Welcome to EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE
When it comes to learning about Earth, it is helpful to understand all of the sciences and areas of study that come into play:
- mapping and cartography
- processes inside Earth
- Earth's materials - rocks and minerals
- surface processes
- water in, on, and around Earth
- atmosphere, weather, and climate
- space and astronomy
MAPPING EARTH
- In order to study the different areas of Earth, we use maps
- Maps show the relative sizes and placement of continents and oceans
- Maps and globes have made studying Earth and traveling more accessible
GOING FROM ROUND TO FLAT...
How do you make a sphere into an easy to read flat map?
We use different MAP PROJECTIONS
- Map projections are attempts to portray the surface of Earth or a portion of Earth on a flat surface. Some distortions of conformity, distance, direction, scale, and area always result from this process.
Using earthquake waves to map Earth's interior...
Different seismic waves propagated by earthquakes, scientists have been able to map Earth's interior:
By monitoring the movement of seismic waves through Earth, we have been able to distinguish between the differing layers in terms of thickness and consistency.
- P-waves - travel fastest through more dense material
- S-waves - do not travel through liquids
By monitoring the movement of seismic waves through Earth, we have been able to distinguish between the differing layers in terms of thickness and consistency.