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    The Earth

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    pedro fers luna

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    The Earth

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    pedro fers luna
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    The Earth

    Uploaded by

    pedro fers luna

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    The Earth’s Interior Earth's Interior - The Mantle

    In general the earth's interior has been sorted by Gravity. Heavier elements like iron tend to
    sink toward the center or core of the earth. Lighter materials, the silicates, oxygen compounds
    and water have risen to become part of the crust. This action has created distinct layers within
    the earth and is still in process today. Much less is known about the mantle than the crust. The crust we can see, measure, dig and drill.
    The mantle is different. We have little direct contact with the inner earth.
    The Inner Earth is composed of three main parts; the crust, the mantle, and the core as it is
    shown in the diagram of the earth's interior below: Much of what we know about the earth's interior comes from studying Seismology. Seismology
    began as the study of earthquakes and the seismic waves they produced. These waves travel
     The Crust - silicate rocks, primarily granite and basalt: Oceanic Crust - mostly basalt. through the earth and move at different speeds in different materials. By studying these waves
    Continental Crust - igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks and how they move through the inner earth we can learn about the its structure.

     The Mantle - iron and magnesium rich silicate rocks: Upper Mantle and Lower mantle The upper mantle
     Is made up of rocks rich in magnesium and iron, and poor in silica; mostly peridotites.
     The Core - iron nickel alloy: Outer core and Inner core  It is about 400 km thick and is much denser than the crust.
     It comprise 10% of the earth’s mass
     The Crust
    The Lower mantle
    The crust of the earth is very slowly growing thicker. Volcanic activity is continually
     It is more dense and contains a greater amount of iron than the upper mantle
    adding mass to the crust. Though the crust is solid it is made up of about 12 plates.
     It is about 1900 km thick
    They are called Tectonic Plates. These plates are in constant motion. The movement is
     It makes up 41% of the earth’s mass
    caused by convection currents in the mantle. The movement is very slow, averaging
    about 2 inches a year.

     The crust is about 0.5 % of the earth’s total mass.


     The crust is made up of silicate rocks such as granite and basalt.
     The continental crust is much thicker than the oceanic crust as shown here in the
    diagram of the earth's crust.

    Earth's Interior - The core


     Oceanic crust - The crust under the oceans is about 10 km thick and is generally made
    The core is composed primarily of a nickel-iron alloy. There is an outer core that is liquid and an
    up of rock rich in iron and magnesium. These are primarily basalt formed by volcanic inner core that is solid.
    action at the mid ocean ridges. The oceanic crust is denser than continental crust.  Outer core Is about 2100 km thick. It makes up about 30 % of the Earth's total mass.
     Inner coreIs about 1300 km thick. It makes up about 2 % of the Earth's total mass.
     Continental crust (continental cratons) - Where there are continents the crust is
    about 30 to 50 km thick. It is made up of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary Some points to remember in studying the earth’s interior:
    rocks. The continental crust is less dense than the oceanic crust. When the continental  There are distinct layers to the earth’s interior.
    crust collides with oceanic crust through plate movement the continental crust rides  Heavier elements tend to sink to the core
    over the top of the oceanic crust while the oceanic crust is pushed back down towards  Lighter elements rise toward the surface
    the mantle.  Much more is known about the crust than the mantle and core.
     The knowledge of the mantle and core comes from studying seismology.

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