TEKS: Chapter 112. Science See All Teacher Resources

112.36.c.13

(13)  Fluid Earth. The student knows that the fluid Earth is composed of the hydrosphere, cryosphere, and atmosphere subsystems that interact on various time scales with the biosphere and geosphere. The student is expected to:

• (A)  quantify the components and fluxes within the hydrosphere such as changes in polar ice caps and glaciers, salt water incursions, and groundwater levels in response to precipitation events or excessive pumping;

• (B)  analyze how global ocean circulation is the result of wind, tides, the Coriolis effect, water density differences, and the shape of the ocean basins;

• (C)  analyze the empirical relationship between the emissions of carbon dioxide, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and the average global temperature trends over the past 150 years;

• (D)  discuss mechanisms and causes such as selective absorbers, major volcanic eruptions, solar luminance, giant meteorite impacts, and human activities that result in significant changes in Earth's climate;

• (E)  investigate the causes and history of eustatic sea-level changes that result in transgressive and regressive sedimentary sequences; and

• (F)  discuss scientific hypotheses for the origin of life by abiotic chemical processes in an aqueous environment through complex geochemical cycles given the complexity of living systems.