LAYERS OF THE EARTH

Objective: Identify and differentiate the layers of the Earth.

Earth has many layers because it was shaped by the geologic processes that began at the start of
Earth's origin. The differences of each layer are based on the components that make them up.

How are layers of the Earth different from one another?

The Earth is composed of four

different layers. The crust is the layer
that you live on, and it is the most
widely studied and understood. The
mantle is much hotter and has the
ability to flow. The outer core and
inner core are even hotter with
pressures so great you would be
squeezed into a ball smaller than a
marble if you were able to go to the
center of the Earth!

CRUST
• Thinnest layer of the Earth that ranges
from only 2 miles in some areas of the
ocean floor to 75 miles deep under
mountains
• Made up of large amounts of silicon and
aluminum
• Two types of crust: oceanic crust and
continental crust
• Composed of plates on which the continents and oceans rest
 The crust is composed of two rocks. The
continental crust is mostly granite. The
oceanic crust is basalt. Basalt is much denser
than the granite. Because of this the less dense
continents ride on the denser oceanic plates.

The crust of the Earth is broken into many

pieces called plates. The plates "float" on the soft,
semi-rigid asthenosphere.

MANTLE
 the largest layer of the Earth.
composed of very hot dense rock that flows like asphalt
under a heavy weight. The movement of the middle
mantle (asthenosphere) is the reason that the crustal
plates of the Earth move.
• Solid but capable of flow (like hot asphalt or fudge)
• Thickest layer of the Earth (making up 70% of the
Earth’s mass)
• The hot material (magma) in the mantle rises to the top
of the mantle, cools, then sinks, reheats, and rises again.
These convection currents cause changes in the Earth’s surface.
 • Gutenberg discontinuity - is detected between Earth's lower
mantle & the outer core as observed by changes in the seismic
waves.
• the upper most boundary that separates the upper mantle
from Earth's crust is defined by the sudden increase in seismic
velocity. This is called MOHOROVICIC (moho) discontinuity as
noted by Andrija Mohorovicic in 1909.

The core of the Earth is like a ball of

very hot metals. The outer core is so
hot that the metals in it are all in the
liquid state. The outer core is
composed of the melted metals of
nickel and iron.

• Solid sphere composed mostly of iron

• It is believed to be as hot as 6,650°C (12,000°F)
• Heat in the core is probably generated by
• the radioactive decay of uranium and
other elements
• It is solid because of the pressure from the outer
core, mantle, and crust compressing it tremendously