Layers of the Earth

• Crust


  LOE: made of solid rock and minerals
• Crust


  thin outer layer of the Earth
• Crust


  3-5 miles thick in the ocean floor

  25 miles thick on land
• Mantle 


  made up of slightly different silicate rocks with more iron and magnesium

  • rock is hard in the upper part
  • lower - rock is softer
• Mantle


  LOE: 1900 miles deep
• Mantle


  LOE: 1900 miles deep
• Mantle


  makes up about 85% of the Earth's weight
• Tectonic plates


  combination of the outer mantle and the crust
• Tectonic plates


  move very slowly; a few inches per year
• Fault


  the place where the plates touch each other
• Outer core


  LOE: made up of hot liquid iron and nickel
• Outer core


  LOE: 1400 miles thick
• outer core


  creates a magnetic field

  makes a protective barrier around the earth that shields us from the sun's destructive solar wind
• inner core


  LOE: made of solid iron and nickel
• inner core

  LOE: 1500 miles thick
• lithosphere


  from the crust down to the rigid upper mantle