Structure of the Earth’s

Interior
Sources of information
Layers
 Introduction
• The study of landforms is an important part of Physical Geography
• Geographers study the features as well as the processes that are
responsible for their formation
• Landform features found on the surface of the earth are shaped by
forces operating inside and outside the earth
• This makes it important for Geographers to study the interior of the
earth
 Sources of Information
• The radius of the earth is 6371 km
• Temperature and pressure increase with depth, making it impossible to
go very far into the interior of the earth
• The deepest mine is less than 4 km deep and the deepest hole goes only
as far down as 13 km
• Volcanoes bring up material from a depth of up to 200 km
• Thus direct sources can give us limited information
• Indirect sources of information include space exploration and
examination of meteorites
• Seismic waves are the most important source of information
 How seismic waves help us “see”
• Earthquakes are vibrations produced by the sudden release of energy
in the interior of the earth
• The released energy generates waves that travel outward in all
directions from the hypocenter (focus)
• The waves are of different types
• Over more than a 100 years, seismologists have studied the behavior
of seismic waves and used the information to develop a picture of the
interior of the earth
Types of Waves
 Properties of Waves
• P and S waves are body waves which means that they travel through the
interior of the earth
• The velocity of waves depends on the density of the material they are
travelling through. Velocity is greater in rigid materials
• Speed increases with depth as material becomes more compact because
of greater pressure
• P waves travel through solids and liquids, S waves travel only through
solids
• In all materials, P waves travel faster than S waves
• Waves are refracted (bent) when they pass from one material to another
 Mohorovicic’s Contribution
• In 1909, Andrija Mohorovicic, a Croatian seismologist, first proposed
that the earth had a layered structure
• This was based on the fact that the velocity of waves increased with
depth, because the increased pressure at greater depths made rocks
more elastic
• As seismographs became better, it was found that the velocity and
direction of waves changed suddenly at certain depths. This happened
all around the world, indicating that there were distinct layers
• Mohorovicic discovered a sharp change in physical properties at a
depth of 30 km from the surface
 Shadow Zones
• Beno Gutenberg, a German scientist made some more discoveries
• He found that P waves diminished and then disappeared completely
at 105° from an earthquake. They reappeared at 140° 2 minutes later
than expected. The 35° zone was the P wave shadow zone
• S waves completely disappeared between 103° on both sides of the
earthquake
• Since S waves cannot travel through liquids and P waves slow down
in liquids, it was concluded that a part of the core was liquid
Shadow Zones
 Interior of the Earth
• The formation of the earth’s interior began about 4.6 billion years ago
• As the nebula(cloud of dust and gases) began to condense, materials
separated out according to density
• Heavier materials like iron and nickel moved to the centre while lighter
substances like aluminum and silicon moved to the surface
• Thus three different divisions were created:
• Iron-rich core
• Mantle
• Thin, light crust
Layers of the Earth
 The Core
• The core makes up a third of the earth’s mass and a sixth of its volume
• It is the innermost layer
• It is made up of iron (80%) and nickel. Therefore it is sometimes called
the NIFE
• Its mean density is 10.7g/cubic cm. Density is 14g/ cubic cm in the
innermost point
• Temperature at the very centre is 6000°C. The heat comes from the
residual energy left over from the time of formation and also from
radioactivity. Heat is transferred outward by convection and conduction
 Inner and Outer Core
• The core can be divided into the inner and outer core
• The inner core is solid, and is made up of iron and nickel with some
sulphur, silicon and oxygen. It has a radius of 1221km
• The pressure is 3 million times the atmospheric pressure
• Temperature ranges between 3200°C and 6000°C, but it is solid
because of the very high pressure
• The outer core is 2160 km thick. It is in a liquid state
• The outer core generates the magnetic field of the earth
 The Mantle
• The Gutenberg discontinuity separates the core from the mantle. It is
not a smooth line but has peak and valley like formations. The
transition zone is a few hundred kilometres wide
• The mantle makes up 80% of the earth’s volume
• Mean density of the mantle is 4.5g/cubic cm
• It is made up of silicate rocks rich in magnesium and silicon oxides.
Peridotite (made of olivine and pyroxene) is the most common rock
• A part of the mantle has a certain amount of plasticity and can flow
on very long time scales. This layer is part of the asthenosphere
 The Crust
• The Mohorovicic Discontinuity separates the mantle from the overlying crust
• With thickness varying between 8 and 40 kilometres, the crust is by far the
thinnest layer (1%)
• 98% of it is made up of just 8 natural elements. Oxygen (50%), silicon (25%)
Aluminum (8%), Iron(5%) are the most important
• It is the source of soils and salts in the sea and almost all water
• Oceanic crust is 8 km thick. It is made up of basaltic rocks which are younger
and denser (3g/cubic km). Called SIMA (silica and magnesium)
• Continental crust is older and less dense (2.7g/cubic cm). Its average thickness
is 30 km, but it can be 50-60km thick under mountains. Also called SIAL (silica
and aluminum)
 Lithosphere and Asthenosphere
• Another way of identifying layers is on the basis of rigidity or plasticity
• On this basis the outer part of the earth is divided into two layers: a rigid
outer lithosphere and a plastic asthenosphere
• Within the mantle, a slight slowing of waves is detected between 100 and
200 km
• The rocks come close to melting so they form a slow flowing plastic layer
which behaves both as a solid as well as a liquid. This is the
asthenosphere
• The lithosphere is the cool, solid and brittle exterior of the earth. Its
average thickness is 100 km, but it can be up to 250 km under continents