plate tectonics: the reason for the challenging earth › app › uploads › 2015 › 06 ›...
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www.tesep.org.auwww.geosciencepathways.org.auwww.wetrocks.com.au
Transpiration
Evaporation
Evaporation
Run-off
CondensationPrecipitation
Precipitation
Infiltration
Groundwater
Flood plain deposits
Deltaic deposits
Turbidite deposits
Seepage
20km
15km
10km
0km
5km
50km
100km
(not
e ch
ange
in s
cale
)
0m (sea level)
1200m below
sea level
200m below sea level
lithosphere asthenosphere
Subduction zone
Subduction zone
Continental Shelf
Barrier sands
Barrier Reef
Geothermal plant
Oil Field
City/Town
Industry
Farming/Agriculture
Plate Tectonics: The reason for the Challenging Earth
Hot Rocks: Geothermal energy
Wet Rocks
Round and Round with Rocks
Riding the Climate Roller Coaster
Fossil Sunlight: The hydrocarbon storyPowerful Stuff: the uranium debate
Our Place in Space
zone of earth
quakes
(Benioff zone)
zone of earthquakes
(Benioff zone)
Gold-copper mine
Trench
Partial melting
molten magma chamber
feeder dykes
Mid-ocean ridge
Volcanic arc volcanoese.g. Mt St Helens, Cascade Mountain Range
(western North America) Chaitén, Andes Mountain Range (western South America)
Marine Park
Ocean Floor
Mantle
Crust
Water inside the rocks and soils of the near surface environment, also known as groundwater, is a hugely important human resource.
Understanding the recharge and discharge behaviour of groundwater, the role of climate, the hydrological cycle and porosity and permeability of rocks and soils is essential for sustainable management of this resource.
Geothermal energy, extracted from hot rocks within the upper crust, offers an important, low pollution and sustainable source of electrical and heat energy.
In Australia this resource has a huge potential that is waiting to be further developed.
The Earth is a complex system that works through interactions of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.
Other bodies in the solar system demonstrate how unique Earth is and understanding both the Earth and the other solar bodies will be vital if humans are to live sustainably on Earth and elsewhere beyond Earth.
Uranium is a potential power source for Australia. It powers a large percentage of the industrialised world with little pollution and no CO2 emissions.
Australia produces and exports a large percentage of the world’s Uranium needs. As the world heads towards a low carbon future modern nuclear reactors may be part of the solution.
Hydrocarbons are the organic remains of plants and animals but the energy embodied in them ultimately came from the Sun.
Energy from the Sun was captured by plants and consumed by animals where it was stored in the complex organic molecules of both plants and animals.
This ancient 'fossil' sunlight can be released by burning the hydrocarbon remains.
Just what form these hydrocarbons take depends upon their organic origins, where they were buried and what happened to them after burial.
The rock cycle is the name given to the process that converts rocks of one kind into another kind over time.
Plate Tectonics is the planetary scale dynamic system that facilitates the rock cycle and refreshes and rebuilds the surface of the Earth. In doing so Plate Tectonics is also fundamental to the formation of ore deposits and easily extracted hydrocarbons.
Understanding rocks and minerals is essential to understanding how materials are cycled through the Earth over time.
Island arc volcanoese.g. Krakatoa (Indonesia)
Mt. Pinatubo (Philippines)Mt. Fuji (Japan)Mt. Yasur (Vanuatu)
metamorphism
metamorphism
Partial melting
Dunes
Greening Coal
Climate does change over time and life on Earth has ridden the ups and downs of climate change accordingly.
To understand climate and climate change we need to understand the difference between weather and climate.
We also need to know what drives climate change across a range of time scales and what greenhouse gases are and how they work.
The origin, age and type of coal has a big impact on the way in which coal is used and how that use might impact the environment.
Burning coal produces CO2, a significant greenhouse gas. However, carbon capture and storage technologies can reduce emissions and allow coal to provide power well into the future.
Other technologies, such as oxyfiring, also reduce emissions as power is being produced.
Note: Man-made features are enlarged for clarity
Convection
molten magma chamber
Temp = 500-900°C
Temp = 200-400°C
Temp = 25°C
passenger aircraft
seismic survey vessel
airborne magnetic survey
Volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits
Heavy mineral sand deposits
Mountain Fold Belt
hot crystallised granite
Hydrothermal deposits
Coal deposits
Oil/gas deposits
Alluvial gold deposits
Geothermal plant
Quarry
Forest
Wind turbines
Prevailing wind
Solar farm
Coal mine and power plantSedimentary Rocks
Igneous Rocks
P-waves
S-wavesGPS
Concept and design by Alison Potter for TESEP © TESEP-ASTA 2015
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