c
  


 
Key Concepts
? Ã
knowledge abo t the st
ct
e of the inte
io
of the ea
th comes f
om st dying how
diffe
ent types of seismic waves, c
eated by ea
thq akes, t
avel th
o gh the ea
th.
? ×a
th is composed of m ltiple laye
s, which can be defined eithe
by composition o
by
mechanical p
ope
ties.
? The c
st, mantle, and co
e a
e defined by diffe
ences in composition.
? The lithosphe
e, aesthenosphe
e, mesosphe
e, and o te
and inne
co
es a
e defined by
diffe
ences in mechanical p
ope
ties.

The deepest places on the ea
th a
e in So th Af
ica, whe
e mining companies have excavated 3.5
km into the ea
th to ext
act gold. No one has seen deepe
into the ea
th than the So th Af
ican
mine
s beca se the heat and p
ess
e felt at these depths p
events h mans f
om going m ch
deepe
. Yet the ea
th¶s
adi s is 6,370 km

Isaac Newton was one of the fi
st scientists to theo
ize abo t the st
ct
e of the ea
th. Based on
his st dies of the fo
ce of g
avity, Newton calc lated the ave
age density of the ea
th and fo nd
it to be mo
e than twice the density of the
ocks nea
the s
face. F
om these
es lts, Newton

ealized that the inte
io
of the ea
th had to be m ch dense
than the s
face
ocks. His findings
excl ded the possibility of a cave
no s, fie
y nde
wo
ld inhabited by the dead, b t still left
many q estions nanswe
ed. Whe
e does the dense
mate
ial begin? How does the composition
diffe
f
om s
face
ocks? Volcanic vents like MT. Kenya occasionally b
ing p pieces of the
ea
th f
om as deep as 150 km, b t these
ocks a
e
a
e, and we have little hope of taking J les
Ve
ne¶s Jo
ney to the Cente
of the ×a
th.

Instead, m ch of o
knowledge abo t the inte
nal st
ct
e of the ea
th comes f
om
emote
obse
vations - specifically, f
om obse
vations of ea
thq akes. ×a
thq akes can be ext
emely
dest
ctive fo
h mans, b t they p
ovide a wealth of info
mation abo t the ea
th¶s inte
io
. This
is beca se eve
y ea
thq ake sends o t an a

ay of seismic waves in all di
ections, simila
to the
way that th
owing a stone into a pond sends o t waves th
o gh the wate
. Ãbse
ving the
behavio
of these seismic waves as they t
avel th
o gh the ea
th gives s insight into the
mate
ials the waves move th
o gh
.
 
 An ea
thq ake occ
s when
ocks in a fa lt zone s ddenly slip past each othe
,

eleasing st
ess that has b ilt p ove
time. The slippage
eleases seismic ene
gy, which is
dissipated th
o gh two kinds of waves, P-waves and S- waves. The distinction between these two
waves is easy to pict
e with a st
etched-o t slinky. If yo p sh on one end of a slinky, a
comp
ession wave passes th
o gh the slinky pa
allel to its length. If instead yo move one end of
the slinky p and down
apidly, a "
ipple" wave moves th
o gh the slinky. The comp
ession
waves a
e P- waves, and the
ipple waves a
e S-waves. Tho gh both kinds of waves
ef
act, o

bend, when they c
oss a bo nda
y into a diffe
ent mate
ial, these two types of waves behave
diffe
ently depending on the composition of the mate
ial they a
e passing th
o gh. Ãne of the
biggest diffe
ences is that S-waves cannot t
avel th
o gh liq ids whe
eas P- waves can. We feel
the a

ival of the P- and S-waves at a given location as a g
o nd-shaking ea
thq ake.
If the ea
th we
e the same composition all the way th
o gh its inte
io
, seismic waves wo ld

adiate o twa
d f
om thei
so
ce (an ea
thq ake) and behave exactly as othe
waves behave -
taking longe
to t
avel f
the
and dying o t in velocity and st
ength with distance, a p
ocess
called atten ation. Given Newton's obse
vations, if we ass me that ea
th's density inc
eases
evenly with depth beca se of the ove
lying p
ess
e, wave velocity will also inc
ease with depth
and the waves will contin o sly
ef
act, t
aveling along c
ved paths back towa
ds the s
face.
By the ea
ly 1900s, when seismog
aphs we
e installed wo
ldwide, it q ickly became clea
that
the ea
th co ld not possibly be so simple. As ea
ly as 132 C×, the Chinese had b ilt inst
ments
to meas
e the g
o nd shaking associated with ea
thq akes. The fi
st mode
n seismog
aphs,
howeve
, we
en¶t b ilt ntil the 1880s in Japan by B
itish seismologists to
eco
d local
ea
thq akes. It wasn¶t long befo
e those seismologists
ecognized that they we
e also
eco
ding
ea
thq akes occ

ing tho sands of kilomete
s away.

