Tuesday, September 7, 2010

General structure of the Earth

The shape of the geoid
Due to rotation of the masses at the poles the Earth is flattened, and its size in the continental rises above the shape of a rotational ellipsoid, and in the oceans under the form of a rotational ellipsoid.
(er=6377 km, rp= 6356km)

Density increases from the surface toward the center (2.7 to 11 g/cm3),
The temperature rises from the surface towards the central part (4000 -5000 ° C)
Early Earth was probably a uniform heterogeneous chemical composition and density.
The temperature of the early Earth during the aggregation process has reached the melting point of the elements iron and nickel, which were thicker and heavier than the spec of other ingredients and concentrated in the center of the Earth. At the same time, the lighter elements that form the silicate minerals are pulled toward the surface, forming the mantle and crust.Geochemical differentiation was made lupin, layered or zonal structure of the Earth which, in the middle of dense Fe-Ni core, the iron-rich silicate mantle and the silicate Earth's crust.
Crust (barysphere)
-depth> 5080 -2900 km, the mean density of ≈ 10.7 g/cm3, T = 4000 -5000 C,
-inner core-solid core of iron and nickel
-Depth> 5080 km,
-outer-core liquid alloy of iron and nickel, probably contains some light elements like oxygen and sulfur
-Depth: 2900 -5080 km,
-Liquid-metal mass convection motion → important for restoring geomagnetism.

Mantle
1) the lower mantle or the Mesosphere
-Depth to ≈ 2900 -1000 km
-Oxides and silicates, probably a little iron
-Heterogeneous environment, revealed differences in the moving speed of the waves and the density molten material.
2) Middle mantle or asthenosphere
-Depth of ≈ 1000-400 km
-Heterogeneous environment, revealed differences in the moving speed of the waves and the density matter,
-Established thermal dynamics of the convection layer with accompanying movement of molten material.
3) The upper mantle
-To a depth of ≈ 400 km,
Rocky and built from the ultramafic rocks (peridotite beneath the continents, Eclogite, below the oceanic crust and lercolit harcburgit)

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