Earth
Earth
Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only
Earth
astronomical object known to harbor life. This is
enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one
in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water.
Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global
ocean, covering 70.8% of Earth's crust. The
remaining 29.2% of Earth's crust is land, most of
which is located in the form of continental
landmasses within Earth's land hemisphere. Most of
Earth's land is somewhat humid and covered by
vegetation, while large sheets of ice at Earth's polar
deserts retain more water than Earth's groundwater,
lakes, rivers and atmospheric water combined.
Earth's crust consists of slowly moving tectonic
plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges,
volcanoes, and earthquakes. Earth has a liquid outer
The Blue Marble, Apollo 17, December 1972
core that generates a magnetosphere capable of
deflecting most of the destructive solar winds and Designations
cosmic radiation. Alternative The world, the globe, Sol
names III, Terra, Tellus, Gaia,
Earth has a dynamic atmosphere, which sustains Mother Earth
Earth's surface conditions and protects it from most
Adjectives Earthly, terrestrial, terran,
meteoroids and UV-light at entry. It has a
tellurian
composition of primarily nitrogen and oxygen.
Water vapor is widely present in the atmosphere, Symbol 🜨 and ♁
forming clouds that cover most of the planet. The Orbital characteristics
water vapor acts as a greenhouse gas and, together Epoch J2000[n 1]
with other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, Aphelion 152 097 597 km
particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), creates the
Perihelion 147 098 450 km[n 2]
conditions for both liquid surface water and water
vapor to persist via the capturing of energy from the Semi-major axis 149 598 023 km[1]
Sun's light. This process maintains the current Eccentricity 0.016 7086[1]
average surface temperature of 14.76 °C (58.57 °F), Orbital period 365.256 363 004 d[2]
at which water is liquid under normal atmospheric (sidereal) (1.000 017 420 96 aj)
pressure. Differences in the amount of captured Average orbital 29.7827 km/s[3]
energy between geographic regions (as with the speed
equatorial region receiving more sunlight than the Mean anomaly 358.617°
polar regions) drive atmospheric and ocean currents,
Inclination 7.155° – Sun's equator;
producing a global climate system with different
climate regions, and a range of weather phenomena 1.578 69° – invariable
such as precipitation, allowing components such as plane;[4]
nitrogen to cycle. 0.000 05° – J2000 ecliptic
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The name Terra /ˈtɛrə/ occasionally is used in scientific writing and especially in science fiction to
distinguish humanity's inhabited planet from others,[27] while in poetry Tellus /ˈtɛləs/ has been
used to denote personification of the Earth.[28] Terra is also the name of the planet in some
Romance languages, languages that evolved from Latin, like Italian and Portuguese, while in other
Romance languages the word gave rise to names with slightly altered spellings, like the Spanish
Tierra and the French Terre. The Latinate form Gæa or Gaea (English: /ˈdʒiː.ə/) of the Greek poetic
name Gaia (Γαῖα; Ancient Greek: [ɡâi̯ .a] or [ɡâj.ja]) is rare, though the alternative spelling Gaia has
become common due to the Gaia hypothesis, in which case its pronunciation is /ˈɡaɪ.ə/ rather than
the more classical English /ˈɡeɪ.ə/.[29]
There are a number of adjectives for the planet Earth. The word "earthly" is derived from "Earth".
