Mantle

earthquakes mostly occur. However the southeast have seen some seismic, the latest was the 2011 magnitude-5.8 earthquake at Virginia. Scientists recently reported in a new study a likely explanation for this unexpected incident, some tiny pieces of the mantle under the region have been breaking off and moving deep down into the Earth. Thereby weakening the remaining plates and making it more prone to slipping that causes earthquakes. Most study authors have concluded that this process is ongoing and very

another as they move on top of the underlying semi-molten mantle. These plates are either continental, The North American Plate, or oceanic, The Nazca Plate. Tectonic plates are powered by convection currents, which is the circular movement of magma within the mantle. These currents are powered by the core, which heats the magma, causing it to rise, cool and fall back down. This circular motion causes the plates, which float on the mantle, to

“The mantle consists of hot, dense, semisolid rock and is about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) thick” (1). Where the mantle is not completely solid, according to scientists’ use of seismic waves, it is more of a flowing liquid. There is no indication that there are large holes in the mantle where there is absolutely no material there, where the character’s ship could have been “flying” and not going through anything at all. To fix this, if they really wanted a troublesome instance in the mantle, they

landforms they make. These landforms include mountains, volcanoes, rift valleys, and much more that are made by convergent and divergent boundaries. The plates are moved by the convection currents below the surface which is caused by a heat source, the mantle. Another landform that is made is a mid-ocean ridge, at which sea floor spreading is taken place, and allows magma to rise and harden on the ocean floor. Two different types of landforms that form at convergent boundaries are mountains and volcanoes

continental crust is stretched to a point where it becomes thinner in some parts, which are known as continental rift zones. As this happens, the asthenosphere rises upwards and bursts through the thin crust as magma. The forces of mantle convection causes this mantle to shift and push against the crust. As a result, processes such as continental rifting occur. With the continued expansion of a rift zone, a continent can keep spreading to the point where it is split in two, thus creating an ocean

1. What are the relationships among Earth's mantle, crust, asthenosphere, and lithosphere? The lithosphere is basically the strong outer shell of earth. It is roughly 100km thick depending on its age, and is broken into plates, known as the tectonic plates. Within the lithosphere is the crust as a portion of the upper mantle. The crust is the outer most portion of the earth and takes up less than 1% than the total volume of the earth. It is commonly compared to the skin of an apple, whereas

At an convergent boundary, earth is pushed down into the plastic mantle is is partially melted thanks to the radioactive decay of some minerals. With the effects of convection, the hot silicate mantle caused by convection currents carrying heat from the interior of the earth to the surface. There are more than three places this hot mantle can go. It can go to a mid-ocean ridge to make new crust, go into a magma chamber, that in special conditions to form igneous rocks. Throughout the rest of this

super-continent called "Pangea". Pangea split due to the movement of Earth's tectonic plates. "Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer shell is divided into several plates that glide over the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core. The plates act like a hard and rigid shell compared to Earth's mantle. This strong outer layer is called the Lithosphere.". Convergent boundaries are one of the three types of plate boundaries that occur on Earth. The other two are: divergent and transform margins

slowly across the surface of the Earth, at a rate of about two inches per year. (2) When two plates move apart, rising material from the mantle pushes the lithosphere aside. Two types of features can form when this happens. At mid ocean ridges, the bottom of the sea comes apart to make way for new ocean crust formed from molten rock, or magma, rising from the mantle. Continental rifts form when a continent begins to split apart (the East African Rift is an example). If a continental rift continues to

slow-spreading ridge. Most reports suggest that the reason behind the unique character of the Reykjanes Ridge is because of the mantle plume beneath Iceland. As the plume and ridge interact, there are various geological effects, including the thickening of the crust. This thickening of the crust creates the axial high on which axial volcanic ridges are situated. The involvement of the mantle plume with the ridge system is also a possible method in which v-shaped ridges are produced. However, it is more probable