The heaviest material, mostly iron and nickel, sank to the center of the new planet and became its core. Near the Moho, the temperature of the crust ranges from 200° Celsius (392° Fahrenheit) to 400° Celsius (752° Fahrenheit).īillions of years ago, the planetary blob that would become the Earth started out as a hot, viscous ball of rock. The upper crust withstands the ambient temperature of the atmosphere or ocean-hot in arid deserts and freezing in ocean trenches. Just as the depth of the crust varies, so does its temperature.
Isostatic equilibrium depends on the density and thickness of the crust, and the dynamic forces at work in the mantle. Not all regions of Earth are balanced in isostatic equilibrium. Isostasy describes the physical, chemical, and mechanical differences between the mantle and crust that allow the crust to “float” on the more malleable mantle.
The lithosphere’s depth varies, and the Mohorovicic discontinuity (the Moho)-the boundary between the mantle and crust-does not exist at a uniform depth. At the center of the Earth is a hot, dense metal core.Įarth’s layers constantly interact with each other, and the crust and upper portion of the mantle are part of a single geologic unit called the lithosphere. Beneath the crust is the mantle, which is also mostly solid rocks and minerals, but punctuated by malleable areas of semi-solid magma.
The crust is made of solid rocks and minerals. Our planet’s thin, 40-kilometer (25-mile) deep crust-just 1% of Earth’s mass-contains all known life in the universe.Įarth has three layers: the crust, the mantle, and the core. It reaches down about 36,200 feet (11,034 m) below sea level.“ Crust” describes the outermost shell of a terrestrial planet. The lowest point on Earth is Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, according to NOAA. Mars' huge Olympus Mons volcano is nearly as high, at 13.6 miles (21.9 km), and it covers an area the size of the state of Arizona. The peak rising from Rheasilvia Crater on the asteroid Vesta, for example, is about 14 miles (22.5 km) tall.
Although Chimaborazo is about 10,000 feet (3,048 m) shorter (relative to sea level) than Everest, this mountain is about 6,800 feet (2,073 m) farther into space because of the equatorial bulge.Įverest and Chimborazo are nowhere near the tallest mountains in the solar system, however. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). That distinction belongs to Mount Chimaborazo in the Andes Mountains in Ecuador, according to the U.S. Mount Everest is the highest place on Earth above sea level, at 29,032 feet (8,849 meters), but it is not the highest point on Earth - that is, the place most distant from the center of the Earth.
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