STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION OF

THE EARTH’S CRUST

This is our Earth! DO WE KNOW
WHAT THINGS LIES
BENEATH THE
EARTH SURFACE?
 ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

 Meteors and Asteroids bombarded the Earth.

 Gravitational compression.

 Density Stratified planet.

 EVIDENCE OF INTERNAL STRUCTURE

 Direct & Indirect

 Direct evidence:

From rock samples. Scientists drill up to 12 km into

the earth. Forces blast rock from as deep as 100 km.

 Indirect evidence:
From seismic waves
 Scientists record Seismic waves
 Travel times and direction to give indication of internal structure of Earth.
 Two kind of seismic waves
 P(Primary) wave:
-push and pull movement.
-travel through both solid and liquid material.
-Travel fastest (~ 6 km/sec).
-travel through crust (6km/sec) and mantle (8km/sec).
 S(secondary or shear)waves:
-move side-to-side.
-only travel through solid materials.
-slower(~4km/sec)
• The velocity of P-wave depends on how easily
the material can be compressed , rigidity and
density of the material.

• S-waves travel through material by shearing it

or changing its shape in the direction
perpendicular to the direction of travel.
 Earth interior layers

 The earth has layered interior

Crust

Mantle Upper
lower
Core Inner
Outer
 THE CRUST

 This is where we live!

 A layer of rock that forms the Earth’s outer skin including the rock under
the ocean
 It is very thin in comparison to the other three layers.

Continental
Crust
Oceanic
Continental Crust vs Oceanic Crust

 Continental Crust
-underlines the continent
rock density : 2.7 gm/cmᶟ
Avg. rock thickness: 35-40km
rock type: Granite
-At least 3.8 billion years old
 Oceanic Crust
-underlines the ocean
rock density: 3.7gm/cmᶟ
Avg. rock thickness: 7-10 km oceanic
rock type : Basalt
-200 million years old

Continental
CRUSTAL COMPOSITION
THE MANTLE(35–2,890km)

1 • The Mantle is the largest layer of the Earth.

• Solid rock layer between the crust and the core.Middle part of
2
the Earth interior.
• Found silicate,iron,oxygen,magnesium
3

• 2885 km thick,the mante is 82% of Earth volume.

4

5
• Average temperature is 3000°c
 Mantle  Upper mantle is the upper part of the
mantle.
 Lower Mantle is the lower part the
Mantle.

Upper Lower
 THE LITHOSPHERE(0~100KM)

 The crust and the upper layer of the mantle together make up a zone of
rigid, brittle rock called the Lithosphere.
 just above the asthenosphere.
 THE ASTHENOSPHERE(~100 TO
660KM)
 A Thin zone that lies below the lithosphere.
 Its materials behave like flowing plastic.
 Region of upper mantle.
 Mesosphere (660 to 2900 km)

 Rock in the lower mantle gradually strengthens with depth, but it is still
capable of flow.

mesosphere
 MANTLE CONVECTION CELL
 Convection- heat transfer by movement of heated fluids.

 In the mantle hot material rises towards the lithosphere .The

hot material reaches the base of the lithosphere where it
cools and sinks back down through the mantle. The cool
material is replaced by more hot material, and so on forming
a large “convection cell”
 MANTLE CONVECTION CELL

 As plates move apart new warm material is erupted to fill the gap.
 THE CORE

 Inner part of the Earth’s interior.

 The core of the Earth is like a ball of very hot metals.

core

Outer

Inner
 OUTER CORE(2900 to 5170 km)

 Outer core is liquid and composed of the melted metals of molten iron-
nickel.
 Convective flow of this fluid generates much of the Earth’s magnetic field.
 Temperature is around 2000°c
 Thickness 1400 miles
 INNER CORE(5170 to 6386 km)

 Inner core is solid iron-nickel alloy.

 It is hotter than the outer core.
 High temperatures and pressures.
 Not able to move about like a liquid.
 Temperatures are estimated between 4500-5500°c
 Thickness 1221 km.
 EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD

 The Earth’s magnetic field is generated by the slowly moving liquid part of
the iron core.
 Earth has a North and South magnetic pole.
 It traps many charged particles from the sun which protects us from
harmful solar radiation.
 MOHO

 The sharp and well defined junction between the mantle and the crust.
 Found roughly 32 km below the continents and about 10 km below the
ocean.

moho
THANK YOU