What are the Earth sciences?

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Earth sciences are the fields of study concerned with the physical Earth, its structure, composition, and history, and of the processes that operate on and within it.It is really an umbrella  term for the disciplines of …

• Geology is the study of the earth, geo means earth and ology means study of. It’s concerned with the solid Earth, its history, shape, the materials of which it is made, and the processes that are acting and have acted on it.
• Meteorology studies the atmosphere and what happens in it. It is the study of the physics and chemistry of Earth’s atmosphere, including its interactions with Earth’s surface both land and water.
• Oceanography is the study of the physical, chemical, and biological features of the ocean and all its complex relationships with the planet. It includes the study of weather, ocean currents, and sea life, and every other topic associated with the ocean.
• Astronomy is the study of the universe. It includes Earth and everything that lies outside of its atmosphere, such as planets, stars, galaxies, comets, and black holes.

Do you like astronomy? Read our article Astronomy Free Software that compiles a list of free educational apps to learn about the Solar System, the Milky Way, and the Universe.

You may want to read our free e-books The Solar System, Volcanoes, and Geography for a brief introduction to this topic.