The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to Earth science is geography. Indeed, it is the oldest science that studies our planet in the broad sense of the word, including the life of its main inhabitant - man. But modern Earth science has many branches and specifications, such as geology, geodesy, oceanography, seismology, volcanology and so on. The list is not small, and a separate article should be devoted to this. But the basis of all these sciences is geography.
Origins
The mother of modern earth sciences, geography, studies the seas and oceans, continents and islands, climate, natural resources, fauna, birds inhabiting our planet, and the people living on it - where and in what numbers they settle, what nationalities exist, how the economic life of his society is taking shape. Therefore, when the question is: “What is the name of Earth science?”, we can safely say geography. All other disciplines in this field have descended from it.
Goals and means
The most important task of this science is to determine the suitability of various parts of our planet for human habitation. The main assistant of a geographer is maps. Looking at them, you can see areas of different colors indicating seas, oceans, rivers, mountains, glaciers, deserts, soil depths, vegetation, population density and many other geographical quantities and concepts.
Geodescription is what the science of the Earth is called, translated from ancient Greek.
Those places on the map that are colored blue, white, beige and brown indicate sparsely populated areas. People prefer to settle in those places that are colored green and yellow on the map. Of course, because these places on the map indicate land suitable for agriculture (forests, plains), and therefore for the livelihood of the population.
Options
Despite the fact that geography is the basis, often the answer to the question: “What is the science of the Earth?” is given: “Geology.” Why? The word itself comes from “geo”, which means earth and “logos” - knowledge (word, teaching). Ah, geography is “geo” (earth) and “graphos” (writing).
This means that geography describes the Earth, and geology studies it.
All disciplines that study the Earth belong to the natural sciences. Their number is great. There are very young ones, and there are also ancient ones. All of them study the shells of the earth's surface, natural systems and are combined into the category of Earth sciences.
A little history
The heyday of classical geology is the era of the 15th-17th centuries, which was called the Great era in the field of geographical discoveries. This was followed by a period of development of new and little-studied territories by developed powers. In those days, all noble monarchs and rich merchants knew very well what the science of the Earth is called, which was very important for the development of states and enrichment. Of course it's geography. They personally consulted with geographers about plans for future expeditions, generously financing their travels and hoping to more than recoup all expenses.
In a short historical period, the main science about the Earth and man has made so many discoveries that large parts of the oceanic spaces and lands where humans live have appeared on the world map.
In those days, geography was presented as a collection of diverse information about our planet. She indicated the locations of objects and answered the questions “what is this?” But even then, in VIII century, Antarctica and the Arctic, as well as Australia and many inland continental areas, remained blank spots on all maps.
Gradually, North and South America were discovered and settled by Europeans, and the interior regions of Asia, Africa, Australia and other areas of the world became known.
As a result, the most important prerequisites were laid for a new stage in the development of the material culture of human society. At the same time, geographical science played a very significant role - the main earth science of that time.
Today you can go to study at the Institute of Geosciences and get a profession as a geographer. The strategic goal of this institution is the development of fundamental and applied sciences in the field of geography, as well as increasing the level of qualifications of ready-made specialists. All the work of the institute is aimed at promoting the development of the economy, scientific, educational and cultural environment of the state, participation in solving problems of preserving and enhancing natural resources, their rational use, monitoring, preserving unique landscapes, environmental quality, and performing engineering surveys.
Which studies planets, their satellites, asteroids, meteorites and comets. Often, when talking about the Earth sciences, they use a more general term: Earth and Universe sciences.
Main directions
Geological Sciences
see also
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Literature
- Yanitsky I. N. New in Earth Sciences. - M., Agar, 1998. - ISBN 5-89218-080-8
Links
- V Open Encyclopedia Project
Excerpt describing Earth Sciences
This person is also needed to justify the last collective action.The action is completed. The last role has been played. The actor was ordered to undress and wash off the antimony and rouge: he would no longer be needed.
And several years pass in which this man, alone on his island, plays a pathetic comedy in front of himself, petty intrigues and lies, justifying his actions when this justification is no longer needed, and shows the whole world what it was like what people took for strength when an invisible hand guided them.
The manager, having finished the drama and undressed the actor, showed him to us.
- Look what you believed! Here he is! Do you see now that it was not he, but I who moved you?
But, blinded by the power of the movement, people did not understand this for a long time.
The life of Alexander I, the person who stood at the head of the countermovement from east to west, is even more consistent and necessary.
What is needed for that person who, overshadowing others, would stand at the head of this movement from east to west?
What is needed is a sense of justice, participation in European affairs, but distant, not obscured by petty interests; what is needed is a predominance of moral heights over one’s comrades—the sovereigns of that time; a meek and attractive personality is needed; a personal insult against Napoleon is needed. And all this is in Alexander I; all this was prepared by countless so-called accidents of his entire past life: his upbringing, his liberal initiatives, his surrounding advisers, Austerlitz, Tilsit, and Erfurt.
