LECTURE NOTES ON PHY 202

(PHYSICS OF THE SOLID EARTH)

Credit units: 2

Course Outline: Origin, Shape, Structure and major divisions of the earth; the earth's main magnetic field
and its distribution; Electric theory of the earth's core; origin of the magnetic field; Seafloor spreading,
continental drift and plate tectonics

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 ORIGIN OF THE EARTH

INTRODUCTION

Earth is the planet on which we live. It is one of the eight planets in the Solar System and the only known
celestial body in the Universe to support life. It is a terrestrial body whose solid surface, abundant water
and oxygen - i.e., rich atmosphere - have combined to create conditions suitable for life to develop on it.
The earth exists in the form of three states of matter-the solid rocks on which we stand, being the SOLID,
ocean is the LIQUID and atmosphere depicts the GAS.

Earth was created over 4.5 billion years ago. During the early stage of the Earth, the entire planet was a ball
of scorching matter. After it cooled down considerably, the ocean was formed, and the current layers of the
solid Earth started to form. Earth is the third closest planet to the Sun. While large quantities of water can
be seen in many celestial bodies in the Solar System, only the Earth possesses liquid surface water. Around
71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by polar ice, lakes, rivers, and oceans. The rest of the Earth’s surface
is solid land, made up of islands and continents. The surface layer of the Earth is made of many slowly
shifting tectonic plates — forming volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountain ranges. The liquid outer core
produces the magnetic field that makes up the Earth’s magnetosphere, countering the dangerous solar
winds.

The Earth’s structure is predominantly divided into four main components: the inner core, outer core,
mantle, and crust. Every layer has its own distinct chemical composition and physical properties. The
motion in the mantle is generated by fluctuations in heat from the core. It causes plates to shift slowly,
which produces volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Such natural phenomena physically alter our
landscapes. Just like most known planets, our planet’s interior is layered clearly with distinct textures and
properties. The entire internal structure is made of different sections, like the layers of an onion. The
scientific analysis of the inner layers of the Earth is based on results generated with the help of seismic
wave monitoring. Fundamentally, this involves detecting sound waves produced by earthquakes and
analysing how going through various sections of the Earth forces them to slow down. The variations in
seismic speed generate refraction, which is measured to find the variations in the layer’s density.

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About 70 % of Earth’s surface is made up of water. Oceans, lakes, rivers, & other bodies of water make up
the Earth’s Hydrosphere. 30% of the Earth’s surface is land, this includes continents & islands. This land
is known as the Lithosphere. The air we breathe is apart of Earth’s Atmosphere, a layer of gases extending
1,000 miles above Earth’s surface. Our atmosphere is composed of 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen & 1%
other gases.The part of Earth that supports life is the Biosphere.

Origin of the Earth

We briefly review the origin of the Earth, from the Big Bang 14 billion years ago to the accretion of the
Earth from the solar nebula some 4.56 billion years ago.

Earth is ~ 4,570,000,000 years old. Meteorites give us access to debris left over from the formation of the
solar system. We can date meteorites using radioactive isotopes and their decay products

The universe began about 14.4 billion years ago. The Big Bang Theory states that, in the beginning, the
universe was all in one place. All of its matter and energy were squished into an infinitely small point, a
singularity. It is still expanding from this initial explosion.

Figure: Timeline of the metric expansion of space (NASA)

At first there was just Hydrogen. The Hydrogen condensed into billions of local large balls of superdense
Hydrogen in which fusion reactions forming Helium began and stars were born. Other elements up to the
atomic weight of Iron were produced in these stars.

About 5 to 6 billion years ago. One of these stars began to run out of Hydrogen fuel. It expanded to a red
giant and then collapsed on itself and exploded in a supernova. In this supernova, like billions that have
occurred elsewhere in our Universe, all of the other elements were created.

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Evidence for the Big Bang

The Big Bang Model is supported by a number of important observations. These include:
i. Hubble’s law which is based on observational evidence that galaxies appear to be moving away
from us at speeds proportional to their distance. This observation not only supports the expansion
of the universe but suggests that the galaxies have a common origin.
ii. The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) pervading the observational Universe
discovered by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson in 1965 is believed to be the remnant radiation from
the Big Bang.
iii. The abundance of the primordial elements like hydrogen and helium found in the observable
Universe. The Big Bang theory predicts that these lighter elements should have been fused from
protons and neutrons in the first few minutes after the Big Bang.
Early Theories on the Origin of the Earth

The theories explained that the formation of the planet including the earth.
1. Cold Origin Theory - Nebula hypothesized that a primeval rotating cloud of dust and gas filled the
universe initially. Kant explained further that the denser centre of the rotating dust in the Nebula’s
hypothesis formed the sun. The less dense side portion of the rotating dust broke into pieces to form
the planets which the earth is one of them. However, this theory failed to explain angular momentum
observation in the solar system whereby sun alone constitutes 99.9% mass of the solar system but
99% of the angular momentum of the solar system is concentrated in the large farther planets from
the sun.

