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    Earth Interior

    Uploaded by

    Ejaz Ul Haq Kakar
    EARTH

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Earth Interior

    Uploaded by

    Ejaz Ul Haq Kakar
    119 views13 pages
    EARTH

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

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    PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

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    EARTH

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    119 views13 pages

    Earth Interior

    Uploaded by

    Ejaz Ul Haq Kakar
    EARTH

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 13

    The Layers of the Earth

    © Copyright 2006. M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.


    The Four Layers
    The Earth is composed of four
    different layers. The crust is
    the layer that you live on, and
    it is the most widely studied
    and understood. The mantle
    is much hotter and has the
    ability to flow. The outer
    core and inner core are
    even hotter with pressures so
    great you would be squeezed
    into a ball smaller than a
    marble if you were able to go
    to the center of the Earth!
    The Crust
    The Earth's Crust is like
    the skin of an apple. It is
    very thin in comparison to
    the other three layers. The
    crust is only about 3-5
    miles (8 kilometers) thick
    under the oceans (oceanic
    crust) and about 25 miles
    (32 kilometers) thick
    under the continents
    (continental crust).
    The Lithospheric Plates

    The crust of the Earth is broken into many pieces called


    plates. The plates "float" on the soft, semi-rigid
    asthenosphere.
    The Asthenosphere

    The asthenosphere
    is the semi-rigid
    part of the middle
    mantle that flows
    like hot asphalt
    under a heavy
    weight.
    The Lithosphere
    The crust and the upper layer of the
    mantle together make up a zone of rigid,
    brittle rock called the Lithosphere.
    The Crust

    The crust is composed of two rocks. The continental


    crust is mostly granite. The oceanic crust is basalt.
    Basalt is much denser than the granite. Because of this
    the less dense continents ride on the denser oceanic
    plates.
    The Mantle
    The Mantle is the
    largest layer of the Earth.
    The middle mantle is
    composed of very hot
    dense rock that flows like
    asphalt under a heavy
    weight. The movement of
    the middle mantle
    (asthenosphere) is the
    reason that the crustal
    plates of the Earth move.
    Convection Currents
    The middle mantle "flows"
    because of convection
    currents. Convection
    currents are caused by the
    very hot material at the
    deepest part of the mantle
    rising, then cooling and
    sinking again --repeating
    this cycle over and over.
    Convection Currents
    The next time you heat anything like
    soup or water in a pan you can watch
    the convection currents move in
    the liquid. When the convection
    currents flow in the asthenosphere
    they also move the crust. The crust
    gets a free ride with these currents,
    like the cork in this illustration.

    Safety Caution: Don’t get your face


    too close to the boiling water!
    The Outer Core
    The core of the Earth
    is like a ball of very
    hot metals. The
    outer core is so
    hot that the metals in
    it are all in the liquid
    state. The outer core
    is composed of the
    melted metals of
    nickel and iron.
    The Inner Core
    The inner core of the
    Earth has temperatures
    and pressures so great
    that the metals are
    squeezed together and
    are not able to move
    about like a liquid, but
    are forced to vibrate in
    place like a solid.
    The End

    BONUS:
    Find a pair or trio and answer
    this question:

    Have we ever seen part


    of the Mantle? Explain.

    © Copyright 2006. M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.

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