Edward S.

Neri BSCE 5 CETE 10 The Structure of the Earths Interior

The earth is made up of the thin outermost layer called the crust, the innermost part called the core, and the part in between them called the mantle.

June 20, 2013

The Crust (Oceanic and Continental). The denser materials such as iron sank to form the core. It is partly solid. Temperatures o are extremely high, at about 3000 C.

At the beginning, the early earth seemed to have heated up, the center became molten, and convection currents developed as the lighter compounds tended to rise towards the surface forming the brittle crust. Together with the top part of the mantle, it formed the hard slabs known as lithosphere. The continents are embedded in these slabs. The lithosphere is divided into oceanic and continental crusts. Oceanic crust (sima), the floor of the deep oceans, is thin, about 7km thick, and made of relatively dense rocks like basalt. Continental crust (sial) is much thicker, averaging 33km, and is composed of relatively light material such as granite.

The Core. Between the core and the crust, the intermediate zones form the mantle, which is mainly solid rocks but there is also a layer of molten rock called magma nearer the core. o Temperatures are high, at about 2000 C.

The Mantle.

The plate tectonics The theory of plate tectonics (meaning "plate structure") was developed in the 1960's. This theory explains the movement of the Earth's plates (which has since been documented scientifically) and also explains the cause of earthquakes, volcanoes, oceanic trenches, mountain range formation, and other geologic phenomenon. The plates are moving at a speed that has been estimated at 1 to 10 cm per year. Most of the Earth's seismic activity (volcanos and earthquakes) occurs at the plate boundaries as they interact. The top layers of the plates are called the crust. Oceanic crust (the crust under the oceans) is thinner and denser than continental crust. Crust is constantly being created and destroyed; oceanic crust is more active than continental crust. Continental drift Sea floor spreading Sea-floor spreading is the process in which the ocean floor is extended when two plates move apart. As the plates move apart, the rocks break and form a crack between the plates. Earthquakes occur along the plate boundary. Magma rises through the cracks and seeps out onto the ocean floor like a long, thin, undersea volcano. As magma meets the water, it cools and solidifies, adding to the edges of the sideways-moving plates. As magma piles up along the crack, a long chain of mountains forms gradually on the ocean floor. This chain is called an oceanic ridge. The boundaries where the plates move apart are 'constructive' because new crust is being formed and added to the ocean floor. The ocean floor gradually extends and thus the size of these plates increases. As these plates get bigger, others become smaller as they melt back into the Earth in the process called subduction. The new rock at the edge has no sediments like the sand or mud, since it is formed only recently. Farther away from the ridge, sand and mud gradually settle on it, in an ever-thickening blanket. The oldest rocks may have 14,000 feet of sand and other sediments resting on top of it.