Earth’s Inside Earth Pages Inside Earth Pages Interior

Earth’s Interior

Earth’s Interior (Crust)

Solid, outermost layer Thinnest Thinnest layer (5-40km) Two types of Crust – Ocean – Ocean: made of Basalt – Continental – Continental: made of Granite – Ocean crust is denser Crust

“Rock” Sphere (15-300km) Part of the lower crust and upper mantle floats Rigid layer that floats on the asthenosphere. Lithosphere

Greek for “weak” sphere (250km) Can flow, Plastic/Fluid-like Acts like silly putty. Asthenosphere Layers of Earth Menu

Mantle Thickest Thickest layer (2,900km) Half way to the center of the Earth Composed of: – Silicon (Si)--Magnesium (Mg) – Oxygen (O)--Iron (Fe) Temperature and Pressure increase with depth. Layers of Earth Menu

Third layer (2,250km) Molten metal (2,200˚C) Iron and Nickel Plastic/Fluid-Like liquid – Behaves like a liquid. The Outer Core Layers of Earth Menu

The Inner Core Rigid: extreme pressure keeps the atoms from spreading apart Center of the Earth (1,200km) – Hottest Layer (5,000˚C) solid Dense, solid metal ball – Iron and Nickel Layers of Earth Menu

How do Scientists know? – Based on inferences seismic waves – Scientists use seismic waves: waves produced by earthquakes They act differently as they travel through the Earth.

Assignment Layers of Earth Read textbook pages and work on Layers of Earth worksheet. Answer questions 2 & 4 in textbook on page 24. Due: Wednesday, September 14 th