INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH

The earth’s interior lies below us, yet we know little about it. This is because its accessibility to direct
observation is minimal. The distance from the surface to the centre is only 6371km, but the deepest well
drilled so far by humans to investigate what lies beneath is only 3km. Therefore, most of the knowledge of the
earth’s interior is obtained from the study of seismic/earthquake waves capable of travelling across the earth’s
interior. Geologists have devised a two-way classification of the earth’s internal structure by analysing these
waves.

A. The chemical classification

i) CRUST

 It varies in thickness from around 70km in mountainous terrains to around 5km in

marine areas.
 The continental crust is made of lighter granitic rocks rich in silica and aluminium,
hence the term sial.
 The oceanic crust on the other hand is made of the heavier basaltic rocks that are
rich in silica and magnesium, hence the term sima
  The two crusts, i.e. the heavier but thinner oceanic crust and the thicker but lighter
continental crust are in juxtaposition to each other and are therefore in what is
called an isostatic balance to each other because neither of the two layers sinks into
the underlying layer.
 Separating the crust from the next layer below is a boundary discovered in 1909 by
a Yugoslav seismologist named Andrija Mohorovicic. Therefore, the edge was
named in his honour and is called Mohorovicic or Moho discontinuity.

ii) MANTLE
 The mantle is one of the three main layers of the Earth. It lies between the
innermost layer, the core, and the thin outermost layer, the crust. The mantle
consists of hot, dense, semisolid rock and is about 2,900 kilometres (1,802
miles) thick.
 The upper mantle is made of rocks rich in iron and magnesium. The upper cover
is thought to be the source area of the most magma that intrudes or extrudes
onto the crust.
 Lower mantle. The rest of the mantle between the upper and core is known as
the lower mantle. It is denser and hotter than the upper mantle. It is thought to
contain oxides of magnesium and iron. There are no derivatives of the lower
cover on the surface.
 Separating the mantle from the next layer is a boundary discovered by a
German seismologist, Beno Gutenberg. The boundary was therefore named in
his honour; it is called Gutenberg discontinuity.

iii) CORE
 The outer core has temperatures of 3500oC. The density of the rocks 9-10g/cm3.
 It is made of liquid rock that is rich in iron and nickel
 The inner core has temperatures of around 4000 oC. The density of the rocks ranges
between 14-16g/cm3.
 It is made of solid rocks that are rich in iron and nickel
 It is because of the presence of iron and nickel that the earth is regarded as a giant
magnet.

B. STRUCTURAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE EARTH

From the study of earthquake waves, scientists have classified the upper part of the earth into:

i) Lithosphere
 It is approximately 100km
 It is a solid block that remains coherent as it moves
 It consists of the crust and part of the upper mantle
ii) Asthenosphere
 It stretches from 100km to around 350km.
 It is made of partially molten rocks, therefore allowing the material above it, the
lithosphere, to float
 It is located within the upper mantle
THE THEORY OF PLATE TECTONICS

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

A German meteorologist Alfred Wegner published his work in the “Origin of Continents” book. In his book,
Wegner argued that all the continents were once joined into a supercontinent which he named Pangea.
Pangea began to break during the Mesozoic times (~200 million years ago) to form a northern block called
Laurasia and the southern block called Gondwanaland. Separating these two was a sea called Tethys.
Sometime later both Laurasia and Gondwanaland began to break to form the modern-day continents as we
know them today. Unfortunately, Wegner’s continental drift theory failed to convince the scientific world
because it could not explain the drifting mechanism. The poor guy died lonely and heartbroken in the Polar
Regions trying to find evidence of his theory! Only some 50 years later, Hess and Dietz brought forward a
mechanism in their contribution to the “Sea Floor Spreading” hypothesis that Wegner’s ideas began to be
taken more seriously.

A gentleman called Currie then combined the two theories of Continental drifting and Seafloor spreading
hypothesis to form the modern-day theory of PLATE TECTONICS!

According to the theory of plate tectonics, the earth’s outer shell consists of 20 solid slabs in constant motion
relative to each other. These solid blocks or slabs are called PLATES, and according to the earth's structural
classification, these plates/slabs/blocks are what we referred to as the LITHOSPHERE, which can always move
as it floats above the partially molten ASTHENOSPHERE.

PLATE BOUNDARIES

[A] Destructive/ convergent

[B] Constructive/divergent

[C] Conservative

[A] Destructive/convergent plate boundaries

This is the boundary that marks where two plates have collided.

There are three types of such destructive plate boundaries:

[i] Oceanic vs. Continental

In this case the

oceanic crust is
colliding with a
continental crust
 Because of its higher density, the oceanic crust is subducted below
the lighter continental plate.
This subducted oceanic plate reaches the hot asthenosphere
where it is partially melted to produce basaltic magma.
Due to its buoyancy the magma formed then rises vertically where
it intrudes the overlying continental crust or it may extrude onto
the surface giving us hazardous volcanic mountains. Examples of
volcanic mountains are Mt St Helens in the state of Washington
Meanwhile, sediments that once existed above the subducted
oceanic crust are intensely folded by the compressional forces of
the two plates to produce high-rise Fold Mountains. Examples of
such fold mountains are the Cascade ranges and the Sierra Nevada
off the coast of California and the Andes mts in South America
The subducting oceanic crust bends at the point of collision with
the continental crust forming deep trenches, e.g. the Peru-Chile
trench formed when the Nazca plate collided with the South
American plate.

[ii] Oceanic vs. Oceanic

When the two oceanic plates collide the heavier of the two plates is
the one that is subducted below the lighter plate.

