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Chris and Savannah were two friends who went on a 

camping trip together. Savannah and Chris had been 

good friends for many years, and they had met at a 

science fair. They woke up on the first morning and 

went on a hike in the misty woods. After a couple 

miles, the pair came across an extremely suspicious 

hole. It was very deep, and lined with a ladder that 

made it appear as if someone had been down it before. 

Chris knew they had to investigate. Savannah was 

hesitant, but they finally decided to climb down the 

unusual hole. 

As Savannah and Chris made their way down the creaky 

ladder, they realized just how deep the hole was. Savannah 

became nervous after looking down the seemingly-

bottomless hole. As she frantically scrambled up the ladder, 

a huge, light-colored rock blocked the exit. The two 

immediately panicked when they realized that they were 

trapped under Earth's crust. After Chris tried with all of his 

might to move the rock, the two decided that they might as 

well continue down the mysterious ladder. 

"Well," Savannah said, "who'd have thought we be stuck inside the 

crust. It feels as if its as hot as 1600 degrees Fahrenheit in here." 

"This is actually a great opportunity for us to envision all we've 

learned about Earth's layers! I read about the crust before. Its 

interesting to finally be to experience the varying pressures under 

the crust, and to be able to see exactly what a material density of 

2.7 g/cm3 looks like." said Chris. 

"Don't forget about the composition!" said Savannah. "I can 

recognize all of this granite, basalt, schist and gneiss. The walls of 

this hole are brimming with rocks and minerals that I never thought 

I'd get to see since we live on the surface of the crust instead of 

inside it!"

The two decided to take advantage of this opportunity to observe all 

these characteristics of the crust, and much of what they had 

learned in school could finally be applied to their real lives. They 

were both interested in geology, so this was almost a dream come 

true. 

If the day wasn't already strange enough, it was about to become 

stranger. The couple came across a mysterious hand-carved sign 

that read "YOU ARE NOW LEAVING THE CRUST, WELCOME TO THE 

LITHOSPHERE." They realized that they must have traveled about 

25 miles deep in order to make it to the lithosphere. Chris and 

Savannah were very confused, because the sign meant that other 

people had certainly been down the ladder before. They would not 

let their confusion get the best of them, and they decided to 

observe the lithosphere in a way that they never had before. 

They noticed the visible difference between the crust and the 

lithosphere. After checking the temperatures on their phones, the 

two realized it was somewhere between 500-900 degrees 

Fahrenheit in the lithosphere. They also were able to notice the 

difference in the appearance of the walls. The walls had a more 

brittle appearance, made up of the materials aluminum, oxygen, 

silicon, iron, calcium, and sodium. They did notice that the 

lithosphere was equally as dense as the crust had been. 

"The pressure here also seems to be inconstant." observed Chris. 

The two traveled through all 60 miles of the lithosphere. They weren't 

quite sure how long they'd been journeying through the layers. They 

decided to lay down for a while on some of the aluminum in the 

lithosphere. 

When they woke up after what could have been hours, the continued 

down into the asthenosphere, which was also marked off by a sign. It 

was getting uncomfortably warm, and the two could not believe that 

they were able to survive in 8000 degrees Fahrenheit of the 

asthenosphere. They calculated that they would have to climb about 

1000 miles deep before they reached the next layer, so they decided to 

move more hastily. 

"Can you feel the pressure on us decreasing as we go deeper?" 

Savannah asked Chris.

"Yes," he replied, "and this layer is more dense. The density is about 3.1-

3.4 g/cm3, which is the most dense layer so far."

"Agreed. And its strange to see the walls of our hole appearing as though 

they are molten rock now. The walls are made of peridotite and iron-

magnesium silicates. Its definitely a contrast from the other layers' 

solidity."

They continued to climb for what felt like hours. They finally arrived at the 

next part of their journey, the upper mantle. 

"The temperature here is already is the range of 900 to 1600 degrees 

Fahrenheit in here!" observed Chris. 

"Its unbelievably warm!" said Savannah. "And the walls are still molten 

rock, made similarly of iron-magnesium silicates! I can't believe we are 

here at times, but its been bothering me lately that we might not be able to 

get out."

"I know. But who'd have thought we'd be able to see all 450 miles of the 

upper mantle. This is a revolutionary scientific experience!" Chris said. 

Savannah rolled her eyes because of Chris' undying enthusiasm about 

Earth. They took a temporary break in walking, and Chris recorded some of 

his observations. 

"The rocks here are getting more dense, at almost 4.4 g/cm3, and I 

feel as though there's more pressure on us as we move farther 

down." said Chris. 

"I think we're almost at the lower mantle, because the walls directly 

below us appear to be made of oxides of magnesium, iron and 

silicon. It's also getting warmer. It may be up to 7000 degrees 

Fahrenheit in here." said Savannah.

"The density of the layer is increasing to about 5.6 g/cm3 too. And I 

feel like I'm getting a headache from the continual increase in 

pressure as we move down all 1300 miles of this long layer." said 

Chris.

"That's really neat and stuff, but I want to go home, Chris! We've 

been climbing for days."

"Well there's obviously no way out, so we might as well continue!"

Savannah grudgingly agreed. 

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