LU 2 STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION OF THE EARTH

◊ Structure of the Earth

We think that the Earth is composed of core, mantle, crust,

hydrosphere, atmosphere. The layers from outside in are:

• Atmosphere (gas)

• Hydrosphere

• Crust (continental crust, oceanic crust): 5-70 km think

• Upper mantle (rocks): down to 660 km depth

• Lower mantle (rocks): from 660 km to 2890 km depth

• Outer core (molten metal): from 2890 to 5150 km depth

• Inner core (solid metal): from 5159 km to the center of the

earth

The composition of the core and mantle are thought to be >99% of

mass of Earth.

1
The Evidence for the Structure of the Earth

We have only indirect evidence for the structure.

From various lines of evidence we think that the Earth is composed

of core, mantle, crust, hydrosphere and the atmosphere.

Lines of evidence that the earth is layered include:

(i) Average density

The average density of the Earth (5.5 g/cc) is much greater than
that of the crustal rocks that we can observe, hence, something
very dense (such as metals) must be down there.

(ii) Moment of inertia

The moment of inertia of the earth is significantly smaller than

that for a uniform sphere indicating that the Earth is not a
uniform sphere with a density of 5.5 g/cc everywhere except for
very close to the surface.

(iii) Meteorites.

iv) Seismic studies.

Seismic studies pinned down the depth of different layers of the

Earth and helped constrain the composition of the layers.

Seismic velocity discontinuities owing to large differences in

material properties (owing to either compositional differences or
differences in phase) are interpreted as different layers of the
Earth.

2
3
 Explosive Device

Seismic Waves

Seismic waves are the waves of energy caused by the sudden

breaking of rock within the earth or an explosion. They are the energy
that travels through the earth and is recorded on seismographs.

The two main types of waves are body waves and surface waves.

• Body waves can travel through the earth's inner layers

• Surface waves can only move along the surface of the planet like
ripples on water.

Earthquakes radiate seismic energy as both body and surface waves.

Body Waves
• The first kind of body wave is the P wave or primary wave
• The second type of body wave is the S wave or secondary wave

4
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content
/visualizations/es1009/es1009page01.cfm?
chapter_no=visualization

5
Velocity and density variations within Earth based on
seismic observations.

The main regions of Earth and important boundaries are

labeled.

This model was developed in the early 1980's and is called

PREM for Preliminary Earth Reference Model.

6
 Earth Structure I: seismic evidence

• From velocity structure, density structure, and existence of refracted, reflected,

and converted phases at various source-receiver distances, we know the earth has
a core, a mantle, and a crust. We know the depths of the boundaries. We know
the outer core is liquid, the other regions are solid.
3

Meteorites

7
Meteorites are bits of the solar system that have fallen to the Earth.

Importance of meteorites
Meteorites are our only material evidence of the universe
beyond the Earth.
They are
• surviving remnants of fragmented planetesimals: means of
ascertaining the nature of planetary interiors

• undergone no change since their formation

• clues to the composition of the solar system: estimate the

cosmic abundance of elements

Terms
Meteor: the luminous trail caused by a glowing meteoroid or glowing
fragments
Meteoroids: extraterrestrial material (range from cosmic dusts to
asteroids) that enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
Meteorites: meteoroids that reach the Earth’s surface
Craters: produced by large iron meteoroid impact and explosion

Recovery of meteorites
Falls: Meteorites that have been seen to fall and subsequently
recovered
Falls give true proportions of each class of meteorites
Finds: Meteorites that are not seen to fall but are recognized as
meteorites
Most finds are iron meteorites because these can be identified
easily and with confidence.

Classification of Meteorites

8
There are three main categories depending on their dominant
composition.

Stones
Stones are similar to common terrestrial rocks in that their
mineral composition is dominated by silicates, by far the
most prevalent rock-forming minerals on our planet.
Stones are subdivided into two classes:
Chondrites
Chondrites get their name from the fact that they all (with
some exceptions) contain chondrules, tiny mineral spherules
made mostly of silicates.
Achondrites
Achondrites lack chondrules

Irons
Irons are mostly metallic in composition; they consist of
alloys of iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni), in varying proportions.

