Table of Contents
What is the approximate thickness of the mantle?
The mantle is about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) thick, and makes up a whopping 84% of Earth’s total volume.
What should be the composition of the materials in the core mantle and crust based on nebular theory?
Core, mantle, and crust are divisions based on composition. The crust makes up less than 1 percent of Earth by mass, consisting of oceanic crust and continental crust is often more felsic rock. Finally, the core is mostly iron metal.
What is the thickness of the lower mantle?
Structure of the Earth
| Thickness (km) | Density (g/cm3) | |
|---|---|---|
| Crust | 30 | |
| Upper mantle | 720 | 3.4 |
| Lower mantle | 2,171 | 4.4 |
| Outer core | 2,259 | 9.9 |
What is the composition of core?
Unlike the mineral-rich crust and mantle, the core is made almost entirely of metal—specifically, iron and nickel. The shorthand used for the core’s iron-nickel alloys is simply the elements’ chemical symbols—NiFe. Elements that dissolve in iron, called siderophiles, are also found in the core.
What is thickness of the crust?
The average thickness of the crust is about 15 km (9 mi) to 20 km (12 mi). Because both continental and oceanic crust are less dense than the mantle below, both types of crust “float” on the mantle. As a result, the continents form high ground surrounded by deep ocean basins.
What are the characteristics of the mantle?
Some of the characteristics of the mantle: It is 82% of earth’s volume. It is 2885 km thick. It is composed of basaltic (ultramafic) rock and minerals such as olivine , peridotite, and pyroxene . It is stratified into three main layers: the Lithosphere , the Athenosphere, and the Mesosphere .
What is the plastic-like part of the mantle?
The aesthenosphere, on the other hand, is the bottom part of the mantle and is made of a plastic-like fluid. The mantle is divided into three layers: Inside the mantle, an event called convection currents exist where they spin the mantle’s layers round and round.
What does the layer of the mantle consist of?
Like the crust, the mantle is largely composed of oxide compounds such as olivine, pyroxenes, spinel, garnet, peridotite, and eclogite. This layer differs in its chemical ratios from the crust, however. It is composed of roughly 45% oxygen, 23% magnesium, 22% silicon, 6% iron, 2% aluminum, 2% calcium,…
What is the thickness of the Earths mantel in miles?
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% of Earth’s total volume .