From the Latin Terra comes terran /ˈtɛrən/,[30] terrestrial /təˈrɛstriəl/,[31] and (via French)
terrene /təˈriːn/,[32] and from the Latin Tellus comes tellurian /tɛˈlʊəriən/[33] and telluric.[34]
Natural history
Formation
+0.0002
The oldest material found in the Solar System is dated to 4.5682 −0.0004 Ga (billion years) ago.[35]
By 4.54 ± 0.04 Ga the primordial Earth had formed.[36] The bodies in the Solar System formed and
evolved with the Sun. In theory, a solar nebula partitions a volume out of a molecular cloud by
gravitational collapse, which begins to spin and flatten into a circumstellar disk, and then the
planets grow out of that disk with the Sun. A nebula contains gas, ice grains, and dust (including
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After formation
Earth's atmosphere and oceans were formed by volcanic activity and outgassing.[43] Water vapor
from these sources condensed into the oceans, augmented by water and ice from asteroids,
protoplanets, and comets.[44] Sufficient water to fill the oceans may have been on Earth since it
formed.[45] In this model, atmospheric greenhouse gases kept the oceans from freezing when the
newly forming Sun had only 70% of its current luminosity.[46] By 3.5 Ga, Earth's magnetic field
was established, which helped prevent the atmosphere from being stripped away by the solar
wind.[47]
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New continental crust forms as a result of plate tectonics, a process ultimately driven by the
continuous loss of heat from Earth's interior. Over the period of hundreds of millions of years,
tectonic forces have caused areas of continental crust to group together to form supercontinents
that have subsequently broken apart. At approximately 750 Ma, one of the earliest known
supercontinents, Rodinia, began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia
at 600–540 Ma, then finally Pangaea, which also began to break apart at 180 Ma.[56]
The most recent pattern of ice ages began about 40 Ma,[57] and then intensified during the
Pleistocene about 3 Ma.[58] High- and middle-latitude regions have since undergone repeated
cycles of glaciation and thaw, repeating about every 21,000, 41,000 and 100,000 years.[59] The
Last Glacial Period, colloquially called the "last ice age", covered large parts of the continents, to
the middle latitudes, in ice and ended about 11,700 years ago.[60]
During the
Neoproterozoic,
1000 to 539 Ma, much
of Earth might have
been covered in ice.
This hypothesis has
been termed "Snowball
Earth", and it is of
particular interest
because it preceded the
Cambrian explosion,
when multicellular life An artist's impression of the Archean, the eon after Earth's formation, featuring
forms significantly round stromatolites, which are early oxygen-producing forms of life from billions of
increased in years ago. After the Late Heavy Bombardment, Earth's crust had cooled, its water-
complexity. [72][73] rich barren surface is marked by continents and volcanoes, with the Moon still
orbiting Earth half as far as it is today, appearing 2.8 times larger and producing
Following the
strong tides.[71]
Cambrian explosion,
535 Ma, there have
been at least five major mass extinctions and many minor ones.[74] Apart from the proposed
current Holocene extinction event, the most recent was 66 Ma, when an asteroid impact triggered
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the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs and other large reptiles, but largely spared small animals
such as insects, mammals, lizards and birds. Mammalian life has diversified over the past 66 Mys,
and several million years ago, an African ape species gained the ability to stand upright.[75][76] This
facilitated tool use and encouraged communication that provided the nutrition and stimulation
needed for a larger brain, which led to the evolution of humans. The development of agriculture,
and then civilization, led to humans having an influence on Earth and the nature and quantity of
other life forms that continues to this day.[77]
Future
Earth's expected long-term future is tied to that of
the Sun. Over the next 1.1 billion years, solar
luminosity will increase by 10%, and over the next
3.5 billion years by 40%.[78] Earth's increasing
surface temperature will accelerate the inorganic
carbon cycle, possibly reducing CO2 concentration to
levels lethally low for current plants (10 ppm for C4
photosynthesis) in approximately
100–900 million years. [79][80] A lack of vegetation
would result in the loss of oxygen in the atmosphere,
Conjectured illustration of the scorched Earth
making current animal life impossible.[81] Due to the after the Sun has entered the red giant phase,
increased luminosity, Earth's mean temperature may about 5–7 billion years from now
reach 100 °C (212 °F) in 1.5 billion years, and all
ocean water will evaporate and be lost to space,
which may trigger a runaway greenhouse effect, within an estimated 1.6 to 3 billion years.[82] Even
if the Sun were stable, a fraction of the water in the modern oceans will descend to the mantle, due
to reduced steam venting from mid-ocean ridges.[82][83]
The Sun will evolve to become a red giant in about 5 billion years. Models predict that the Sun will
expand to roughly 1 AU (150 million km; 93 million mi), about 250 times its present radius.[78][84]