Stony-irons
Stony-irons are combinations of both; they contain silicate
and metallic phases in approximately equal amounts.

9
 Meteorite Types

Iron
Primarily iron and nickel

Stony Iron
Mixtures of iron and stony material

Chondrite
By far the largest number of meteorites fall
into this class; similar in composition to the
mantles and crusts of the terrestrial
planets

Achondrite
Similar to terrestrial basalts; the
meteorites believed to have originated on
the Moon and Mars are achondrites

http://dept.physics.upenn.edu/nineplanets/meteorites.html

Evidence from meteorites

10
Their nature provides evidence concerning nucleosynthesis

So
The presence of three distinct types of meteorites – stones, stony
irons and irons – inevitably led people to believe that meteorites
originated from some planetary body which had fractionated into a
metal-rich core with a silicate envelope.

They also provide evidence regarding the

1. Formation age of the solar system: About 4.56 Ga

2. Elemental and nuclide abundance in the solar system

3. Origin and early evolution of the solar system and the planets,
the possible triggering event for the collapse of the solar nebula
and formation of the solar system

4. The evolution of the parent body of meteorites, asteroids, Mars

(5. Rocks do fall from the sky)

◊Distribution of the Elements in the Earth

11
Composition of the different layers

Layer Composition
CORE Total mass of the metal core is about 32% of
(0-3483 km). the Earth’s mass.
The core is made of siderophile elements, and
depleted in lithophile and volatile elements.
Inner core (0-1220 km).
Made of Fe-Ni solid metal plus some minor
amount unknown elements.
Outer core (1220-3483 km).
Made of Fe-Ni molten metal plus a
substantial amount (5-10%) of unknown light
elements (O, Si, C, S, H, etc.)
MANTLE
(~3650 - ~6350 km)
Lower mantle (~3650 - 5710 km)
Made of silicate and oxide minerals
(One estimation: 80% MgSiO3 perovskite, 15%
oxides (Mg,Fe)O, and 5% CaSiO3 perovskite).
Upper mantle (5710 - ~6350km.)
Made of peridotite (a rock made of 70%
olivine, 25% pyroxenes and 5% other phases).
Crust
(5 to 70 km thick)
Oceanic crust is different from the continental
crust in both thickness and composition.
Oceanic crust is thin (6 km) and is made of
basalt.
Continental crust is thick (30-70 km) and is
made of granite, andesite and basalt (also
sedimentary rock cover).
The continental crust is highly complex.
Composition of the crustal rocks can be directly
determined.

Oceans Not a continuous layer (covers 2/3 of the earth’s

surface).
Atmosphere The atmosphere gradually thins into solar system
background space.

12
Concentrations of elements in the bulk earth and each layer

13
Estimated bulk earth composition (Zindler and Hart, 1986)
Component mass % Element mass%
SiO2 31.5 Fe 32
Fe ~23.0 O 31
MgO 25.9 Mg 16
FeO ~11.8 Si 15
Al2O3 2.78 Ni 1.8
CaO 2.2 Ca 1.6
Ni 1.7 Al 1.5
Cr2 O3 0.32
Na2 O 0.23

Estimated composition of the earth’s core (Zindler and Hart, 1986)

Outer core Inner core

Component mass% Component mass%
Fe 89 Fe 93.8
Ni 5.4 Ni 5.6
Co 0.25 Co 0.26
Others 5.35

Estimated composition of Earth’s mantle and crust

Component Mantle+crust Oceanic crust Continental crust

SiO2 46 50 57.3
MgO 38 11 5.3
FeO 8.0 8.5 9.1
Al2O3 4.1 16 15.9
CaO 3.2 11 7.4
Cr2O3 0.47 0.04 0.02
Na2O 0.33 2.1 3.1
NiO 0.28 0.01 0.01
TiO2 0.18 0.9 0.9
MnO 0.13 0.16 0.2
K2O 0.032 0.10 2.2

