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## 1.2 Structure of the Earth The text is about the structure of the earth. ### Plate * A large slab of the earth's crust. * Plate boundary: Where plates meet ### Crust * The thin outer layer of the earth. Made up of solid rock. ### Mantle * Found underneath the crust. Consists of hot...

## 1.2 Structure of the Earth The text is about the structure of the earth. ### Plate * A large slab of the earth's crust. * Plate boundary: Where plates meet ### Crust * The thin outer layer of the earth. Made up of solid rock. ### Mantle * Found underneath the crust. Consists of hot semi-molten rock known as magma. It moves around in the form of very slow currents. ### Outer core * Consists of liquid nickel and iron - this is molten. ### Inner core * The solid centre of the earth. Temperatures here are extremely high up to 6,000° Celsius. ### Fun Fact * Below Central Valley in California, USA, the crust is only 20 km thick, but under the Himalayas it has a thickness of up to 90 km. Underneath the ocean, it has a thickness of 5-11 km. ## 1.3 Convection Currents * The earth's plates float on semi-molten (half-melted) magma in the mantle. It is the movement of the magma that causes plates to collide, separate or slide past each other. Within the mantle, magma moves in circular motions called convection currents. The plates move in relation to each other due to the convection currents. ## The Earth's Crust * The earth is made up of several different layers. The outer layer is known as the crust and is made of solid rock. The crust ranges from 5 to 70 km in depth and is split into a number of pieces known as plates. Some plates have land on top on them – this is known as continental crust. Others have oceans on top and are known as oceanic crust. The point where plates meet is called a plate boundary.