Ãne of the fi
st impo
tant obse
vations on the ea
th's st
ct
e was made by And
ija
Moho
ovicic, a C
oatian seismologist. He noticed that P-waves meas
ed mo
e than 200 km
away f
om an ea
thq ake's epicente
a

ived with highe
velocities than those within a 200 km

adi s. Altho gh these
es lts
an co nte
to the concept of atten ation, they co ld be explained
if the waves that a

ived with faste
velocities t
aveled th
o gh a medi m that allowed them to
speed p. In 1909, º     defined the fi
st majo
bo nda
y within the ea
th¶s inte
io
- the
bo nda
y between the c
st, which fo
ms the s
face of the ea
th, and a dense
laye
below,
called the
. Seismic waves t
avel faste
in the mantle than they do in the c
st beca se it is
composed of dense
mate
ial. Th s, stations f
the
away f
om the so
ce of an ea
thq ake

eceived waves that had made pa
t of thei
jo
ney th
o gh the dense

ocks of the mantle. The
waves that
eached the close
stations stayed within the c
st the enti
e time. Altho gh the
official name of the c
st- mantle bo nda
y is the Moho
ovicic discontin ity, in hono
of its
discove
e
, it is s ally called the º .

Anothe
obse
vation made by seismologists was the fact that P-waves die o t abo t 105 deg
ees
away f
om an ea
thq ake, then
eappea
abo t 140 deg
ees away, a

iving m ch late
than
expected. This
egion that lacks P-waves is called the P-wave shadow zone. S- waves, on the
othe
hand, die o t completely a
o nd 105 deg
ees f
om the ea
thq ake. Remembe
that S-
waves a
e nable to t
avel th
o gh liq id. The S-wave shadow zone indicates that the
e is a
liq id laye
deep within the ea
th that stops all S-waves b t not the P-waves. In 1914, Beno
G tenbe
g, a Ge
man seismologist, sed these shadow zones to calc late the size of anothe

laye
inside of the ea
th, called the  . He defined a sha
p co
e-mantle bo nda
y at a depth of
2,900 km, whe
e P-waves we
e
ef
acted and slowed and S-waves we
e stopped. The P-wave
and S- wave shadow zones.

    

Ãn the basis of these and othe
obse
vations, geophysicists have c
eated a c
oss-section of the
ea
th. The laye
s a
e highlighted by mechanical bo nda
ies, which a
e defined on the basis of
how mate
ials act, not on thei
composition.
c
   
The
e a
e two majo
types of c
st: c
st that makes p the ocean floo
s and c
st that makes p
the continents
? à  is composed enti
ely of basalt ext
ded at mid-ocean
idges,
es lting in a
thin (~ 5 km),
elatively dense c
st (~3.0 g/cm3).
? c   is made p
ima
ily of less dense
ock s ch as g
anite (~2.7 g/ cm3). It
is m ch thicke
than oceanic c
st,
anging f
om 15 to 70 km.

 c 
This pa
t of the ea
th is abo t 1,800 miles (2,900 km) below the ea
th's s
face. The co
e is a
dense ball of the elements i
on and nickel. It is divided into two laye
s,
? the inne
co
e and
? à te
co
e.
The inne
co
e - the cente
of ea
th - is solid and abo t 780 miles (1,250 km ) thick. The o te

co
e is so hot that the metal is always molten, b t the inne
co
e p
ess
es a
e so g
eat that it
cannot melt, even tho gh tempe
at
es the
e
each 6700ºF (3700ºC). The o te
co
e is abo t
1,370 miles (2,200 km) thick. Beca se the ea
th
otates, the o te
co
e spins a
o nd the inne

co
e and that ca ses the ea
th's magnetism. What does the co
e consist of? Inne
co
e: It is
3,200 - 3,960 miles (5,150-6,370 km) below the ea
th's s
face and mainly consists of i
on,
nickel and some lighte
elements (p
obably s lph
, ca
bon, oxygen, silicon and potassi m.
 The tempe
at
e in the inne
co
e is abo t 9032 - 10832 ºF (5000-6000 ºC). Beca se of the
high p
ess
e, the co
e is solid. The ave
age density of the co
e is abo t 15g/cm³. Ã te
co
e:
The o te
co
e is at 1,800 - 3,200 miles (2,890-5,150 km) below the ea
th's s
face.

