Principles of Geology

Earth’s Interior
Chapter 12
The Earth's interior is
characterized by a gradual
increase in temperature,
pressure and density with
depth.

At only 100 km depth, the

temp is ~1300°C.

At the Earth's center, the

temperature is >6700°C.

The pressure in the crust

increases ~280 bars for
every kilometer depth.
The Earth consists of 3
major regions marked
by differences in
chemical composition.
Crust: rigid outermost
layer of the Earth.
Consists of two types:
1. oceanic - 3-15 km thick
and is composed of basalt
(igneous). Young (<180
million years old).
2. continental - up to 70 km
thick and composed of a
wide variety of rock types
(ave. granodiorite).
Ranges from young to old
(>3.8 billion years old).
Mantle: comprises ~82% of
the Earth by volume and is
~2900 km thick.
• The mantle is characterized
by a change in composition
from the crust.
• The mantle is able to flow
(plastically) at very slow rates.
Core: composed of iron,
nickel and other minor
elements.
• The outer core is liquid —
capable of flow and source of
the Earth's magnetic field.
• The inner core is solid Fe-Ni.
There is no major chemical
difference between the outer
and inner core.
Lithosphere (0 to ~100 km)
It's very stiff, and fractures if you push too hard
The outer 75 km (with big variations between 10 and 300km) of the
earth is a region which does not get heated up to near-melting
because it is losing heat rapidly to the surface - it is stuck at a
temperature close to 0°C. This relatively cool shell is called the
lithosphere. The lithosphere
is fractured into a few large
plates - just enough so that
the movement of the plates
can deliver interior heat to the
surface particularly near the
spreading boundaries, where two
plates are moving apart, and
new material wells up from
depth. Figure 12.2
Asthenosphere (~100 to 660 km)
It's hot and flows like molasses

• Radioactive dacay causes the Earth to heat up on time scales of

millions of years. In the course of tens/hundreds of millions of years,
this heat production is enough to warm the interior by hundreds of
°C.

• This heat is carried away by the convective circulation of the

earth's interior. The convection delivers heat to the surface, so it can
eventually be lost into space.

• Most of the earth's interior is heated to a temperature (> 300°C)

which makes it ductile, so that it is soft, and can flow like a viscous
liquid. You have seen this behavior as glass is heated to near its
melting point. The soft region (just below the lithospheric plates) is
called the asthenosphere
Mesosphere / Lower Mantle (660 to 2900 km)

• Rock in the lower mantle gradually strengthens with depth, but it

is still capable of flow.
Outer (2900 to 5170 km) and Inner Core (5170 to 6386 km)

• Outer core is liquid and composed of an iron-nickel alloy.

Convective flow of this fluid generates much of the Earth’s magnetic
field.
• Inner core is solid iron-nickel alloy. It is hotter than the outer core,
but the intense pressure keeps it solid.
 Probing Earth’s interior

 Most of our knowledge of Earth’s interior

comes from the study of earthquake waves
 Travel times of P (compressional) and S
(shear) waves through the Earth vary
depending on the properties of the materials
 Variations in the travel times correspond to
changes in the materials encountered
P and S waves moving through a solid
Seismic ray paths if the Earth has uniform properties
Ray paths for a planet where velocity increases with depth
 Inner core

Outer core

Mantle

A few of many possible seismic ray paths through the Earth

 Probing Earth’s interior

 The nature of seismic waves

 Velocity depends on the density and
elasticity of the intervening material
 Within a given layer the speed generally
increases with depth due to pressure
forming a more compact elastic material
 Compressional waves (P waves) are able
to propagate through liquids as well as
solids
 Probing Earth’s interior

 The nature of seismic waves

 Shearwaves (S waves) cannot travel
through liquids

 When seismic waves pass from one

material to another, the path of the wave
is refracted (bent)
 Seismic waves and
Earth’s structure
 Layers are defined by
composition

 Crust – the comparatively thin

outer skin that ranges from 3
km (2 miles) at the oceanic
ridges to 70 km (40 miles in
some mountain belts)
 Mantle – a solid rocky (silica-
rich) shell that extends to a
depth of about 2900 km (1800
miles)
 Core – an iron-rich sphere
having a radius of 3486 km
(2161 miles)
 Crust

 Two parts
 Continental crust
 Average rock density about 2.7 g/cm3
 Composition comparable to the felsic igneous
rock granodiorite
 Oceanic crust
about 3.0 g/cm3
 Density

