Note : All information stated in this

Nonoy (H.B.) Ruelo presentation are for instructional purposes

!st Sem 2015-2016 only, and should not be used for other
purposes. 1
 The Universe
began about 14.4 billion years ago
The Big Bang Theory states that, in the beginning, the universe was all in one
place
All of its matter and energy were squizzed into an infinitely small point, a
singularity

Then it exploded !!!

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Our Universe

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 Origin of the Solar System

Gravitational collapse of huge gas &

dust cloud
1. Rotation around a central mass
2. Disk shaped cloud
3. Temperature variations segregated matter
4. Small particles accreted into larger
planetesimals, finally planets

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 The origin and evolution of the Earth
the Sun and planets all coalesced out of the same nebular cloud
we are concerned with the chemical elements that make up the universe,
sometimes called the “baryonic matter” (protons and neutrons are
baryons). There is evidence that all the baryonic matter is actually less
than 30% of the matter in the Universe. The rest is Dark Matter.

More precisely, we are interested in the proportion of all the baryonic matter
that is in the form of each element. This is called the elemental
abundance (atom fraction).
There are two types of abundances that are sometimes discussed: abundance by
number and abundance by mass.

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Elements in the Universe

Estimated proportions of matter, dark

matter and dark energy in the universe.
Only the fraction of the mass and energy in
the universe labeled "atoms" is composed
of chemical elements.

Cosmogenic origin of elements 6

 Planetary evolution
Age of the Earth = 4.56 Billion years [4,560,000,000 years]
Age of the Universe = 14 Billion years

Earth Compared to Other Planets

The Solar System
The inner planets
Rocky planets near the Sun
- Mercury, Venus, Earth & Mars
The outer planets
Giant gaseous planets
- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Pluto, a small icy minor planet
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The universe began about 14.4 billion years ago
The Big Bang Theory states that, in the beginning, the
universe was all in one place
All of its matter and energy were squished into an infinitely
small point, a singularity
Then it exploded

The Age of the Earth ~ 4,560,000,000 years old

Meteorites give us access to debris left

over from the formation of the solar
system

We can date meteorites using radioactive

isotopes and their decay products

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 About 100 million years after initial accretion,
temperatures at depths of 400 to 800 km below the
Earth’s surface reach the melting point of iron

In a process called global chemical

differentiation, the heavier elements,
including the melted iron and nickel,
began to sink down into the core of
the Earth, while the lighter elements
such as oxygen and silica floated up
towards the surface

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10
Global Chemical Differentiation
This global chemical differential was completed by about 4.3 billion years
ago, and the Earth had developed a inner and outer core, a mantle and crust

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Chemical Composition Lithosphere: strong, rocky outer shell of the solid
Earth including all the crust and the upper part of
of Earth the mantle to a depth of ~100 km (forms the plates)

Asthenosphere: weak,ductile
layer of the mantle beneath the
lithosphere; deforms to
accommodate the motions of the
overlying plates

Deep Mantle: mantle

beneath the asthenosphere
(~400 to 2900 km in depth)

Outer core: liquid

shell composed of
mostly iron

Inner core: innermost

sphere composed
primarily of solid iron1212
 The Core
The main elements in the core are an iron and nickel alloy
Increasing temperature first melts the alloy to make the outer core
Increasing pressure freezes the alloy to produce the inner core
Outer Core
Ranges from 2900 to 5100 kilometers below the earth
Composition is iron with about 2% nickel
Density of 9.9 gm/cm3 is too low to be pure metal

Inner Core
From 5100 to 6370 kilometers below surface
80% iron, 20% nickel alloy
Pressures reach about 3 megabars, or 300,000 megapascals
Temperature at the center is about 7600ºC

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 A billion Year Old Earth
By 3.5 billion years ago, when the Earth was a billion years old, it had
a thick atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide, methane, water
vapor and other volcanic gases (ammonia)
the Earth also had extensive
oceans and seas of salt
water, which contained many
dissolved elements, such as
iron
By human standards this early
atmosphere was very
poisonous
It contained almost no oxygen
Remember, today our
atmosphere is 21% oxygen

YES, there was LIFE on

Earth 3.5 billion years ago
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 The Evolving Atmosphere
For the next several hundred million years, volcanic out-gassing began to
create a thicker atmosphere composed of a wide variety of gases
The gases that were released were probably similar to those created by
modern volcanic eruptions
These would include:
Water vapor (H2O)
Sulfur dioxide (SO2)
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S)
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Ammonia (NH3)
Methane (CH4)

Note that oxygen (O2)

gas is not created by
volcanic eruptions
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Comparison of today and primordial Earth

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 Earth’s Atmosphere

Right after its creation, some part of the light

elements (hydrogen and helium, for
example) were lost from the Earth when it
was young (not enough gravity to hold
them).

