Earth Rising

View of earth as it rises over the Moonas seen by Apollo 17 astronauts in December 1972.

Earth Moon System

Earth
Atmosphere (N(75%), O(25%); CO, CO2, water vapour,dust < 1%) Geology Lithosphere, Mantle (Mesosphere, Asthenosphere), Core (Liquid outer core, solid inner core) Lithosphere Cool rigid layer of 100km thick and contains the outer most skin of our planet, the crust silicate rocks rich in aluminium, silica and calcium ave.den.2.67gm/cc; Oceanic crust silicate rocks rich in Fe & Mg 3.0 gm/cc and ave. thickness of 8km Seven major plates movement by convection cells in Mantle decay of radioactive elements+ internal heat

General Aspects
Subduction (recycled crust silicic magma), convergence, MAR Hotspots-Mantle plumes fixed in place beneath lithospheric plates Tectonic deformation of crust and volcanism Formation of mountains & valleys topographic relief-weathering Impact cratering, volcanism, tectonic deformation and erosion geologic processes

Geologic Time Scale (million Years)

Holocene or Quaternary: 0-1 Pleistocene: 1-1.6 Pliocene: 1.6-5.3 Miocene: 5.3-23.7 Oligocene: 23.7 36.6 Eocene: 36.6 57.8 Palaeocene: 57.8-66.4;57.8 First Grasses

Geologic Time Scale (Contd.)

Cretaceous: 66.4 144; 66.4 First large mammals Jurassic: 144-208 Triassic: 208 208-245 Permian: 245-286; 245 Beginning of age of Dinosaurs Pennsylvanian: 286-320; Missisipian: 320-360

Geologic Time Scale (Contd.)

Devonian: 360408; 360 First winged insects Silurian: 408-438; Ordovician: 438-505; 438- Wingless insects, First land plants Cambrian: 505-570; 520- First fish & Shell fish Proterozoic: 570-2500;2500- Blue Green Algae appeared Archaean: 2500-3800; Hadean:>3800 (Origin of Earth through planetary accretion: 4500)

Recent Events
Landing on the Moon:1969 AD Industrial Revolution: 1700 A.D Egyptian Pyramids: 4500 years ago Continents in present position: 10,000years First Humans: 1.6 my

Geologic time: 4600 million years

Geologic History
Record earlier than 600my has been lost through plate tectonics and crustal recycling Ancient rocks (4.0by old) have been found in isolated exposures. Hadean eon 4.6 by; Implanting of volatile elements like o, c and Nitrogen by planetismals on accreting Earth. Differentiation. Cooling of the protoplanet- formation of thin crust. Conitued impact bombardment fractured the crust,release of magma onto surface- gases early atmosphere. Rainfall & evolution of early atmosphere -oceans

Archean Eon (3.8-2.5by ago)

Development of continental crust Eruptions of fluid flood lavas remnants in Canada, Australia and other places Vast oceans covered much of earth origin of life. Planetary biologists- myr of chemical evolution complex organic molecules, precursors to life Early life forms-simple , single-celled plants blue-green algae; Plants expansion release of O interaction with sunlight Ozone layer

Proterozoic Eon (2.5 -0.6 bya)

Evolution of complex forms of life; By the end of this eon, nearly all the major groups (Phyla) of life were represented. Release of CO2 through biologic activity deposition of carbonate rocks limestones O in atmosphere oxidation of iron and deposition of iron-rich sediments Continued cooling of interior of the Earth Stable masses

Phanerozoic Eon (Abundant life)0.6 bya to present

Developmenf hardparts in life forms, such as shells fossils Flooding of continental land masses and mountainbuilding tectonic processes A vast super continent, Pangea existed 300mya subjected to a wide variety of erosional, volcanic and regional tectonic processes Brek-up of Pangea 100 mya; lithospheric plates and Earths crust continued to evolve through seafloor spreading, subduction and collision Earth is rich in geologic, atmospheric, hydrologic and biologic activity

Meteostat photograph of Earth showing Africa

Red and brown areas are land, blue is water, and the white patches are clouds; also visible is the dark green band across the continent that is predominantly vegetation.

Relief radar image

Topographic relief radar image shown in false color, derived fom Seasat, a radar system flown in orbit around Earth. This image shows that the ocean is higher over seamounts and ridges and lower over trenches.

Compression
Folded rocks, such as these in Andes of Argentina, result from compression on crustal rocks.