During a people's war, this person is inactive, since he is not needed. But as soon as the need for a common European war arises, this person at that moment appears in his place and, uniting the European peoples, leads them to the goal.
The goal has been achieved. Since the last war of 1815, Alexander is at the height of possible human power. How does he use it?
Alexander I, the pacifier of Europe, a man who from his youth strove only for the good of his people, the first instigator of liberal innovations in his fatherland, now that he seems to have the greatest power and therefore the opportunity to do the good of his people, while Napoleon exile makes childish and deceitful plans about how he would make humanity happy if he had power, Alexander I, having fulfilled his calling and sensing the hand of God on himself, suddenly recognizes the insignificance of this imaginary power, turns away from it, transfers it into the hands of those despised by him and despised people and says only:
- “Not for us, not for us, but for your name!” I am a human being too, just like you; leave me to live as a human being and think about my soul and God.
Just as the sun and each atom of the ether is a ball, complete in itself and at the same time only an atom of a whole inaccessible to man due to the enormity of the whole, so each personality carries within itself its own goals and, at the same time, carries them in order to serve common goals inaccessible to man. .
A bee sitting on a flower stung a child. And the child is afraid of bees and says that the purpose of a bee is to sting people. The poet admires a bee digging into the calyx of a flower and says that the bee’s goal is to absorb the aroma of flowers. The beekeeper, noticing that the bee collects flower dust and brings it to the hive, says that the bee's goal is to collect honey. Another beekeeper, having studied the life of a swarm more closely, says that the bee collects dust to feed young bees and breed the queen, and that its goal is to procreate. The botanist notices that, by flying with the dust of a dioecious flower onto the pistil, the bee fertilizes it, and the botanist sees the bee’s purpose in this. Another, observing the migration of plants, sees that the bee promotes this migration, and this new observer can say that this is the purpose of the bee. But the final goal of the bee is not exhausted by either one, or the other, or the third goal, which the human mind is able to discover. The higher the human mind rises in the discovery of these goals, the more obvious to it is the inaccessibility of the final goal.
Man can only observe the correspondence between the life of a bee and other phenomena of life. The same goes for the goals of historical figures and peoples.
The wedding of Natasha, who married Bezukhov in 13, was the last joyful event in the old Rostov family. That same year, Count Ilya Andreevich died, and, as always happens, with his death the old family fell apart.
The events of the last year: the fire of Moscow and the flight from it, the death of Prince Andrei and Natasha’s despair, the death of Petya, the grief of the Countess - all this, like blow after blow, fell on the head of the old count. He did not seem to understand and felt unable to understand the meaning of all these events and, morally bending his old head, as if he was expecting and asking for new blows that would finish him off. He seemed either frightened and confused, or unnaturally animated and adventurous.
Natasha's wedding occupied him for a while with its external side. He ordered lunches and dinners and, apparently, wanted to appear cheerful; but his joy was not communicated as before, but, on the contrary, aroused compassion in the people who knew and loved him.
After Pierre and his wife left, he became quiet and began to complain of melancholy. A few days later he fell ill and went to bed. From the first days of his illness, despite the doctors' consolations, he realized that he would not get up. The Countess, without undressing, spent two weeks in a chair at his head. Every time she gave him medicine, he sobbed and silently kissed her hand. On the last day, he sobbed and asked for forgiveness from his wife and in absentia from his son for the ruin of his estate - the main guilt that he felt for himself. Having received communion and special rites, he died quietly, and the next day a crowd of acquaintances who had come to pay their last respects to the deceased filled the Rostovs’ rented apartment. All these acquaintances, who had dined and danced with him so many times, who had laughed at him so many times, now all with the same feeling of inner reproach and tenderness, as if justifying themselves to someone, said: “Yes, be that as it may, there was a most wonderful Human. You won’t meet such people these days... And who doesn’t have their own weaknesses?..”
And traditionally interested in their composition, structure and evolution. Since the mid-1960s, with the advent of the theory of plate tectonics, which confirmed Alfred Wegener's ancient theory of continental drift, the scope of geological research expanded: geologists now became interested in the deeper layers of the earth's crust and mantle, which had previously been the field of study of geophysicists. However, it is worth noting that geologists cannot start from geological research models of geophysics, since they are based on relatively simplified physical models. Geology is characterized by a more complex and detailed analysis aimed at a qualitative result.
Geological sciences include many overlapping disciplines that cannot exist separately:
- Sciences about the composition of the Earth:
- Geochemistry studies the patterns of distribution and behavior of chemical elements in various shells of the lithosphere.
- Mineralogy studies the nature, composition and crystal structure of minerals. Mineralogy is simultaneously a branch of geology and crystallography, which, in turn, belongs to physics.
- Petrology and petrography together constitute the science of rocks. They study the origin, formation and evolution of rocks, as well as describe their properties.
- Lithology and sedimentology study sedimentary rocks.
- Earth Sciences
- Structural geology or tectonics deals with changes in the Earth's solid shell and crustal structures caused by the movement of tectonic plates.
