The most well-known feature associated with Earth’s lithosphere is tectonic activity. The lithosphere is both the coolest and the most rigid of Earth’s layers. The lithosphere includes both the crust and the brittle upper portion of the mantle. The lithosphere is the solid, outer part of the Earth, extending to a depth of about 100 kilometers (62 miles). Two parts of the upper mantle are often recognized as distinct regions in Earth’s interior: the lithosphere and the asthenosphere. The upper mantle is mostly solid, but its more malleable regions contribute to tectonic activity. The upper mantle extends from the crust to a depth of about 410 kilometers (255 miles). The mantle is divided into several layers: the upper mantle, the transition zone, the lower mantle, and D” (D double-prime), the strange region where the mantle meets the outer core. Activity in the mantle drives plate tectonics, contributing to volcanoes, seafloor spreading, earthquakes, and orogeny (mountain-building). The transfer of heat and material in the mantle helps determine the landscape of Earth. Mantle rocks there are soft and able to move plastically (over the course of millions of years) at great depth and pressure. It is mostly solid rock, but less viscous at tectonic plate boundaries and mantle plumes. The viscosity of the mantle also varies greatly. In most places, the geothermal gradient is about 25° Celsius per kilometer of depth (1° Fahrenheit per 70 feet of depth). The geothermal gradient is a measurement of this increase. In the mantle, heat and pressure generally increase with depth. The temperature of the mantle varies greatly, from 1000° Celsius (1832° Fahrenheit) near its boundary with the crust, to 3700° Celsius (6692° Fahrenheit) near its boundary with the core. Other mantle elements include iron, aluminum, calcium, sodium, and potassium.
The other major type of rock found in the mantle is magnesium oxide. Common silicates found in the mantle include olivine, garnet, and pyroxene. The rocks that make up Earth’s mantle are mostly silicates-a wide variety of compounds that share a silicon and oxygen structure. Water trapped inside minerals erupted with lava, a process called “ outgassing.” As more water was outgassed, the mantle solidified. Over millions of years, the mantle cooled. The molten material that surrounded the core was the early mantle. The mantle is about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) thick, and makes up a whopping 84% of Earth’s total volume.Īs Earth began to take shape about 4.5 billion years ago, iron and nickel quickly separated from other rocks and minerals to form the core of the new planet. The mantle lies between Earth’s dense, super-heated core and its thin outer layer, the crust.
The mantle is the mostly-solid bulk of Earth’s interior.
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