Earth Systems

1) What are the five major spheres of the Earth?

2) Do these spheres interact?

Atmosphere

• A gaseous sphere and it envelopes the Earth,

• Consists of a mixture of gases composed primarily of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor.

Biosphere

• All life on earth, including man, and all organisms.

• The life zone on our planet distinguishes our planet from the others in the solar system.

Cryosphere

• The portion of the Earth's surface where water is in a solid form

• Snow or ice: includes glaciers, ice shelves, snow, icebergs, and arctic climatology

Hydrosphere

• All of the water on Earth

• 71% of the earth is covered by water and only 29% is terra firma

Geosphere• The Earth's solid

surface. It includes continental and oceanic crust as well as the various layers of the Earth's interior.

• The geosphere is layered because denser materials sank towards the Earth’s center as the hot, molten was Earth forming over 4 billion years ago.

Day 2: Earth’s Major SpheresMatch the sphere with its description on the right.

A. AtmosphereB. BiosphereC. CryosphereD.HydrosphereE. Geosphere

1. All frozen water (icebergs, glaciers etc…)

2. The solid Earth (mountains, rocks, etc..)

3. Thin, gaseous layer that envelopes the Earth.

4. All water in liquid or gas form.

5. All life on Earth.

Day 3: System Interactions• What sphere interactions can

you infer from this photograph? To identify sphere interactions, think of one feature in the image at a time, decide which sphere it is a part of, then consider how it interacts with the other spheres.

• With a partner, practice describing interactions in this scene, tracing the movement of materials or energy through all four of Earth's spheres if possible.

Day 3: Possible Answer• Plants (biosphere) draw water (hydrosphere) and

nutrients from the soil (geosphere) and release water vapor into the atmosphere. Humans (biosphere) use farm machinery manufactured and powered from minerals and fossil fuels (geosphere) materials to plow the fields. The atmosphere brings precipitation (hydrosphere) to water the plants. Energy from the sun is stored by plants (biosphere). When humans or animals (biosphere) eat the plants, they acquire the energy originally captured by the plants. Water from hydrosphere or wind from the atmosphere can erode the soil (geosphere)

Day 4: Interactions Cont.• For each picture cite the

major sphere it describes.

• Describe any sphere interactions you can infer from the scene.

• Whenever possible, follow the results of an interaction through all five spheres.

(These tasks can be divided among groups to save time)

Day Five: Quiz (Super-Duper)