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Dynamic geologic forces created Earth’s crust, and the crust continues to be shaped by the planet’s movement and energy. Today, tectonic activity is responsible for the formation (and destruction) of crustal materials. Earth’s crust is divided into two types: oceanic crust and continental crust.
The Earth’s crust is broken up into a series of massive sections called plates. These tectonic plates rest upon the convecting mantle, which causes them to move. The movements of these plates can account for noticeable geologic events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and more subtle yet sublime events, like the building of mountains.
The mantle is the mostly solid bulk of Earth's interior. The mantle lies between Earth's dense, super-heated core and its thin outer layer, the crust. The mantle is about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) thick, and makes up a whopping 84 percent of Earth’s total volume.
Earth’s core is the very hot, very dense center of our planet. The ball-shaped core lies beneath the cool, brittle crust and the mostly solid mantle . The core is found about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) below Earth’s surface, and has a radius of about 3,485 kilometers (2,165 miles).
Our planet’s thin, 40-kilometer (25-mile) deep crust—just 1% of Earth’s mass—contains all known life in the universe. Earth has three layers: the crust, the mantle, and the core. The crust is made of solid rocks and minerals.
Ice, being frozen water, is part of the hydrosphere, but it is given its own name, the cryosphere. Rivers and lakes may appear to be more common than are glaciers and icebergs, but around three-quarters of all the fresh water on Earth is locked up in the cryosphere.
A volcano is a feature in Earth’s crust where molten rock is squeezed out onto the Earth’s surface. This molten rock is called magma when it is beneath the surface and lava when it erupts, or flows out, from a volcano. Along with lava, volcanoes also release gases, ash, and, solid rock.
Use this printable infographic to learn about the rock cycle. There are three main types of rocks: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic. Each of these rocks are formed by physical changes—such as melting, cooling, eroding, compacting, or deforming —that are part of the rock cycle.
In plate tectonics, Earth’s outermost layer, or lithosphere —made up of the crust and upper mantle—is broken into large rocky plates. These plates lie on top of a partially molten layer of rock called the asthenosphere.
For example, sections of Earth’s crust can come together and collide (a “convergent” plate boundary), spread apart (a “divergent” plate boundary), or slide past one another (a “transform” plate boundary). Each of these types of plate boundaries is associated with different geological features.