Plate Questions

Question 1

What are the four layers of the earth called?

Answer 1

The crust, the mantle, outer core, inner core

Question 2

What is the crust?

Answer 2

Cool and rock solid. Made up of rock containing silicon, iron, magnesium, oxygen, aluminium and other minerals. Thinnest layer of the earth.

Question 3

What is the mantle?

Answer 3

Mostly solid, common silicates found in the mantle include olivine, garnet, pyroxene and magnesium oxide. Plastic-like

Question 4

What is the outer core?

Answer 4

A fluid layer about 2,400 km thick and composed of mostly iron and nickel. Responsible for the earth’s magnetic field

Question 5

What is the inner core?

Answer 5

It is primarily a solid ball with a radius of about 1,220 kilometres. Believed to be composed of an iron-nickel alloy, believed to be just as hot as the sun’s surface.

Question 6

What is the order of the earth’s layers?

Answer 6

1. Crust
2. Mantle
3. Outer core
4. Inner core

Question 7

What layer drives the movement of tectonic plates? Describe why this occurs.

Answer 7

Convection currents drive the movement of Earth’s rigid tectonic plates on the planet’s fluid molten mantle. In places where convection currents rise up towards the crust’s surface, tectonic plates move away from each other in a process known as seafloor spreading