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Layers of the Earths

Interior
This lab is an introduction to some basic ideas and tools that will be explored
more or used during the course.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
After completing this weeks lab activities, you should be able to

Describe the layers of the Earth and some general characteristics and
properties of each
Be able to describe a scale model

MATERIALS: ruler, calculator, colored pencils


The objective of this activity is to help develop an understanding of the structure of
the Earths interior and to practice with the concept of scale and scale models.

Part I. Scale model of Earths interior


Use a circle drawing compass, metric ruler and the information below construct a
scale pizza slice scale model of the interior of the Earth. It will fit on one piece of
8.5x11 paper (included with this lab).
Step 1. The actual distance from Earths center to the (average) surface is 6,371
kilometers. In your model, this will be shown as 21.2 centimeters. What is the scale
of the model?
First, convert both numbers to the same units (in this case, centimeters):

6,371 km

1000 m 100 cm

=637,100,000 cm
km
m

Then, calculate the relationship between distance in the model and distance
in the real world:

Real distance ( cm)


637,100,000 cm
=
Distancemodel ( cm)
21.2 cm
Note that this is a ratio, so it does not have units
Complete these sentences:
The scale of the model is 1: 30,000,000 (write out zeroes) or 1: 30 million
This means a real slice of the earth is 30 million times larger than the model.

To get the scale model value in centimeters for the location of the layer boundaries
below, I will divide the actual value given in kilometers by 300.
Now calculate the missing values in the table below for boundaries between layers.
Distance from Earths center to

Actual
Value

Scale Model
Value*

surface of earth

6371 km

21.2 cm

base of the crust (average)1

6336 km

21.1 cm

base of mantle

3465 km

11.6 cm

outer core-inner core boundary

1216 km

4.1 cm

The thickness of the Earths crust is in reality quite variable ranging from 5-10 km in oceanic regions to
20-70 km for continental crust.

Step 2. Draw in the boundaries between the layers on the images on the next page.
Boldly and neatly
label each layer beside your diagram on the RIGHT (crust, mantle, inner core
and outer core) with its name and whether it is solid or liquid.
Add a thick dashed line for the asthenospheric mantle (location given below).
The asthenosphere is a layer of rock within Earths mantle that has melted a
bit due to pressure and temperature conditions. Because it is partially (only
up to 10%) molten, this layer of the mantle behaves in a less rigid manner
than the rock above which is known as the lithosphere (crust and
uppermost mantle). Label the asthenosphere and the overlying lithosphere
on the LEFT side of your diagram.
Distance from Earths center to

Actual
Value

Asthenosphere (average top)

6271 km

Scale Model
Value*
20.7 cm

Label each layer to indicate the general chemical composition of rocks that
make up the crust, mantle, inner core and outer core.

Step 3.Neatly color each layer to make it visually distinctive (color lightly so you can
see the other info)
Inner core = blue
mantle = yellow
Outer core = green
crust = red

Layer
Crust1
Mantle2
Outer Core
Inner Core

Phase/composition
Solid (SiO2 rich)
continental crust is
approximated to be granite
Solid (Fe and Mg silicates) peridotite
Liquid iron
Solid iron

Density
(g/cc)

Velocity of seismic
waves (P waves)(in
km/sec)

2.8

6.4

3.3 5.0

8.0 -13.0

11.0
13.5

9.0
11.0

The crust-mantle boundary is called the Mohorovicic discontinuity (or Moho), after its discoverer A.
Mohorovicic. It separates the chemically-distinct crust (high silica rocks) from the more mafic (high in
magnesium and iron content and low silica) mantle. Because of the differences in chemical composition,
the seismic velocity is significantly different above and below the Moho. We will approximate the density of
crust here as continental crust with an average composition of granite.
2
Although the mantle is a solid nearly everywhere, within the asthenosphere layer the mantle may is
partially molten and behaves as a soft layer relative to the more rigid lithosphere above and lower
mantle below. The entire mantle consists of magnesium- and iron-rich silicate rock - we will describe this
as peridotite, although actually the minerals present vary with pressure and temperature conditions.
Density of the mantle and velocity of seismic waves through it also vary primarily with pressure (depth).

Questions
1. What does it mean to say that your pizza slice is a scale model?
To say that my pizza slice is a scale model means that it is a drawing that
has been reduced from its original size to a specified scale, allowing all parts
to have dimensions in the same proportion to the original object. In this case,
that scale was in which I based my proportioned dimensions is 1 : 30 million.
2. What do we call the layer that we walk around on and that forms the ocean floor?
The crust
3. How many chemically distinct layers does Earth have? __3___
4. What is distinctive about the asthenospheric mantle? About how thick is the
asthenosphere?
The fact that the asthenospheric mantle is a layer of rock within the mantle that
has melted a bit due to pressure and temperature conditions, making it partially
molten and less rigid, makes this mantle distinctive. The asthenosphere is
approximately 180 km thick.
5. How are the inner core and outer core different? In what ways are they similar?

The two cores are different in that the outer core consists of liquid iron, whereas the
inner core consists of solid iron. The inner core is hotter than the outer core. The
inner core, also, has a higher density (13.5 g/cc) than the outer core (11.0 g/cc), and
a higher velocity of seismic waves (inner = 11.0 km/sec; outer=9.0 km/sec). The
two are similar in that they both consist of the same material: iron.
6. In which part of Earth does the magnetic field originate? The outer core
SEE PDF FILE!

Scale Model of Earths Interior

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