Earth's

lnteriorand
PlateTectonics
I rr v r E R M s
crust ldentify Earth'sdifferentgeologiclayers.
mantle I
Explainhow the presence of magnetic bandson the
core
oceanfloorsupports the theoryof platetectonics. I
lithosphere
Describe the movementof Earth'slithosphere usingthe
plate tectonics
theoryof platetectonics. :i
maglna
subduction
tdentifythe threetypesof plateboundaries andthe t-
r
principalstructures thatformat eachof theseboundaries. f,
fault

know from experience that Earth's surface is solid. You n

l/or
I wak on it every day. You may have even dug into it and
found that it is often more solid once you dig and reach rock.
I crust the thin andsolid Howeveq Earth is not solid all the way to the center. tl
outermostlayerof Earth
abovethe mantle is
Whatls Earth'slnteriorLike? c(
I mantle the layerof rock
Figure t shows Earth's major compositional layers. We live on the
betweenEarth'scrustand
topmost layer of Earth-the crust. Because the crust is iela- CC
core
tively cool, it is made up of hard, solid rock. The crust beneath sh
the ocean is called oceanic crust and has an average thickness of ni
5-8 km (3.I-4.9 mi). Continental crust is less dense and thicker, th
with an averase thickness of about 20*40 km 02-25 mi). The th
Outercore Crust
continental crust is deepestbeneath high mountains, SU
lnner core Mantle
where it commonly reachesdepths of 70 km or more. inr
Beneath the crust lies the mantle, a layer of rock iru
that is denserthan the crust. Almost 2900 km (1800 mi) AS

thick, the mantle makes up about 80o/oof Earth's vol-

ume. Because humans have never drilled all the way to
Ra
the mantle, we do not know for sure what it is like.
ter
Howeve4 geologic events, such as earthquakes andvol- Ea
canoes,provide evidence of the mantle's consistency. iso
qui
bec
Figure I enc
Earthis composed of an innercore,an outercore,a ene
mantle,and a crust.Thoughit is difficultto see,the Ear
oceaniccrustis thinnerthanthe continental crust.

700 CHAPT ER 2I
 For the most part, the mantle is solid. The outermost part is
also rigid, like the crust. Deeper than a few hundred kilometers,
howeve4 it is extremely hot, and said to be "plastic"-soft and - www.scilinks.org I
Topic:
Earth'sGeologic I
easily deformed, Iike a piece of gum. layers I
The center of Earth, the core, is believed to be composed Scilinkscode:HK4055 |
mainly of iron and nickel. It has two layers. The inner core, which g,fi ilatilainsdbyrie
I
is solid metal, is surrounded by the liquid metal outer core. "-llrurs l#.TilT,liffn,,,'*fl

Earthtinteriorgetswarmerurithdepth
-
If you have ever been in a cave, you may have noticed that the
temperature in the cave was cool. That's because the air and
rocks beneath Earth's surface are shielded from the warming I core the centerpart of Earth
effects of the sun. Howeve4 if you were to travel far beneath the belowthe mantle
surface, such as into a deep mine, you would find that the tem-
perature becomesuncomfortably hot. South African gold mines,
for instance, reach depths of up to 3 km (2 mi), and their tem-
peratures approach 50'C (120'F). The high temperatures in these
Temperatures
mines are caused not by the sun but by energy that comes from exceedl75oC
Earth's interior. (347oF) Crust
believe the mantle is much hotter than
"Geologists
the crust, as shown in Figure2. Thesehigh temperatures
cause the rocks in the mantle to behave plastically. This
is the reason for the inner mantle's deformable, gumlike
consistency.
The core is hotter still. On Earth's surface, the metals 'if
Temperatures
contained in the core would boil at the temperatures
exceedl25ooc
shown in Flgure 2. Iron boils at 2750'C (4982'F), and (228OoF)
nickel boils at 2732"C (4950"F).But in the outer core,
these metals remain liquid becausethe pressure due to Temperatures
the weight of the mantle and crust is so great that the exceedsooooc-__ ,j
substances in the outer core are prevented from chang- (go30oF) ,
ing to their gaseous form. Similarly, pressure in the Figure2
inner core is so great that the atoms are forced together
Temperatures in Earth's
interior
as a solid despite the intense heat. increasewith depth.Temperatures
nearthe centerof the corecanbe
Radioactive
elements
contributeto Earthbhighinternal as hot asthe surfaceof the sun.
temperature I

Earth's interior contains radioactive isotopes. These radioactive

isotopes (mainly those of uranium, thorium, and potassium) are
quite rare. Their nuclei break up, releasing energy as they
become more stable. Because Earth is so large, it contains
enough atoms of these elements to produce a huge quantity of
energy. This energy is one of the major factors contributing to
Earth's high internal temperature.

PLANET E A Rrn 701

 Figure 5
as
ThismapshowsPangaea
it.
envisioned
AlfredWegener

PlateTectonics
Around 191.5,a German scientist named Alfred Wegenernoticed
that the eastern coast of South America and the western coast of
Africa appeared to fit together like pieces of a puzzle' By study-
ing maps, Wegener found that several other continents' coast-
lines also seemed to fit together. He pieced all the continents
together to form a supercontinent that he called Pangaea(pan
GEE uh). Figure 5 shows what Pangaeamight have looked like
approximately 200 million years ago.
Using fossil evidence,Wegenershowed that 200 million years
ago the same kinds of animals lived on continents that are now
oceans apart. He argued that the animals could not have evolved
on separatecontinents. Figure4 shows the fossil of a Mesosaurus
found in Brazil. Identical fossils were found in western Africa,
giving scientists strong evidence for a past connection between
the continents.

