Discontinuities, ES Content 2 Earth Interior

Basalt

A dark, dense, igneous rock with a fine texture, found in oceanic crust.

Inner Core

A dense sphere of solid iron and nickel at the center of Earth.

Outer Core

A layer of hot, liquid metal beneath the mantle and above the inner core.

Granite

A light colored igneous rock that is found in continental crust.

Oceanic Crust

Earths crust located under the ocean.

Mantle

At 85% of earth's volume, this is the layer of rock between the Earth's crust and core.

lithosphere

The crust plus the upper mantle and the rigid rocky layer.

Iron and Nickel

The elements that make up the Earth's solid inner core and liquid outer core.

Continental Crust

The portion of the earth's crust that primarily contains granite, is less dense than oceanic crust, and is 20-50 km thick.

Asthenosphere

The softest layer of the mantle on which the lithosphere floats.

Mesosphere

The strong lower part of the mantle.

Mohorovicic Discontinuity

aka Moho; boundary that separates the crust from the underlying mantle

Gutenberg Discontinuity

boundary between mantle and outer core

Seismic waves

earthquake vibrations that travel through Earth and used by scientists to learn about earth layers.

Rock samples

scientists drill for and use these to learn about earth's interior.

Lehmann Discontinuity

the boundary that separates the liquid outer core from the solid inner core