Environmental Science

Module 1: Introduction

Dr. Amit Sharma

Dept. of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur
Email: [Link]@[Link] 1
Earth composition and structure

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Earth composition and structure
• Earth divided into three layers based on composition:
- Core
- Mantle
- Crust

• Core
- Centre of the earth and made up of two parts: inner core
(solid) and outer core (liquid)
- Most of the core made up of iron, nickel and molten rock
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Earth composition and structure
• Mantle
- Lies above the core
- About 2900 km thick
- made up of hot, dense, iron and magnesium-rich solid
rock.
• Crust
- Outside layer of the earth
- Very thin layer relative to the radius of earth
- Two types of crust: Oceanic crust (mainly composed of
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Earth composition and structure
• Lithosphere
- ‘Lithos’ - Greek for ‘rocky’
- Rigid, outermost shell of earth
- Consists of crust and uppermost part of the mantle
• Asthenosphere
- ‘asthenos’ – Greek for ‘weak’ or ‘without strength’
- mechanically weak layer just beneath the lithosphere
- Consists of less dense rocks (compared to lithosphere)
- extreme pressure and heat cause the rocks to flow like a
liquid 5
[Link] 6
Orogeny
• Comes from Greek (‘oros’ – mountain; genesis – ‘creation’)
• Process of mountain formation
• Resulting highly deformed rock are known as ‘orogens’
• Two types – Collisional and non-collisional orogeny
• Convergence of two or more continents (collisional orogens)
• More dense oceanic plate converge with less dense
continental plate and move into earth’s mantle (non -
collisional orogens)

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Collisional orogen

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Non-collisional orogen

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[Link]

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Matter and Energy
• All environmental systems consist of matter

• Environmental scientists must have a good

understanding of matter and energy and their
interactions within a system and across systems.

• This is important to investigate ways to reduce pollution,

increase food supplies, or find alternatives to fossil fuels.

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Matter
• Any substance that has mass and occupies space
• Exist in different phases: solid, liquid, gas, plasma etc.
• Basic building blocks of matter are atoms - smallest particle
that can contain the chemical properties of an element

Figure. Nitrogen atom with electrons shown in shells Figure. Nitrogen atom with electrons in orbitals 12
Energy
• Ability to do work, or transfer heat
• Different forms of energy include: heat, light, electrical,
chemical, gravitational, magnetic etc.
• Two broad forms: Kinetic (related to motion) and Potential
(related to position)

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 • Matter may change form
(physical or chemical) on supply
of energy.
• Sensible heat: Energy required
to change the temperature of a
substance without changing its
phase
• Latent heat: Energy required to
change the phase of a substance
without changing its
Source- [Link]
temperature 14
Laws of thermodynamics
• First Law of Thermodynamics
- Also known as the law of conservation of energy.
- States that energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
- Energy can change from one form to another.
• Second Law of Thermodynamics
- All systems move toward randomness (measured as
Entropy) rather than toward order
- Entropy of the universe is increasing

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Thermodynamics and life
• First Law of Thermodynamics
- All life forms require energy for survival
- Energy isn’t depleted but change from one form to another
- In photosynthesis, light energy from sun consumed by cells in
plant leaves to produce glucose (chemical energy)
- Stored chemical energy can be used for cellular respiration or
to form complex carbohydrates required to build plant mass

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Thermodynamics and life
• Second Law of Thermodynamics
- During photosynthesis, not all light energy incident on the
leaves is absorbed
- Some energy reflected and/or lost as heat
- Loss of energy to the surrounding environment results in an
increase of disorder or entropy

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 Figure. Open and closed systems.

(a) Earth is an open system with respect to energy. Solar radiation enters the Earth system, and
energy leaves it in the form of heat and reflected light.

(b) However, Earth is essentially a closed system with respect to matter because very little matter
enters or leaves the Earth system. The white arrows indicate the cycling of energy and matter. 19
Natural resources and issues
• Resources that available naturally and are usable by
humans
• Light, water, air, soil, coal, gas etc. are all natural resources
• Provide the energy and materials that support human
civilization.
• Resources such as coal, oil, and uranium are limited and
cannot be renewed or reused.
• Resources necessary for human survival depletes as the
human population grows
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Natural resources and issues
• Exploitation of natural resources a threat to sustainable
development
• Sustainable development, according to the Brundtland
Commission's report, is 'to ensure that it meets the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs’
• Rapid population growth, urbanization, deforestation are
some reasons leading to resource exploitation

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Natural resources and issues

• Only 20% of the world’s population lives in developed countries, but it uses
most of the world’s resources.
• Remaining 80% of the population lives in developing countries and uses far
fewer resources per capita 22
Footprint
Ecological footprint
• Measure of how much resources are needed to supply the
goods and services that an individual uses; measure of how
much a person consumes
Carbon footprint
• Total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused directly and
indirectly from an activity or product or by an individual,
organization, or country
• Included in ecological footprint
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Footprint

Figure. The ecological 24

footprint.
Footprint
• If all people worldwide lived the
lifestyle of the average U.S.
citizen, the human population
would need five Earths to support
its resource use.

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Scope of environmental studies
• Environment Science – Multidisciplinary field dealing with
scientific study of the environment and human interaction
with it.

• Environmental studies includes areas like:

- Impact of human population on the environment
- Conservation of natural resources
- Environmental pollution and its control
- Climate change and impacts
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Climate change

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Atmospheric composition

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Atmospheric composition

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Trace gases in dry atmosphere
Carbon Dioxide CO2 0.0360%
Neon Ne 0.0018%
Helium He 0.0005%
Methane CH4 0.00017%
Hydrogen H2 0.00005%
Nitrous Oxide N2O 0.00003%
Ozone O3 0.000004%

Species that can change in concentration 30

The Greenhouse Effect

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The Greenhouse Effect
• Shortwave radiation includes UV radiation (~100-400 nm) ,
visible light (400-700 nm) and lower wavelength Infrared
radiation (700 nm – 3000 nm) - received from the Sun
• Longwave radiation includes higher wavelength Infrared
radiation (3000 nm – 100000 nm or 100 μm) - emitted by
the Earth

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The Greenhouse Effect
• Process in which the longwave (infrared) radiation from
the Earth’s surface is trapped (absorbed) and re-emitted
by some of the gases in the Earth’s atmosphere
• The Gases are called greenhouse gases
• Most of these greenhouse gases are trace gases
• The gases re-emit the radiation in all directions
• Some contribution from greenhouse effect is important to
sustain life on earth (natural greenhouse effect)
• Without greenhouse effect the average temperature of
Earth would be -18 deg C (with natural GHG effect it is +15
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Greenhouse Gases
• Gases that cause greenhouse effect in the earth’s
atmosphere
• Most important ones are water vapor (H2O), carbon
dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), ozone
(O3), Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and Hydrofluorocarbons
(HCFCs)
Table. Estimate of contribution of greenhouse gases to greenhouse effect (Kiehl and Trenberth,
1997)
Greenhouse gas % contribution to greenhouse effect
H2O 60%
CO2 26%
Ozone 8%
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CH4+N2O+others 6%
Global Warming Potential (GWP)
• Measure of greenhouse potential of 1 ton of a greenhouse
gas relative to 1 ton of carbon dioxide usually over 100 years
• GWP for CO2 is 1
• GWP for CH4 is 28-36 (i.e. 1 ton of CH4 will have 28-36 times
bigger greenhouse effect relative to 1 ton of CO2)
• GWP for N2O is 265-298
• GWP for CFCs is in thousands

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Anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector

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Anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Country

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