The planet earth is composed of 3 parts namely :-
a) Atmosphere
b) Lithosphere
c) Hydrosphere
The Lithosphere is solid and stony portion of the earth. The body of earth is subdivided into three specific zone as
1) Crust
2) Mantle
3) Core
Structure of Lithosphere *
Crust – It is topmost solid shell of the earth having varying thickness 5 – 6 km at ocean, 30 – 35 km at continent and 60 – 70 km at mountains. Oceanic crust is darker called basaltic layer.
It is heavier, having SP. GRAVITY 2.8-2.9. It contains silica & magnesia therefore called SIMA. The continent crust is light in colour called granitic layer. It having low density, sp.gr
2.7 and contains silica & alumina (S;AL)
Mantle – This zone between lower boundary of the crust upto depth of 2900 km. It is subdivided into i) Upper ii) Middle iii) Lower mantle
This layer is ultra basic rock which is rich in iron and magnesia and poor in silica. The density varies from 3.3 g/cc at top to 5.7 g/cc at lower mantle it is highly plastic in nature.
Core – The innermost shell of the earth is starting from 2900 km to centre of earth. It is divided into two portions, the outré core & inner core. The outré core is hot liquid. The density at top is 9.9 g/cc and at junction of inner core is 12.7 g/cc. It is elastic to no shear strength material.
The inner core is hot and solid. The average density is about 12 g/cc. It consist iron & nickel.