Earth science

History of science

Overview

Historiography of science

Theories and sociology of the history of science

Pre-experimental science

Science in early cultures

History of Medieval science

Scientific revolution

Natural sciences Astronomy Biology Chemistry Earth sciences Physics

Social sciences Anthropology Economics Linguistics Political science Psychology Sociology

Interdisciplinary Agricultural science Cognitive science Communication studies Computer science Ecology Geography Materials science Medicine

History of pseudoscience

Timelines for scientific Discoveries Experiments List of topics edit

Earth science (also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earth Sciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth science. The major historic disciplines use physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology to build a quantitative understanding of the principal areas or spheres of the Earth system:

Earth's spheres

• Geology covers the rocky parts of the Earth (or lithosphere) including the planet's core, mantle, and crust. Major subdisciplines are geophysics, geochemistry, paleontology, mineralogy, petrology, stratigraphy and sedimentology.

• Oceanography, limnology, and hydrology describe the marine and freshwater domains of the watery parts of the Earth (or hydrosphere). Major subdisciplines include hydrogeology and physical, chemical, and biological oceanography.

• Atmospheric sciences cover the gaseous parts of the Earth (or atmosphere).

• Glaciology covers the icy parts of the Earth (or cryosphere)

However, given the numerous interactions between the spheres many modern fields take an interdisciplinary approach and thus do not sit comfortably in this scheme:

Interdisciplinary fields

• Biogeochemistry follows the cycling of elements through the spheres mediated by biological and geological processes, and especially their distribution and fluxes between reservoirs.

• Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology use the properties of sediments, ice cores, or biological material to infer past states of the ocean, atmosphere or climate.

Furthermore, other modern disciplines known collectively as Earth system science approach the entire Earth as a system in its own right, which evolves as a result of positive and negative feedback between constituent systems:

• Meteorology describes, explains and predicts the weather based on the interaction of principally the ocean and atmosphere.

• Climatology describes and explains the climate in terms of the interaction of the litho-, hydro-, atmo-, cryo-, and bio- spheres.

• Gaia theories explain the behaviour of the Earth system in terms of the influence of the biosphere.

Like all other scientists, earth scientists apply the scientific method: formulate hypotheses after observation of and gathering data about natural phenomena and then test those hypotheses. In earth science, data usually plays a critical role in testing and formulating hypotheses. The systems approach, enabled by the combined use of computer models as hypotheses tested by global satellite and ship-board data, is increasingly giving scientists the ability to explain the past and possible future behaviour of the Earth system.

Partial list of the major Earth Science topics

Geology

• Cataclysmic Geology
• Economic geology
• Engineering geology
• Environmental geology
• Gemology
• Geochemistry
• Geochronology
• Geohydrology
• Geomagnetics
• Geomicrobiology
• Geomorphology
• Geophysics
• Geostatistics
• Historical geology
• Mantle plumes
• Micropaleontology
• Mineralogy
• Mining
• Paleontology
• Palynology
• Pedology
• Petroleum geology
• Petrology
• Physical geodesy
• Planetary geology
• Plate tectonics
• Quaternary geology
• Sedimentology
• Seismology
• Stratigraphy
• Structural geology
• Tectonics
• Volcanology

Oceanography

• Physical oceanography
• Chemical oceanography
• Biological oceanography
• Paleoceanography
• Marine Geology
• Marine Geophysics

Geography

• Human geography
• Geography
• Paleogeography
• Physical Geography

Limnology

• Limnology

Glaciology

• Glaciology

Atmospheric Science

• Atmospheric sciences

Systems or multidisciplinary

• Climatology
• Earth system science
• Gaia theories
• Meteorology
• Paleoclimatology

See also

• List of geoscience organizations

bg:Науки за Земята br:Skiantoù an Douar ca:Ciències de la Terra co:Scienze di a Terra cy:Gwyddoniaeth Daear de:Geowissenschaften et:Maateadus es:Ciencias de la Tierra eo:Terscienco fr:Sciences de la Terre fy:Ierdwittenskip gl:Ciencias Da Terra ko:지구과학 hi:पृथ्वी शास्त्र ia:Scientias del terra it:Scienze della Terra he:מדעי כדור הארץ ka:დედამიწის მეცნიერებები lb:Geowëssenschaften li:Aardweitesjappe ms:Sains bumi nl:Aardwetenschappen ja:地球科学 pl:Nauki o Ziemi pt:Ciências da Terra ro:Ştiinţele pământului scn:Scienzi dâ terra simple:Earth science sl:Znanosti o Zemlji fi:Geotieteet tl:Agham pandaigdig th:วิทยาศาสตร์โลก vi:Khoa học Trái Đất zh:地球科学

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Earth science  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Earth science"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.