The Earth’s Mantle and the Crust:

Clarifying the confusing Earth Layer’s

As the early Earth’s core was forming through the differentiation of
the heavier elements (i.e., Fe and Ni,) into a solid and liquid mass,
the lighter elements also clustered together into a dense, molten
mass that enveloped the core.

This formed the early Earth’s mantle, whose outermost materials

cooled off in time to form the Earth’s crust that was subsequently
broken into pieces through the collision of the Earth and the big
extra-terrestrial body.

The present mantle has a mean thickness of~2,900km and

comprises 84% of the Earth’s total volume.So, most of the earth’s
materials are in the mantle.
The Mantle
 The mantle is divided into two layers: the lower mantle and
the upper mantle. The upper mantle is roughly 410-km thick,
solid rock mass.

 This means that after a crust was formed, the outer molten
materials of the mantle further cooled off and solidified to form the
solid upper mantle.

 The lower is a fluid rock mass with a maximum thickness of

2,700km. A fluid is a mixture of liquid and gas materials.
Other chemical elements, like the heavy metallic
elements or heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Cr,
Hg, As, Cd) and the rare earth elements or theREEs
(Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho,
Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu) occur in trace amounts,or their
concentrations are in ppm (parts per million or mg/kg), so
they are called trace elements.

The upper mantle materials are the solidified and less dense
analog of the lower mantle. Along its boundary with the crust,
its internal temperatureis~1,0000C, which increases to
3,7000C toward its boundary withb the outer core.
The convection of the lower mantle has a direct effect on
the processes happening in the crust and the upper
mantle. These processes are responsible for drawing to
the gross architecture of the Eath’s surface.
The Crust
The crust forms the outermost solid layer of the Earth. It
comprises only 1% of the Earth’s volume.

The Moho is called a discontinuity because it delineates

a zone where seismic waves or the waves generated
during an earthquake change their velocity. Seismic
waves travel faster in the upper mantle rocks than in the
crust. This change in velocity indicates the differences
in the physical characteristics in the bulk chemical
compositions of the mantle and crustal rock masses.
 Mantle rocks are denser than crustal rocks and are mostly made up of
peridotites, a type of igneous rock that is dominantly nade up of Si, Mg, Fe,
Al and O.

 The crust under the oceans are made up of basaltik rocks, whereas those in
the continents are granatic to granodioritic rocks.

 Basaltic rocks have high Fe and Mg contents, whereas granitic rocks have high
Si and Al contents.

 That is why basaltic rocks are darker than granitic rocks, because they have
higher Fe contents.

 The rock masses of the upper mantle, bounding the fluid lower mantle, do not
behave like a rig. id solid rock mass because they are ductile or they can be
deformed
The ductility of the part of the upper mantle distinguishes it
from the overlying,rigidly solid part.These ductile rock
masses are referred to as the asthenosphere, which is
~180-km thick.

Imagine the asthenosphere to be like a soft chocolate or a

clay putty; it is solid and yet, it can be molded of deformed.
 Back to the Surface: The Earth’s Lithosphere
 The rigid solid part of the upper mantle and the crust comprise the
outer layer of the Earth called lithosphere, which overlies and is
bounded at its base by the ductile asthenosphere.
 The Earth’s lithosphere is divided into two types: the oceanic
lithosphere and the continental listhosphere.
 The oceanic lithosphere has a thickness of a few km in young
lithospheres are ~150 km in older oceanic lithospheres.
 On the other hand, the continental lithosphere has a thickness that
ranges from 200 to 300 km and is less dense than the oceanic
listhosphere (~ 2.7 g/cc).
 Their density difference plays a big role in how they interact in the
Earth’s surface architecture, such as the formation of oceans,
mountain ranges, volcanoes, etc.
 Geologists use these properties to better understand the
internal processes operating them.
 The crust is bounded at its base by the Moho whereas
the lithosphere is bounded by the asthenosphere but they
behave mechanically like one rock mass