The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, encompasses all living Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes (biology) from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate and non-living things occurring naturally Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic to the cosmic on Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet,[note 6] or by its Latin name, Terra.[note 7] or some region thereof.[citation needed]

The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components:

The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment The phrase built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter to neighborhoods to the large-scale civic surroundings, which comprises the areas and components that are strongly influenced by humans. A geographical area is regarded as a natural environment (with an indefinite article An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the, a, and an. (Some can in certain circumstances function as a plural of a/an.)), if the human impact on it is kept under a certain limited level (similar to section 1 above).

Contents

Composition

The Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet,[note 6] or by its Latin name, Terra.[note 7]'s layered structure. (1) inner core; (2) outer core; (3) lower mantle; (4) upper mantle; (5) lithosphere; (6) crust A volcanic A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or crust, which allows hot magma, ash and gases to escape from below the surface fissure and lava Lava is molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at temperatures from 700 °C to 1,200 °C . Up to 100,000 times as viscous as water, lava can flow great distances before channel. Main article: Earth science Earth science , is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences. The formal discipline of Earth sciences may include the study of the atmosphere, oceans

Earth science generally recognizes 4 spheres, the lithosphere The lithosphere is the rigid outermost shell of a rocky planet. It comprises the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of thousands of years or greater, the hydrosphere A hydrosphere in physical geography describes the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a planet, the atmosphere An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass,and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low. Some planets consist mainly of various gases, but only their outer layer is their, and the biosphere The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth. From the broadest biophysiological point of view, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. The[1] as correspondent to rocks In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids, water Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. Its molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state, water vapor or steam, air The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78.09% nitrogen, 20.9, and life Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes (biology) from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate. Some scientists include, as part of the spheres of the Earth, the cryosphere The cryosphere, derived from the Ancient Greek word "κρύος" , is the term which collectively describes the portions of the Earth’s surface where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets, and frozen ground (which includes permafrost). Thus there is a wide overlap (corresponding to ice Ice, technically, may be any one of the 15 known crystalline phases of water. In non-scientific contexts, the term usually means the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of these solid phases on the earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white colour, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions. The) as a distinct portion of the hydrosphere, as well as the pedosphere The pedosphere is the outermost layer of the Earth that is composed of soil and subject to soil formation processes. It exists at the interface of the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere (corresponding to soil Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. It is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and environmental processes that include weathering and) as an active and intermixed sphere. Earth science Earth science , is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences. The formal discipline of Earth sciences may include the study of the atmosphere, oceans (also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earth Sciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences Science is, in its broadest sense, any systematic knowledge that is capable of resulting in a correct prediction or reliable outcome. In this sense, science may refer to a highly skilled technique, technology, or practice related to the planet Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest, most massive, and densest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet,[note 3] or by its Latin name, Terra.[note 4] [2]. There are four major disciplines in earth sciences, namely geography Geography is the study of the Earth and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes (276-194 B.C.). Four historical traditions in geographical research are the spatial analysis of natural and, geology Geology is the science and study of the physical matter and energy that constitute the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, properties, and history of the planet's physical material, the processes by which it is formed, moved, and changed, the history of life on Earth, and human interactions with the, geophysics Geophysics, a major discipline of the Earth sciences and a sub discipline of physics, is the study of the whole Earth by the quantitative observation of its physical properties. Geophysical data are used in academics to observe tectonic plate motions, study the internal structure of the Earth, supplement data provided by geologic maps, and to non- and geodesy Geodesy , also named geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in a three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesists also study geodynamical phenomena such as crustal motion, tides, and polar motion. For this they design. These major disciplines use physics Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through space-time, as well as all applicable concepts, including energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves, chemistry Chemistry is the science of matter and the changes it undergoes. The science of matter is also addressed by physics, but while physics takes a more general and fundamental approach, chemistry is more specialized, being concerned with the composition, behavior, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical, biology Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy, chronology Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events" and mathematics to build a qualitative and quantitative understanding of the principal areas or spheres of the Earth system.

Geological activity

Main article: Geology

The Earth's crust, or lithosphere, is the outermost solid surface of the planet and is chemically and mechanically different from underlying mantle. It has been generated largely by igneous processes in which magma (molten rock) cools and solidifies to form solid rock. Beneath the lithosphere lies the mantle which is heated by the decay of radioactive elements. The mantle though solid is in a state of rheic convection. This convection process causes the lithospheric plates to move, albeit slowly. The resulting process is known as plate tectonics.[3][4][5] Volcanoes result primarily from the melting of subducted crust material or of rising mantle at mid-ocean ridges and mantle plumes.

Water on Earth

Coral reefs have significant marine biodiversity.
Earth's oceans (World Ocean)
A rocky stream in the U.S. state of Hawaii.

Oceans

Main article: Ocean

An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface (an area of some 361 million square kilometers) is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas. More than half of this area is over 3,000 meters (9,800 ft) deep. Average oceanic salinity is around 35 parts per thousand (ppt) (3.5%), and nearly all seawater has a salinity in the range of 30 to 38 ppt. Though generally recognized as several 'separate' oceans, these waters comprise one global, interconnected body of salt water often referred to as the World Ocean or global ocean.[6][7] This concept of a global ocean as a continuous body of water with relatively free interchange among its parts is of fundamental importance to oceanography.[8] The major oceanic divisions are defined in part by the continents, various archipelagos, and other criteria: these divisions are (in descending order of size) the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean.

Rivers

The Columbia River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Main article: River

A river is a natural watercourse,[9] usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be termed by several other names, including stream, creek and brook. In the United States a river is generally classified as a watercourse more than 60 feet (18 metres) wide. The water in a river is usually in a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks. In larger rivers there is also a wider floodplain shaped by flood-waters over-topping the channel. Flood plains may be very wide in relation to the size of the river channel. Rivers are a part of the hydrological cycle. Water within a river is generally collected from precipitation through surface runoff, groundwater recharge, springs, and the release of water stored in glaciers) and snowpacks.

Streams

Main article: Stream

A stream is a flowing body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. In some countries or communities a stream may be defined by its size. In the United States a stream is classified as a watercourse less than 60 feet (18 metres) wide. Streams play an important corridor role in connecting fragmented habitats and thus in conserving biodiversity. The study of streams and waterways in general is known as surface hydrology.[10] Types of streams include creeks, tributaries, which do not reach an ocean and connect with another stream or river, brooks, which are typically small streams and sometimes sourced from a spring or seep and tidal inlets.

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What would an octopus with a monocle and a tophat do in its natural environment?
Q. Don't ask, this is for art homework. need to draw an octopus in a tophat and monocle in it's natural environment doing something. Any ideas?
Asked by Alli - Thu Jan 29 10:20:08 2009 - - 3 Answers - 1 Comments

A. Well, I'm not sure, but for some reason, this reminds me a bit of the children's show Oswald, though Oswald never wore a monocle and top hat that I remember. When I try to picture this in my mind (which isn't all that hard since I love creating things like this when I'm writing stories for my little girl) I see a very professional and stately looking octopus...he's in his beautiful underwater mansion, entertaining friends. The art on the wall would be a self portrait, and a few portraits of mermaids (something similar to Mona Lisa with a flipper...but not Mona Lisa of course). On the tables and stands, you might see underwater things...sand dollars, a few clam shells with pearls, starfish, and things of that nature. He's sitting at an… [cont.]
Answered by Unpretty - Thu Jan 29 11:06:09 2009

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