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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