Earth’s Interior EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of Earth’s interior?
Jan 21, 2016
Earth’s Interior
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of Earth’s
interior?
Vocabulary
• Geologists – scientists who study the forces that make and shape the planet Earth. – Study the chemical and physical
characteristics of rock.– Map where different types of rocks are found
on and beneath the surface– Describe landforms
• Geology – study of planet Earth
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of Earth’s
interior?
Surface Changes
• Constructive Forces – shape the Earth’s surface by building up mountains and landmasses
• Destructive forces – slowly wear away mountains and every other feature on the surface
• Continents – 7 great landmasses surrounded by water
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics
of Earth’s interior?
Indirect Evidence• Geologist use
indirect evidence to study Earth’s interior– Seismic Waves
• Waves produced by earthquakes
• Record the waves and study how they travel
• Speed of waves and the paths they take reveal that our planet is made up of several layers
EQ: What are geologists? What are the
characteristics of Earth’s interior?
Center of the Earth
• Temperature– Outer layers cool– At 20 meters rocks
get warmer– Every 40 meters
after that the temperature rises 1 degree Celsius
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of Earth’s interior?
Center of the Earth
• Pressure – The force pushing on a surface or area– Because of the weight of the rock above, the
pressure inside Earth increases as you go deeper
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of Earth’s interior?
Earth’s Layers
• Three main layers make up the Earth’s interior– The crust– The mantle– The core
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of
Earth’s interior?
The Crust
• Layer of rock that forms the Earth’s outer skin
• Mountains, water, soil and rocks found on crust
• Thin layer, like an onion skin for the Earth
• Includes both dry land and the ocean floor
• Thinnest on the ocean floor, thickest under mountains
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of Earth’s
interior?
The Crust• Oceanic Crust
– Beneath the ocean– Consists mostly of dense rocks like basalt
• Dark, fine rock with fine texture• Continental Crust
– Forms the continents– Consists of less dense rocks like granite
• Large crystals, not as dense as basalt, light color
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of
Earth’s interior?
The Crust
The Mantle
• A layer of hot rock
• Mantle is 3000 kilometers thick and extends to the core
• Between 5 and 40 kilometers beneath the surface, there is a boundary of basalt and granite
• Below the boundary is the solid material of the mantle
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of Earth’s
interior?
The MantleMade of two layers
Lithosphere • uppermost part of the mantle
and the crust combined• About 100 kilometers thick• Material in this part of the
mantle is somewhat soft – it can bend like plastic
Asthenosphere • Soft material with the ability
to flow• Lithosphere floats on top of
the asthenoshpere
EQ: What are geologists? What are the
characteristics of Earth’s interior?
The Core
• Consists of two parts– Outer core - liquid– Inner core – solid
• Made of iron and nickel
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of
Earth’s interior?
The Core• Outer core
– Layer of molten metal that surrounds the inner core
– Behaves like a thick liquid
• Inner Core– Dense ball of solid metal– Extreme pressure
squeezes the atoms of iron and nickel so much they cannot spread out and become liquid
EQ: What are geologists? What
are the characteristics of Earth’s interior?
Earth’s Magnetic Field• Currents in the liquid
outer core force the solid inner core to spin
• Inner core spins slightly faster than the rest of the planet creating our magnetic field. This causes our planet to act like a giant bar magnet
EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of Earth’s interior?
Class Work and Homework
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EQ: What are geologists? What are the characteristics of
Earth’s interior?