- Earth Science and Physical Science
- Ecology and Earth Science
Earth’s Systems – Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Atmosphere, and Biosphere
Earth is a complex system of interacting living organisms and nonliving materials. Scientists break down Earth’s major systems into four; the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.
The geosphere , also called the lithosphere, includes all Earth’s rock, soil and sand in all its forms from mountains to its rocky stream beds, mudflats, ocean trenches, sandy beaches and lava flows. It even includes the very ground that is made up of tectonic plates forming our islands and continents.
The hydrosphere includes Earth’s water. Most (97%) is salt water in the oceans. Freshwater is found in underground in aquifers , on the surface in lakes, rivers and frozen in glaciers. Earth’s water is always moving through a water cycle. It evaporates from the surface up into the atmosphere as a gas. In the atmosphere, it builds up and cools to fall back to Earth as rain or snow ( precipitation ). It then fills surface waterways, seeps into the soil and aquifers and flows into lakes, rivers and the ocean.
The atmosphere surrounds the Earth in gaseous layers held in place by gravity . It is made up of about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and1% carbon dioxide and other gases, including water vapor. The atmosphere blankets the Earth in layers. We live in the layer called the troposphere which reaches from the ground up 4-12 miles (6-20km) into the sky. This is where all weather happens from hurricanes to lightning. The next layer is the stratosphere where the air is much calmer. This is where commercial airplane fly. The next layer is the mesosphere . This layer stops most meteors as they fly toward Earth. All we see is the streak of light as they burn up. The thermosphere is next and is where the space shuttles orbited the Earth. The outer boundary of our atmosphere is the exosphere . It reaches about 6,200 miles (1,000 km) above the Earth. This is the level of the atmosphere where our satellites orbit the Earth.
The biosphere includes all living things on Earth, from plants and animals to fungi and microscopic plankton. Life on Earth lives close to the surface, where it can access oxygen and/or carbon dioxide, sunlight, water, minerals and organic matter. Life on land may stretch 10 feet (3m) underground (roots, invertebrates and microorganisms) and hundreds of feet into the air (redwoods, rainforests and the living things that live on them). Most ocean life is on the surface too ( photic zone ), where the sun can reach down to about 600 feet (200m) and closer to shore ( coastal zone ). The coastal zone includes the shallow, warmer waters along the coast. It is full of nutrient-rich matter that supports 90% of all ocean life, though some life has adapted to the dark and pressure of the deep ocean. Between the ocean, land and freshwater habitats, the biosphere is broken down into biomes . A biome’s location on Earth depends upon the climate – rainfall amounts and temperature and will support living things that can tolerate and thrive in that habitat.
Though we study the characteristic of these different spheres, they are all interconnected to support life on Earth. Each biome in the biosphere has some aspects of the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere that helps make up its characteristics. For example, a coral reef is full of life, but it would not exist without the salt water in which it lives, the ocean floor that anchors it, and the wave action that brings it nutrients and oxygen and are created by its nearness to land. The rainforest is another biome that is rich in plant, animal and other life ( biodiversity ) due to its warm temperatures and abundant rainfall. It supports extensive green plants that pump out oxygen. The soil is shallow but roots some of the tallest and most exotic species of tree on Earth. Even hot, dry biomes, like the American desert, host lots of wildlife. Some adapt by burrowing underground to escape the daytime heat and are active at night ( nocturnal ). It rains rarely in the desert, but when it does, the water awakens flowering plants that bloom and make seeds for another life cycle. All over the planet, the different biomes are examples of how the biosphere interacts with the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere to create our living, breathing planet.
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Fulfillment of next generation science standards (ngss), grade 5 - 5-ess2 earth’s systems ngss disciplinary core ideas.
ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems • Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems interact in multiple ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes. The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms, shapes landforms, and influences climate. Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with the landforms to determine patterns of weather. (5-ESS2-1)
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes • Nearly all of Earth’s available water is in the ocean. Most fresh water is in glaciers or underground; only a tiny fraction is in streams, lakes, wetlands, and the atmosphere. (5-ESS2-2)
Performance Expectations Students who demonstrate understanding can: 5-ESS2-1. Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact. [Clarification Statement: Examples could include the influence of the ocean on ecosystems, landform shape, and climate; the influence of the atmosphere on landforms and ecosystems through weather and climate; and the influence of mountain ranges on winds and clouds in the atmosphere. The geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere are each a system.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to the interactions of two systems at a time.] 5-ESS2-2. Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth. [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers, ground water, and polar ice caps, and does not include the atmosphere.]
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What are the four subsystems of the earth?
