Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Earth's crust is its thick outer shell of rock, referring to less than one percent of the planet's radius and volume. It is the top component of the lithosphere, a solidified division of Earth 's layers that includes the crust and the upper part of the mantle. [1] The lithosphere is broken into tectonic plates whose motion allows heat to escape ...
Earth's crustal evolution involves the formation, destruction and renewal of the rocky outer shell at that planet 's surface. The variation in composition within the Earth's crust is much greater than that of other terrestrial planets. Mars, Venus, Mercury and other planetary bodies have relatively quasi-uniform crusts unlike that of the Earth ...
In geology, the crust is the outermost solid shell of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. It is usually distinguished from the underlying mantle by its chemical makeup; however, in the case of icy satellites, it may be distinguished based on its phase (solid crust vs. liquid mantle). The crusts of Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Io, the ...
“The discovery of animal life beneath the surface of the Earth’s crust raises questions concerning the extent of these ecosystems, which is larger than what can be seen on the seafloor surface ...
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering 70.8% of Earth's crust.
The transition between the inner core and outer core is located approximately 5,150 km (3,200 mi) beneath Earth's surface. Earth's inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the planet Earth. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 km (760 mi), which is about 19% of Earth's radius [0.7% of volume] or 70% of the Moon's radius.
Abundance (atom fraction) of the chemical elements in Earth's upper continental crust as a function of atomic number; [ 5 ] siderophiles shown in yellow. Graphs of abundance against atomic number can reveal patterns relating abundance to stellar nucleosynthesis and geochemistry. The alternation of abundance between even and odd atomic number is ...
Oceanic crust – Uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of a tectonic plate; Earth's mantle – A layer of silicate rock between Earth's crust and its outer core Lower mantle – The region from 660 to 2900 km below Earth's surface