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There are three main layers that make up the 

Earth. The main layers are the crust, the 

mantle, and the core. These layers vary greatly 

in size, composition, temperature, and pressure. 

Pressure results from a force pressing on an 

area. The deeper down inside the Earth, the 

greater the pressure. This is because the heavy 

rock above presses down on the center.

The crust is the layer of solid rock that forms the 

outside of the Earth. It is solid rock and includes 

both dry land and the ocean floor. 

The crust is very thin. In most places, the crust 

is between 5 and 40 km thick. It is thickest 

under mountains and thinnest beneath the ocean. 

The crust beneath the ocean is called oceanic 

crust. It's composition is basalt, which is a dark, 

fine-grained rock. 

Continental crust, or the crust that forms the 

continents, contains many types of rocks. Overall, 

it is made of granite. Granite is a light color rock 

with coarse grains. 

The main elements in basalt and granite are 

oxygen and silicon!

The layer below the crust is called the mantle. It is 

made of rock that is very hot, but solid. Overall, the 

mantle is nearly 3,000 km thick.

The mantle is divided into 3 layers. The lithosphere, 

the asthenosphere, and the 

mesosphere. 

The mantle is mostly made 

of iron and magnesium.

It's also 67% of the Earth's

mass

The uppermost part of the mantle is the 

lithosphere. It is made of brittle rock. It is solid. 

It is similar to the rock of the crust. Because of 

this, the crust and the uppermost mantle can be 

considered a single layer. It is about 100 km 

thick. These two layers make up Earth's tectonic 

plates!

Hint: "Litho" 

means rock!

Heat 

gener

ated 

from 

the 

decay 

of 

eleme

nts in 

the 

aesth

enos

phere 

create

s 

magm

a. 

Conve

ction 

curren

ts in 

the 

magm

a 

drive 

plate 

tecton

ics. 

Plates

, part 

of the 

lithos

phere, 

Below the lithosphere is the asthenosphere. It 

is very hot! The rock is less hard. It's made of 

solid rock, but it's much softer. 

It bends like a metal spoon, but if you kicked it, 

you would still stub your toe! It is 500 km 

thick. 

There is magma in the asthenosphere. It is made 

from the heat created when elements decay. 

Plates, part of the lithosphere, are carried along on 

top of the asthenosphere as the magma moves 

from convection. 

heat loss -> convection -> plate motion

This leads to earthquakes and eruptions! We'll 

learn more about this later! 

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