INTRODUCTION TO PLANET EARTH

 

Trujillo and Thurman 10th, Chapter 1 – be sure to read historical features 1.1 (use of submersibles) and 1.3 (voyages of Beagle); omit historical feature 1.2 and section 1.6 (Did Life Begin in the Oceans?).

 

Students should be able to:

1.       Compare general characteristics of 4 main oceans, plus southern ocean

2.       Explain the basics of the scientific process

3.       Describe the general history of our knowledge of the oceans.

4.       Discuss the changes in reasons for use of the oceans over human history

5.       Discuss specific significant advances/discoveries/achievements of selected individuals or groups.

6.       Discuss the formation of the earth and its layers

7.       Describe the characteristics of the core, mantle, crust, lithosphere, asthenosphere

 

THE OCEANS – general comparisons between 4 main oceans, plus Southern Ocean

 

 

EARLY HISTORY - trade, fishing 

 

Phoenicians: approx. 1000 BC  

 

Greeks: approx. 500 BC

·         Erathosthenes, librarian at Alexandria (about 200 BC) – circumference

·         Pliny the Elder – linked phases of moon to tides

·         Ptolemy (150 AD) – ocean much more vast; used latitude and longitude

 

Polynesians: especially important from 300 - 600 AD

 

MIDDLE AGES: approx. 500 AD; almost 1000 years with little exploration except

·         Vikings: approx. 1000 AD

·         Arabs:  explored Indian Ocean

 

AGE OF DISCOVERY: 1492-1522; economic, political and religious reasons

Portugal:

·         Prince Henry the Navigator 

·         Bartholemeu Dias (1487)

·         Vasco Da Gama (1498)

Spain:

·         Columbus (1492)

·         Vespucci (~1500) 

·         Balboa (1513)

·         Magellan (1522)

·         Spanish Armada defeated in 1588 by British; end of Spanish rule of seas

 

DISCOVER WITH SCIENTIFIC PURSUITS

·         James Cook: 1768-1780 - HMS Endeavour – used accurate chronometer

·         Ben Franklin: 1769

·         Matthew Fontaine Maury: early 1800s – Naval Depot of Charts

·         CHALLENGER EXPEDITION: 1872-1876; first wholly oceanographic expedition

·         Fridtjoh NANSEN (Norwegian; end of 1800s)

·         Meteor Expedition (1925-27) – led by Germans

 

MODERN OCEANOGRAPHY: complex instruments, international, interdisciplinary, complex experiments, modern technology

 

ORIGIN OF EARTH AND OCEANS

·         Nebular theory

·         Layered earth

o   Density stratification

o   Core – Mantle – Crust:  based on composition

o   Lithosphere – Asthenosphere: based on properties

o   Origin of Oceans

 

·         Age of earth and geologic time:  general concepts; details of geologic time scale omitted