2. Hot Origin Theory - The theory holds that gravitational attraction between the sun and the
preexisting passing stars caused violent collisions and materials were turn off from the colliding
stars. The turn off particles joined in parts and formed the planets in which the earth is a part.
The weaknesses of this theory are:
• Angular momentum observation about the solar system was not explained.
• Why has the collisions happened once, is ambiguous.
• Why the collision is perfectly elastic? The materials could have scattered.

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In cosmology, the Nebular Hypothesis is the currently accepted argument about how a Solar System can
form

Peculiar Features of the Earth

The planet earth possesses some distinguishing features that differentiated it from other planets. Some of
the features suit the development of lives in it.

Some of the characteristics are:

• High gravitation field, that keeps objects on its surface
• Uniform motion such as rotation, revolution and wobbling that causes day and night and seasonal
changes.
• Presence of enough water for activities such as agriculture.
• Balanced distance from the sun, not too short nor too far
• Presence of rich atmosphere in gaseous form and contains ozone layer.

Sources of Earth’s Zoning

About 4.7 billion years ago there was an accretion of conglomeration of unsorted particles scattered in the
universe forming the earth as one of the planets. The earth became warmed up as a result of the following
processes:
• Particle acceleration (Collisions): The kinetic energy of the particles coming together turned to heat
energy
• Gravitational pull between the particles (Compression): The pulls resulted in high pressure which
raised the heat energy.
• Radioactivity: Heat evolved during disintegrations of radioactive elemental (e.g., uranium, potassium,
or thorium) components of the earth’s particles.

The heat from the above sources raised the temperature of the earth to the melting point of iron which
melted the whole earth – the event called IRON CATASTROPHE. It was the iron catastrophe that set up
the overall structure of the Earth. The Earth was reborn during the iron catastrophe and maybe again by the
formation of the Moon. Any trace of surface structure was wiped out by the melting.

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Zoning of the Solid Earth

The molten earth that resulted during Iron catastrophe settled such that lighter particles like silicon etc.
floated, cooled and formed the outer crust and mantle. The heavier particles like iron etc. settled beneath
the crust forming the core. Hence, iron formed One-Third of the earth mass (Fig.) Water containing particle
in the earth went through chemical changes and released water which settled on the surface to form the
ocean. Gas containing particles also went through chemical changes releasing gasses to form the lightest
atmosphere which is located on top of the liquid and parts of the earth.

Crust (Dense)

Mantle (Denser)

Core (Densest)

Fig.: Simplified Model of the Solid Earth

In summary:
• Age of universe is ~ 14.5 billion years, about 10 By older than Earth
• Early universe had only protons & helium nuclei as condensed particles we are familiar with, rest
was elementary particles & radiation
• First stars formed from hydrogen and helium; the rest of the elements formed in protostars by
nucleosynthesis
• Stars of a certain critical size exploded as supernovae, scattering hydrogen, He & newly formed
elements as intergalactic “dust”. Other stars became “black holes”, brown dwarfs, etc.
• Inhomogeneities in dust clouds led to formation of secondary stars, similar to our sun, but now
could contain orbiting debris formed from elements in 1st generation stars.
• Inherited angular momentum caused debris to orbit main condensation center, and eventually gave
rise to orbiting planets

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 THE STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH
Introduction

The internal structures of the solid earth are probed or investigated using some geophysical and geological
methods. The geophysical surveys involve measuring different seismic, gravity, magnetic and electrical
anomalies at surface and by air (or satellite) to help reconstruct shallow crustal features. While the
geological surveys involve examining rocks at and near the surface of the crust, through fieldwork, drilling
boreholes and mining. The information obtained are utilised to draw model of the pictures about the
interiors of the solid earth. Further, most of the features existing on the earth surface are consequences of
the events which either took place around the time of formation of the earth or after mat effects of other
event taking place with time.

The Composition and Internal Structure of Earth

The Earth’s interior is divided into concentric layers of different composition, separated by sharp, near
spherical boundaries. 99% of the Earth mass is made of 8 elements (Fe, O, S, Mg, Ca, Si, Al, Ni), while
90% of the Earth mass is made of Fe, O, Si, Mg.

Core, mantle, and crust are divisions based on chemical composition. The crust makes up less than 1
percent of Earth by mass, consisting of oceanic crust and continental crust is often more felsic rock. The
mantle is hot and represents about 68 percent of Earth’s mass. Finally, the core is mostly iron metal. The
core makes up about 31% of the Earth.