The Earth is the third planet in order of distance from the Sun and the fifth largest in the Solar System in terms of both mass and diameter. It is also the only celestial object known to harbor life. It orbits the Sun in 365.256 solar days – one sidereal year – and rotates on itself relative to the Sun in one sidereal day (about 23 h 56 min 4 s), a little less than its solar day of 24 h because of this displacement around the Sun. The axis of rotation of the Earth has an inclination of 23°, which causes the appearance of seasons.
According to radiometric dating, the Earth was formed 4.54 billion years ago. It has a single natural satellite, the Moon, which was formed shortly after. The gravitational interaction with its satellite creates the tides, stabilizes its axis of rotation and gradually reduces its speed of rotation. Life would have appeared in the oceans at least 3.5 billion years ago, which affected the atmosphere and the earth’s surface by the proliferation of organisms that were first anaerobic and then, following the Cambrian explosion, aerobic. A combination of factors such as the distance of the Earth from the Sun (about 150 million kilometers – an astronomical unit), its atmosphere, its ozone layer, its magnetic field and its geological evolution allowed life to evolve and develop. During the evolutionary history of life, biodiversity has undergone long periods of expansion occasionally punctuated by mass extinctions; about 99% of the species that once lived on Earth are now extinct. In 2022, more than 7.9 billion people live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and natural resources for their survival.
Earth is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest and most massive of the four terrestrial planets. Its rigid envelope – called the lithosphere – is divided into different tectonic plates that migrate a few centimeters per year. About 71% of the planet’s surface is covered by water – notably oceans, but also lakes and rivers, making up the hydrosphere – and the remaining 29% is continents and islands. Most of the polar regions are covered by ice, notably the Antarctic ice sheet and the Arctic Ocean ice pack. The internal structure of the Earth is geologically active, with the solid inner core and the liquid outer core (both composed mainly of iron) generating the Earth’s magnetic field through the dynamo effect and the convection of the Earth’s mantle (composed of silicate rocks) causing plate tectonics.
Planet Earth is composed of four overlapping systems that contain all of the world’s land masses, water sources, living organisms and gases. These four systems are known as spheres.
The earth system is itself an integrated system, but it can be subdivided into four main components, sub-systems or spheres: the geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere . These components are also systems in their own right and they are tightly interconnected.
Three of these spheres are abiotic and one sphere is biotic. Abiotic describes substances that are made of non-living materials. Biotic relates to living things such as bacteria, birds, mammals, insects and plants.
What are the 4 subsystem of the Earth describe each?
Everything in Earth’s system can be placed into one of four major subsystems: land, water, living things, or air. These four subsystems are called “spheres.” Specifically, they are the “lithosphere” (land), “hydrosphere” (water), “biosphere” (living things), and “atmosphere” (air) .
How do the Earth’s four subsystems work together?
The geosphere has four subsystems called the lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and atmosphere. Because these subsystems interact with each other and the biosphere, they work together to influence the climate, trigger geological processes, and affect life all over the Earth .
How do the Earth’s subsystems interact?
In nature, phenomena occur that link all of the Earth’s subsystems. For example, as the lithosphere was formed and volcanoes arose, gases emitted by volcanic eruptions appeared and began to integrate the atmosphere, which, by dropping its rain, cooled the Earth’s surface.
The water cycle
One of the most obvious examples of how dependency relationships are established between subsystems is the hydrological cycle or water cycle, which is a process of continuous water exchange between the atmosphere, the hydrosphere and the lithosphere.
Water is in constant movement in nature, passing from one place to another and from one state to another: in the seas and oceans water evaporates, the vapor rises into the atmosphere to form clouds; through precipitation, the water in the clouds returns to the earth where it is used by plants and animals; another part runs off the surface in rivers or in the subsoil as groundwater until it reaches the sea, thus completing the water cycle.
Living beings also intervene in the water cycle: trees, for example, move a large amount of water, since they absorb it from the soil through their roots and lose part of it through their leaves.
The main parts that make up the Earth are the subsystems of the lithosphere, the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, which fulfill specific functions for the development of life on the planet and establish relationships of mutual influence, in such a way that what happens in one system can modify the others. These three subsystems are fundamental for the development of life: the atmosphere provides oxygen and carbon dioxide; the hydrosphere provides water and moderates temperatures; and the lithosphere provides mineral salts and support for living beings. The part where life developed and is sustained corresponds to the biosphere, which comprises land, atmosphere and hydrosphere.
How are the 4 spheres of the Earth connected?
How are the spheres of Earth interrelated? The four spheres of Earth are closely connected to each other. Birds(biosphere) fly through the air (atmosphere), water (hydrosphere) flows through the soil (lithosphere) . The spheres of earth are closely connected to each other.
What is subsystem and types of subsystem?
A subsystem is a single, predefined operating environment through which the system coordinates the work flow and resource use . The system can contain several subsystems, all operating independently of each other. Subsystems manage resources. All jobs, with the exception of system jobs, run within subsystems.
What are the sub-systems?
