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EARTH’S INTERNAL

STRUCTURE
And processes
What Was Early Earth Like?
 Describe what Earth was like right as the Solar
System was forming?
 Why did earth get hot?
 What do fluids do when they are hot?
 At first there were no layers, where did they come
from?
Early Earth
 Early Earth was homogeneous (uniform)
 Composed of mostly silicates, iron and magnesium
oxides
 Temperature increased because of:
 Meteorite impacts
 Gravitational Compression
 Radioactive Decay
 When Iron and Nickel melted everything changed.
Earth’s Differentiation
 Differentiation = segregated into a series of
concentric layers of differing composition and
density
 Molten iron and nickel

sank to form the core


 Lighter silicates flowed

up to form mantle
and crust
Distinct Layers

Compositional Layers Mechanical Layers

 Crust  Lithosphere
 Mantle  Asthenosphere
 Core  Lower Mantle
 Outer Core
 Inner Core
Crust
 2 types
 Continental Crust 20km ~ 90km thick (12~56miles)
 Density of 2.7g/cm3
 Oceanic Crust 5km ~ 10km thick (3~6miles)
 Density of 3g/cm3
 If the earth were an inflated balloon, the crust
would be the skin!
 What element do you think makes up most of the
crust?
Crust
 Oxygen is the most common element in the crust!
 Oxygen bonds

with the other


elements to make
minerals of the
crust.

The crust is not


just oxygen!
Crust
 Continental crust is made up of all rock types.
 In general it is where you find less dense minerals
 More pores (spaces) in the rocks further decrease
density
 Oceanic crust made of more dense rocks.
 The minerals have a higher amounts of iron and
magnesium
 Smaller pores means higher density
Mantle
 Mantle is about 2,885km thick! About 1800miles.
 The mantle is SOLID ROCK, it is not a liquid!
 Has a density from about 3.5g/cm3 to 5.5g/cm3
 Lets think about that for a second!!!
Mantle
 But, if the mantle is SOLID how can it flow?
 At about 100km – 150km it is hot enough to flow very
slowly.
 The mantle makes up about 83% of earth’s total
volume.
 It is made up almost entirely by a iron and
magnesium rich, dark colored rock, called
Peridotite.
Core
 The core is made up of iron alloy (iron mixed with
small amounts of other elements)
 Outer core is about 2255km thick. About
1400miles
 Outer core is liquid because temperature is so high that
not even the high pressure can force it to become solid.
 Inner core is about 1220km thick. About 758miles.
 Even though it is hotter than the outer core, the
pressure is so high that the atoms get forced together to
make a solid.
Core
 The swirling convective flow in the outer core
creates earth’s magnetic field.
 The Inner core actually spins slightly faster than
the rest of the planet due to the force of earth’s
magnetic field.
Lithosphere and Asthenosphere
 So far we have broken the layers down by
composition and density. (Crust, Mantle, Core)
 We can also divide them up by how they “behave”
 The upper most layer is called the lithosphere
 It is rigid, meaning it can bend slightly but not flow at
all.
 This layer extends down from the surface about 100-
150km.
 What two compositional layers does this include?
 Do lithosphere and crust mean the same thing?
Lithosphere and Asthenosphere
 Below the lithosphere you have the asthenosphere
 The asthenosphere is entirely upper mantle rock
 It is NOT A LIQUID!
 But it is hot enough, 1280°C or 2330°F, that it can
flow very slowly.
 Even at that temp. it can only flow about 10cm – 15cm
per year.
Earth’s Interior Layers
• Lithosphere
– solid upper mantle
and crust
– broken into plates that
move over the
asthenosphere

• Asthenosphere
– part of upper mantle
– behaves plastically
and slowly flows
Plate Tectonic Theory

 Lithosphere is broken into individual pieces or


plates

• Plates move over the asthenosphere


– as a result of underlying convection cells
Modern Plate Map
Summary
 Earth has layers because of density.
 As you go towards the center temp and pressure
increase.
 You can refer to earths Compositional Layers –
or- its Mechanical Layers

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