EARTHS INTERIOR

1
EARTHS INTERIOR
2
EARTHS INTERIOR
The Island of Surtsey
3
EARTHS INTERIOR

• Geologists - scientists who study the forces
  that make and shape the planet Earth they study
  the chemical and physical characteristics of
  rocks
• Rock - the material that forms Earths hard
  surface.
• Geology - the study of planet Earth

4
EARTHS INTERIOR
Geologists at Work
5
EARTHS INTERIOR

• Constructive forces - shape the surface by
  building up mountains and landmasses.
• Destructive forces - slowly wear away mountains
  and, eventually, every other feature on the
  surface.

6
EARTHS INTERIOR
CONSTRUCTIVE FORCES
Deposition of Sediment
Convergent boundaries creating a mountain range
Volcanic Eruption
7
EARTHS INTERIOR
DESTRUCTIVE FORCES
Lava Flow
Rain
Weathering
Erosion
8
EARTHS INTERIOR

• Continents seven great landmasses surounded
  by oceans made up of layers of rock

9
EARTHS INTERIOR

• Depth of Deepest Mine 3.8 kilometers in
  South Africa

PREMIER DIAMOND MINE The largest and oldest
kimberlite pipe in the world
10
EARTHS INTERIOR

• Seismic Waves indirect method used to study
  Earths interior produced by earthquakes

11
EARTHS INTERIOR
Temperature - Increases as Distance from Surface
Increases!
12
EARTHS INTERIOR
Pressure - Increases as Distance from Surface
Increases!
13
EARTHS INTERIOR

• Crust thin layer of rock that forms Earths
  outer skin contains continental and oceanic
  crust 5-40 km thick contains O, Si, Al, Ca, Fe,
  Na, K, Mg 870oC.

14
EARTHS INTERIOR

• Basalt dark, dense rock with texture found
  in oceanic crust
• Granite rock with large crystals not as
  dense as basalt light color found in
  continental crust

15
EARTHS INTERIOR

• GRANITE BASALT

Granite Gorge at the Grand Canyon
Basalt formations in a south-west Iceland stream
16
EARTHS INTERIOR

• Mantle layer
• below the crust hot rock composed of
• Si, O, Fe, Mg 2900 km 2200oC

17
EARTHS INTERIOR

• Lithosphere contains the mantle and the
  crust rigid layer

18
EARTHS INTERIOR
19
EARTHS INTERIOR

• Asthenosphere soft layer separating the upper
  and lower mantle material can flow slowly

20
EARTHS INTERIOR

• THE MANTLE
• This soft layer is called the asthenosphere. In
  Greek, asthenes means weak. Just because
  asthenes means weak, you cant assume this layer
  is actually weak. But the asthenosphere is soft.
  The material in this layer can flow softly.
• The lithosphere floats on top of the
  asthenosphere. Beneath the asthenosphere, solid
  mantle materials extends all the way to Earths
  core. The mantle is nearly 3,000 kilometers
  thick.

21
EARTHS INTERIOR
22
EARTHS INTERIOR

• THE CORE
• After traveling through the mantle, you reach the
  core. Earths core consists of two parts a
  liquid outer core and a solid inner core. The
  metals iron and nickel make up both parts of the
  core. The outer core is a layer of molten metal
  that surrounds the inner core. In spite of
  enormous pressure, the outer core behaves like a
  thick liquid. The inner core is a dense ball of
  solid metal. In the inner core, extreme pressure
  squeezes the atoms of iron and nickel so much
  that they cannot spread out and become liquid.

23
EARTHS INTERIOR

• THE CORE
• The outer and inner cores make up about one third
  of Earths mass, but only 15 percent of its
  volume. The inner and outer cores together are
  just slightly smaller than the moon.

24
EARTHS INTERIOR
25
EARTHS INTERIOR

• EARTHS MAGNETIC FIELD
• Currents in the liquid outer core force the solid
  inner core to spin. Like a planet within a
  planet, the inner core spins inside Earth at a
  slightly faster rate than the rest of the planet.
  This movement creates Earths magnetic field,
  which causes the planet to act like a giant bar
  magnet. The magnetic field affects the whole
  Earth. When you use a compass, the compass
  needle aligns with the lines of force in Earths
  magnetic field. The north-seeking end of the
  compass needle points to Earths magnetic north
  pole.

26
EARTHS INTERIOR

• The inner core spinning faster than the rest of
  the planet creates Earths magnetic field!

27
EARTHS INTERIOR

• EARTHS MAGNETIC FIELD
• Consider an ordinary bar magnet. If you place it
  beneath a piece of paper and sprinkle iron
  filings on the paper, the iron filings line up
  with the bars magnetic field. If you could
  cover the entire planet with iron filings, they
  would form a similar pattern.

28
EARTHS INTERIOR