Earth science

Earth science refers to those sciences that deal with the study of the earth and its components or parts. A common synonym for earth science is ‘geoscience’. Earth science includes those fields that study the firmament (the lithosphere or ground that makes up the land and the ocean floor), the waters (the hydrosphere which includes the oceans, the seas, rivers, lakes and so forth), and the atmosphere itself, the air around us.

Each aspect of these domains may be divided even further into separate but interrelated disciplines of study. Geology which encompasses the lithosphere includes vulcanology (the study of volcanoes) mineralogy (the study of the composition of the geosphere, specifically the mineral composition of the geosphere), and geomorphology (the study of the forces that shape the geosphere and their different forms).

Regions of study

There are commonly three ‘spheres’ in the earth sciences. Atmosphere (from the Greek root ‘atmos’ meaning ‘vapor’ and ‘sphaira’, meaning ‘sphere’ ), lithosphere (Greek -’lithos’ rock or ‘stone ) and hydrosphere (Greek – ‘hydros,’ meaning ‘water’ ) corresponding, respectively, to the gas, the solid ground and the water of the earth. There are other ‘spheres’ as well. The pedosphere (Greek ‘pedon’ meaning ‘soil’) refers to the outerlayer of the lithosphere. It interacts directly with the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. The study of the glaciology, involves the glacial layer or cryosphere (Greek root ‘kryos’ or frost, ice)