Earth's fate is less clear. As a red giant, the Sun will lose roughly 30% of its mass, so, without tidal
effects, Earth will move to an orbit 1.7 AU (250 million km; 160 million mi) from the Sun when the
star reaches its maximum radius, otherwise, with tidal effects, it may enter the Sun's atmosphere
and be vaporized.[78]
Physical characteristics
Due to Earth's rotation it has the shape of an ellipsoid, bulging at its Equator; its diameter is 43
kilometres (27 mi) longer there than at its poles.[87][88] Earth's shape furthermore has local
topographic variations. Though the largest local variations, like the Mariana Trench (10,925 metres
or 35,843 feet below local sea level),[89] only shortens Earth's average radius by 0.17% and Mount
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Surface
Earth's surface is the boundary between the atmosphere, and
the solid Earth and oceans. Defined in this way, it has an area
of about 510 million km2 (197 million sq mi).[12] Earth can be
divided into two hemispheres: by latitude into the polar
Northern and Southern hemispheres; or by longitude into the
continental Eastern and Western hemispheres.
Earth's land covers 29.2%, or 149 million km2 (58 million sq mi) of Earth's surface. The land
surface includes many islands around the globe, but most of the land surface is taken by the four
continental landmasses, which are (in descending order): Africa-Eurasia, America (landmass),
Antarctica, and Australia (landmass).[105][106][107] These landmasses are further broken down and
grouped into the continents. The terrain of the land surface varies greatly and consists of
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The pedosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's land surface and is composed of soil and subject
to soil formation processes. Soil is crucial for land to be arable. Earth's total arable land is 10.7% of
the land surface, with 1.3% being permanent cropland.[113][114] Earth has an estimated
16.7 million km2 (6.4 million sq mi) of cropland and 33.5 million km2 (12.9 million sq mi) of
pastureland.[115]
The land surface and the ocean floor form the top of Earth's crust, which together with parts of the
upper mantle form Earth's lithosphere. Earth's crust may be divided into oceanic and continental
crust. Beneath the ocean-floor sediments, the oceanic crust is predominantly basaltic, while the
continental crust may include lower density materials such as granite, sediments and metamorphic
rocks.[116] Nearly 75% of the continental surfaces are covered by sedimentary rocks, although they
form about 5% of the mass of the crust.[117]
Earth's surface topography comprises both the topography of the ocean surface, and the shape of
Earth's land surface. The submarine terrain of the ocean floor has an average bathymetric depth of
4 km, and is as varied as the terrain above sea level. Earth's surface is continually being shaped by
internal plate tectonic processes including earthquakes and volcanism; by weathering and erosion
driven by ice, water, wind and temperature; and by biological processes including the growth and
decomposition of biomass into soil.[118][119]
Tectonic plates
Earth's mechanically rigid outer layer of Earth's crust and upper mantle, the lithosphere, is divided
into tectonic plates. These plates are rigid segments that move relative to each other at one of three
boundaries types: at convergent boundaries, two plates come together; at divergent boundaries,
two plates are pulled apart; and at transform boundaries, two plates slide past one another
laterally. Along these plate boundaries, earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and
oceanic trench formation can occur.[121] The tectonic plates ride on top of the asthenosphere, the
solid but less-viscous part of the upper mantle that can flow and move along with the plates.[122]
As the tectonic plates migrate, oceanic crust is subducted under the leading edges of the plates at
convergent boundaries. At the same time, the upwelling of mantle material at divergent boundaries
creates mid-ocean ridges. The combination of these processes recycles the oceanic crust back into
the mantle. Due to this recycling, most of the ocean floor is less than 100 Ma old. The oldest
oceanic crust is located in the Western Pacific and is estimated to be 200 Ma old.[123][124] By
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Internal structure
Earth's interior, like that of the other terrestrial planets,
Geologic layers of Earth[128]
is divided into layers by their chemical or physical
(rheological) properties. The outer layer is a chemically
distinct silicate solid crust, which is underlain by a highly
viscous solid mantle. The crust is separated from the
mantle by the Mohorovičić discontinuity.[130] The
thickness of the crust varies from about 6 kilometres
(3.7 mi) under the oceans to 30–50 km (19–31 mi) for
the continents. The crust and the cold, rigid, top of the
Illustration of Earth's cutaway, not to scale
upper mantle are collectively known as the lithosphere,
Depth[129] Component Density
which is divided into independently moving tectonic (km) layer name (g/cm3)
plates.[131]
0–60 Lithosphere[n 8] —
Beneath the lithosphere is the asthenosphere, a relatively 0–35 Crust[n 9] 2.2–2.9
low-viscosity layer on which the lithosphere rides.
