Spheres of the Earth Notes & Practice

What are the 4 spheres of the

earth?

•The earth is made of 4 interacting spheres

•Lithosphere/geosphere - stone/ground
•Hydrosphere – water

•Cryosphere is the frozen part of the hydrosphere

•Atmosphere - air
•Biosphere - life

•Named using Greek roots describing what
they are made of

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What is the geosphere?

•The geosphere is
made of rocks,
minerals, and soil.
•It also includes all
the layers of the
earth’s interior
(mantle & core).

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What is the hydrosphere?

•The
hydrosphere is
made of all the
water that is
on Earth’s
surface,
underground,
and in the air

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What is the hydrosphere?

•The cryosphere is the
portion of the
hydrosphere that is
frozen.
•The cryosphere is
made primarily of
glaciers and sea ice.
These are monitored
to collect data about
climate change.

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What is the atmosphere?

•The atmosphere
is made of the
gases
surrounding the
earth.
•Mostly nitrogen
& oxygen

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What is the biosphere?

•The biosphere is
the portion of the
earth where life is
found.
•It extends high
into the air and
below the surface
into the oceans.

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How do these spheres interact?

Example

Rain (hydrosphere) falls on the
soil (lithosphere), which causes
grass (biosphere) to grow. A
cow (biosphere) eats the grass
and breathes out carbon dioxide
(atmosphere) as it eats.

•Earth’s spheres
are constantly interacting as conditions change.

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Summary

The portions of the earth can be
categorized by 4 spheres:
geosphere, hydrosphere,
atmosphere, and biosphere. These
spheres are constantly interacting as
environmental conditions change.

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