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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].
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 ...
The atmosphere of Earth is composed of a layer of gas mixture that surrounds the Earth 's planetary surface (both lands and oceans), known collectively as air, with variable quantities of suspended aerosols and particulates (which create weather features such as clouds and hazes), all retained by Earth's gravity.
Lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary. A diagram of the internal structure of Earth. The lithosphere consists of the crust and upper solid mantle (). The green dashed line marks the LAB. The lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary (referred to as the LAB by geophysicists) represents a mechanical difference between layers in Earth's inner structure.
Exosphere. Diagram showing the five primary layers of the Earth's atmosphere: exosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere, and troposphere. The layers are to scale. From the Earth's surface to the top of the stratosphere (50km) is just under 1% of Earth's radius. The exosphere is a thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding a planet or ...
Pedosphere – The outermost layer of the Earth that is composed of soil and subject to soil formation processes. Outer layers. By composition. Crust (geology) – The outermost solid shell of a rocky planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Moho Discontinuity – The line between the crust and the Earth's mantle.
An atmosphere (from Ancient Greek ἀτμός (atmós) 'vapour, steam' and σφαῖρα (sphaîra) 'sphere') [1] is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere is the ...
The mesosphere (/ ˈmɛsəsfɪər, ˈmɛz -, ˈmiːsə -, - zə -/; [1] from Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos) 'middle' and - sphere) is the third layer of the atmosphere, directly above the stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. In the mesosphere, temperature decreases as altitude increases. This characteristic is used to define ...