Lithosphere, asthenosphere, mesosphere (mantle) and barysphere (core) are divisions based on
mechanical (physical) properties. The lithosphere is composed of both the crust and the portion of the
upper mantle that behaves as a brittle, rigid solid. The asthenosphere is partially molten upper mantle
material that behaves plastically and can flow.

Least
High Si Low Fe Dense

High Fe Most
Low Si
Dense

Figure: Earth's structure

The boundaries between theses layers are

a) Concord discontinuity – Transition zone or boundary between upper crust and lower crust
b) Mohorovicic discontinuity – Transition zone or boundary between lower crust and upper mantle
c) Repiti discontinuity – Transition zone or boundary between upper and lower mantle
d) Gutenberg discontinuity – Transition zone or boundary between lower mantle and outer core
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 e) Lehmann discontinuity – Transition zone or boundary between outer and inner core

Evidence of internal structure of the earth

• Meteorites: Since all planets form in the same way, meteorites falling on earth are used to determine the
composition and age of the earth.
• Seismic Waves - elastic waves which have different travel times as they propagate through a medium
and they give an indication of the internal structure of the earth
• Volcanoes – Hot molten material from earth’s interior comes out to the surface indicating the
composition of the interior.

Crust and Lithosphere

Earth’s outer surface is its crust; a cold, thin, brittle outer shell made of rock. The crust is very thin, relative
to the radius of the planet.

There are two very different types of crust, each with its own distinctive physical and chemical properties.

• Oceanic crust is composed of magma that erupts on the seafloor to create basalt lava flows or cools
deeper down to create the intrusive igneous rock gabbro. Sediments, primarily muds and the shells
of tiny sea creatures, coat the seafloor. Sediment is thickest near the shore where it comes off the
continents in rivers and on wind currents. Oceanic crust are mostly basalts and Gabbro. It is 5 – 11
km thick with density of about 3 gr/cm3.
• Continental crust is made up of many different types of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary
rocks. The average composition is granite, which is much less dense than the mafic igneous rocks
of the oceanic crust. Continental crust averages about 35 km thick. Under some mountain chains,
crustal thickness is approximately twice that thickness (about 70 km thick). Because it is thick and
has relatively low density, continental crust rises higher on the mantle than oceanic crust, which
sinks into the mantle to form basins. When filled with water, these basins form the planet’s oceans.
The density of the continental crust (2.8 gr/cm3) is lighter than that of the crust found on ocean
bottoms (3.2 gr/cm3), so the continents rise above the ocean floor.

The lithosphere is the outermost mechanical layer, which behaves as a brittle, rigid solid. The lithosphere
is about 100 kilometers thick. The definition of the lithosphere is based on how earth materials behave, so
it includes the crust and the uppermost solid mantle, which are both brittle. Since it is rigid and brittle, when
stresses act on the lithosphere, it breaks. This is what we experience as an earthquake.

Characteristics of Lithosphere
1. Lithosphere is the outermost layer or zone of the earth crust.
2. Lithosphere is comprising of rock and minerals.
3. Lithosphere is the solid part of the earth.
4. Lithosphere represents 30% of the earth surface.
5. Lithosphere forms the land mass (made up of loose rock materials such as sand, soil and ground)
which is about 10 to 50km thick.

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Mantle

The two most important things about the mantle are: (1) it is made of solid rock and is about 2900 km thick.
It is the largest of all the subdivisions, 84% by volume and 69% mass of the entire earth, and (2) it is hot.
Scientists know that the mantle is made of rock based on evidence from seismic waves, heat flow, and
meteorites. Scientists know that the mantle is extremely hot because of the heat flowing outward from it
and because of its physical properties. It is a highly viscous layer (semi-solid).

Heat flows in two different ways within the Earth: conduction and convection. Conduction is defined as the
heat transfer that occurs through rapid collisions of atoms, which can only happen if the material is solid.
Heat flows from warmer to cooler places until all are the same temperature. The mantle is hot mostly
because of heat conducted from the core. Convection is the heat transfer process of a material that can
move and flow may develop convection currents. Convection in the mantle is the same as convection in a
pot of water on a stove.

Fig:

Convection currents within Earth’s mantle form as material near the core heats up. As the core heats the
bottom layer of mantle material, particles move more rapidly, decreasing its density and causing it to rise.
The rising material begins the convection current. When the warm material reaches the surface, it spreads
horizontally. The material cools because it is no longer near the core. It eventually becomes cool and dense
enough to sink back down into the mantle. At the bottom of the mantle, the material travels horizontally
and is heated by the core. It reaches the location where warm mantle material rises, and the mantle
convection cell is complete.

