Brief and simple explanations about the Layer's of the Earth

1. Image courtesy of Wikipedia (2010).
Image courtesy of Volcanolive (2010).

2.  Earth’s interior is composed of 4 layers:
3 solid and 1 liquid
1. Crust
2. Mantle
3. Outer core
4. Inner core

4.  Outermost layer – made of the lightest materials -
rock, soil & seabed.
 Divided into:
a. continental crust (made of granite) –
contains the different landforms
b. oceanic crust (made of basalt) – contains
the landforms below the seafloor and ocean.
Thickness ranges from 8km beneath oceans to
40km beneath continents.
 Continents are relatively light ‘blocks’ floating high
on the upper mantle.

6. • Upper mantle and lower mantle – 2900 km thick
(approx 84% of earth’s volume).
• Upper Mantle – made of solid bedrock, contains most
of the Earth’s mass.
a. Lithosphere – rigid, hard and make up the
tectonic land plates.
b. Asthenosphere – soft layer beneath the
Lithosphere.
• Lower Mantle – denser and hotter than the
upper mantle.

7.  The Outer Core is the second to last
layer of the Earth. It is a magma like
liquid layer that surrounds the Inner
Core and creates Earth's magnetic
field.
 The Outer Core is composed of iron
and some nickel. There is very few
rocks and iron and nickel ore left in the
Outer Core because of the Inner Core
melting all the metal into liquid magma

8.  Center of the earth - Deepest layer, 6250 km
under the surface
 A solid ball of an iron alloy (sulphur & nickle
traces).
 Solidified state due to intense pressure.
 2400 km in diameter, high pressure, WHITE HOT
like the sun - approx 6000ºC.