Download Earth's Layered Structure

Name ________________________________Date ________________ Section _______
Earth Science
The Earth’s Layered Structure (a worksheet and ESRT activity combination)
The Earth is made of many different and
LABEL ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:
distinct layers. The deeper layers are
- Name
- Elements
composed of heavier materials; they are
hotter, denser and under much greater
- Distance
- Solid, Rigid, Plastic, or Liquid
pressure than the outer layers.
Core: The Earth has a iron-nickel core
that is about 3480 km in radius. The
INNER CORE may have a temperature up
to about 6800°C which is hotter than the
surface of the Sun. The inner core, which
has a radius of about 1,228 km, is solid.
The OUTER CORE is in a liquid state and
is about 2,260 km thick.
- Temperature
COLOR: (the diagram on this worksheet. as well as your
ESRT!)
Core – yellow- orange Inner Core – yellow
Outer Core – orange
Mantle – red - orange Lower Mantle – red-orange
Upper Mantle – red
Mantle: Convection (heat) currents carry
heat from the hot LOWER MANTLE to
Crust – brown
Oceanic Crust – dark brown
the cooler UPPER MANTLE. The mantle is
about 2,750 km thick. The mantle gets
Continental Crust – light brown
warmer with depth; the top of the
Mantle part of Lithosphere – grey
mantle is about 1000° C; towards the
bottom of the mantle, the temperature
is about 5000° C. The mantle contains most of the mass of the Earth. The upper mantle
is about 660 km deep, whereas the lower mantle is about 2230 km deep.
Under the crust is the Upper Mantle (1), which is composed of silicon, oxygen,
magnesium, iron, aluminum, and calcium. The upper mantle is rigid. The LITHOSPHERE
(2) is the upper mantle and crust combined, a rigid layer about 100-200 km thick. The
lower mantle flows slowly, at a rate of a few centimeters per year. The ASTHENOSPHERE
(3) is a part of the upper mantle that exhibits plastic properties. It is located below the
lithosphere (the crust and upper mantle), between about 100 and 250 km deep.
Crust: The Earth's surface is composed mostly of basalt and granite. Oceans cover about
70% of Earth's surface. These oceans are up to 3.7 km deep. The Earth's thin, rocky crust
is composed of silicon, aluminum, calcium, sodium and potassium.
The crust is divided into continental plates which drift slowly (only a few centimeters
each year) atop the less rigid mantle. The rigid crust is thinner under the oceans, called
OCEANIC CRUST, this is where new crust is formed and is 6-11 km thick. Oceanic crust
is mainly made of a rock called basalt. CONTINENTAL CRUST is about 25-70 km thick
mainly made of a rock called granite. The MOHO (mohorovicic discontinuity) is the
separation (line) between the crust and the upper mantle.
Name ________________________________Date ________________ Section _______
Earth Science
The Earth’s Layered Structure (a worksheet and ESRT activity combination)
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Name ________________________________Date ________________ Section _______
Earth Science
The Earth’s Layered Structure (a worksheet and ESRT activity combination)
Answer the following questions based on you observations.
1. As the depth increases the temperature _____________________.
2. As the depth increases the pressure ________________________.
3. What is the depth, temperature, and pressure at the area between the stiffer
mantel and the outer core
a. Depth______________________________
b. Temperature _________________________
c. Pressure ____________________________
4. Draw the Mid-Atlantic ridge and convection currents below it. Label the layers
this takes place in
5. What is the density and make up of the inner core? _______________________
___________________________________________________________________
6. What part of the Earth contains both the crust and rigid mantel?
__________________________
Base your answers to questions 7 through 10 on the diagram below, which represents
zones of Earth’s interior, identified by letters A through E. The scale shows depths below
Earth’s surface, measured in kilometers.
Name ________________________________Date ________________ Section _______
Earth Science
The Earth’s Layered Structure (a worksheet and ESRT activity combination)
7. The Moho is a boundary located in zone
(1) A
(2) E
(3) B
(4) D
8. What is the approximate thickness of zone C?
(1) 650 km
(2) 2250 km
3) 1600 km
(4) 2900 km
9. Which zone is characterized by partially melted rock and large-scale convection
currents?
(1) zone A
(2) zone C
(3) zone B
(4) zone E
10. Which zone of Earth’s interior has a density closest to the densities of the other
terrestrial planets?
(1) zone A
(2) zone C
(3) zone E
(4) zone D