Earth's Internal Structure
Earth is like a giant jawbreaker candy with different layers! The crust is the thinnest outermost layer, ranging from just 7-10 km thick under oceans (oceanic crust) to 35-40 km thick under continents (continental crust). Continental crust contains lighter rocks like granite with silicon, oxygen, and aluminum, while oceanic crust has denser basalt.
Beneath the crust lies the mantle, which extends about 2,900 km down and makes up a whopping 80% of Earth's volume. It's mainly composed of silicate rocks rich in silicon, oxygen, iron, and magnesium. The upper mantle and crust together form the rigid lithosphere 50−100kmthick, while the softer, partially molten layer below is the asthenosphere.
At Earth's center is the core, divided into two parts. The outer core is liquid iron and nickel that flows around the solid inner core, creating Earth's magnetic field. The inner core, despite intense heat, remains solid due to immense pressure—a phenomenon called pressure freezing.
🔍 How do we know the core is made of iron and nickel? Evidence comes from meteorites! Most meteorites contain iron and nickel, and likely formed from the same material as Earth. The density of these meteorites matches Earth's overall density when we account for the lighter crust and mantle.
Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann discovered in 1936 that Earth has a "core within a core" by studying seismic reflections, proving that while the outer core is liquid explainingtheS−waveshadow, the inner core must be solid.