LAYERS OF THE

EARTH
WHAT IS EARTH MADE
OF?
Beneath the
atmosphere is the solid
region of Earth—
geosphere.
It is not lithosphere.
It does not only comprise
the visible solid layer, it
also extends to the
center of earth.
CRUST
The outermost solid
layer of the Earth.
It is relatively thin and
occupies just about 1%
of Earth’s Volume.
Lithosphere refers to
the crust.
CRUST
The Moho is called
discontinuity
because it delineates
a zone where seismic
waves or the waves
generated during an
earthquake change
their velocity.
Andrija Mohorovicic
CRUST
The crust under ocean are
made up of basaltic rocks.
 Have high Fe and Mg
Those in the continents are
granitic to granodioritic
rocks.
 Have high Si and Al
 CRUST
Ductile rock masses are
referred to as
asthenosphere.
 Back to the Surface: The Earth’s
Lithosphere
 The rigid solid part of the
upper mantle and the
crust comprise the
outermost layer of the
earth called the
lithosphere, which
overlies and is bounded
at its base by the ductile
asthenosphere.
 Two Types of
Crust
 CONTINENTAL CRUST
Thick, less dense and mostly
old.
About 25 miles thick under
continents.
Mostly composed of GRANITE.
 OCEANIC CRUST
Thin, dense, sinks under
continental crust and young.
Only about 3-5 miles thick
under the oceans
Mostly composed of basalt.
 MANTLE
Below the crust is mantle.
The mantle comprises 84% of Earth’s volume.
It is divided into upper mantle and lower mantle.
 UPPER MANTLE
About 410 km thick
Made of solid rocks and makes
up the lithosphere along with the
crust.
 LOWER MANTLE
About 2,700 km thick, which is
made of hot semisolid rocks.
Fluid rock mass
MANTLE
 It is largely made up of Si, Mg, Al, Fe, K, Na, Ca,
and O.
 In mantle and crust, these elements are
collectively called the major elements or rock-
forming elements of the Earth
 Heavy metallic elements or heavy metals Pb, Zn,
Co, Ni, Co, Cr, Hg, As, Cd
 Rare earth elements Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm,
Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb,a and Lu
 CORE
The present Earth’s
core comprises 16% of
the Earth’s total volume
and 32% of it’s mass.
The temperature of the
core is approximately
6000oC, similar in the
magnitude to the
surface temperature of
the sun.
 The center of the Earth.CORE  Marking the boundary
 Made up of iron-nickel alloy, between the solid mantle
making it very dense. and the liquid outer core
 The inner core and outer core is is the Gutenburg
separated by Bullen Discontinuity. discontinuity.
 OUTER CORE
About 2260 km thick.
Its liquid iron-nickel
composition has a very
low viscosity, allowing the
process of convection to
occur.
 INNER CORE
Has a radius of 1216 km,
which contains mostly
iron.
The inner core is solid
despite its high
temperature because of
the extreme pressure at
the center of Earth.
 The Core as an Internal
Source of Heat
 The interface between the solid
core and the outer core is
relatively hotter than that part
bounding the outer core and the
mantle.
 The temperature gradient allows
the liquid core Fe to flow and
convect heat which explains
why is it able to produce an
electromagnetic field.