Download Structure of the earth

STRUCTURE OF THE
EARTH
By Andrew Patchak, Greg McGrath, Will Kugler
Core
 Made
up of iron and nickel it is the
hottest part in the earth its temperature
can reach up to 4000 to 7000 degrees C.
 Inner core- it is made up of solid metal
due to pressure.
 Outer core- it is made up of a extremely
hot metals
 Mantle- it is a thin, hot layer under the
Earth’s crust
Crust
• the outer layer of the earth is composed of soil and solid rock
• Continental crust- composed primarily of granite, is thicker
sedimentary and metamorphic rocks which form the
continents
• Oceanic crust- composed primarily of basalt, is thinner.
• the theory of plate tectonics holds the earths crust is
composed of mobile plates
• This movement is caused by thermal convection currents
produced by the Earth’s mantle.
Plate Tectonics
• Continental Drift Theory- was first proposed by Alfred
Wegener in 1912
• It was not accepted until SONAR explored the ocean floor
Continental Drift Theory



The continents were once all joined to form one
continent called Pangaea.
Pangaea broke into plates to form the continents.
the continents are still drifting apart.
Plates
 There are about twenty plates there are seven large
plates and thirteen small plates.
 The largest plate is the Pacific Plate.
• Two plates moving the upper plate called the
lithosphere and the asthenosphere.
• The cause of the plates movement is because the heat
provokes the plate , the heat comes from the mantle.
•
Plate movement
Boundaries
• Colliding Boundaries- plates push against each other;
formation of the Himalayas.
• Spreading Boundaries- plates are pulled apart; formation
of the Great Rift Valley in Africa.
• Fault Boundaries- two plates moving past each other;
formation of the San Andreas fault
QUIZ FILL IN THE BLANK
1.
is composed primarily of basalt
2. there are about
plates
large
and
small
3. all continents were once joined to form one
continent called,
 Google images.
 the geological society.