The Earth System

2. What is a system?
A system has two distinguishing characteristics.
• SYNERGY
• EMERGENT PROPERTIES

3. • SYNERGY: It means that the whole is greater than
the sum of the parts. It means, is that when all of
the pieces of a system are put together, they are
more valuable than all of the pieces would be if
they were considered separately.
• EMERGENT PROPERTIES: They are properties that
emerge as a result of how the system works
together, or properties that do not exist without
the system. In other words, emergent properties
are characteristics that are unique to the system
as a whole.

4. In the past, scientists have studied the various
parts of the Earth. They have looked at botany
(how plants work), zoology (animals), geology
(rocks), and physics (forces), but few have
studied how all of these work together. Now we
are discovering that the Earth is much more
than a bunch of parts. It is a whole. The Earth is
a whole system that works together.
This means that there is an interconnection
between all of Earth’s living and non-living
parts.

5. Everything works
together in
important ways. The
wind, rain, bacteria,
insects, deserts, and
forests all work
together as parts of
the Earth System.

8. Atmosphere
• An atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding
a planet or other material body of
sufficient mass that is held in place by
the gravity of the body.
• It is more likely to be retained if the gravity is
high and the atmosphere's temperature is low.

9. Atmosphere of Earth is
mostly nitrogen, also
contains oxygen used by
most organisms for respiration and car
bon dioxide used by
plants, algae and cyanobacteria for ph
otosynthesis, also protects living
organisms from genetic damage
by solar ultraviolet radiation.

11. Hydrosphere
The hydrosphere in physical
geography describes the
combined mass of water found
on, under, and over the surface
of a planet.

14. Lithosphere
A lithosphere is the rigid, outermost
shell of a rocky planet. The outermost
shell of a rocky planet, the crust, is
defined on the basis of its chemistry
and mineralogy.

15. Tectonic plates on the lithosphere of the Earth.

17. What’s the difference between
Geosphere and Lithosphere?
Geosphere is a term denoting the solid part of Earth
which is made mostly of rock.
The main divisions of the geosphere are the crust,
mantle, and core. The outer core is unusual in that
it is liquid and a part of Earth's interior.
The lithosphere (from the Greek for "rocky" sphere)
is the solid outermost shell of a rocky planet. On
the Earth, the lithosphere includes the crust and
the uppermost layer of the mantle (the upper
mantle or lower lithosphere) which is joined to the
crust.

18. Biosphere
The biosphere is the global sum of
all ecosystems. The biosphere is the
global ecological system integrating all
living beings and their relationships,

19. Some of the biomes on Earth include:
• Desert - very dry, either hot or cold
• Tundra - cool, treeless, and dry
• Chaparral or scrub - coastal area with hot, dry summers and mild, cool,
rainy winters
• Taiga or Coniferous Forest - cool and dry, with coniferous trees
• Temperate Deciduous Forest - cool and rainy, with deciduous trees
• Grassland - Windy, partly dry sea of grass with few trees, including
tropical savanna, prairie, steppe, pampas, etc.
• Mountain biomes: there are a lot of different mountainous biomes, from
grasslands at low altitudes, taiga (coniferous forests) below the treeline,
and alpine (the same as tundra)
• Temperate Rain Forest - cool and wet
• Tropical Rain Forest - warm and very wet
• Land Cave - cool and dark
• Wetlands - there are many types of wetlands, including swamps, marshes,
moors, bogs, fens, sloughs, etc.
• Freshwater Marsh - a wetland located near creeks, streams, rivers and
lakes
• Temperate ponds
• Marine (ocean or sea)
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/

21. What is matter?
Matter is stuff. Anything that has mass and
volume (weighs something and takes up space)
is matter.
• MATTER CYCLES: Essentially all the matter on
Earth has been here since the Earth was
formed. It does not go away, and we do not
get new matter. Earth recycles.