Lesson 1.

1 Solar System Formation and Composition

Primary Questions
1.

What is Earth Science? Why is it important (and interesting) to study?

2.

What is the "scientific method"?

3.

4.

What is the current theory describing how our solar system and planets (and dwarf
planets and asteroids and comets) formed? Does it fit the observations?
Is our solar system unique? Are there other planets orbiting other stars?

Lesson 1.2: Earth Formation, Structure, and Composition

Primary Questions
Note that this is our first pass through this material and we will be going into more detail that
will, I hope, make the concepts ever more clear.
1.

To understand how the Earth became the concentrically layered planet that we live on
today. What is the "iron catastrophe"?

2.

To understand the general structure (composition and rheology) of the Earth and the
Moon.

3.

To understand the differences between the crust, the mantle, the lithosphere, and the
asthenosphere.

4.

To understand why the Earth's topography is bimodal. What does that mean? Why
does continental crust sit higher than the crust beneath the oceans?

5.

To understand the current theory explaining the formation of our moon.

6.

To compare the Earth and Moon with other planets and relate their location,
composition, and structure to hypotheses behind the formation of the solar system.

For the Rocks and Minerals readings:

7.
8.

9.

To understand what minerals are

To understand the difference between felsic, intermediate, mafic, and ultramafic
rocks.
To understand how sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks form

10.

To understand the rock cycle and how rocks move through it.

Lesson 1.3: Imaging the Earth's Interior

Primary Objectives
1.

Understanding how elastic waves travel through the Earth (P, S, Surface waves)

2.

Understand how Earth composition and structure influences how waves travel (and
therefore, how waves can be used to image the Earth)

3.

Be able to describe the general structure (composition and rheology) of the Earth and
what the differences are between the crust, the mantle, the lithosphere, and
the asthenosphere

4.
5.

Understand why the Earth is hot inside.

Be able to explain how heat is lost from the Earth and relate the processes of
convection, conduction, radiation, and advection to everyday experience.

Lesson 2.1: Geomagnetism and the Development of Plate Tectonics Theory

Primary Objectives
1.

What are the static and dynamic characteristics of the Earth's magnetic field? In
otherwords, what is the shape/strength of our field and how does it changing?

2.

How is Earth's magnetic field generated? Has it always been the way it is today?

3.

Does the field affect us? Does it affect life in general?

4.

Why are some rocks and sediments magnetic? Can we use their magnetic properties
to learn something about the evolution of the Earth through geologic time?

5.

How does the Earth's magnetic field compare with that of other planets and moons?
What does that suggest about their composition, dynamics, and structure?

Lesson 2.2: Plate Tectonics

Primary Objectives
1.

What were Wegener's lines of evidence that lead to his theory of continental drift?
Why were his ideas rejected?

2.

How can such huge masses of rock move anyway?... What are the forces that drive
the motion of the plates? How fast do they move?

3.

Does the layered structure of the Earth (composition and rheology) have something to
do with plate tectonics?

4.

Can the theory of plate tectonics explain how landscapes form? What is the story
behind the major geologic features of our planet, such as the African rift valley, the Pacific
"ring of fire", the Himalayas, the Coast Ranges-Rockies-Andes chain, Hawaii...?

5.

How do the processes of convection, conduction, radiation, and advection relate to

plate tectonics? How do they relate to other things like geothermal energy, mineral
resources, volcanism, even to life itself?

Lesson 2.3: Plate Boundaries, Earthquakes, and Tsunamis

Primary Objectives
1.

What exacly is an earthquake? What happens at the origin?

2.

How can rocks deform? Why do they sometimes flow like fluids, and sometimes
break like solids? How does that relate to vibrations or waves?

3.

Are the causes of earthquakes the same everywhere around the world? How do they
relate to plate tectonics? Do they always?

4.

Why is it that we can feel earthquakes that occurred far away? How does the energy
travel?

5.

How do we detect and describe earthquakes?

6.

How are tsunami generated? Can they occur here?

Lesson 2.4: Magmatism, Volcanism, and Tectonics

Primary Objectives
1.

How are magmas produced and how does rock composition change?

2.

Is there a relation between types of magmatism and plate tectonic settings?

3.

How are magma composition, volcano structure, and volcano hazard linked? Are
volcanoes in Cascadia dangerous?

4.

5.
6.

How does the presence of water affect volcanism at subduction zones? How does
volcanism affect plate tectonics itself?
Can volcanism affect global climate? How?
Are there volcanoes on other planets and moons? How do they differ from volcanoes
on Earth?

Lesson 3.1: Climate Systems: Forcings and Feedbacks

Primary Objectives
1.

How did the Earth's atmosphere form? How does it's composition compare with other
planetary atmospheres?

2.

How do the different 'spheres' of the Earth System interact to form our climate? How
is this different/similar to climate on other terrestrial planets?

3.

What are the dominant factors forcing the Earth's climate? What are the key
feedbacks?

4.

How does the greenhouse effect work on Earth and on Mars and Venus?

5.

On Earth, how has climate changed over the past million years, how does that
compare to change now, and how can we predict future climate change?

6.

How quickly do the processes act that change climate on Earth/Mars/Venus?

Lesson 3.2: Impacts and Mass Extinctions

Primary Objectives
1. Why does the Earth not have as many craters as the moon? How are craters formed?
2. What likely caused the great mass extinction events observed in the fossil record?
3. How do impacts influence climate (and potentially cause mass extinctions)
4. What caused the extinction of the dinosaurs (and a great deal of other life on Earth) at
the end of the Cretaceous period?
5. What are the risks of a future small or major impact on Earth? What are we doing about
it?

Lesson 4.1: Comparative Planetology

Primary Objectives
In the interests of time, we will focus on a few key points for each planet or moon. It is
important to make comparisons between the bodies and consider the implications of the
differences. When doing the readings, consider for Mercury, Venus, Earth, our Moon, Mars,
Europa, Io, and Titan, Jupiter, and Pluto:
1. Composition and Structure: What are the general dimensions and composition. How
does the composition fit with the condensation theory? What are the proportions of
core and mantle? How thick is the lithosphere?
2. Does plate tectonics operate now? Has it in the past? What effects has plate tectonics
(or lack thereof) had on the planet's evolution and characteristics?
3. Does the planet/moon have a magnetic field? What does that mean about its thermal
state? Does the magnetic field (or lack thereof) have any other implications?
4. Does the planet have active volcanism? Has it in the past? How is it generated?
5. What are the surface conditions like on the planet/moon? The landscape?
6. What is the composition and pressure of the atmosphere of the planet/moon? How did
it evolve over time?
7. Intimately linked to the planetary atmospheres/hydrosphere is water. Does the
planet/moon have water? In what states (gas, liquid, ice)? Could the planet/moon
support life?