35–660 Upper mantle 3.4–4.4
Important changes in crystal structure within the mantle
occur at 410 and 660 km (250 and 410 mi) below the 660–2890 Lower mantle 3.4–5.6
surface, spanning a transition zone that separates the 100–700 Asthenosphere —
upper and lower mantle. Beneath the mantle, an 2890–5100 Outer core 9.9–12.2
extremely low viscosity liquid outer core lies above a
5100–6378 Inner core 12.8–13.1
solid inner core.[132] Earth's inner core may be rotating
at a slightly higher angular velocity than the remainder
of the planet, advancing by 0.1–0.5° per year, although both somewhat higher and much lower
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Chemical composition
Earth's mass is approximately 5.97 × 1024 kg (5.970 Yg). It is composed mostly of iron (32.1% by
mass), oxygen (30.1%), silicon (15.1%), magnesium (13.9%), sulfur (2.9%), nickel (1.8%), calcium
(1.5%), and aluminium (1.4%), with the remaining 1.2% consisting of trace amounts of other
elements. Due to gravitational separation, the core is primarily composed of the denser elements:
iron (88.8%), with smaller amounts of nickel (5.8%), sulfur (4.5%), and less than 1% trace
elements.[134][49] The most common rock constituents of the crust are oxides. Over 99% of the
crust is composed of various oxides of eleven elements, principally oxides containing silicon (the
silicate minerals), aluminium, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, or sodium.[135][134]
Internal heat
The major heat-producing isotopes within Earth are
potassium-40, uranium-238, and thorium-232.[136]
At the center, the temperature may be up to 6,000 °C
(10,830 °F),[137] and the pressure could reach
360 GPa (52 million psi).[138] Because much of the
heat is provided by radioactive decay, scientists
postulate that early in Earth's history, before isotopes
with short half-lives were depleted, Earth's heat
production was much higher. At approximately
3 Gyr, twice the present-day heat would have been
produced, increasing the rates of mantle convection
A map of heat flow from Earth's interior to the
and plate tectonics, and allowing the production of
surface of Earth's crust, mostly along the
uncommon igneous rocks such as komatiites that are oceanic ridges
rarely formed today.[139][140]
The mean heat loss from Earth is 87 mW m−2, for a global heat loss of 4.42 × 1013 W.[141] A portion
of the core's thermal energy is transported toward the crust by mantle plumes, a form of
convection consisting of upwellings of higher-temperature rock. These plumes can produce
hotspots and flood basalts.[142] More of the heat in Earth is lost through plate tectonics, by mantle
upwelling associated with mid-ocean ridges. The final major mode of heat loss is through
conduction through the lithosphere, the majority of which occurs under the oceans.[143]
Gravitational field
The gravity of Earth is the acceleration that is imparted to objects due to the distribution of mass
within Earth. Near Earth's surface, gravitational acceleration is approximately 9.8 m/s2 (32 ft/s2).
Local differences in topography, geology, and deeper tectonic structure cause local and broad
regional differences in Earth's gravitational field, known as gravity anomalies.[144]
Magnetic field
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