Course Details

Course: ECS-202 (Earth System II)

Credit: 02

Nature of course: 2 contact hours/week

(3 lectures+1Tutorial/2weeks; LL, LT)

Evaluation: Quiz ~ 30%

Mid-Sem ~ 35%
End-Sem ~ 35%
(Total Two Quizzes)
 Geology- The Science of Earth
(Origin, History, Processes and dynamics of how it changes)

Existence of life and water

Active geological activities

Relative Scaling: Sand (Earth) rotating ~9 m away around an Orange (Sun)

Selected Earth Reservoirs:

Life Volcanoes

Mountain Ocean

What, How, When, Why? Geology, Chemistry, Physics, Biology

 Spheres of the Earth: Inter-linked reservoirs
1. Atmosphere: Thin layer of gases that cover Earths surface.

2. Hydrosphere: Contains Earths water (~97% is in Oceans).

(if all the earth surface irregularity is smoothed out to form a perfect
sphere, the global ocean would cover Earth to a depth of 2.25 km)

3. Geosphere: Consists of the solid earth.

4. Biosphere: Composed of living entities on Earth.
Exogenic cycles:

Operate at the Earths

surface

Endogenic cycles:

Operate in the Earths

interior
 Key topics in Earth system science:

Formation of Earth

Interior of Earth and its composition

Dynamic Earth and forces within

Thermal state of Earth

Evolution of Earth: Life and Atmospheric Oxygen

Mass Extinction and Biodiversity

Rivers: reshaping Earth surface and nutrient supply

Oceans: Origin and biogeochemical cycles

 Pressing Questions:

Safe disposal of radioactive waste and toxic chemicals

Planning buildings, highways, dams, canals, etc.

Natural hazards (landslides, earthquakes, floods)

Natural resources (water, solid, minerals, fossil fuels)

Past climate and its future prediction

 Formation of Earth

Astronomical Observation Analysis of Meteorites

 Meteorites
Solid bodies of extra-terrestrial material that penetrate of
atmosphere and reach the Earths surface

Most meteorites are fragments of asteroids

Falls: Recovered following observed falls

Finds: which cannot definitely be associated with observed falls

Lonar Lake
 Meteorites: STONY, IRON & STONY-IRON

IDENTIFY A METEORITE:

Heavy (Presence of Fe and Ni)

Magnetic property
Irregular Shape
Fusing coating: A thin layer of dark glass
Chemical composition: High Ni and Ir
Isotopic composition: To track source
 Presolar Grains:
These grains had apparently formed in stellar outflows of late-type stars and
in the ejecta of stellar explosions and had survived the formation of the solar
system. They can be located in and extracted from their parent meteorites.

Presolar grains provide information about galactic chemical evolution,

physical properties in stellar atmospheres, conditions in the parent bodies of
the meteorites in which the grains are found.

The study of stellar grains permits information to be obtained about

individual stars, complementing astronomical observations of elemental and
isotopic abundances in stars.

Their stellar origin is recognized by their isotopic compositions, which are

completely different from those of the solar system and, for some elements,
cover extremely wide ranges, leaving little doubt that the grains are ancient
stardust.
 Presolar Grains:
Separation of grains: burning down the haystack to find the needle

Silicon
Carbide

Graphite
Chemical Elements: A proxy for Earths evolution
 Cosmic Abundances of Elements

1. Lower abundance of Heavier elements (Higher than Fe)

2. Elements with integral multiples of four nucleons are more common.

 Chemical composition of Solar system is by and large resulted from
processes include nuclear reactions to produce elements, gravitational
collapse to produce stars and proto-planetary systems, condensation to
produce solid grains, and accretion to accumulate grains into planets.

Over 99% of the atoms in the sun are H and He and are believed to have
formed during the origin of the universe.

Element formation occurred over a quarter hour time during which

temperature dropped from high values to less than about 109 K.

After this brief period of expansion and cooling the universe no longer
contained matter that was hot and dense enough for nuclear reactions to
occur.
the initial few seconds
T = 1.5 1010 t^(-0.5)

Expanding universe Decrease in Temp.

