EESC 2200
The Solid Earth System
Bill Menke
Terry Plank
Geophysicist
Geochemist
Survey
Your major? DEES/Env DEES/Earth DE3B DEEE BCES
Other
Have you taken?
2100-Climate 2300-Life
Summer activities
team sports
hiking
boating
science-related internships
Course Format
Monday 2:40-3:55
Monday meetings will always be a formal lecture
But note ...
questions and discussion are always encouraged
Wednesday 2:40-3:55
Wednesday meetings will not always be a formal
lecture
We will also have
Class discussions
Case Studies
Projects and Tutorials
Monday 4:05-7:00
Our second meeting on Monday will be a lab
It will be conducted by our two TA’s
Lisa Streit and Tianxia Jia
Because of the large class size this year, we will break it
into two sessions 4:05-5:30 and 5:35-7:00
Lab Reports are required
Text and Required Readings
Earth: Portrait of a Planet,
Third Edition
by Stephen Marshak;
Publisher: Norton,
W. W. & Company, Inc.
ISBN-13: 9780393930368
Available at Barnes & Noble
Required readings will be posted on Courseworks (This week – Chapters 1 & 2 )
Inflatable Globe
You will need an inflatable
globe
Available from the
Department for a small fee
See the TA’s
Globe needed for first two labs
Required full-day fieldtrip
Owing to the large class size, we will be hold two trips, one on
Saturday October 18, 2008
And the other on
Sunday October 19, 2008
You may opt to write a term paper in lieu of attending the fieldtrip
Homework
will be assigned periodically
you will be given at least 1 week to
complete each assignment
they will be due in hardcopy at the start of
a designated class
(no homework has yet been assigned)
Grading
25 % Homework
25 % Lab Report
25 % Midterm
25% Final
-15% miss fieldtrip and no term paper
we almost never violate class rank in
assigning grades
Bill & Terry have a written grading policy:
www.ldeo.columbia.edu/users/menke/gradingpolicy.html
Today’s Discussion:
The significance of
Continents and Oceans
Although this is a course mainly
about the physical aspects of the
earth, let’s start with a social
question …
What significance have
"continents" and "oceans" had
for human history
Let’s move onto a question
concerning climate …
(how many of you have taken EESC2100 The
Climate System)?
What significance have
"continents" and "oceans" had
for climate
Let’s move onto a question
concerning biology …
(how many of you have taken EESC2300 The Life
System)?
What significance have
"continents" and "oceans" had
for the development of life on
earth?
The surface of the earth can be
divided into oceans and
continents.
Do they have significance
beyond the obvious fact that one
is wet and the other dry, one is
low and the other is high?
Let’s examine a
Global Topographic Dataset
This data viewer is at
http://ingrid.ldgo.columbia.edu/SOURCES/.WORLDBATH/.bath/html+viewer?
Continents …. And …. Oceans
Viewer can
make
a
topographic
profile
sea level
Is this the kind of profile
that you would get by pouring
water on any-old irregular
surface ?
Pour in a little water … a little ocean …
Pour in a lot of water … a big ocean …
(demo here …)
Examine the boundary between
continent and ocean …
sea level
Very sharp change in topography …
Idealization: world has two levels
continental level and ocean level …
continental level
ocean level
Doesn’t work everywhere … e.g. Andes Mountains
How would you test this idea of
two levels ?
Make a histogram of
global evevations
Topography at 9500 random points around the globe.
Why is the density of points greatest at the equator?
Histogram of elevations
Narrow range of continental levels
Most data between -150 meters to
1500 meters
Somewhat less narrow range of ocean levels
Most data between -5000 meters to -3000 meters
The earth colored to bring out the
geographic distribution of these two
levels
But what does it mean?
What are the right questions?
Why are there just two levels?
(why not 3?)
Why is the boundary between the two
levels so sharp?
What controls the depth of each level?
Why is the top level close to – but not
exactly at - sea level?
Does water level control continental level; does continental level
control sea level?
What approaches might allow us to
answer these questions?
A planetary science approach
(fun, but dreadfully expensive …)
Only our earth has two distinct levels …