Tag: earth and structure

The Earth can be divided into four main layers: the solid crust on the outside, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core. Out of them, the crust is the thinnest layer of the Earth, amounting for less than 1% of our planet's volume.

The mantle is the mostly-solid bulk of Earth's interior. The mantle lies between Earth's dense, super-heated core and its thin outer layer, the crust. The mantle is about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) thick and makes up a whopping 84% of Earth's total volume.

Earth's inner core is the innermost geologic layer of the Earth. It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 kilometres (760 miles), which is about 20% of the Earth's radius or 70% of the Moon's radius.

Global observations show that the crustal thickness varies through the tectonic regions. While the continental crust is 30–70 km thick, the oceanic crustal thickness is 6–12 km. 

Oxygen is by far the most abundant element in the earth's crust. Scientists estimate oxygen comprises nearly half of the mass of the crust. It also accounts for 21 percent of Earth's atmosphere