The physical property of the mantle depends on the time frame of observation. Over a short timeframe,
it acts as solid which allows the propagation of elastic waves. Over a long period of time, it acts like a
liquid which allows convection current.

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The asthenosphere, beneath the lithosphere, is part of the upper mantle and is so hot that it is 1 – 5%
liquid (i.e., 95 – 99% solid). This liquid, usually at the junctions of the crystals, allow it to flow – which is
why ‘astheno’ means weak.’ Beneath the asthenosphere is the rest of the mantle, which is completely
solid – but can also flow (on geological time scales) because of the intense temperatures and pressures
involved.

The Mesosphere lie beneath the lithosphere with very thick layer and of about 2900 km. Mesosphere is
made up of very denser rock materials which are rich in a constituent called Olivine. Olivine consists of
Iron, Silicon and Magnesium

Core

At the planet’s center lies a dense metallic core. Scientists know that the core is metal for a few reasons.
The density of Earth’s surface layers is much less than the overall density of the planet, as calculated from
the planet’s rotation. If the surface layers are less dense than average, then the interior must be denser than
average. Calculations indicate that the core is about 85 percent iron metal with nickel metal making up
much of the remaining 15 percent. Also, metallic meteorites are thought to be representative of the core. If
Earth’s core were not metal, the planet would not have a magnetic field. Metals such as iron are magnetic,
but rock, which makes up the mantle and crust, is not. Scientists know that the outer core is liquid and the
inner core is solid because S-waves stop at the inner core. The strong magnetic field is caused by convection
in the liquid outer core. Convection currents in the outer core are due to heat from the even hotter inner
core. The heat that keeps the outer core from solidifying is produced by the breakdown of radioactive
elements in the inner core. The Core is 16% and 13% by volume and mass of the earth.

Characteristics of the Inner Core

1. It is solid in nature.
2. It consists of mainly iron.
3. It is suspended in the molten state of the outer core.
4. It is about 1.7% of the earth mass with a depth of about 5150 to 6370 km.
5. It is 1250 km thick, solid and with P – wave velocity increases inward, which implies density increase.

Characteristics of the Outer Core

1. It is in a molten state that is, semi-liquid in nature.
2. It consists of Iron, Sulphur and sometimes oxygen.
3. The outer core is 30.8% of mass with a depth of about 2890 to 5150 km.
4. The outer core has a temperature of 3,700 °C. {The main reason for its molten form}.
5. It is about 2080 km thick
6. It is believed to be in liquid form because seismic S – Wave cannot pass through it
7. Due to the convention motion and the rotation of the earth within the outer core, leads to creation of
effects that maintains the magnetic field of the earth i.e., Earth’s magnetic field originates from it
8. The response of the earth to tidal forces which affects axis of rotation and the centrifugal force that
counter the centripetal force along the equator, which is responsible for the bulginess of the earth at
the equator, are associated with the liquid nature of the outer core

Evidences of the Inhomogeneity of the Solid Earth

The crust is the layer closest to the surface of the solid earth. It is the layer that shows high level of structural
variations within the rock layers. The inhomogeneity of the earth is shown in the following.

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(1) Density variation: The surface density of the solid earth has been found to be about 2.67g/cm3, but
the average density of the earth is 5.5g/cm3. This implies that deep beneath the earth’s surface is
denser, i.e. density increases with depth.
(2) Rotational Analogous of mass is Moment of inertia (I). That is, as I is a measure of resistance of a
rotating body to changing its angular velocity (ω) mass is the measure of resistance of a body to
change its initial states. So, I depends on mass and the distribution of mass in a body. So, for a
sphere with uniform density, I = bma2, where b = 2/5, Now, for earth model I = b = ma2, if b is greater
than 2/5, density decreases with depth and if b is less than 2/5, density increases with depth. But for
planet earth b has been found to be 0.3308 which is less than 2/5; hence density increases with depth
in the earth.

Surface Structure of the Solid Earth

The surface of the solid earth witnessed series of features such as oceans and continents which are
consequences of geological events that took place over a long period of time; some of the features are
explained below.

Formation of Continents, Ocean and Atmosphere

(i) Continents: Lava flows as a result of volcanism from the interior to the outer layer cooled
and became continent.
(ii) Oceans: From the interior of the solid earth as a product of the Process of heating up and
differentiation, some water bearing elements released their water molecules which
accumulate on the surface to form the oceanic water.
(iii) Atmosphere: Out-gassing, resulting from differentiation and some gas releasing chemical
reactions brought about much gasses that accumulated above the solid earth.

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