Earth vs. Earth's systems

[milan2003_07]

Hello everyone,

I'm currently studying a book on Technical English ("English for Technical Universities") and reading the text about oil recovery. There is multiple-choice exercise I'm doing now and I have doubts regarding the following sentence:

"The field of geology includes subfields that examine all of the _____ systems".

I have a choice between "Earth" and "Earth's". I have found both options possible on the Internet. I would choose "Earth's". Am I right?

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes. For "Earth" to work, "Earth systems" would have to be a set/recognised phrase. It's not.

 

[milan2003_07]

Yes. For "Earth" to work, "Earth systems" would have to be a set/recognised phrase. It's not.

As far as I've understood, if "Earth work" is a recognized phrase (for example, in some geological community), then we can use "Earth systems", but you claim that "Earth work" isn't a set phrase. I'm not a geologist, so in this case I trust natives and specialists. Thus, it's possible only to say "Earth's systems".

 

[emsr2d2]

As far as I've understood, if "Earth work" is a recognized phrase (for example, in some geological community), then we can use "Earth systems", but you claim that "Earth work" isn't a set phrase. I'm not a geologist, so in this case I trust natives and specialists. Thus, it's possible only to say "Earth's systems".

I'm not a geologist either, but I've never seen "Earth work". I've seen "earthwork", used in construction, geology and archaeology.

 

[Tarheel]

I wouldn't use the article in that one, thus:

The field of geology includes all of Earth's systems.