Mantle

Solid inner core

Crust

Liquid outer core
Upper mantle
Earth Internal Structure

The crust is the most familiar layer of earth.

Compared to the deeper layers it is extremely
thin, like a rigid skin floating on top of the
mantle.

The composition and characteristics of the
crust differs greatly between the oceans and
the continents.


Earth Crust
oceanic crust
~5 to 10 km thick
comprised of Si, Mg, Fe, O
bulk density of 3.0 g cm
-3

continental crust
~25 to 90 km thick (with
an average thickness of
35 km)

comprised of Si, Al, K,
Ca, Na, O

bulk density of 2.8 g
cm
-3

Mantle
upper mantle rigid and fused to crust
(Si, Mg, Fe, O) ~400 km thick
bulk density of 3.5 g cm
-3


lower mantle extend to the core
rigid, dense (5.5 g cm
-3
)
nearly 1900 km in thickness
also comprised of Si, Mg, Fe, O
Outer Core:

dense (~10.0 g cm
-3
) and liquid
thick layer (2200 km) comprised
of Fe, S
Inner Core:

dense (~12.0 g cm
-3
) and solid
1300 km thick with composition
of Fe, Ni
Core Temperature --> ~5500
o
C
The face of the Earth is always changing


Ocean bottom is moving at a rate from
about one-half to six inches a year
- called plate tectonics
Plate tectonic

A scientific theory describing how continents
move around on the mantle and how sea floor is
produced and destroyed.


able to account for many major geological
features:

-mountain building, volcanoes, earthquakes, -
the world-wide distribution of fossils and
-the ages of rocks on continents and the sea
floor.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Roughly 200 million years ago the Earth's
surface was very different from the
familiar pattern of land we know today
All of the land masses were grouped
together into one vast supercontinent
called Pangaea
The rest of the globe was covered by a
single great ocean known as Panthalassa
Slowly, over millions
of years, the great
land mass split apart
The pieces began to
move over the Earth's
surface
- driven by slowly
currents in the molten
rocks beneath the
Earth's hard outer
layers
Plate tectonic video 1
By about 35 million years ago the pattern
of land and sea was very much like it is
today
The continents are still moving and as the
Atlantic and Indian oceans continue to get
wider by a few inches every year.


The Pacific is slowly shrinking

For the last 25 million
years, the Red Sea has
been widening
If it continues at the
same rate, in 200
million years it will be
as wide as the Atlantic
today
Mid-Ocean Ridge
Mid-Ocean Ridges are places where
the Earth's tectonic plates are
gradually moving apart, and as they
do, magma rises up to fill the gap,
sometimes leading to submarine
volcanic eruptions.

This shallow magma provides a heat
source that creates many seafloor
hotsprings along the ridges which
transport heat and chemicals into the
ocean.
Image of Mid-
Atlantic Ridge
Mid-Ocean
Ridge
Plate
boundaries
Plate interact with each other

Tectonic phenomena
- mountain building
- volcanic activity
- earthquakes
- trenches

Three types of plate boundaries

1. Spreading zones (Divergence)
2. Collision zones (Convergence)
3. Transform zones
Divergence
- tectonic plates are separating (away from each other),
forming new crust in the centre and becomes new
oceanic crust.

- many of the spreading boundaries are located deep
in the ocean on the sea floor

Magma may also produce volcanic islands near the
spreading centre
Convergent
opposite side of a spreading zone

Three sub-types of convergent plate boundaries

1. Oceanic-continental convergence
2. Oceanic-oceanic convergence
3. Continental-continental convergence
Oceanic-
continental
convergence
- Oceanic and continental plate collide
- lighter continental crust rides up over the top of the
denser oceanic crust (call the subduction zone)
- volcanic activity at converging boundaries
- Oceanic trench developed
- eg: Peru-Chile Trench
- Andes Mountains
Andes Mountains
Oceanic-
oceanic
Convergence
- Two Oceanic plate converge
- the denser plate is subducted
- Produce deepest Trench in the world
(Mariana Trench)
Continental-
continental
Convergence
- Two continental plate converge
- No subduction happens along these margins
- A tall uplifted mountain range is created by the
collision (massive deformation)
- A good example of this is the Himalayan
Mountains where the European and Indian
plates meet
Himalayan Mountains
two plates are just
sliding past each other

lot of tension and strain where the two plates are sliding
and scraping past each other

sliding action causes cracks in the crust called faults

When there is a big enough movement along the cracks or
faults in the earth's crust we feel it in the form of
earthquakes
The San
Andreas fault is
the border
between two
tectonic
platesthe
North American
Plate and
Pacific Plate
Plate tectonic 2
Plate tectonic 3

Hawaiian Island
The hotspot
under the
Hawaiian Islands
exudes more
lava per unit
area than any
other place on
Earth
Hydrothermal Vent
- is a geyser on the seafloor.
- continuously gushes super-hot, mineral-rich
water that supports a diverse community of
organisms.
- Most occur at an average depth of about
2,100m in areas of seafloor spreading along the
Mid-Ocean Ridge system

How do Hydrothermal vents form?
Hydrothermal Vent
Form in places where there is volcanic
activity, such the Mid-Ocean Ridge.

Water seeps through cracks in the
seafloor and is heated by molten rock
deep below the ocean crust to as high
as 400C.

The hot fluid rises to the surface and
gushes out of the vent openings.

This hydrothermal fluid carries with it
dissolved metals and other chemicals
from deep beneath the ocean floor.
Hydrothermal Vent