Today, H and He are very rare in our atmosphere

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 History of Earth’s Atmosphere

N2

CO2

H2O
O2
O2 reaches
oceans CO2 current levels; life
form dissolves invades
continents

Outgassing Life forms in Onset of

oceans photosynthesis

4.5 Gy 4 Gy 3.5 Gy 0.4 Gy

B.P B.P. B.P. B.P. present

Nonoy (HB) Ruelo

YES, there was LIFE on Earth 3.5 billion years ago

By 3.5 billion years ago, the Earth had a thick atmosphere composed
of CO2, methane, water vapor and other volcanic gases

the Earth also had extensive

oceans and seas of salt
water, which contained many
dissolved elements, such as
iron
By human standards this early
atmosphere was very poisonous
It contained almost no oxygen
Remember, today our atmosphere
is 21% oxygen

Nonoy (H.B.) Ruelo 19

 Today

21% Oxygen

Nonoy (H.B.) Ruelo 2020

 Water on Earth
The earliest evidence of surface water on Earth dates back about 3.8 billion years

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The Evolving Crust and Oceans
Continents: Formed from solidified magma that
floated up from the Mantle

Oceans and Atmosphere:

Fluid and gaseous outer
layers believed to have
been created by out-
gassing of gases and fluids
from volcanic eruptions (in
a process called volatile
transfer)

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The solid Earth has a layered structure
Layers defined by composition and physical properties :
Chemical (compositional) layers
crust - mantle - core
Physical layers
lithosphere - asthenosphere - mesosphere - outer
core - inner core
O
Si
Al  Earth’s crust is
Fe composed
predominantly
Mg of eight (8)
elements
Ca
Na
K Nonoy (H.B.) Ruelo 23
 Earth’s crust is
composed
predominantly
of eight
elements

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Compositional Layers Sima
Crust – the outer layer Sial
Continental crust
Thicker than oceanic crust - up to 75 km
Less dense - 2.7 g/cm3
Oceanic crust – thinner than continental crust ( about 8 km),
But more dense (3.0 g/cm3)

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Nonoy (H.B.) Ruelo 26
Compositional Layers

Mantle – largest layer

2900 km thick
82% by volume
68% by mass
Composed of silicate rocks (Si, O, Al)
with abundant Fe and Mg
Density ranges from 3.2 to 5 g/cm3

Convection of heat from the core and mantle drives plate tectonics
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Compositional Layers

Core - the inner layer

central mass about 2700 km diameter
Average density of 10.8 g/cm3
2900 km thick
16% by volume, 32% by mass
Indirect evidence of composition – metallic iron / nickel

The main elements in the core are

iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni) alloy

Increasing temperature first melts

the alloy to make the outer core

Increasing pressure freezes the

alloy to produce the inner core

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 Abundance of Elements on Earth

CRUST MANTLE
Si, O, Al Fe, Mg, Al, Si, O

Mg, Fe, Al, Si, O

OUTER Fe, Ni INNER Fe, Ni

CORE CORE

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Geochemistry of the solid earth

Whole Earth: Crust:

Fe+O+Si+Mg = 93% Si+O+Al = 82%

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Compositions of the Crust
Major elements
 Earth’s crust is
composed
predominantly of
eight elements

 Numbers are in weight

percent

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32
Geochemistry of the solid earth

Abundance (atom fraction) of the chemical elements in Earth's upper continental crust as a
function of atomic number. The rarest elements in the crust (shown in yellow) are not the
heaviest, but are rather the siderophile (iron-loving) elements in the Goldschmidt
classification of elements. These have been depleted by being relocated deeper into the
Earth's core. 33
34
Summary
Compositional
layers
crust
mantle
core

Physical layers
lithosphere
asthenosphere
mesosphere
outer core
inner core
Nonoy (HB) Ruelo 36
 14.4 billion years old, which
Our universe is about _______
was originally one matter and energy, then it exploded,
Big Bang
according to the ________________ Theory.

Baryonic
_____________ matter are chemical elements that make
dark
up most of the universe, and the rest is called ________
Hydrogen
matter. _______________ is the most abundant element
Helium
in the entire universe, ______________ is second,
Oxygen
followed by ________________ Carbon
and _______________.

gravitational
Our own solar system formed from _____________
collapse
___________ of huge gas & dust cloud, which accreted
planetisimals
into larger particles called ________________, and
finally planets.
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 4,560
The age of the earth is _________ million years, based
isotopes
from dating of radioactive ________________ from debris
left over from the formation of the solar system, called
meteorites
___________________.

About 100 million years after the birth, the earth evolved
global chemical
into a process called _________ differentiation
___________ ________,
iron
the heavier elements, including the melted _______ and
nickel began to sink down into the _______
_______, core of the
oxygen and
Earth, while the lighter elements such as _________
silica
________ floated up towards the surface.

temperature first melts the iron-nickel alloy to

Increasing ____________
outer
make the _________ pressure
fluid core, and increasing __________
inner core.
freezes the alloy to produce the solid ________
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The earliest evidence of surface water on Earth dates back
about _____
3.8 billion years ago. About 3.5 Ga, the earth
Co2
formed an early atmosphere, mostly the gases _____,
CH4 ______,
_____, H2O NH3
and _____.

Other gases emitted by volcanoes to the atmosphere were

water vapor
(H2O) ______ Sulfur dioxide
_______, (SO2) ________ ________,
Hydrogen
(H2S) ________ sulfide (CO) ________
________, Carbon monoxide
________.

Nitrogen
Today, our atmosphere constitutes about 78% ________
Oxygen
and 21% __________ .

As the earth “cooled”, it formed chemical layers with

variable composition, comprising the __________,
crust
mantle
____________ core
and the _________.

Nonoy (HB) Ruelo 39

The earth’s crust is composed predominantly of eight (8)
elements, namely (in decreasing order of abundance) :
O
_____, Si
_____, Al
_____, Fe _____,
_____, Mg _____,
Ca Na
_____, K
____.

Sial and ______.

There are 2 kinds of crust (elemental): _____ Sima

Si, O,
The mantle is composed of silicate rocks (__, __,Al
__)
Fe and ___
with abundant ___ Mg

For the whole earth, the four (4) most abundant elements are :
O, Fe,
__, __, Si,
__, Mg
__ .

Name the eight (8) precious metallic elements :

Au, Ag, Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh, Ir, Os
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 Thank You
Next topic :

Geochemistry Fundamentals

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