- Geomorphology is the study of the origin and evolution of landforms. Particularly interesting for this science are processes that influence the formation of relief in time and space. Geomorphology is often referred to as geography.
- Volcanology studies the physical and chemical nature of volcanoes, as well as their dynamics. This science is classified simultaneously as geology, geophysics, geochemistry (the science of the chemical composition of stones) and geochronology (using the radiometric method, this science determines the age of the entire rock or one of its components).
- Paleontology is the study of fossils, that is, the fossilized remains of various life forms that once existed on earth. Science stands at the intersection of biology and geology. This science is of practical importance for biology in connection with the theory of evolution and allows us to track the evolution of various living organisms over long periods of time. For geologists, paleontology is important in determining the most important guiding forms.
- Earth Dynamics Sciences
- Applications:
- Other industries
Geosciences– a complex of sciences that study the Earth, its geosphere, their natural properties, population and the results of its economic activities. Geosciences include natural and social sciences. Any of the Earth sciences is divided into general and regional. General science studies the patterns inherent in all objects studied by this science, and regional science studies the characteristics of these objects in a certain territory.
The sciences that study our planet (geology, tectonics, climatology, hydrology, geography, etc.) are combined into a branch of natural science called geoscience. Let us give only the most modest list of sciences, the scope of which includes the study of our planet.
Geology– the science of the composition, structure, history of the development of the Earth’s interior, primarily the earth’s crust, as well as the distribution of minerals in the earth’s crust. The components of geology include mineralogy (the science of the composition and properties of minerals), petrography (the science of the composition and structure of rocks), paleontology (the science of extinct plants and animals), geochronology, tectonics (studies the occurrence of geological bodies, the movements of the earth crust), hydrogeology (the science of groundwater), geophysics (studies the physical properties of all geospheres and the physical processes occurring in the Earth’s shells), etc.
Geography– a system of natural, physical-geographical and social, economic-geographical sciences that study the geographical envelope of the Earth, natural and industrial territorial complexes, their components and the relationships between them.
The physical and geographical sciences include general geoscience (the study of the Earth as a world body and its geographic envelope as a whole), landscape science (the study of the patterns of territorial differentiation of the geographic envelope), sciences that study individual components of the geographic envelope: geomorphology (studies the structure, origin and development relief of the Earth), meteorology (the science of the Earth’s atmosphere and the processes occurring in it), climatology, oceanology, land hydrology, glaciology, soil geography, biogeography, paleogeography (studies the history of the development of the geographical envelope for the period preceding the present).
Economic and socio-geographical sciences include population geography, demography, geography of industry, agriculture, transport, non-production spheres, political geography, social geography, economic geography, regional studies, geography of recreation and tourism and other areas.
Ecology– biological science about the relationship of organisms and their communities with the environment. Currently, ecology is characterized by a kind of “dispersion” of research and the subject of study. The following areas were highlighted: environmental management, urban ecology, agroecology, industrial ecology, environmental engineering, etc.
Geodesy- a science that studies the shape and size of the Earth, methods for measuring distances, angles and heights on the earth's surface. The branch of geodesy, which includes the technology and organization of measurements on the ground to create maps and plans, is usually called topography. The science of maps, their creation and use is called cartography.
Lately I've started hearing a lot of words starting with the prefix "-geo". As it turns out, most modern sciences that study our world have this prefix. Having decided to find out how many there are, I looked at my home encyclopedia. And there were really a lot of these sciences: I personally counted more than twenty! I will tell you about some of them now.
What sciences study the Earth?
Today, many sciences are engaged in studying our planet and its cosmic regions. And one of the leading ones is geology. She mainly deals description of the surface layers of the earth's crust, study of their composition, internal structure and origin.
Geological science unites within itself many disciplines that simply cannot exist separately from each other:
- geochemistry. Engaged in the study of chemical elements in various parts of the lithosphere;
- mineralogy. Has a connection with physics, studies the origin, composition and internal crystal structure of minerals;
- tectonics. Looks for connections between the movements of the solid layers of the Earth.
- geomorphology. Studies the relief, its forms and diversity. Particularly interested in the processes affecting him.
Also worth mentioning volcanology, paleontology and many other sciences that study the depths of our planet.
In addition, there are many more branches of geology, young and old.
Other sciences studying the Earth
As mentioned above, our planet is studied by a lot of individual sciences and their branches. Now I would like to list some of the most interesting sciences that are not branches of geology:
- geography. Its very name brings back memories of school lessons;
- geodesy. Calculates the laws by which our planet moves;
- gemology. A science specializing in the study of gems;
- hydrology. Studies natural waters and their connection with other layers of the Earth;
- meteorology. Simply put, the science of weather.
Relatively young is geoinformatics, it creates information programs that facilitate modern geological research. It helps a lot, for example, work geostatistics.
Plus a lot others independent sciences about our planet. It is worth noting once again that they are all, one way or another, connected to each other and share data with each other, helping mutual work.