Between 10-33 and 10-32 s, the radius grew from

practically zero (310-25 m) to 10 cm

This radius change took 910-33 sec

Speed is ~1032 m/s (~31023 times speed of light)
Early Universe: composed of very energetic photons and subatomic
particles.

mpc2 = 3/2 kTp

mp = 1.66x10-24 gm;
c = 3x 1010 cm/s;
k = 1.38 x10-16 erg/K
Then, Tp = 7 x 1012 K
Similarly, Te = 4 x 109 K

Time required to reach Te: 10 s after formation of universe

These temp are very much higher than that of core temp of sun ~
107 K
 Big Bang Nucleosynthesis

No elements heavier than helium are produced in significant

quantities in Big Bang nucleosynthesis.

The universe is composed of 28% by mass 4He atoms and

72% H atoms
STARS: Spectral types
L = 4r2T4
Spectral Type Percentage Temperature
O <1 >30,000
Oscar, Bring A
B 3 10,000-30,000
Fully Grown
A 27 7,500-10,000 Kangaroo, My
F 10 6,000-7,500 Recipe Needs
Some
G 16 5,000-6,000
K 37 3,500-5,000
M 7 <3,500

Each spectral type is divided into 10 subdivisions, ranging from 0 to 9.

For example, G type ranges from G0 (hotter) to G9 (cooler).

The sun belongs to the G5 type.

Emiliani, 1992
 Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram
1911: Ejnar Hertzsprung
1913: Henry N. Russell

The majority of stars, including

our Sun, are found along a region
called the Main Sequence. Stars
spend the bulk of their existence
as main sequence stars.

Main Sequence stars vary widely

in effective temperature but the
hotter they are, the more
luminous they are, hence the
main sequence tends to follow a
band going from the bottom right
of the diagram to the top left.
 Stellar Evolution
Hydrogen Burning:
41H1 4He +2e+
Produces He as main product
require core temp of ~107 K

A star with core of pure He and

hydrogen at the surface.
If star is massive, Helium fusion
will initiate
It takes 1 Ma for a photon to reach the sun
(radius~7105 km) surface because of continuous
Emiliani, 1992
 The main sequence is the stage where a star spends most of its
existence. Relative to other stages in a star's "life" it is extremely
long; our Sun took about 20 million years to form but will spend
about 10 billion years (1 1010 years) as a main sequence star.

Main sequence stars vary in mass. More massive stars have a

stronger gravitational force acting inwards so their core gets
hotter. The higher temperatures mean that the nuclear reactions
occur at a much greater rate in massive stars. They thus use up
their fuel much quicker than lower mass stars.

Our Sun will spend 10 billion years on the main sequence, a high-
mass, ten solar-mass (10MSun) star will only last 20 million years
(2.0 107 years) on the main sequence. A star with a only half the
mass of Sun can spend 80 billion years on the main sequence.
 The Interstellar Medium: The space between the stars is filled with a
tenuous range of material that provides the building blocks of stars. This
material is gas and dust and collectively is known as the interstellar
medium (ISM). The ISM gas is predominantly hydrogen whilst the dust is
about 1% by mass and includes carbon compounds and silicates.

Stars form in regions of the ISM where there is sufficient material

available. These are the giant molecular clouds or GMCs. The GMCs
contain large amounts of matter; 105 to 2 106 solar masses from 12 to 120
pc across and are very cold, typically only 10 -30 K. Their main
constituent is molecular hydrogen gas but other molecules such as water,
carbon monoxide, CO, ammonia, NH3 and methanol, CH3OH are also
present.

Nebulae are simply clouds of interstellar gas and dust and appear either as
dark regions blotting out background stars - the so-called dark or
absorption nebulae or as brighter clouds of gas that emit or reflect light.
They are the most visible components of the interstellar medium.
 Formation of Sun and planets
Solar nebula with high rotational energy

Gravitational potential energy > Internal thermal energy

(Jeans Criteria)

Collapsed nebula will spin faster to conserve angular

momentum

Collision within the nebula will increase gas pressure

High rotational energy will lead to fragmentation

Accretion and Planetesimals