Fundamental
facts you should know about the earth
Still in the quest to perfectly understand the earth, it has
made me to take a further dive into the earth study and I have come up with
these:
- The Earth is about 4.6 billion years old:
From the Big-bang theory, we have learnt that the earth came
into existence as a result of collusion of solar gases and dusts which later
solidified under solar gravity to form the earth.
- Evolution of life occurred in the Earth:
Life evolved on this
earth from the primitive life forms to the present day life (angiosperms
and Homo- sapiens). These evidences are carefully preserved in the rocks.
- The
Earth is always changing
The surface of the earth as we know is
directly under the influence of certain forces which alter / change it. These
forces can be erosional, weathering, or tectonic / orogenic. So the fact
remains that the paleo- surface of the earth is not the same as the present.
- Rocks
melt
Rocks melt. The
rocks (mantle) beneath the surface of the earth melt. Whenever this happens,
hot lava and gases are thrown up to the earth’s surface. This results in
formation of mountains.
The melting is as a
result of the very high temperature beneath the surface. Please note that the
higher the pressure, the greater the melting point of rocks beneath the earth’s
surface and vice versa.
- The
mantle is hot
The mantle (this is directly below the Earth’s
crust) is a hot, convecting flowing solid. It The outer core of the earth
contains liquid iron and nickel metal and
is liquid-like. But deep down inside the inner core (here the pressure
increases) the iron / nickel is solid.
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