Earth’s Interior Geography of Canada
If you sunk a well to the centre of the Earth and dropped a brick into it, it would take only 45 minutes for it to hit the bottom. Our own attempts to penetrate toward the middle have failed horribly. One or two South African gold mines reach to a depth of a little over 3 km, but most mines go no more than about ½ km beneath the surface. If the planet were an apple, we wouldn’t yet have broken the skin. Indeed, we haven’t even come close.
Crust 8-64 km thick Cold and fragile Granite and basalt based rocks Like the “skin of an apple”
Crust All life on Earth exists on the crust or just above it Hydrosphere (water) Lithosphere (land) Atmosphere (air)
Mantle 2900 km thick Hot and molten Magnesium and silicon based Convection currents
Outer Core 2,000 km thick 3,000-4,000 °C Liquid nickel and iron
Inner Core 1,400 km thick 5,000-6,000 °C Solid nickel and iron
How do we know there is a core?