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EARTH COMPOSITION & STRUCTURE

A. INTRODUCTION  

• Internally driven processes

• Externally driven processes

• Processes that build the landscape up

• Processes that wear the landscape down

B. COMPOSITION OF THE EARTH

Minerals

Primary Minerals - Felsic & Mafic

Secondary minerals - Clay

Rocks

Igneous - Intrusive & Extrusive

Sedimentary

Metamorphic

Rock Cycle

C. STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH

Layers based on composition: Crust Mantle Upper Lower Core Layers based on behavior: Lithosphere Asthenosphere Mesosphere (lower mantle) Outer Core Inner Core

D. LARGE SCALE FEATURES

First Order Features

Image credit: Marine Geology & Geophysics, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center. Globe: A Gallery of High Resolution Images. 10 arc-minute grid with GLOBE elevations & bathymetry from Smith & Sandwell. http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/topo/globega2.html

Second Order Features

• continental shields

• continental platforms

• orogenic belts

• continental shelves

• ocean basins & abyssal plains

• mid-oceanic ridges

• deep ocean trenches

• volcanic arcs

E. SUMMARY

• Driving framework: set of forces trying to change the landscape

  • may be internally or externally driven

  • may build the landscape up or wear it down

• Resisting framework: characteristics of the landscape that resist change

  • minerals & rocks, and the structure of the earth

• Driving & resisting forces interact to create large scale landforms