What are examples.
A unit or device that is part of a larger system. For example, a disk subsystem is a part of a computer system . A bus is a part of the computer. A subsystem usually refers to hardware, but it may be used to describe software.
How do you identify a subsystem?
A subsystem is a system that is an element of another system . It is “smaller” than the containing system, in that it provides only some of the functions that the larger system provides. It is wholly contained by the larger system; no subsystem can cross the boundary of its containing system.
Whats a subsystem did?
An example of container subsystems is “ alters within alters ” in Dissociative Identity Disorder or Other Specified Dissociative Disorder, although the term is not exclusive to DID and may be used by any plural to whom the term applies.
What is another word for subsystem?
In this page you can discover 11 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for subsystem, like: ivt, sub-system, component, configuration, canbus, Symmetrix, Mbus, sub-systems, system components, tcb and microprocessor .
What is the difference between system and a subsystem?
A system is a collection of organized things and combination of parts working together to accomplish a goal. Whereas a subsystem is derived from system and it is an integral part of a larger system.
Is a subsystem any component of a system?
Systems can contain any combination of map components and subsystem components . A subsystem component is an Integration Flow Designer object that represents or references another system that you have already defined. The concept of a subsystem component is that it enables you to reuse a system.
Are the terms system and subsystem synonymous explain your answer?
Explain your answer. A system and a subsystem are two different entities which should not be intermixed . System is the assemblage of parts forming into a complex unitary whole structure. A subsystem is a logical smaller part of the whole system.
How many parts must a subsystem be made out of?
Figure 1.2 depicts a system consisting of four interrelated parts that have come together, or integrated, as a single system, named “system 1.0.” Each part of a system—in this case, parts 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 —is known as a subsystem.
What systems can you think of list one or two examples of things that you think might be systems?
Computers, keyboards, disk drives, iPads, and flash drives are all examples of information systems hardware. We will spend some time going over these components and how they all work together in chapter 2.
What are the logical components of a business process?
The three most prominent management activities are planning, controlling, and decision making .
How do systems serve the different management groups in a business?
How do systems serve the different management groups in a business? Systems serving operational management are transaction processing systems (TPS), such as payroll or order processing, that track the flow of the daily routine transactions necessary to conduct business .
Why is planning an important component of business logic?
Planning is the process of structuring and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal. The main purpose is to plan time, cost and resources adequately to estimate the work needed and to ef- fectively manage risk during project execution .
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How Do the Earth's Four Subsystems Work Together?
Scientists divide the planet into two main components: the biosphere, which consists of all life, and the geosphere. The geosphere has four subsystems called the lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and atmosphere. Because these subsystems interact with each other and the biosphere, they work together to influence the climate, trigger geological processes, and affect life all over the Earth.
Dry Land: Many Call it Home
Unless you live in the air like a bird, you make your home in the lithosphere along with all other life forms that live on land. The lithosphere, which consists of the Earth's crust and upper mantle, also contains rocks, forests, mountains and all the earth's other landforms. It depth is about 100 kilometers (22 miles). The lithosphere always changes because of geological processing happening above and below ground.
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The Air You Breathe
Perched above the other subsystems you'll find the atmosphere. Essential to life on the planet, it only makes up about 0.07 percent of the Earth's mass. The atmosphere contains several layers including the troposphere, a layer that interacts with the other subsystems. Although oxygen is a critical gas that sustains life, the lower atmosphere only contains 20.95 percent oxygen and 78.08 percent nitrogen. The atmosphere is always in motion responding to temperature changes that occur in other parts of the Earth system.
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The hydrosphere contains the planet's water whether it's in the oceans, lakes or rivers. It also consists of water vapor that condenses to form clouds. The atmosphere can also affect the hydrosphere. For instance, the ocean's temperature changes when the air temperature fluctuates. These temperature changes, in turn, can help spawn hurricanes that affect the other subsystems. The ocean is the hydrosphere's largest component.
Cold as Ice
Similar to the hydrosphere, the cryosphere also contains the planet's water. However, this subsystem consists of solid water. That water may be in the form of glaciers, snow, ice in the ocean, permafrost and even frozen ground. Changes in temperature and sea levels can have a major effect on the cryosphere, especially when warmer temperatures cause ice to melt. Melting ice can affect polar bears and other life in this subsystem. Because ice reflects sunlight and oceans absorb it, less ice due to melting can translate into higher temperatures.
- U.S. Geological Survey: The Earth System
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Earth System Climate Change | Science On a Sphere
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: "Believe It or Not" Ocean Facts
After majoring in physics, Kevin Lee began writing professionally in 1989 when, as a software developer, he also created technical articles for the Johnson Space Center. Today this urban Texas cowboy continues to crank out high-quality software as well as non-technical articles covering a multitude of diverse topics ranging from gaming to current affairs.