Humanity has had its sights set on space since the day it existed and has accelerated space exploration, especially in recent years. In other words, we are eager to scrutinize planets millions of light-years away from us. What about our world? We know trees, oceans, people and so on, don’t think about the world. what we see is only the outer shell of this planet.

Yes, our earth has a crust. Because under this shell there are still three layers that we know for the time being. Any movement of these layers, which are thousands of kilometers below the Earth’s crust, affects both our planet and us. Even if it’s not layered like an onion, the layers of our earth are still very interesting. Bride What layers does the earth consist of? Let’s take a closer look at its features.

Layers of the Earth:

The layer that contains everything: the shell

The layer on which we now stand and struggle with our daily bustle is the outer shell of our earth, and this It is the thinnest layer of the planet. The thickness varies in some places between 5 and 70 kilometers, but the average is 40 kilometers. Don’t look at how deep the depth is. On a planetary basis, it is thinner than the skin of an apple.

crust of the earth terrestrial and oceanic is divided in two. oceanic crust; As the name suggests, it lies beneath the oceans, is harder, deeper, and composed of dense rocks such as basalt. The continental crust is much thicker and consists of granitic rocks and some solutions.

The shell is not in a rigid stillness, divided into tectonic plates. These tectonic plates are divided into three main groups as proximal, divergent and transformative. It is known that these tectonic plates are not in motion, but float on a substrate called the mantle.

Earth’s thickest layer: mantle

Just below the crust is the mantle layer, about 2,890 kilometers thick. jacket, It is the thickest layer on Earth and makes up 84 percent of the planet’s volume. The mantle is also subject to a basic classification based on its seismological characteristics.

The upper mantle extends 670 kilometers from the crust and consists of a rock called peridotite. The lower mantle starts immediately after the upper mantle. The cloak is not fixed, it is movable. There is continuous circulation here, thanks to the warm material rising to the surface and the cold material descending to the depth. This rotation moves tectonic plates in the crust.

Since earthquakes occur in the Earth’s crust as a result of tectonic movements, Earthquakes also occur in the mantle. However, since there are no plates in the mantle, these earthquakes are believed to be caused by the volume change from the changing state of the minerals. Such earthquakes can also occur due to the interaction of hot and cold material.

Hot and firm: inner core

In fact, the inner core is deeper than the outer core, but it would not be right to describe the outside without understanding the inside. The radius of the inner core is about 1220 kilometers and it’s solid. The temperature of the inner core is about 5400 degrees, which is quite hot.

The inner core grows quite slowly. As the entire core cools, part of the outer core joins the inner. The cooling rate of the core is estimated at 100 degrees in 1 billion years. Although slow, this growth directly affects our Earth’s magnetic field. The inner core is symmetrical on the east-west line.

Hotter and viscous: outer core

The radius of the outer core is about 3400 kilometers and is in a liquid state. It is not quite correct to call the outer core liquid, instead we can say that it is viscous. Due to this condition, it is easily deformed. The temperature is about 6000 degrees. It is agitated due to the heavy convection current it is exposed to and affects the Earth’s magnetic field.

How do we know all this?

As we explained in the introduction, we as humanity do not like to go deep, but upwards. But curiosity isn’t the only reason. Even if you descend a layer of the crust, the temperature reaches terrifying degrees. In other words, it’s extremely difficult to develop a machine that can withstand this temperature, let alone a human to go there and observe.

So, how do we know the layers of the Earth that we can describe in such detail? Thanks to the seismic waves. Scientists send seismic waves through the crust as deep as they can. These waves provide information about the areas they pass through each time they return.

After the information obtained by seismic waves is processed in the hands of experts beautifully simulated and we come across the world information that is as clear as if we cut an apple and looked at it. Systems such as earthquake scanning also provide important information about the layers of our Earth. So even if we don’t see it, we know very well.

For those who want to get to know the planet we live in a little better What layers does the earth consist of? We’ve answered the question and talked about the important details you need to know about these layers. While the data we have for today is clear, who knows, maybe tomorrow we’ll see a new investigation and learn that everything we know is wrong.