Structure of the

Earth
inner structure of the planet Earth,
consisting of several concentric
spherical layers

Earth cutaway diagram. The proportions are not

accurate
The structure of the Earth is divided into
layers. These layers are both physically
and chemically different. The Earth has
an outer solid layer called the crust, a
highly viscous layer called the mantle, a
liquid layer that is the outer part of the
core, called the outer core, and a solid
center called the inner core. The shape of
the earth is an oblate spheroid, because
it is slightly flattened at the poles and
bulging at the equator.

The boundaries between these layers

were discovered by seismographs which
showed the way vibrations bounced off
the layers during earthquakes. Between
the Earth's crust and the mantle is a
boundary called the moho. It was the first
discovery of a major change in the
Earth's structure as one goes deeper.

1. The crust is the outermost layer of

the Earth. It is made of solid rocks.
It is mostly made of the lighter
elements, silicon, oxygen,
aluminium. Because of this, it is
known as sial (silicon = Si;
aluminium = Al) or felsic.
2. The mantle is the layer of the Earth
right below the crust. It is made
mostly of oxygen, silicon and the
heavier element magnesium. It is
known as sima (Si for silicon + ma
for magnesium) or mafic. The
mantle itself is divided into layers.
1. The uppermost part of the
mantle is solid, and forms
the base of the crust. It is
made of the heavy rock
peridotite. The continental
and oceanic plates include
both the crust proper and
this uppermost solid layer of
the mantle. Together this
mass makes up the
lithosphere. The lithosphere
plates float on the semi-
liquid aesthenosphere
below.
 2. Upper aesthenosphere:
magma
3. Lower aesthenosphere
4. Lower mantle
3. The Earth's core is made of solid
iron and nickel, and is at about
5000–6000 °C.
1. Outer core is a liquid layer
below the mantle.
2. Inner core, is the very center
of the Earth.[1]

A full explanation of these effects is not

yet clear. It seems that with the
increasing heat and pressure comes
changes in the crystallization of minerals,
so that the composition might be a kind
of changing mixture of liquid and
crystals.

The moho
The moho, properly called the
Mohorovičić discontinuity, is the
boundary between the Earth's crust and
the mantle. It was discovered by Croatian
seismologist Andrija Mohorovičić in
1909. He discovered that seismograms
of earthquakes showed two kinds of
seismic waves. There is a shallow slower
wave which arrives first, and a deep
faster wave which arrives second. He
reasoned that the deeper wave changed
speed as it got just below the mantle.
The reason it went faster was that the
material of the mantle was different from
that of the crust.

The discontinuity lies 30–40 km below

the surface of continents, and less deep
below the ocean floors.[1]

Drilling holes

Geologists have been trying to get at the

Moho for years. During the late 1950s
and early 1960s Project Mohole did not
get enough support, and was cancelled
by the United States Congress in 1967.
Efforts were also made by the Soviet
Union. They reached a depth of 12,260
metres (40,220 ft) over 15 years, the
world's deepest hole, before abandoning
the attempt in 1989.[2]

Reaching the discontinuity is still an

important scientific target. A more recent
proposal considers a self-descending
tungsten capsule. The idea is that the
capsule would be filled with radioactive
material. This would give off enough heat
to melt the surrounding rock, and the
capsule would be pulled down by
gravity.[3]

The Japanese project Chikyū Hakken

("Earth discovery") plans to use a drilling
shop to drill down through the thinner
ocean crust. On 6 September 2012
Scientific deep sea drilling vessel Chikyu
set a new world record by drilling down
and obtaining rock samples from deeper
than 2,111 metres below the seafloor off
the Shimokita Peninsula of Japan in the
northwest Pacific Ocean.[4]

Macquarie Island

Macquarie Island, off Tasmania, is at the

meeting-point of two huge oceanic
plates: the Pacific Plate and the Indo-
Australian Plate. The island is made of
material pushed up from deep in the
Earth's mantle. It is thought that the
green ophiolite rock was formed at the
moho,[5] and was brought up by a mid-
oceanic ridge. Now it comes to the
surface because the two plates are
scrunching together. It is the only place
on Earth where this is happening at
present.[6] There are other places where
ophiolite is found, but they were brought
up many millions of years ago. Ophiolites
are found in all the major mountain belts
of the world.[7]

References
1. Levin H. 2006. The Earth through
time. 8th ed, New York: Wiley.
Chapter 7, p184. ISBN 0-471-69743-5
2. "How the Soviets drilled the deepest
hole in the world" . 2008.
3. Ozhovan M. et al 2005. Probing of
the interior layers of the Earth with
self-sinking capsules. Atomic
Energy. 99, 556–562.
doi:10.1007/s10512-005-0246-y .
4. A report on the findings does not
appear to be published yet. The
following link is to the planning
proposal, April 30 2012. [1]
5. That is, the junction between the
bottom of the Earth's crust and the
top of the Earth's mantle.
6. Macquarie Island - UNESCO World
Heritage Centre . Whc.unesco.org.
Retrieved on 2013-07-16.
 7. Ben-Avraham Z. et al 1982. The
emplacement of ophiolites by
collision. Journal of Geophysical
Research: Solid Earth (1978-2012)
87 (B5) 3861-3867.

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