Lecture 12. Natural resources and their rational nature management as one of sustainable development aspects

Plan

1. Atmosphere as a part of biosphere

2. Hydrosphere as a part of biosphere

3. Lithosphere as a part of biosphere. Internal structure of the Earth

4. Pedosphere (a soil cover) as a part of biosphere

Appearance and existence of biosphere on the Earth are caused by the form and the sizes of our planet, and also its distance from the Sun.

Age of the Earth makes nearly 4,6 billion years. During this time there were processes of transformation and moving of a matter therefore the globe was dismembered on a number of geological spheres (geospheres). There are various spheres of the Earth: kernel, cloak, earth's crust, pedosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, noosphere, etc.

Atmosphere (greek. «atmos» - vapor) is an air layer of the Earth. Hydrosphere (greek. «gidora» - water) is a water layer of the Earth. Lithosphere (greek. "Cast" - stone) is a firm layer of globe. Pedosphere (latin. «pedis» - leg, foot) is a layer of the Earth, consisting of soil cover. Biosphere (greek. «bios» - life) is a layer of the Earth transformed by alive organisms. Noosphere (greek. «noo» - reason) is a layer of the Earth transformed by activity of person.

An atmosphere (New Latin atmosphaera, created in the 17th century from Greek τμός [atmos] "vapor" and [sphaira] "sphere") is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low. Some planets consist mainly of various gases, but only their outer layer is their atmosphere.

The term stellar atmosphere describes the outer region of a star, and typically includes the portion starting from the opaque photosphere outwards. Relatively low-temperature stars may form compound molecules in their outer atmosphere. Earth's atmosphere, which contains oxygen used by most organisms for respiration and carbon dioxide used by plants, algae and cyanobacteria for photosynthesis, also protects living organisms from genetic damage by solar ultraviolet radiation. Its current composition is the product of billions of years of biochemical modification of the paleoatmosphere by living organisms.

The atmospheric composition on Earth is largely governed by the by-products of the very life that it sustains. Earth's atmosphere contains roughly (by molar content/volume) 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, a variable amount (average around 1.247%) water vapor, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and traces of hydrogen, helium, and other "noble" gases.

The Earth's atmosphere consists, from the ground up, of the troposphere (which includes the planetary boundary layer or peplosphere as lowest layer), stratosphere (which includes the ozone layer), mesosphere, thermosphere (which contains the ionosphere), exosphere and also the magnetosphere. Each of the layers has a different lapse rate, defining the rate of change in temperature with height.

Three quarters of the atmospheric mass resides within the troposphere, and the depth of this layer varies between 17 km at the equator and 7 km at the poles. The ozone layer, which absorbs ultraviolet energy from the Sun, is located primarily in the stratosphere, at altitudes of 15 to 35 km. The Kármán line, located within the thermosphere at an altitude of 100 km, is commonly used to define the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space. However, the exosphere can extend from 500 up to 1,000 km above the surface, where it interacts with the planet's magnetosphere.

The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains approximately 80% of theatmosphere's mass and 99% of its water vapor and aerosols. The average depth of the troposphere is approximately 17 km in the middle latitudes. It is deeper in the tropics, up to 20 km, and shallower near the Polar Regions, at 7 km in summer, and indistinct in winter. The lowest part of the troposphere, where friction with the Earth's surface influences air flow, is the planetary boundary layer. This layer is typically a few hundred meters to 2 km deep depending on the landform and time of day. The border between the troposphere and stratosphere, called the tropopause, is a temperature inversion.

The word troposphere derives from the Greek: tropos for "turning" or "mixing," reflecting the fact thatturbulent mixing plays an important role in the troposphere's structure and behavior. Most of the phenomena we associate with day-to-day weather occur in the troposphere.[3]

The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere near the Earth's surface, which is cooler higher up and warmer farther down. The border of the troposphere and stratosphere, the tropopause, is marked by where this inversion begins, which in terms of atmospheric thermodynamics is the equilibrium level. The stratosphere is situated between about 10 km and 50 km altitude above the surface at moderate latitudes, while at the poles it starts at about 8 km altitude.

Within this layer, temperature increases as altitude increases (see temperature inversion); the top of the stratosphere has a temperature of about 270 K, just slightly below the freezing point of water. The stratosphere is layered in temperature because ozone (O3) here absorbs high energy UVB and UVC energy waves from the Sun and is broken down into atomic oxygen (O) and diatomic oxygen (O2). Atomic oxygen is found prevalent in the upper stratosphere due to the bombardment of UV light and the destruction of both ozone and diatomic oxygen. The mid stratosphere has less UV light passing through it, O and O2 are able to combine, and is where the majority of natural ozone is produced. It is when these two forms of oxygen recombine to form ozone that they release the heat found in the stratosphere. The lower stratosphere receives very low amounts of UVC, thus atomic oxygen is not found here and ozone is not formed (with heat as the byproduct). This vertical stratification, with warmer layers above and cooler layers below, makes the stratosphere dynamically stable: there is no regular convection and associated turbulence in this part of the atmosphere. The top of the stratosphere is called the stratopause, above which the temperature decreases with height.

Bacterial life survives in the stratosphere, making it a part of the biosphere. Also, some bird species have been reported to fly at the lower levels of the stratosphere.

The mesosphere (from Greek mesos - middle and sphaira - ball) is the layer of the Earth's atmosphere that is directly above the stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. In the mesosphere temperature decreases with increasing height. The upper boundary of the mesosphere is the mesopause, which can be the coldest naturally occurring place on Earth with temperatures below 130 K. The exact upper and lower boundaries of the mesosphere vary with latitude and with season, but the lower boundary of the mesosphere is usually located at heights of about 50 km above the Earth's surface and the mesopause is usually at heights near 100 km, except at middle and high latitudes in summer where it descends to heights of about 85 km.

Within the mesosphere, temperature decreases with increasing altitude. This is due to decreasing solar heating and increasing cooling by CO2 radiative emission.

The thermosphere is the layer of the Earth's atmosphere directly above the mesosphere and directly below the exosphere. Within this layer, ultraviolet radiation (UV) causes ionization. Called from the Greek (pronounced thermos) meaning heat, the thermosphere begins about 85 kilometres above the Earth. At these high altitudes, the residual atmospheric gases sort into strata according to molecular mass (see turbosphere)

The hydrosphere is the liquid water component of the Earth. It includes the oceans, seas, lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. The hydrosphere covers about 70% of the surface of the Earth and is the home for many plants and animals.There are superficial and underground hydrosphere.

The superficial hydrosphere is a water layer of a superficial part of the Earth. Its structure includes waters of oceans, the seas, lakes, the rivers, water basins, bogs, glaciers, snow covers, etc. Superficial hydrosphere covers a terrestrial surface on 70,8 %.

The underground hydrosphere includes the waters which are being the top part of the earth's crust. They are called underground. From above the underground hydrosphere is limited by a surface of the Earth.

The hydrosphere, like the atmosphere, is always in motion. The motion of rivers and streams can be easily seen, while the motion of the water within lakes and ponds is less obvious. Some of the motion of the oceans and seas can be easily seen while the large scale motions that move water great distances such as between the tropics and poles or between continents are more difficult to see. These types of motions are in the form of currents that move the warm waters in the tropics toward the poles, and colder water from the polar regions toward the tropics. These currents exist on the surface of the ocean and at great depths in the ocean (to about 4km).

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