When the subducting plate reaches the hot asthenosphere, partial

melting forms magma. The formed magma then rises until it extrudes
onto the sea floor, rapidly cooling to form volcanic rocks.

As more and more magma comes out, the rock piles begin to grow
until they break sea level to form groups of islands called island arcs
—examples of island arcs are the country Japan, New Zealand, Tonga islands etc.

Meanwhile, at the point of collision, the subducting plate also bends to form an oceanic trench, e.g. the Japan
Trench, Aleutian Trench, and Philippian Trench.

[iii] Continental vs Continental

At the beginning, the two continents are separated by an ocean,

whose oceanic crust is slowly being subducted below one of the
continent, as shown above.
Meanwhile the sediments on the ocean floor are intensively
folded to form high rise Fold Mountains. Examples of such folds
mountains are all the ranges that make up the Alpine-Himalayan
series namely, the atlas, the alps, the Balkan, the Caucus and the
Zagros mountain in Iran
 Meanwhile the oceanic crust is whole buried below the two
continents where it exists as remnants below the continents.
Periodically the remnant oceanic crust makes it presents known
by occasionally belching out magma which forms the world’s most
dangerous volcanic mountains e.g. mount Vesuvius near Naples in
Italy.
 A case in point is that Laurasia and Gondwanaland were separated
by the Tethys Sea. Tethys sea sediments were slowly folded when
Laurasia and Gondwanaland began to approach each other.
Eventually, the Tethys Sea was closed, and its sediments were
folded to give us the Alpine- Himalayan series of mountains.

Atlas Mountains of Morocco

[B] CONSTRUCTIVE PLATE BOUNDARY

Such a boundary is formed when two plates are moving away from each other.

Stages in the formation of a constructive plate boundary (The Sea Floor Spreading Hypothesis)

1. Upwarping Stage

 Initially, the upwelling of asthenosphere material causes the lithosphere to upwarp or to up

dome as shown in the diagram above.
 The up warping results in crustal fracturing of the continent.
 The magma from the asthenosphere takes advantage of the fractures to belch out, forming
volcanoes that are apparent in the areas experiencing divergence, : Erta Ale, Ethiopia; Mount
Kenya, Kenya (an extinct stratovolcano); Ol Doinyo Lengai, Tanzania; Mount Kilimanjaro,
Tanzania (a dormant stratovolcano); and Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of Congo.

2. Rift Valley Stage

 Convectional currents in the asthenosphere begin pulling the two prospective plates, Plate A and B.
 The tensional forces or rifting that occur cause the downfaulting of the central blocks as the shoulders
drift away.
 The down faulting creates a linear ‘Rift Valley’, which is a narrow depression that is flanked by step
faults on either side, as shown in the diagram above.
 The continued thinning of the crust with rifting allows magma to pour out resulting in more volcanoes
forming.
 The valley floor can be occupied by rainwater over millions of years, forming linear continental lakes
such as those of East Africa, namely Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Turkana.
3. The Sea stage

 Gradually, the rift valley widens, and the downfaulting that continues to occur forms a much broader
depression that holds more water.
 Over an extended period, as more rainfall falls and accumulates on the valley floor, the valley is
transformed into a narrow linear sea.
 This is the stage the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden reached. Many rift valleys are part of “triple
junctions,” a divergent boundary where three tectonic plates meet at about 120° angles.
 Two arms of the triple junction can split to form an entire ocean. The third, “failed rift,” or  aulacogen,
becomes a rift valley.
 The Atlantic Ocean, for instance, is a result of a triple junction that started in what is now the Gulf of
Guinea on the west coast of Africa. Two arms of a tripartite meeting on the  supercontinent Pangaea
“opened” the ocean. At the same time, the aulacogen formed the rift valley known as the Benue
Trough through what is now southern Nigeria.
 Similarly for East Africa, two arms of the triple junction opened to form the Red Sea and the Gulf of
Aden; the failed arm started the East African rift valley.
 4. The ocean stage

 Further Sea-floor spreading allows for massive outpouring of magma from the asthenosphere to fill
up the gaps that are created by rifting two plates.
 At the surface, the magma, now referred to as lava, is cooled by the cold water, whereupon it
solidifies to form new oceanic crust.
 As rifting continues, more and more magma comes and it pushes the older formed ocean crust rocks
away. This explains why at the centre there are newer rocks but at passive continental margin there
are older rocks.
 Meanwhile, the center of the separation, the rocks are always hotter because of the proximity to the
magma from the asthenosphere.
 The rocks therefore become lighter and tend to rise. This rise then forms an elongate underwater
mountain that is called Mid Oceanic Ridge.
 At the point of separation of the plates (middle of the Oceanic Ridge) a rift valley is formed due to
tensional forces that cause the downfaulting of the middle block. Over millions of years, the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge has formed rift valleys as wide as 15 kilometres.
 In the Pacific Ocean, the East Pacific Rise has created rift valleys where the Pacific plate is separating
from the North American plate, Cocos plate, Nazca plate, and Antarctic plate. Like many underwater
rift valleys, the East Pacific Rise is dotted with hydrothermal vents. Geologic activity beneath the
underwater rift valley creates these vents, which spew super-heated water and vent fluids into the
ocean.
[C] CONSERVATIVE/ NUETRAL PLATE BOUNDARY

It occurs where two plates are sliding past each other therefore there is neither destruction nor construction
hence the term conservative
The famous San Andreas Fault in California is an example of a constructive plate boundary separating the
south moving North American plate from the north moving Juan De Fuca plate.
PLATE BOUNDARIES OF THE WORLD