UNIT I: EARTH AND SPACE

MODULE 2: THE EARTH’S INTERIOR

The Composition of the Earth’s Interior nickel melt. Aside from seismic data analysis, the
Earth’s magnetic field strengthens the idea that the
The Earth’s composition tells a story about itself. It gives us clues to Earth’s outer core is molten/liquid.
its past and proofs about the gradual and slow changes that it has - The outer core is mainly made up of iron and nickel
undergone for over 4.6 billion years. moving around the solid inner core, creating Earth’s
THE CRUST magnetism.
B. INNER CORE- made up of solid iron and nickel and
 The crust is the thinnest and the outermost layer of the Earth has a radius of 1300 kilometers.
that extends from the surface to about 32 kilometers below. - Its temperature reaches to about 5000oC.
 Underneath some mountain, the crust’s thickness extends to - The extreme temperature could have molten the
72 kilometers. iron and nickel but it is believed to have solidified as
 The crust consists of two layers. The upper layer is composed a result of pressure freezing, which is common to
of granite and is only found in the continental crust. Below the liquids subjected under tremendous pressure.
granite is a layer made mainly of basalt. This is found on both
under the continents and the oceans. The Earth’s Mechanism
 The Earth’s crust is subdivided into two regions: the THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT
continental crust and the oceanic crust.
a. CONTINENTAL CRUST Alfred Wegener was a German meteorologist, proposed a theory
- The thickness of the continental crust is that about 200 million years ago, the continents were once one
mostly 35-40 kilometers. large landmass. He called this landmass Pangaea, a Greek word
- mainly made up of silicon, oxygen, aluminum, which means “All Earth.” This Pangaea started to break into two
calcium, sodium, and potassium. smaller supercontinent called Laurasia and Gondwana land during
- Continental crust, found under land masses, is the Jurassic Period. These smaller supercontinents broke into the
made of less dense rocks such as granite. continents and these continents separated and drifted apart since
b. OCEANIC CRUST then. Wegener searched for evidences to support his claim. His
- around 7-10 kilometers thick which its evidences to the Continental Drift Theory includes the distribution of
average thickness is 8 kilometers. fossils in different continents, rock features, and ancient climates.
- found under the ocean floor and is made of
dense rocks such as basalt. 1. Evidence: The Continental Jigsaw Puzzle
 The most visible and fascinating evidence that these
THE MANTLE continents were once one is their shapes.
 The edge of one continent surprisingly matches the
 Beneath the crust, which extends to about 2900 edge of another: South America and Africa fit
kilometers from the Earth’s surface. together; India, Antarctica, and Australia match one
 It makes up about 80% of the Earth’s total volume and another; Eurasia and North America complete the
about 68% of its total mass. whole continental puzzle in the north.
 The mantle is mainly made up of silicate rocks, and 2. Evidence from Fossils
contrary to common belief, is solid, since both S-waves  Fossils are preserved remains or traces of organisms
and P-waves pass through it. (plants and animals) from the remote past.
 The attempt to study the Earth’s mantle extended as far as  Fossilized leaves of an extinct plant Glossopteris
studying the rocks from volcanoes, simply because they were found in 250 million years old rocks. These
were formed in the mantle. Scientists also studied fossils were located in the continents of Southern
rocks from the ocean floor. Africa, Australia, India, and Antarctica, which are now
 Mantle is mostly made of the elements silicon, oxygen, separated from each other by wide oceans.
iron and magnesium. The lower part of the mantle consists  Mesosaurus and Lystrosaurus are freshwater reptiles.
of more iron than the upper part. The temperature and Fossils of these animals were discovered in different
the pressure increase with depth. continents, such as in South America and Africa.
 Mantle is divided into two regions: 3. Evidence from Rocks
1. LOWER MANTLE  Fossils found in rocks support the Continental Drift Theory.
2. UPPER MANTLE  The rocks themselves also provide evidence that
continents drifted apart from each other.
a. LITHOSPHERE- relatively cool, outermost rigid shell  Rock formations in Africa line up with that in South
consists of crust and the uppermost part of the America as if it was a long mountain range. The folded
mantle and is about 50 to 100 kilometers thick. The cape mountains of South America and Africa line up
lithosphere, with the continents on top of it, is being perfectly as if they were once a long mountain range.
carried by the flowing asthenosphere.
b. ASTHENOSPHERE- soft, weak layer lies beneath the 4. Coal Deposits
lithosphere which is made of hot molten material. Its  Coal beds were formed from the compaction and
temperature is about 300 – 800 C. The upper 150 decomposition of swamp plants that lived million years
kilometers of the asthenosphere has a ago. These were discovered in South America, Africa,
temperature enough to facilitate a small amount of Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and even in
melting, and make it capable to flow. THE CORE Antarctica.
The core is subdivided into two layers: the inner and the outer core.  The current location of Antarctica could not sustain
substantial amount of life. If there is a substantial quantity
A. OUTER CORE- 2900 kilometers below the Earth’s surface. of coal in it, thus, it only means that Antarctica must have
It is 2250 kilometers thick and is made up of iron and been positioned in a part of the Earth where it once
nickel. supported large quantities of life. This leads to the idea
- The temperature in the outer core reaches up to that Antarctica once experienced a tropical climate, thus,
2000oC at this very high temperature, iron and it might have been closer before to the equator.