Dry atmosphere composition Ocean water composition

Component volume % Component mass %
N2 78.084 H2O 96.5
O2 20.948 Cl- 1.89
+
Ar 0.934 Na 1.05
CO2 0.035 SO42- 0.26
Ne 0.00182 Mg2+ 0.13
2+
He 0.00052 Ca 0.040
CH4 0.00014 K+ 0.037
Kr 0.000114
N2O 0.00005

14
 H2 0.00005
Xe 0.0000087
O3 0.000007

Average abundances in a very inhomogeneous Earth

The estimates made for the distribution in the whole earth (the core,
the mantle, the oceanic crust, the continental crust, the sea and the
atmosphere) and the crust alone are as follows.

15
The different parts are estimated to have the following values (all
analyses in weight %).

Continent Crust Ocean Crust Mantle Core

O 45.50 44.00 44.23

Si 26.80 23.27 21.16

Al 8.40 8.21 1.86

Fe 7.06 7.86 6.26 70.00

Ca 5.30 9.00 2.34

Mg 3.20 4.62 23.66

Na 2.30 1.94 0.21

K 0.90 0.25 0.03

Ti 0.50 0.85 0.05

Ni 0.00 0.00 0.20 30.00

16
The elemental composition for the solid crust, including the
hydrosphere and atmosphere, are as follows.

The Earth’s Crust

• Crust is very enriched in some elements (such as K) compared to the

mantle.
• The crust can be grossly subdivided into sediments, granite (upper
crust) and basalt (lower crust). More detailed estimates of crust
composition have a problem – lower crust poorly known.
• Dominant element in crust is oxygen (c. 47% by weight), then silicon
(c. 28% by weight). The crust is enriched in incompatible elements
(elements which preferentially partition into a melt phase) suggests
igneous differentiation.

Relative abundances of elements in the Earth’s Crust

17
18
 Oceans and Atmosphere

• These are composed of originally liquid and gaseous material

separated from the main mass of the Earth during its early history,
subsequently altered by chemical weathering, biological activity,
igneous eruptions, human activity. Both are homogeneous compared
to bulk Earth or just crust.

• Seawater ~
1. Constant concentrations of main elements (Cl, Na, Mg, S, Ca, K).
2. Elements involved in biological activity (C, O, N, P) vary in
concentration with depth because photosynthesis only occurs in
top few metres of ocean.
3. Large variations in concentration of dissolved gases (N2, O2, CO2
etc).
4. Only 15 elements present at > 1ppm, including H & O.

• Residence time = the average time that one molecule of a particular

compound (or one atom of a particular element) spends in the
reservoir of interest. Combine with incoming and outgoing fluxes
(mass transported /unit time) to identify major factors controlling
ocean chemistry.
2 8
1. Oceanic residence times vary from 10 to 10 years, i.e. short c.f.
age of Earth!!!
2. Atmosphere is similar reservoir with residence times < 1 day to >
1 m. y.
3. Molecules with short residence times (H2O, NH3, SO2, …) show
variable concentration during recent Earth history;
4. Others (N2 ~ 78.1%, O2 ~ 20.95%) have had ~ constant
concentration.

• Early atmosphere very different (anaerobic or anoxic = no free

oxygen / low oxygen concentration), predominantly NH3, H2, H2O,
CH4, CO (not CO2). Major change in late Precambrian, when
photosynthesis created lots of O2, this also strongly affected seawater
composition.

19
 References

Brownlow, A.H., 1979, Geochemistry, Prentice Hall.

Krauskopf, K.B. & Bird, D.K., 1995, Introduction to Geochemistry,
WCB McGraw Hill
Mason, B. and Moore, C.B., 1989, Prinsip-Prinsip Geokimia, DBP.
The Evolution of the Universe - Scientific American, October 1994
The Earth's Elements - Scientific American, October 1994
The Evolution of the Earth - Scientifi c American, October 1994

20