GEOGRAPHY

GEOGRAPHY THEORY NOTES

INTERIOR STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH

The layering of Earth is categorized as Lithosphere, Asthenosphere, Upper mantle, Lower mantle, Outer core, and the Inner core.

The earth's interior has three different layers; they are

(i) the crust (ii) mantle and (iii) the core.

a) Earth's Crust:

All of the Earth's landforms (mountains, plains, and plateaus) are contained within it, along with the oceans, seas, lakes and rivers. There are two different types of crust: thin oceanic crust that underlies the ocean basins and thicker continental crust that underlies the continents. These two different types of crust are made up of different types of rock. The boundary between the crust and the mantle is Mohoviric Discontinuity.

b) Earth's Mantle: It is the thick, dense rocky matter that surrounds the core with a radius of about 2885 km. The mantle covers the majority of the Earth's volume. This is basically composed of silicate rock rich in iron and magnesium. This layer is separated from the core by Gutenberg-Wiechert Discontinuity. The outer and the inner mantle are separated by another discontinuity named Repetti discontinuity.

c) Earth's Core: Earth's Core is thought to be composed mainly of an iron and nickel alloy. The core is earth's source of internal heat because it contains radioactive materials which release heat as they break down into more stable substances. The core is divided into two different zones. The outer core is a liquid because the temperatures there are adequate to melt the iron-nickel alloy. However, the inner core is a solid even though its temperature is higher than the outer core. Here, tremendous pressure, produced by the weight of the overlying rocks is strong enough to crowd the atoms tightly together and prevents changing it to the liquid state.