1. The Earth 26-May-11

2. True or False? 1)The Earth is made up of the crust and mantle. 2)The outer part of the Earth is cracked into plates. 3)The UK is moving away from North America. 4)The crust and upper part of the mantle is called the lithosphere. 5)Mount Everest is getting taller because the Earth’s crust is being squashed up by moving plates.

3. True or False? 1)The Earth is made up of the crust and mantle. 2)The outer part of the Earth is cracked into plates. 3)The UK is moving away from North America. 4)The crust and upper part of the mantle is called the lithosphere. 5)Mount Everest is getting taller because the Earth’s crust is being squashed up by moving plates. FALSE TRUE

6. Earth structure

11. The idea of a land bridge used to explain fossil evidence before the theory of continental drift was accepted.

12. Two plates moving apart

13. Oceanic – continental plate boundary

17. Plate sliding past each other

23. Journey to the centre of the Earth (Imaginary!!) 24-Feb-08

24. Earth structure C1b 6.1 What is below the surface of the Earth?

25. Race to the core! A team of scientific explorers are racing to the core of the Earth. At stake is a prize of £10 million and the honour of winning. The team has chosen to start drilling through solid rock from a base in Cornwall. This is one of the most difficult explorations ever undertaken by human beings - if they reach the core they will have to put up with temperatures almost as hot as the surface of the Sun! Their progress will be reported on the project website for everyone to join in!

26. We have already drilled down nearly 1 km through solid rock and we’re about to build our first rest station. This will be a base where we can start going deeper. We have been very pleased with our diamond-tipped drills. They are making faster progress than we had anticipated. Distance from surface: 1 km Temp: 55  C Conditions: Solid rock, mainly granite 1km

28. It’s getting very hot outside now. The rock is fairly stable but we’ve had problems with the pressure that almost cracked our hyper-strong tunnel. The next rest station will be very difficult to make. Distance from surface: 20 km Temp: 400  C Conditions: Solid rock, with pockets of liquid 20km

30. We are inside the mantle now. The rocks outside are rich in iron and magnesium. Even with the pressure they are starting to become more plastic - which means they move around a bit but are not yet liquid. Soon we will have to switch to the robot ship - we cannot go much further ourselves. Distance from surface: 120 km Temp: 650  C Conditions: Solid rock, with pockets of liquid 120km

32. We are deep in the mantle now. The rock around us is like a very thick liquid. We have switched to the robot ship so we can explore the way forward from our base in the crust. This is the area where our project could fail. The conditions are much tougher than the early astronauts faced on the Moon! Distance from surface: 2000 km Temp: 800  C Conditions: Very thick liquid - almost solid 2000km

34. We’ve reached the core! We’re in the outer core which is a liquid made of iron-rich minerals - like nothing you’ve ever seen on the surface. Our little robot probe ship is battered and damaged - you can see the quality of the images we’re getting but our team is ecstatic! Distance from surface: 3500 km Temp: 5000  C Conditions: Liquid rock, rich in iron 3500km

36. OK, so this is a cheat! Our robot probe cannot get this far but it has scanners which can ‘see’ a few hundred kilometres in front of it. You are looking at a picture from the inner core. It looks like a solid! The pressure stops the rock from melting! The temperature here is about the same as the outer regions of the Sun! Distance from surface: 6000 km Temp: 7000  C Conditions: Liquid rock, rich in iron 6000km

38. How deep have we gone? 1 km 20 km 120 km 2000 km 3500 km 6000 km Mantle Outer Core Inner Core Crust

39. Bristol New York Barcelona If you start on the Earth’s surface how far down would you go if you travelled the same distance as the distance between London and: Paris

40. Bristol = 200 km New York = 5586 km Barcelona = 1183 km The distance from London to: Paris = 343 km

41. Earthquakes & volcanoes 24-Feb-08

44. Mount St Helens, USA 1980

45. Alaska 2006

46. Volcanic eruptions – warning signs 1)Increasing temperature of volcano (due to moving magma underground) 2)Rising ground level around the volcano due to the build up of magma 3)More sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) given out You know where it is going to happen, but not exactly when – issue of whether to evacuate or not!

47. Japan 2011

50. Pakistan 2005

51. Japan 1964

52. Colombia 1999

54. Earthquakes – warning signs 1)Pre-shocks (small earthquakes) 2)Water levels in wells fall 3)Some animals act strangely You don’t know exactly where or when it will happen though!