Technical English for Geologist Dr .F.

ALLIGUI

Earth structure

Mountain ranges tower to the sky. Oceans plummet to impossible depths. Earth’s surface is an amazing
place to behold. Yet even the deepest canyon is but a tiny scratch on the planet. To really understand
Earth, you need to travel 6,400 kilometers (3,977 miles) beneath our feet.

Starting at the center, Earth is composed of four distinct layers. They are, from deepest to shallowest, the
inner core, the outer core, the mantle and the crust. Except for the crust, no one has ever explored
these layers in person. In fact, the deepest humans have ever drilled is just over 12 kilometers (7.6
miles). And even that took 20 years!

Still, scientists know a great deal about Earth’s inner structure. They’ve plumbed it by studying how
earthquake waves travel through the planet. The speed and behavior of these waves change as they
encounter layers of different densities. Scientists — including Isaac Newton, three centuries ago — have
also learned about the core and mantle from calculations of Earth’s total density, gravitational pull and
magnetic field.

Here’s a primer on Earth’s layers, starting with a journey to the center of the planet.

A cut-away of Earth’s layers reveals how thin the crust is when compared to the lower layers.USGS

The inner core

This solid metal ball has a radius of 1,220 kilometers (758 miles), or about three-quarters that of the
moon. It’s located some 6,400 to 5,180 kilometers (4,000 to 3,220 miles) beneath Earth’s surface.
Extremely dense, it’s made mostly of iron and nickel. The inner core spins a bit faster than the rest of the
planet. It’s also intensely hot: Temperatures sizzle at 5,400° Celsius (9,800° Fahrenheit). That’s almost as
hot as the surface of the sun. Pressures here are immense: well over 3 million times greater than on
Earth’s surface. Some research suggests there may also be an inner, inner core.

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3,200 miles beneath Earth’s surface the inner core, is responsible for Earth’s magnetic field. According to
NASA, this field acts like a protective shield around the planet, repelling and trapping charged particles
from the Sun.

For over half a century, the scientific community thought that Earth's inner core was a solid ball of
compressed iron alloy surrounded by a liquid outer core. But new research, published Sept, led by Rhett
Butler, a geophysicist at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and
Technology (SOEST), suggests that Earth’s “solid” inner core is, in fact, endowed with a range of liquid,
soft and hard structures, which vary across the top 150 miles of the inner core.

"The more that we look at it, the more we realize it's not one boring blob of iron," Jessica Irving, a
seismologist at the University of Bristol in England, who was not involved in the study, told Live Science.
"We're finding a whole new hidden world."

The outer core

This part of the core is also made from iron and nickel, just in liquid form. It sits some 5,180 to 2,880
kilometers (3,220 to 1,790 miles) below the surface. Heated largely by the radioactive decay of the
elements uranium and thorium, this liquid churns in huge, turbulent currents. That motion generates
electrical currents. They, in turn, generate Earth’s magnetic field. For reasons somehow related to the
outer core, Earth’s magnetic field reverses about every 200,000 to 300,000 years. Scientists are still
working to understand how that happens.

The mantle

Around the core is the mantle. The mantle also has two main parts – the lower mantle and the upper
mantle, which includes the asthenosphere. The mantle is made up of hot, dense, semi-solid rock.

The lower mantle is 2 885 km thick. The volume of this region is about 84% of the Earth’s total volume!
The temperature of the mantle is cooler than that of the core, only reaching temperatures up to 3 000°C.
The lower mantle is denser than the upper mantle. Between the lower and upper mantle lies
a transition zone (400–660 km below the Earth’s surface). Above the transition zone is the upper mantle.
This area extends from the Earth’s crust layer down to about 400 km.

At close to 3,000 kilometers (1,865 miles) thick, this is Earth’s thickest layer. It starts a mere 30 kilometers
(18.6 miles) beneath the surface. Made mostly of iron, magnesium and silicon, it is dense, hot and
semi-solid (think caramel candy). Like the layer below it, this one also circulates. It just does so far more
slowly.

Near its upper edges, somewhere between about 100 and 200 kilometers (62 to 124 miles)
underground, the mantle’s temperature reaches the melting point of rock. Indeed, it forms a layer of
partially melted rock known as the asthenosphere (As-THEEN-oh-sfeer). Geologists believe this weak,
hot, slippery part of the mantle is what Earth’s tectonic plates ride upon and slide across.

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

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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.

Diamonds are tiny pieces of the mantle we can actually touch. Most form at depths above 200
kilometers (124 miles). But rare “super-deep” diamonds may have formed as far down as 700 kilometers
(435 miles) below the surface. These crystals are then brought to the surface in volcanic rock known as
kimberlite.

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.

The mantle’s outermost zone is relatively cool and rigid. It behaves more like the crust above it. Together,
this uppermost part of the mantle layer and the crust are known as the lithosphere.

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The thickest part of Earth’s crust is about 70 kilometers (43 miles) thick and lies under the Himalayan
Mountains, seen here.

Crust and Lithosphere

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.

Vocabulary

Tower: stronghold brittle breakable

Plummet: plunge churn: shake

Tiny scratch: miniature abrasion (igratignure) inner:internal

Slabs: pieces

Plumbed understood

Speed: quickness

shell :The protective, hard outer covering of mollusk or crustacean, such as a mussel or crab.

Jigsaw: game of puzzle

Exercise 1

Questions.

The mantle is divided into two sections. What do we call the top half section of the mantle?
What do we call the bottom half section of the mantle?
The mantle the thickest layer of the Earth. How thick is it?
Why is the lithosphere rigid and the asthenosphere plastic, even though they are both part of the
mantle?
What types of currents are formed in the mantle?
What is the outer core made of?
What is the primary physical difference between the earth’s inner and outer core?

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What are the two main types of seismic waves?

Exercise 2

Fill in the gaps

The core was the first ……………….structural element to be identified. It was discovered in 1906 by
R.D. Oldham, from his study of …………………….records, and it helped to explain Newton's
………………of the Earth's density. The outer core is presumed to be……………..because it does not
transmit …………………..waves and because the velocity of compressional (P) waves that pass
………………… it is sharply reduced. The …………………… is considered to be solid because of the
behavior of P and S waves passing through it.

Exercise 3.

Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form.

1. Processes that originate deep in the Earth‘s interior (to be) called internal forces.
2. Ninety-nine per cent of the atmosphere (to be concentrated) within 30 kilometers of the Earth‘s
surface.
3. The biosphere (to be inhabited) by life.
4. The mass of outer planets (to be composed) mostly of hydrogen and helium
5. People (to build) cities along rivers to take advantage of the flat land.
Exercise 4.

Cross out the unnecessary words where necessary. Some sentences are correct.

1. She is a better driver than I am.

2. He can walk much faster than me.
3. The old woman walked the more slowly than her daughter did.
4. Mahrez is among the best football players in the world.
5. The longer he exercise, the far more tired he gets.
6. Ahmed is a very more efficient worker than Sami is.
7. He spends the half as much money as his wife does.
8. She used to wear the same clothes as with her sister.
9. Lina can sing as well as a bird.
10. I can easily carry this bag. It‘s so light as a feather
11. My sister thinks she is the most more intelligent than me, but I don't agree!
12. Avatar is probably the worst film I have seen!
13. What is the more wettest month of the year in Algeria and where?
14. Do you think Harry Potter film is more better than the book?
15. Who is the most powerful person in your country?
16. Is Sid Ahmed Aghoumi most older than Athman Ariouat?
17. Chanez is nicest person that I know.

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Technical English for Geologist Dr .F.ALLIGUI