Earth Systems

Earth sciences are the fields of study concerned with the solid Earth, its waters, and the air that envelops it. They include the geologic, hydrologic, and atmospheric sciences with the broad aim of understanding Earth's present features and past evolution and using this knowledge to benefit humankind.

In the very beginning of earth's history, this planet was a giant, red hot, roiling, boiling sea of molten rock - a magma ocean. The heat had been generated by the repeated high-speed collisions of much smaller bodies of space rocks that continually clumped together as they collided to form this planet. As the collisions tapered off the earth began to cool, forming a thin crust on its surface. As the cooling continued, water vapour began to escape and condense in the earth's early atmosphere. Clouds formed and storms raged, raining more and more water down on the primitive earth, cooling the surface further until it was flooded with water, forming the seas.

It is theorised that the true age of the earth is about 4.6 billion years old, formed at about the same time as the rest of our solar system.