 Composed mainly of the igneous rock basalt

 Mantle

 Contains 82% of Earth’s volume

 Solid, rocky layer
 Upper portion has the composition of the
ultramafic rock peridotite
 Two parts
 Mesosphere (lower mantle)
 Asthenosphere or upper mantle
 Lehmann discontinuity
Moho (1909) CMB (1914) (1936)
 Core

 Larger than the planet Mars

 Earth’s dense central sphere
 Two parts
 Outer core - liquid outer layer about 2270
km thick
 Inner core - solid inner sphere with a radius
of 1216 km
 Core

 Density and composition

 Average density is nearly 11 g/cm3 and at
Earth’s center approaches 14 times the
average density of water
 Mostly iron, with 5% to 10% nickel and
lesser amounts of lighter elements
 Lehmann discontinuity
Moho (1909) CMB (1914) (1936)
 Seismic waves and
Earth’s structure
 Layers defined by physical properties
 Depending on the temperature and depth, a
particular Earth material may behave like a
brittle solid, deform in a plastic–like manner,
or melt and become liquid
 Main layers of Earth’s interior are based on
physical properties and hence mechanical
strength
 Seismic waves and
Earth’s structure
 Layers defined by physical properties
 Lithosphere (sphere of rock)
 Earth’s outermost layer
 Consists of the crust and uppermost mantle

 Relatively cool, rigid shell

 Averages about 100 km in thickness, but may be

250 km or more thick beneath the older portions
of the continents
 Seismic waves and
Earth’s structure
 Layers defined by physical properties
 Asthenosphere (weak sphere)
 Beneath the lithosphere, in the upper mantle to a
depth of about 600 km
 Small amount of melting in the upper portion
mechanically detaches the lithosphere from the
layer below allowing the lithosphere to move
independently of the asthenosphere
 Seismic waves and
Earth’s structure
 Layers defined by physical properties
 Mesosphere or lower mantle
 Rigid layer between the depths of 660 km and
2900 km
 Rocks are very hot and capable of very gradual
flow
 Seismic waves and
Earth’s structure
 Layers defined by physical properties
 Outer core
 Composed mostly of an iron-nickel alloy
 Liquid layer

 2270 km (1410 miles) thick

 Convective flow within generates Earth’s

magnetic field
 Seismic waves and
Earth’s structure
 Layers defined by physical properties
 Inner core
 Sphere with a radius of 3486 km (2161 miles)
 Stronger than the outer core

 Behaves like a solid

Compositional and mechanical layers
 Discovering Earth’s
major boundaries

 The Moho (Mohorovicic discontinuity)

 Discovered in 1909 by Andriaja Mohorovicic
 Separates crustal materials from underlying
mantle
 Identified by a change in the velocity of P
waves
Figure 12.7

How the Moho

was discovered
 Discovering Earth’s
major boundaries

 The core-mantle boundary

 Discovered in 1914 by Beno Gutenberg
 Based on the observation that P waves die
out at 105 degrees from the earthquake and
reappear at about 140 degrees
 35 degree wide belt is named the P-wave
shadow zone
P-wave
shadow
zone
 Discovering Earth’s
major boundaries
 Discovery of the inner core
 Predicted by Inge Lehmann in 1936
 P-wave shadow zone is not a perfect shadow
– there are weak P-waves arriving, and
Lehmann suggested that these P-waves were
bounced from a solid inner core.
Discovery of the inner core by Inge Lehmann, 1936
Figure 12.10A
 Core

 Earth’s magnetic field

 The requirements for the core to produce
Earth’s magnetic field are met in that it is
made of material that conducts electricity
and it is mobile
 Inner core rotates faster than the Earth’s
surface and the axis of rotation is offset
about 10 degrees from the Earth’s poles
Possible origin of Earth’s
magnetic field

Figure 12.C
 Earth’ internal heat engine

 Earth’s temperature gradually increases

with an increase in depth at a rate known as
the geothermal gradient
 Varies considerably from place to place
 Averages between about 20C and 30C per
km in the crust (rate of increase is much less
in the mantle and core)
Figure 12.12
 Earth’ internal heat engine

 Major processes that have contributed to

Earth’s internal heat
 Heat emitted by radioactive decay of
isotopes of uranium (U), thorium (Th),
and potassium (K)
 Heat released as iron crystallized to form
the solid inner core
 Heat released by colliding particles during
the formation of Earth
 Earth’ internal heat engine

 Heat flow in the crust

 Process called conduction
 Rates of heat flow in the crust varies

 Mantle convection
 There is not a large change in
temperature with depth in the mantle
 Mantle must have an effective method of
transmitting heat from the core outward
Figure 12.14
Model of convective
flow in the mantle

Figure 12.14
Figure 12.20