
Mrida n X
I C
e O Yucatn
Peninsula
Acanch Izamal D ir P Caribbean Sea
ec
Mayapn Chichn Itz tio
no
fa
ste
roi
Uxmal Labn d
The asteroid hit near
n
t

20N
Chicxulub (CHEEKshoo
a

loob) on the Yucatn

c
u

Peninsula of Mexico. It
Y

N
dug a crater about 62
0 50 100 miles E
W miles (100km) across.
0 50 100 kilometers
S
Azimuthal Equidistant Projection

30 CHAPTER 2

With a small group, use the Internet
to research the Chicxulub event.
Then create the front page of a
newspaper describing the event.
The asteroid plows into
the earth at 150,000 mph,
vaporizing limestone and
seawater. It creates an
immense fireball that
causes fires thousands
of miles away.
The Earths skies are darkened for
several months by 25 trillion tons of
rock, dust, and smoke from the impact.
Acid rain created by vaporized minerals
poisons lakes and rivers. Food chains
collapse, and plants and animals die.
A thick layer of carbon dioxide
is trapped in the atmosphere,
creating a greenhouse effect
for perhaps a thousand years
or more. Ferns, burrowing
mammals, and some freshwater
animals survive. Some even
thrive in the new climate.
CREATING A FRONT PAGE
Create a map showing the
impact area.
Add an article describing the
destruction caused by the asteroid.
Write an interview with a scientist
who predicts event results.
RESEARCH LINKS
CL ASSZONE .COM
ASTEROIDS
Asteroids are small planetary
bodies that orbit the sun.
There are an estimated 50,000
asteroids in our solar system.
Asteroids range in size from 20 feet
to 580 miles in diameter.
Fragments of asteroids that reach
the earth are called meteorites.
TUNGUSKA EVENT
On June 30, 1908, at about 7:30 A.M.,
an explosion occurred over the
Tunguska region of Siberia. This event
might have been an asteroid hit.
The force of the explosion was
estimated at between 10 and 20
megatons of TNT.
The fireball and explosion were
seen and felt 500 miles away.
Five hundred thousand acres of
forest were flattened and burned.
More than 600 grazing reindeer
were roasted instantly.
No crater could be found.
Disasters! 31