Earth’s Interior Crust – layer of solid rock that includes both dry land and the ocean floor Mantle – made up of rock that is very hot, but solid; nearly 3,000 kilometers thick Core – made mostly of iron and nickel; two parts – dense, liquid outer core and dense, solid inner core

CRUST Continental Crust – forms the continents; composed mostly of granite. Oceanic Crust - beneath the ocean; composed mostly of basalt. Basalt is much denser than granite.

MANTLE Composed of three layers: Lithosphere – uppermost, brittle rock Asthenosphere – still solid but less rigid than the lithosphere Mesosphere – very rigid due to increasing pressure

CONVECTION CURRENTS Caused by the very hot material at the deepest part of the mantle rising, then cooling and sinking again --repeating this cycle over and over

OUTER CORE Composed of the melted metals of nickel and iron So hot that the metals are all in the liquid state

INNER CORE Has heat and pressure so great that the metals are squeezed together and are not able to move about like a liquid, but are forced to vibrate in place like a solid

Feature’s of Earth’s Layers 3 main layers: crust, mantle, core (outer and inner) Layers differ greatly in size, composition, temperature and pressure The deeper down inside Earth, the greater the temperature, pressure and density of materials

Crust