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Plates in the crust of Earth. 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 internal structure of 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 defined based on its phase (solid crust vs. liquid mantle).
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].
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 silicon and aluminium ).
The remaining 29.2% of Earth's crust is land, most of which is located in the form of continental landmasses within Earth's land hemisphere. Most of Earth's land is at least somewhat humid and covered by vegetation, while large sheets of ice at Earth's polar deserts retain more water than Earth's groundwater , lakes, rivers, and atmospheric ...
Tertiary crust is the most differentiated type of crust and so has a composition vastly different to that of the bulk Earth. [16] The tertiary crust contains over 20% of the abundance of incompatible elements, which are elements with a size or charge that prevent them from being included in mineral structure. [16]
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.
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 radius and 84% of Earth's volume.