THE COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF EARTH

Core, mantle, and crust are divisions based on composition. The crust makes up
less than 1 percent of Earth by mass, consisting of oceanic crust and continental
crust is often more felsic rock. The mantle is hot and represents about 68 percent
of Earth’s mass. Finally, the core is mostly iron metal. The core makes up about
31% of the Earth. Lithosphere and asthenosphere are divisions based on
mechanical properties. The lithosphere is composed of both the crust and the
portion of the upper mantle that behaves as a brittle, rigid solid.
The asthenosphere is partially molten upper mantle material that behaves
plastically and can flow. This animation by Earthquide shows the layers by
composition and by mechanical properties.
 CRUST AND LITHOSPHERE
Earth’s outer surface is its crust; a cold, thin, brittle outer shell made of rock. The
crust is very thin, relative to the radius of the planet. There are two very different
types of crust, each with its own distinctive physical and chemical
properties.Oceanic crust is composed of magma that erupts on the seafloor to
create basalt lava flows or cools deeper down to create the intrusive igneous rock
gabbro. Sediments, primarily muds and the shells of tiny sea creatures, coat the
seafloor. Sediment is thickest near the shore where it comes off the continents in
rivers and on wind currents.Continental crust is made up of many different types
of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. The average composition is
granite, which is much less dense than the mafic igneous rocks of the oceanic
crust. Because it is thick and has relatively low density, continental crust rises
higher on the mantle than oceanic crust, which sinks into the mantle to form
basins. When filled with water, these basins form the planet’s oceans.The
lithosphere is the outermost mechanical layer, which behaves as a brittle, rigid
solid. The lithosphere is about 100 kilometers thick. The definition of the
lithosphere is based on how earth materials behave, so it includes the crust and
the uppermost mantle, which are both brittle. Since it is rigid and brittle, when
stresses act on the lithosphere, it breaks. This is what we experience as an
earthquake.
MANTLE
The two most important things about the mantle are: (1) it is made of solid rock,
and (2) it is hot. Scientists know that the mantle is made of rock based on evidence
from seismic waves, heat flow, and meteorites. The properties fit the ultramafic
rock peridotite, which is made of the iron- and magnesium-rich silicate minerals.
Peridotite is rarely found at Earth’s surface.Scientists know that the mantle is
extremely hot because of the heat flowing outward from it and because of its
physical properties. Heat flows in two different ways within the Earth: conduction
and convection. Conduction is defined as the heat transfer that occurs through
rapid collisions of atoms, which can only happen if the material is solid. Heat flows
from warmer to cooler places until all are the same temperature. The mantle is hot
mostly because of heat conducted from the core. Convection is the process of a
material that can move and flow may develop convection currents.Convection in
the mantle is the same as convection in a pot of water on a stove. Convection
currents within Earth’s mantle form as material near the core heats up. As the core
heats the bottom layer of mantle material, particles move more rapidly, decreasing
its density and causing it to rise. The rising material begins the convection current.
When the warm material reaches the surface, it spreads horizontally. The material
cools because it is no longer near the core. It eventually becomes cool and dense
enough to sink back down into the mantle. At the bottom of the mantle, the material
travels horizontally and is heated by the core. It reaches the location where warm
mantle material rises, and the mantle convection cell is complete.

Convection in the mantle is the same as convection in a pot of water on a stove.

Convection currents within Earth’s mantle form as material near the core heats up.
As the core heats the bottom layer of mantle material, particles move more rapidly,
decreasing its density and causing it to rise. The rising material begins the
convection current. When the warm material reaches the surface, it spreads
horizontally. The material cools because it is no longer near the core. It eventually
becomes cool and dense enough to sink back down into the mantle. At the bottom
of the mantle, the material travels horizontally and is heated by the core. It reaches
the location where warm mantle material rises, and the mantle convection cell is
complete.
CORE
At the planet’s center lies a dense metallic core. Scientists know that the core is
metal for a few reasons. The density of Earth’s surface layers is much less than the
overall density of the planet, as calculated from the planet’s rotation. If the surface
layers are less dense than average, then the interior must be denser than average.
Calculations indicate that the core is about 85 percent iron metal with nickel metal
making up much of the remaining 15 percent. Also, metallic meteorites are thought
to be representative of the core.If Earth’s core were not metal, the planet would not
have a magnetic field. Metals such as iron are magnetic, but rock, which makes up
the mantle and crust, is not. Scientists know that the outer core is liquid and the
inner core is solid because S-waves stop at the inner core. The strong magnetic
field is caused by convection in the liquid outer core. Convection currents in the
outer core are due to heat from the even hotter inner core. The heat that keeps the
outer core from solidifying is produced by the breakdown of radioactive elements in
the inner core.

THEORY OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT

The continental drift hypothesis was developed in the early part of the 20th century,
mostly by Alfred Wegener. Wegener said that continents move around on Earth’s
surface and that they were once joined together as a single supercontinent. While
Wegener was alive, scientists did not believe that the continents could move.Find a
map of the continents and cut each one out. Better yet, use a map where the
edges of the continents show the continental shelf. That’s the true size and shape
of a continent and many can be pieced together like a puzzle. The easiest link is
between the eastern Americas and western Africa and Europe, but the rest can fit
together too.

Alfred Wegener proposed that the continents were once united into a single
supercontinent named Pangaea, meaning all earth in ancient Greek. He suggested
that Pangaea broke up long ago and that the continents then moved to their
current positions. He called his hypothesis continental drift.
 EVIDENCE FOR CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Besides the way the continents fit together, Wegener and his supporters collected
a great deal of evidence for the continental drift hypothesis. For one, identical rocks
of the same type and age are found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Wegener
said the rocks had formed side-by-side and that the land had since moved
apart.Mountain ranges with the same rock types, structures, and ages are now on
opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The Appalachians of the eastern United
States and Canada, for example, are just like mountain ranges in eastern
Greenland, Ireland, Great Britain, and Norway. Wegener concluded that they
formed as a single mountain range that was separated as the continents
drifted.Ancient fossils of the same species of extinct plants and animals are found
in rocks of the same age but are on continents that are now widely separated.
Wegener proposed that the organisms had lived side by side, but that the lands
had moved apart after they were dead and fossilized. He suggested that the
organisms would not have been able to travel across the oceans. For example, the
fossils of the seed fern Glossopteris were too heavy to be carried so far by wind.
The reptile Mesosaurus could only swim in fresh water. was a swimming reptile but
could only swim in fresh water. Cynognathus and Lystrosaurus were land reptiles
and were unable to swim.Grooves and rock deposits left by ancient glaciers are
found today on different continents very close to the equator. This would indicate
that the glaciers either formed in the middle of the ocean and/or covered most of
the Earth. Today glaciers only form on land and nearer the poles. Wegener thought
that the glaciers were centered over the southern land mass close to the South
Pole and the continents moved to their present positions later on.Coral reefs and
coal-forming swamps are found in tropical and subtropical environments, but
ancient coal seams and coral reefs are found in locations where it is much too cold
today. Wegener suggested that these creatures were alive in warm climate zones
and that the fossils and coal later had drifted to new locations on the continents.
Although Wegener’s evidence was sound, most geologists at the time rejected his
hypothesis of continental drift. Scientists argued that there was no way to explain
how solid continents could plow through solid oceanic crust. Wegener’s idea was
nearly forgotten until technological advances presented even more evidence that
the continents moved and gave scientists the tools to develop a mechanism for
Wegener’s drifting continents.