Download Why do you think Earth has layers?

Aim: How is Earth’s interior Structured?
Do Now:
Why do you
think Earth has
layers?
What material
do you think
make up those
layers?
I. Layers of the Earth
• layers are defined by their
specific composition,
temperature and density.
Where would the
highest temperatures
be located?
A) Crust
- thin outer rocky layer
- least dense of all the layers
- Oceanic Crust – mostly Basalt bedrock (more
dense)
- Continental Crust – mostly Granite Bedrock
(less dense)
The deepest hole drilled
by man is 7.6 mi deep
(Kola Peninsula, Russia).
That is only 1% of the
Earth’s entire thickness.
B) Mantle
- thickest layer consisting plastic fluid-like
material.
- Meteorites
provide clues as
to what the interior
of earth is made
of. (they were
made from the
same material at
the same time)
Chondrites: stony (nonmetallic) meteorites that were
formed from dust and rocks
that were present in the early
solar system.
C) Core
How many
cores does
- deepest layers of the Earth. Earth have?
- composed of iron and nickel.
- Inner Core
solid iron and
nickel
- Outer Core liquid iron and nickel
II. Physical Properties
A) Lithosphere – consists of the crust and
uppermost mantle.
- Forms a cool, rigid shell made of rock.
B) Asthenosphere –
- a soft, weak layer beneath the lithosphere.
- rocks are close to their melting points in
this layer. (plastic-fluid like material)
- the lithosphere
floats on the
asthenosphere.
Why does it float?
III. Discovering New Layers
Moho - (Mohorovicic Discontinuity)
- separates the crust from the underlying
mantle within the lithosphere.
Page 10 - ESRT
Closure:
• Please complete the worksheet on
Layers of the Earth.