Earths Interior
By:Sarah Hastings
Earths Crust
The crust is a layer of solid rock that includes dry land and the ocean floor. The main elementsin the crust are silicon and oxygen. The crustb in thinner than the layer that lies under it. In most places the crust is between 5 and 40 kilometers thick.
Mantle
The rock below the boundary is the solid material of the mantle a layer of hot rock. The mantle is made up of rock that is very hot, but solid. The mantle is nearly 3,000 kilometers thick.
Core
The core lies below the mantle. The core is made mostly of the metals iron and nickel. It consists of two parts a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. The outer core is 2,258 kilimeters thick. The inner core is a solid ball. its radius of the core is 3,480 kilimeters. Earths core occupies the center of the planet.
How do Geologist learn about earths interior
Geologist have used two main types of ways to learn about the earths interior. the first way is to get derect rock samples. The second way is to get inderect evidence from seismic waves.
some important vocabulary terms I should know.
- Seismic waves:They produce seismic waves when earthquakes accur.
- Pressure:results from a force pressing on an area.
- crust:The layer of rock that forms earths outer skin.
- Basalt: A dark fine grained rock.
- Granite: a rock that usally is a light color and has coarse grains.
- Mantle: A layer of hot rock.
- Lithosphere: A group of uppermost mantle into a single layer.
- Asthenosphere: Below the lithosphere the mantle is hotter and under increasing pressure.
- Outer core: a layer of molten metal surrounding the inner core.
- Inner core: A dense ball of solid metal.