Geography Notes Internal Structure And Composition Of The Earth The Earth consists of three concentric layers: the

core, the mantle and the crust. The Core The innermost part of the Earth starts about 2900 km from the Earths surface and extends down into the center of the Earth which is about 6390 km deep. It has very dense rocks and is made up primarily of iron and nickel. Temperatures are very high, probably around 4000 and 5000 degrees Celsius. The inner core, under immense pressure, is solid while the outer core under less pressure, is in a semi-molten state. The Mantle The mantle extends from the base of the crust down to a depth of about 2900km. It's density increases with depth, increasing form about 3.3g/cubic centimeter near the crust to about 5.5g/ cubic centimeter near the core. Its temperature which also increases with depth can possible exceed 2000 degrees Celsius. It consists mainly of rocks rich in iron and magnesium. There are three distinct layers within the upper mantle. The uppermost solid zone, together with the crust, forms the lithosphere. Below the lithosphere is the semi-molten asthenosphere which extends from about 100km to about 250km from the earths surface. Convection currents that cause the plates to move slowly across the earth occur in the asthenosphere which is in the upper mantle, or throughout the whole mantle. The Crust