List of basic Earth science topics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For a comprehensive alphabetical list, see List of Earth science topics (alphabetical).
Earth science is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. Earth is arguably a special case in planetary science, being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth science. The major historic disciplines use physics, geology, mathematics, chemistry, and biology to build a quantitative understanding of the principal areas or spheres of the Earth system.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and introduction to earth science:
Contents |
[edit] Essence of earth science
- Main article: Earth science
Earth science is also known as:
- the Earth Sciences
- Geoscience
- the Geosciences
- a planetary science
[edit] Earth's spheres
- Earth (planet) (the whole sphere)
- Lithosphere or Geosphere
- Pedosphere
- Hydrosphere
- Cryosphere
- Atmosphere
- Air
- Climate
- Earth's atmosphere - composed of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen
- Exosphere - top-most and thinnest layer of the atmosphere
- Ionosphere - ionized by solar radiation
- Thermosphere
- Mesosphere
- Stratosphere
- Troposphere - 75% of the atmosphere's gasses are in this, the bottom-most layer of the atmoshpere.[1]
- Gas
- Weather
- Biosphere
- Magnetosphere
[edit] Branches of earth science
[edit] Geology
- Economic geology
- Engineering geology
- Environmental geology
- Gemology
- Geochemistry
- Geochronology
- Geomagnetics
- Geomicrobiology
- Geomorphology
- Geophysics
- Geostatistics
- Historical geology
- Hydrogeology
- Mantle plumes
- Micropaleontology
- Mineralogy
- Mineral Physics
- Mining
- Paleontology
- Palynology
- Petroleum geology
- Petrology
- Physical geodesy
- Planetary geology
- Plate tectonics
- Quaternary geology
- Sedimentology
- Seismology
- Stratigraphy
- Structural geology
- Tectonics
- Volcanology
[edit] Soil science
[edit] Oceanography
- Oceanography
- Physical oceanography
- Chemical oceanography
- Hydrogeology
- Hydrology
- Limnology
- Marine Biology
- Marine Geology
- Marine Geophysics
- Paleoceanography
[edit] Geography
[edit] Limnology
[edit] Glaciology
[edit] Atmospheric science
[edit] Systems or multidisciplinary
- Biogeochemistry
- Climatology
- Mineralogy
- Gaia theory (science)
- Materials Science.
- Meteorology
- Paleoclimatology
- Paleoceanography
[edit] History of earth science
- Main article: History of earth science; see also History of geology
[edit] Basic earth science concepts
[edit] Earth science scholars
[edit] Leaders in earth science
[edit] Earth science lists
- Main article: List of earth science topics
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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