Layers of the Earth
Here you can find the different Layers of the Earth. There are 4 main layers: the Crust, the Mantle, the Outer-Core and Inner-Core. Scroll down for more information about these layers.
Crust
This is a picture of the Earth and the layers. The first layer is the crust. It is an extremely thin layer of rock which is less than 1% of the planet. The crust in some spots can be thicker than 80 kilometers and less than 1 kilometers in others. The Earth's continental crust is three times as thick as it is under oceans. The plates below the ocean are called oceanic crust.
The Earth’s crust is composed of a variety of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks gathered together into tectonic plates. About 98% of the Earth’s crust is made up of oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium.
The temperature of the crust increases as you go deeper into the Earth. It starts out cool at the surface and can get up to 400 degrees Celsius at the point between the crust and the mantle.
Mantle
The Earth’s Mantle is a 2900 km thick shell of compressed and heated rock found below the Earth’s Crust. The Earth’s Mantle makes up 70% of the planet’s volume. The Crust and the Mantle are separated by a transition area called the Mohorovicic gap or the “Moho”.
The mantle is mainly made up of oxide compounds such as olivine, pyroxenes, spinel, garnet, peridotite and eclogite.
There are two parts of the Mantle, the upper layer of the Mantle is called the " Asthenosphere" and inner layer of the Mantle is called the "Litosphere"
In the mantle there are Convection Currents. Convection Currents occur because the thickness of a fluid is related to its temperature. Hot rocks lower in the mantle are less dense than their cooler counterparts above. The hot rock rises and the cooler rock sinks due to gravity.
The outer mantle can be found between 10 km and 30 km below the Earth’s surface. The outer mantle has two different layers.The bottom layer is tough liquid rock called asthenosphere and is made up of silicates of iron and magnesium. The temperature here is between 1400 degrees C and 3000 degrees C. The upper layer of the outer mantle is stiffer because of its lower temperatures and it is called lithosphere.
The inner mantle can be found between 300 km and 2,890 km below the Earth’s surface. The average temperature is 3000 degrees C and the rock is solid because of the high pressures.
The mantle is mainly made up of oxide compounds such as olivine, pyroxenes, spinel, garnet, peridotite and eclogite.
There are two parts of the Mantle, the upper layer of the Mantle is called the " Asthenosphere" and inner layer of the Mantle is called the "Litosphere"
In the mantle there are Convection Currents. Convection Currents occur because the thickness of a fluid is related to its temperature. Hot rocks lower in the mantle are less dense than their cooler counterparts above. The hot rock rises and the cooler rock sinks due to gravity.
The outer mantle can be found between 10 km and 30 km below the Earth’s surface. The outer mantle has two different layers.The bottom layer is tough liquid rock called asthenosphere and is made up of silicates of iron and magnesium. The temperature here is between 1400 degrees C and 3000 degrees C. The upper layer of the outer mantle is stiffer because of its lower temperatures and it is called lithosphere.
The inner mantle can be found between 300 km and 2,890 km below the Earth’s surface. The average temperature is 3000 degrees C and the rock is solid because of the high pressures.
Outer Core
The inner part of the Earth is the core and it is divided into two layers, the inner and outer core. The outer core is about 2,890 and 5,150 km below the Earth’s surface. It is liquid and mainly consists of iron, some nickel and 10% sulphur and oxygen. The outer core temperature is 4000-5000 degrees C. The outer core is so hot that the metal is always molten. The outer core is about 220 km thick.
Inner Core
The inner core is 5,150 and 6,370 km below the Earth’s surface. It is made up of iron, nickel and some lighter elements like sulphur, carbon, oxygen, silicon and potassium. The inner core temperature is 5000-6000 degrees C. The inner core is solid because of the high pressure. Because the Earth rotates, the outer core spins around the inner core and that together causes the Earth’s magnetism.