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Formation of Earth

Earth formed nearly 4.6 billion years ago from a cloud of dust and gas as small bodies collided and merged under the force of gravity. As Earth grew in size, gravitational contraction and radioactive decay caused its interior to heat up immensely. Frequent asteroid impacts also contributed substantial heat. Once formed, Earth separated into layers with the densest materials sinking to the core and lighter components rising to the surface in a process called differentiation. The early crust was likely basaltic but recycled rapidly due to intense mantle convection.

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19 views8 pages

Formation of Earth

Earth formed nearly 4.6 billion years ago from a cloud of dust and gas as small bodies collided and merged under the force of gravity. As Earth grew in size, gravitational contraction and radioactive decay caused its interior to heat up immensely. Frequent asteroid impacts also contributed substantial heat. Once formed, Earth separated into layers with the densest materials sinking to the core and lighter components rising to the surface in a process called differentiation. The early crust was likely basaltic but recycled rapidly due to intense mantle convection.

Uploaded by

Dev vora
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as ODP, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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FORMATION OF EARTH

Earth came together (accreted) from the cloud of dust and gas known as the
solar nebula nearly 4.6 billion years ago, the same time the Sun and the rest of
the solar system formed. Gravity caused small bodies of rock and metal orbiting
the proto-Sun to smash together to create larger bodies. Over time, the
planetoids got larger and larger until they became planets.

Earth formed at the same time as the other planets. The history of Earth is part
of the history of the Solar System.

Earth was not always the moderate and habitable planet it is today. In its earliest days, Earth was
scorching hot and without an atmosphere or water. If life originated early on, it was wiped out by
the terrible conditions.
Molten Earth
●
When Earth first came together it was really hot, hot enough to melt the
metal elements that it contained. Earth was so hot for three reasons:
●
GRAVITATION CONTRACTION
●

Gravitational contraction : As small bodies of rock and metal


accreted, the planet grew larger and more massive. Gravity within such
an enormous body squeezes the material in its interior so hard that the
pressure swells. As Earth’s internal pressure grew, its temperature also
rose.
Radioactive decay : Rad00ioactive decay releases heat, and early in
the planet’s history there were many radioactive elements with short half
lives. These Elements long ago decayed into stable materials, but they
were responsible for the release of enormous amounts of heat in the
beginning.

Bombardment : Ancient impact craters found on the Moon and inner


planets indicate that asteroid impacts were common in the early solar system.
Earth was struck so much in its first 500 million years that the heat was
intense. Very few large objects have struck the planet in the past many
hundreds of millions of year.
Molten Earth

●
When Earth first came together it was really
hot, hot enough to melt the metal elements that
it contained. Earth was so hot for three reasons:
●

●
Gravitational contraction : As small bodies of
rock and metal accreted, the planet grew larger
and more massive. Gravity within such an
enormous body squeezes the material in its
interior so hard that the pressure swells. As
Earth’s internal pressure grew, its temperature
also rose.
●
Radioactive decay : Radioactive decay
releases heat, and early in the planet’s history
there were many radioactive elements with
short half lives. These elements long ago
decayed into stable materials, but they were
responsible for the release of enormous
amounts of heat in the beginning.
●

Bombardment : Ancient impact craters found on the Moon and inner planets
indicate that asteroid impacts were common in the early solar system. Earth
was struck so much in its first 500 million years that the heat was intense. Very
few large objects have struck the planet in the past many hundreds of millions
of year.
Differentiation
●
When Earth was entirely molten, gravity drew denser elements to the center
and lighter elements rose to the surface. The separation of Earth into layers
based on density is known as differentiation. The densest material moved to
the center to create the planet’s dense metallic core. Materials that are
intermediate in density became part of the mantle (Figure below).
●

●
First Crust

●
Lighter materials accumulated at the surface of
the mantle to become the earliest crust. The
first crust was probably basaltic, like the
oceanic crust is today. Intense heat from the
early core drove rapid and vigorous mantle
convection so that crust quickly recycled into
the mantle. The recycling of basaltic crust was
so effective that no remnants of it are found
today.
Summary

In the beginning, Earth was exceedingly hot due to gravitational


contraction, the radioactive decay of short-lived isotopes, and
bombardment from meteorites.

The molten Earth separated into layers by density in a process


known as differentiation.

We know about the early Earth from zircon crystals, meteorites that
originated elsewhere in the solar system, and moon rocks.

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