Download Continental Crust Oceanic Crust Outer Core Inner Core

INTERIOR OF THE EARTH
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The study of the Earth and it’s processes is called GEOLOGY
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The Earth has a RADIUS of about 6400 km.
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Based on their observations of SEISMIC WAVES, geologists infer that the Earth is divided
into LAYERS
» The CRUST is the hard rigid outer shell of the Earth.
Continental Crust
Oceanic Crust
Thicker (30-50 km)
Thinner (5-10 km)
Granite
Basalt
Less Dense (2.7 gm/cm³)
More Dense (3 gm/cm³)
Older (up to 4 billion years old)
Younger (oldest around 200 million years old)
» The MANTLE is a layer of hot rock below the crust. About 2890 km thick
Lithosphere
Asthenosphere
Includes the CRUST and UPPER MANTLE
Sits just below Lithosphere
Solid Rigid Layer
Soft Weak Layer that Flows
Litho = Stone
Astheno = Weak
About 100 km thick
About 200 km thick
Lithosphere FLOATS on the Asthenosphere
»The CORE is the innermost layer of the Earth.
Outer Core
Inner Core
Liquid Metal (mostly Iron and Nickel)
Surrounds the Inner Core
Behaves like a thick liquid
Solid Metal (mostly Iron and Nickel)
Intense pressure prevents it from being a liquid.
About 1220 km thick
About 2270 km thick
Core = About the size of the Moon
Hotter than the surface of the sun!
INTERIOR OF THE EARTH
Layers of the Earth
LITHOSPHERE
Solid Rigid Layer
Includes Crust and
Upper Mantle
CRUST
Solid Rocky Layer
MANTLE
Hot Rock
OUTER CORE
Liquid Iron
INNER CORE
Solid
Iron/Nickel
ASTENOSPHERE
Soft Rock that Flows
Convection Currents
Located here
Includes Crust and
Upper Mantle