The o te
co
e is liq id and mainly consists of i
on, some nickel and abo t 10% s lph
and
oxygen. The tempe
at
e in the o te
co
e is abo t 7200 - 9032 ºF (4000-5000ºC). The
density of the o te
co
e is between the 10g/cm³ and 12,3g/cm³. The o te
co
e and inne

co
e togethe
ca se the ea
th's magnetism.

 º
The laye
above the co
e is the mantle. It begins abo t 6 miles (10 km) below the oceanic c
st
and abo t 19 miles (30 km) below the continental c
st (see The C
st). The f nction of the
mantle is to sepa
ate the inne
mantle and the o te
mantle. It is abo t 1,800 miles(2,900 km)
thick and makes p nea
ly 80 pe
cent of the ×a
th's total vol me. Science deals with the st
ct
e
of the mantle in two diffe
ent ways. Ãne way is based on its chemical const
ction (the mate
ial),
the othe
on the way laye
s st
eam o
move

   
  

º
The inne
mantle can be fo nd between 190 miles (300 km) an 1,800 miles (2,890 km) below
the ea
th¶s s
face. The ave
age tempe
at
e is 5400 ºF (3000ºC), neve
theless the
ock is solid
beca se of the high p
ess
es. The inne
mantle fo
the biggest pa
t p
obably consists of
s lphides and oxides of silicon and magnesi m. The density is between 4.3g/cm³ and 5.4g/ cm³.

ú
The o te
mantle is a lot thinne
than the inne
mantle. It can be fo nd between 7 miles (10 km)
and 190 miles (300 km) below the s
face of the ea
th. Yo can divide the o te
mantle into two
diffe
ent laye
s. The bottom laye
is to gh liq id
ock and p
obably consists of silicates of i
on
and magnesi m. The tempe
at
e in this pa
t is between 2520 ºF (1400ºC) and 5400 º F (3000ºC)
and the density is between 3.4g/cm³ and 4.3g/cm³. The ppe
laye
of the o te
mantle consists
of the same mate
ial b t is stiffe
beca se of its lowe
tempe
at
e.

  
 


F
om this pe
spective, yo look at the o te
mantle and the c
st togethe
. He
e we make a
diffe
ence in asthenosphe
e and lithosphe
e. Asthenosphe
e: The to gh liq id pa
t of the o te

mantle. Lithosphe
e: The stiffe
pa
t of the o te
mantle and the c
st. The lithosphe
e 'floats' on
the asthenosphe
e, like ice on wate
.

 c
The c
st cove
s the mantle and is the ea
th's ha
d o te
shell, the s
face on which we a
e
living. Compa
ed to the othe
laye
s the c
st is m ch thinne
. It floats pon the softe
, dense

mantle. The c
st is made p of solid mate
ial b t this mate
ial is not the same eve
ywhe
e.
The
e is an à and a c  . The fi
st one is abo t 4-7 miles (6-11 km)
thick and mainly consists of heavy
ocks, like basalt. The Continental c
st is thicke
than the
Ãceanic c
st, abo t 19 miles (30 km) thick. It is mainly made p of light mate
ial like g
anite.
The
ocks of the oceanic c
st a
e ve
y yo ng compa
ed with the
ocks of the continental c
st.
The
ocks of the oceanic c
st a
e not olde
than 200 million yea
s. The mate
ial of which the
oceanic c
st consists is fo
the g
eate
pa
t tholeiitic basalt (this is basalt witho t olivine). Basalt
has a da
k, fine and g
itty volcanic st
ct
e. It is fo
med o t of ve
y liq id lava, which cools off
q ickly. The g
ains a
e so small that they a
e only visible nde
a mic
oscope. The ave
age
density of the oceanic c
st is 3g/cm³.