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Earth's energy budget (or Earth's energy balance) is the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses back into outer space. Smaller energy sources, such as Earth's internal heat, are taken into consideration, but make a tiny contribution compared to solar energy.
Solidified lava flow in Hawaii Sedimentary layers in Badlands National Park, South Dakota Metamorphic rock, Nunavut, Canada. Geology (from Ancient Greek γῆ (gê) 'earth' and λoγία () 'study of, discourse') [1] [2] is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. [3]
According to Nelson, [20] deforestation and degradation affect 8.5% of the world's forests with 30% of the Earth's surface already cropped. If we consider that 80% of people rely on medicines obtained from plants and 3 ⁄ 4 of the world's prescription medicines have ingredients taken from plants, [ 17 ] loss of the world's rainforests could ...
Physical geography is the study of earth's seasons, climate, atmosphere, soil, streams, landforms, and oceans. [66] Physical geographers will often work in identifying and monitoring the use of natural resources. Physical geography can be divided into many broad categories, including:
According to the Global Footprint Network's calculations, currently people use Earth's resources at approximately 171% of capacity. [27] This implies that humanity is well over Earth's human carrying capacity at current levels of affluence. According to the GFN: In 2023, Earth Overshoot Day fell on August 2nd. Earth Overshoot Day marks the date ...
Geothermal energy extraction is viable mostly in countries located on tectonic plate edges, where the Earth's hot mantle is more exposed. [126] As of 2023, the United States has by far the most geothermal capacity (2.7 GW, [ 127 ] or less than 0.2% of the country's total energy capacity [ 128 ] ), followed by Indonesia and the Philippines.
The total mass of Earth's hydrosphere is about 1.4 × 10 18 tonnes, which is about 0.023% of Earth's total mass. At any given time, about 2 × 10 13 tonnes of this is in the form of water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere (for practical purposes, 1 cubic metre of water weighs 1 tonne).
Faults are mainly classified in terms of the angle that the fault plane makes with the Earth's surface, known as the dip, and the direction of slip along the fault plane. [16] Based on the direction of slip, faults can be categorized as: strike-slip, where the offset is predominantly horizontal, parallel to the fault trace;