EARTH’S

INTERIOR
 EXPLORING INSIDE EARTH
• Geologists have used two main types of
evidence to learn about Earth’s interior:
direct evidence from rock samples and
indirect evidence from seismic waves.
 Evidence from Rock Samples…
• Rocks from inside Earth
give geologists clues about
Earth’s structure.
Geologists have drilled
holes as much as 12 km
deep into Earth. The drills
bring up samples of rock
that can be used to make
inferences about conditions
deep inside Earth.
• Sometimes, forces
inside Earth blast rocks
to the surface from
depths of more than
100 km. These rocks
provide more
information about
Earth’s interior.
 Evidence from Seismic Waves…
• Since geologists cannot look inside Earth, they must
rely on indirect methods of observation. When
earthquakes occur, they produce seismic waves.
Geologists record seismic waves and study how they
travel through Earth. The speed of the seismic waves
and the paths they take reveal the structure of the
planet.
• Using data collected from seismic waves,
geologists have learned the Earth’s interior
is made up of several layers. Each layer
surrounds the layer beneath it, like the
layers of an onion.
 A JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF
THE EARTH
• The three main layers
of Earth are the crust,
the mantle, and the
core. These layers
vary greatly in size,
composition,
temperature, and
pressure.
 Temperature…
• About 20 meters below Earth’s
surface, rock begins to get warmer.
For every 40 meters that you
descend from that point, the
temperature rises 1 degree Celsius.
This rapid rise of temperature
continues for several tens of km,
and continues to grow hotter and
hotter approaching the core. The
high temperatures inside Earth are a
result of heat left over from the
formation of the planet.
 Pressure…
• The more you descend into Earth’s interior, the
amount of pressure increases. Pressure results
from a force pressing on an area. Because of the
weight of the rock above, pressure inside Earth
increases as you go deeper. The deeper you go,
the greater the pressure.
 THE CRUST
• The crust is the layer
of rock that forms
Earth’s outer skin.
The crust is a layer of
solid rock that
includes both dry
land and the ocean
floor. This layer of
the Earth is much
thinner than the
layers beneath it.
• The crust beneath the ocean is called
oceanic crust, which consists mostly of
rocks such as basalt. Basalt is dark rock
with a fine texture.

BASALT
 GRANITE

• Continental crust, crust that forms the

continents, consists mainly of rocks such as
granite. Granite is a rock that usually is light in
color and has a coarse texture.
 THE MANTLE

• Below Earth’s crust is the mantle.

Earth’s mantle is made up of rock that
is very hot, but solid. Scientists divide
the mantle into layers based on the
physical characteristics of those
layers. Overall, the mantle is nearly
3000 km thick.
 The Lithosphere…
• The upper most part of the mantle and the crust
together form a rigid layer called the
lithosphere. In Greek, “lithos” means “rock.”
 The Asthenosphere…
• Below the lithosphere is a layer
that is hotter and under
increasing pressure. Like road
tar is softened by the heat of
the sun, this part of the mantle
is somewhat soft- it can bend
like plastic. This soft layer of
the mantle is called the
asthenosphere. In Greek,
“asthenes” means “weak.”
Although this layer is softer
than the rest of the mantle, it is
still solid.
 The Lower Mantle…

• Below the asthenosphere, the

mantle is solid. This solid
material extends all the way to
Earth’s core.
 THE CORE
• Beneath the mantle
is Earth’s core.
The core is made
mostly of the
metals iron and
nickel. It consist of
two parts- a liquid
outer core and solid
inner core.
 The Inner and Outer Cores…
• The outer core is
a layer of molten
metal that
surrounds the
inner core.
Despite
pressure from
the rock above,
it is liquid.
• The inner core is a dense ball of solid metal. In
the inner core, extreme pressure squeezes the
atoms of iron and nickel so much that they
cannot spread out and become liquid.
Endogenic Process
•“Endo” means inside or within.
• Changes or movements of
Earth’s internal origin.
•Takes place inside the globe and
are started by forces inside the
Earth.
Endogenic process
•Forces that are driven by the Earth’s
vast heat engine.
•It cause things like earthquakes, and
generation of volcanic activities.
There are two categories of the
internal heat sources of the
Earth:
1.Primordial or Residual Heat
2.Radioactive Heat
Primordial or Residual Heat
•Heat from accretion and bombardment
of the Earth during the early stages of
formation.
•If you hit a hammer on hard surface
several times, the metal in the hammer
will heat up (kinetic energy is transformed
into heat energy).
Radioactive heat
• The heat generated by long-term
radioactive decay): its main sources are
the four long-lived isotopes (large half-
life), namely K40, Th232, U235 and U238
that made a continuing heat source over
geologic time.
• Heat is generated by radioactive decay of
elements like Uranium, Thorium and
Potassium.
• The heat is transferred upward to warm the
mantle causing it to slow circulate and tug on
the plates above.
• In endogenic process, deep within the earth’s
core, the movement of tectonic plates is
thought to be a product of convection currents
in the mantle.
• As the crustal plates are
move about, they interact
by colliding, diverging or
by sliding from one
another.
• The result of that
movement produces
faults and earthquakes,
volcanoes, the creation of
mountain systems, or
deep valleys and trenches
that continuously shape
the Earth.
• The great mountain
systems of Earth like the
Himalayas is a product of
collision of lithospheric
plates. Similarly the huge
trenches found on the
ocean floor, like Marianas
trench, are cause by
trench interaction.
• In redistributing Earth’s
heat, it is important for
us to know the three
•
modes of heat transfer:
• conduction,
convection and
radiation.
• And so, what are those
three?
• It is a transfer of heat
by a material through
direct contact.
• It is the way in which
energy is transferred
(through heating by
contact) from a hot
body to a cooler one
(or from the hot part of
an object to a cooler
part).
What is convection?
• Energy can be carried from
one place to another by
wholesale movement of the
medium: a warmer fluid
moves, displacing a colder
fluid and thus transfers
energy in convection
currents.
•It is also a transfer of heat through a fluid
(liquid or gas) caused by molecular
motion.
What is Radiation?
•Radiation is quite different from conduction and
convection.
•It is not a matter of something hot carrying the energy
itself, or of atoms transferring the energy on from one to
the next.
• It is the energy that is being radiated or
transmitted in the form of rays or waves or
particles.
• It is the transfer of internal energy in the form
of electromagnetic waves.