Earth Science

• Earth is between 4 and 5 billion years old
• Earth science is the name for all the sciences that collectively seek to understand earth and it's neighbors in space.
• Earth Science includes geology, oceanography, meteorology, and astronomy
• Geology is the scientific study of the solid parts of the earth (landforms, rocks, minerals)
• Oceanography is the scientific study of oceans and their properties
• Meteorology is the scientific study of weather patterns and atmospheric conditions
• Astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets, asteroids, etc.
• Law of Superposition - younger layers are laid down on the older ones
• The half-life of Uranium 237 is 4.5 billion years
• Fossils are remains or traces of organisms preserved from past geologic ages
• Sedimentary rock forms when particles settle to form new rock
• Paleontologists are scientists who study plant and animal fossils
• Igneous rocks are formed by cooling magma or lava
• Metamorphism is the process that changes one type of rock into another without melting
• Minerals are naturally occurring substances with definite chemical compositions and crystal structures
• Amber is the hardened resin formed by coniferous trees
• Precambrian era - all geologic time up to 600 million years ago
• Paleozoic - ancient life
• Cenozoic - recent life
• Mesozoic - intermediate life
• Cenozoic era are divided into epochs
• The earth's crust is composed of two types of rocks, sedimentary rock and igneous rock.
• Epochs are further subdivided into ages
• Precambrian rocks are igneous or metamorphic
• Igneous rocks are formed from the solidification of molten material either below the surface (intrusive) or on the surface (extrusive)
• Paleozoic era is divided into 7 periods:

  • Marine invertebrates

  • Shells

  • Amphibians

  • Devonian Period

  • Marine life

  • Reptiles
• Mesozoic era - formation of several continents
• Cenozoic Era - mammals evolved
• Mesozoic - largest creatures existed during this era such as dinosaurs
• Pythagoras - Greek philosopher and mathematician who thought that the earth had a spherical shape
• Aristotle - believed that the universe was composed of concentric spheres, with the earth at its center.
• Eratosthenes - Greek astronomer who made a measurement of the Earth's circumference
• Isaac Newton - English mathematician and physicist who predicted that earth was not a perfect sphere
• Henry Cavendish - English scienctist, was the first one to determine the mass of the Earth
• Latitude


  Lines drawn east to west around the Earth, numbered from 0° at the equator to 90° at the North and South Poles
• Longitude


  North-south lines drawn from the North Pole to the South Pole, with the prime meridian at 0° passing through Greenwich, England
• Longitudes or meridians are not parallel, they are farthest apart at the equator and get closer together as they reach the poles where they meet</b>
• International Date Line


  The 180° meridian where east and west longitude lines meet, crossing this line going west adds one day
• The International Date Line is directly opposite Greenwich on the other side of the Earth
• Map


  A drawing of the Earth, or part of the Earth, on a flat surface