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Structure of Earth. The mesosphere is labeled as Stiffer mantle in this diagram.. The lower mantle, historically also known as the mesosphere, represents approximately 56% of Earth's total volume, and is the region from 660 to 2900 km below Earth's surface; between the transition zone and the outer core. [1]
This is a list of tectonic plates on Earth's surface. Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth's crust and uppermost mantle, together referred to as the lithosphere. The plates are around 100 km (62 mi) thick and consist of two principal types of material: oceanic crust (also called sima from silicon and magnesium) and continental crust (sial from ...
The existence of silicate perovskite in the mantle was first suggested in 1962, and both MgSiO 3 and CaSiO 3 had been synthesized experimentally before 1975. By the late 1970s, it had been proposed that the seismic discontinuity at about 660 km in the mantle represented a change from spinel structure minerals with an olivine composition to silicate perovskite with ferropericlase.
Earth's crust and mantle, Mohorovičić discontinuity between bottom of crust and solid uppermost mantle. Earth's mantle extends to a depth of 2,890 km (1,800 mi), making it the planet's thickest layer. [20] [This is 45% of the 6,371 km (3,959 mi) radius, and 83.7% of the volume - 0.6% of the volume is the crust]. The mantle is divided into ...
The internal structure of Earth. Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate rock between the crust and the outer core. It has a mass of 4.01 × 10 24 kg (8.84 × 10 24 lb) and makes up 67% of the mass of Earth. [1] It has a thickness of 2,900 kilometers (1,800 mi) [1] making up about 46% of Earth's
The silicate mantle of the Earth's moon is approximately 1300–1400 km thick, and is the source of mare basalts. [4] The lunar mantle might be exposed in the South Pole-Aitken basin or the Crisium basin. [4] The lunar mantle contains a seismic discontinuity at ~500 kilometers (310 miles) depth, most likely related to a change in composition. [4]
Mantle convection is the very slow creep of Earth's solid silicate mantle as convection currents carry heat from the interior to the planet's surface. [2] [3] Mantle convection causes tectonic plates to move around the Earth's surface. [4] The Earth's lithosphere rides atop the asthenosphere, and the two form the components of the upper mantle ...
The tectonic plates of the lithosphere on Earth Earth cutaway from center to surface, the lithosphere comprising the crust and lithospheric mantle (detail not to scale). A lithosphere (from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos) 'rocky' and σφαίρα (sphaíra) 'sphere') is the rigid, [1] outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite.