#earth structure

Mud, mud, glorious mud

At first glance, leafy Eltham with its artist colonies in Melbourne’s north east, far flung and fabled, Timbuktu in Saharan West Africa and Yallambie might not appear to have much in common, but look further. Surprisingly there is one thing seemingly attached to all three, and it’s not the peculiar place that each occupies in our collective imagination.

Mud Brick.

The Great Mosque of Djenné near…

From Outer to Inner

1. Crust - 1% of Earth’s volume

2. Mantle - 84% of Earth’s volume

3. Core - 15% of Earth’s volume

Crust

-94% igneous and metamorphic rock

-4% shale

-0.75% sandstone

-0.25% limestone

-Average composition of continental crust (land): granodiorite (medium to siliceous igneous rock)

-Average composition of oceanic crust (ocean floor): basaltic rock (low silica igneous rock)

The Crust: Atomically

-62.55% Oxygen (the largest present)

-21.22% Silicon

-6.47% Aluminum

-1.92% Iron

-1.94% Calcium

-2.34% Sodium

-1.42% Potassium

-1.84% Magnesium

Types of Rock that Make up the Crust

1. Sedimentary (E.g. sandstone, shale, coal, limestone, and coral)

-Formed by the transformation of sediments, acid rain, or biogenic deposition

2. Igneous (E.g. granite and basalt)

-Cools from magma

3. Metamorphic (E.g. marble and slate)

-Transformed by high pressures, temperatures, or chemicals while keeping a solid structure

Mantle

-Iron

-Magnesium silicates

-870°C-2200°C (1598°F-3992°F)

-From the crust to the core the temperature goes from cooler to hotter

Core

-Nickel

-Iron

-Over 5000°C (over 9032°F)

-Outer core is liquid

-Inner core is solid because of the extremely high pressure

Data from: http://butane.chem.uiuc.edu/pshapley/Environmental/L26/1.html

, The Big Bang Theory is the main clarification about how the universe and Earth started Define Earth according to the Big Bang theory.

Earth Structure