San Andreas fault

Aerial view of San Andreas fault zone in California. Faults fracture the crust, and rocks on one side of the fault are shifted or displaced with respect to rocks on other side of the fault.

Eruption of basaltic lava flows at Pu u Oo on Kilaueas east rift zone in 1986, showing fire-fountaining and rivers of lava.

Lithospheric plates
Map of Earth showing major lithospheric plates and smaller plates. Also shown are the eruptions in the last 10,000 years and their relationship to major plate boundaries.

Cross section of Earth

Showing core, mantle, lithosphere and convection cells.

Earths Moon
> 40 spacecrafts, 12 men walked, lunar rock samples understanding Solar System First maps in early 1600 by telescope

Geology
Two dominant terrains Dark maria (seas in Latin), light highlands or terrae Widespread craters by impact processes-relative age by counting craters Lunar highlands Bright surfaces, regged terrain, thousands of overlapping craters- confirmation by radiometric age Amalgamated rock fragments-breccia- formation of early crust, including igneous rocks KREEP K, REE,P elements 4.35 bya; represents the latest formation of lunar crust

Contd.
Impact basins 300->2500km dia; Orientale basin in W limb, youngest and best preserved Lunar maria dark and relatively smooth with few impact craters on nearside 17% of lunar surface; composed of lava flows iron-rich basalts >3bya Flood lavas as vast sheets from long fissures Several areas were centers of pronged and complex volcanic eruptions Mare lava thicknesses 200-400m; Imbrium basin, 1500mthick Basalts cover vast areas or buried under ejecta Crust, mantle and core gravity and seismological studies Crust (20km),Mantle (90% of total volume), molten core (400km radius) of iron-rich

 Origin: Earth must have been struck by Mars-size planet, blasting a vaporous mixture of both the protoEarth and the impacting object into the orbit around Earth Lunar Geologic Time-scale Pre-Nectarian period (early history) preserved in highland rocks & ancient cratered terrain on farside, Nectarian period formation of Nectaris basin 3.92 bya, basalts and formation of KREEP; Imbrium period, 3.85bya; Eratosthenian Period beginning 3.2bya; Copernican Period deposits of rayed craters, crater Copernicus (0.85bya) Moon-Fossil planet window to early geologic evolution of the Solar System

Geologic History

Full disk view of Moon

Earth Moon System

The orbit of Moon is in synchronous rotation, in which the same side of the Moon always faces Earth. Slight wobble, or mutation, in the spin axis of the Moon allow slightly more than half of Moon to be seen from Earth.

Top: views of lunar far side (left) and near side (right), taken by Galileo spacecraft in 1990. Bottom: Color composition views made from Galileo multispectral images. Blue colors correspond to basalt rich in titanium; green, yellows and light orange indicates basalts low in titanium; reds and deep oranges are highland rocks.

Astronaut on Moon
Apollo 17 astronaut on the Moon in the Taurus- Littrow Valley.

Apollo 15 photograph showing lunar sinuous rilles east of the Aristarchus Plateau. Sinuous rilles were once rivers of flowing lava.

Gravity map
Map from Lunar Prospector data showing positive areas (red) over zones thought to contain high density material.

Lava flows in Mare Imbrium showing remnants of lava channels and individual lava flows, some of which can be traced 1,000 km. Crater at the bottom of the picture is Euler.

Lunar topography
The Clementine mission provided the first global altimetric data for the Moon. The enormous south pole-Aitken impact basin is the large low area in blue in lower left. At 1,500 km across, it was suspected, but unproven, prior to Clementine.

Alphonsus
A 125 km impact crater, showing dark areas (arrows) thought to be volcanic pyroclastic deposits.

Lunar time scale

Showing principal events in the history of the Moon.

Color ratio image of Moon using data from Galileo mission.

Superimposed on a shaded relief base map. The 900 km in diameter, and parts of the far side highlands (left , red) are similar in composition to soils collected at the Apollo 16 site. Several highland regions have enhanced iron content (yellow); mare regions (upper right) consist of basalts with relative high (blue) and low (orange) titanium dioxide content.

Apollo 17 astronaut
Using Lunar Rover in the TaurusLittrow Valley.

Earths Western Hemispheres Geologic and Reference Maps

Earths Eastern Hemispheres Geologic and Reference Maps

Moons Far side Hemispheres Geologic and Reference Maps

References : The Compact NASA Atlas of the Solar System, Ronald Greenly and Raymond Batson