Evidentefor Wegener'sideascamelater
The evidence for continental drift or the theory that Earth's sur-
face is made up of large moving plates,was compelling. However,
scientists did not have an explanation of how continents could
move. Wegenert theory was ignored until the mid-1960s, when
structures discoveredon the ocean floor gaveevidenceof a mech-
anism for the slow movement of continents, or continental drift.
In the 1960s, evidence was discovered in the middle of the
oceans that helped explain the mechanisms of continental drift.
New technology provided images of "bands" of rock on the ocean
Figure 4 floor with alternating magnetic polarities, like the bands illus-
These boneswere
Mesosaurus trated in Figure 6. These bands differ foom one another in the
discoveredin Sao Paulo,Brazil. alignment of the magnetic minerals in the rocks they contain.

7O2 cHAPTER 2r
 Alignmentof oceanicrockssupportsthe theory of
movingplates
As molten rock pours out onto the ocean floo4 as shown in I lithosphere the solid,outer
Figure 5, irorr minerals such as magnetite align themselves paral- layerof Earth,that consistsof
lel to Earth's magnetic field, just as compassneedlesdo. After the the crustandthe rigidupper
mantle
rocks cool to about 550"C (1020"F), the alignment of these mag-
netic regions in the iron minerals becomes fixed like the stripes I plate tectonics the theory
shown in Figure 6. The result is a permanent record of Earth's that explainshow the outer
magnetic field as it was just before the rock cooled. partsof Earthchangethrough
So why are there differently oriented magnetic bands of rock? time,andthat explains the
Earth's magnetic field has reversed direction many times during relationshipsbetweenconti-
nentaldrift,sea-floor
spread-
its history with the north magnetic pole becoming the south mag-
ing,seismicactivity,
and
netic pole and the south magnetic pole becoming the north mag- volcanicactivity
netic pole. This occurs on averageonce every 200 000 years. This
processis recorded in the rocks as bands. These magnetic bands
are syrnmetrical on either side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The
rocks are youngest near the center of the ridge. The farther away
from the ridge you go, the older the rocks appear. This suggests
that the crust was moving away from the plate boundary.

5 Earthhasplatesthat moveover the mantle

I
The lithosphere is approximately 100 km (60 mi) thick and is
c
made up of the crust and the upper portion of the mantle. The
lithosphere is made up of about seven large pieces (and several
'S
smaller pieces) called tectonicplates. The word tectonic refers to
the structure of the crust of a planet. The continents are embed-
d ded into these plates, which fit together like pieces of a puzzle
.S
and move in relation to one another. The theory describing the
L,
movement of plates is called plate tectonics.
n Tectonic plates move at speeds ranging from 1 to 16 cm
(0.4 to 6.3 in) per year. Although this speed may seem slow tec- Figure 5
tonic plates have moved a considerable distance because they Hydrothermal ventsaredrivenby
have been moving for hundreds of millions or billions of years. heatfromthe eruptionof fresh
t-
lavaon the seafloor.
rr

td
)n
h-
C.
ll

1e
Figure 6 # Normalmagnetic
polarity
ft.
Thestripesillustrate Earth's alternating Reversedmagnetic
IN

L S-
magnetic field.Lightstripesrepresent G polarity
when Earth'spolaritywasthe same
ne way it is today,while the darkerstripes
showreversedpolarity.

P LA N E T E A R rH 705
 Convectionand plate tectonics
l. Filla shallowpanwith wateruntilit is i cm 5. Whatdo the water
from the top. andthe cardboard
2. Heatthe wateroverlow heatfor JOs. Add a piecesrepresent?
few dropsof food coloringto the pan,and Whatdid you
watchwhat happens. observein step2?
3. Turnoff the heat and place5 cardboard 6. Howwas the move-
piecesas closetogetheras possible in the mentin step4 like
centerof the pan. continentaldrift?Howcouldyou makea
4. Turnon the heat,and sketchthe movement moreaccurate modelof platetectonics?
of the cardboard.

The word tectonic originates
from the Greek word tel<tonikos.
meaning "construction. " In
everyday usa.ge,the word
tectonics also relates to
architecture.
It is unknownexactlywhy tectonicplatesmove
Figure 7 shows the edges of Earth's tectonic plates. The arrorvs
indicate the direction of each plate's movement. Note that plate
boundaries do not always coincide with continental boundaries"
Some plates move toward each othel some move away from each
othe4 and still others move alongside each other. one hypothesis
suggeststhat plate movement results from convection currents in
the asthenosphere,the hot, plastic portion of the mantle. The
plates of the lithosphere "fl-oat"on top of the asthenosphere.
Some scientists believe that the plates are pieces of the litho-
sphere that are being moved around by convection currents. The
soft rock in the asthenosphere circulates by convection, similar to
the way mushy oatmeal circulates as it boils, and this slow mo'e-
ment of rock might push the plates of the lithosphere along. other
scientists believe that the forces generated by convection currents
are not sufficient to move the plates, and that instead plates are
driven bythe force of gravity acting on their own weight.

Figure 7
Earth'slithosphere
is madeup of
severallargetectonicplates.Plate
boundaries aremarkedin red,and
arrowsindicateplatemovement.

7O4 cHAPTER 2r