Formation of Earth Study Sheet
1. List the following layers in order from
outside to inside…
Layer
Outside:
 Asthenosphere, Inner Core,
Lithosphere, Lower Mantle, Outer Core
State of Matter
___lithosphere ____________ ___solid_________
___asthenosphere__________ ___soquid_______
___lower mantle___________ ____solid________
2. List the states of matter for each next to
your list from above (Liquid, solid or soquid)
___outer core_____________ ____liquid________
Inside:
3. Why is it difficult to determine Earth's
inner structure?
4. How do geologists study Earth's
interior?
___inner core_____________ ____ solid_________
Because you can't go inside earth due to the intense heat, pressure,
density and inaccessibility. You have to use your evidence from rock
samples and seismic waves.
Direct evidence from rock samples
Indirect evidence from seismic waves
5. What causes seismic waves?
6. How are seismic waves used to provide
evidence about Earth's interior?
Seismic waves are caused when earthquakes occur.
When earthquakes occur, they produce seismic waves. Geologists
and scientists use the speed of seismic waves and the paths they
take to reveal the structure of the planet.
7. Which wave (P or S) travels through both
liquids and solids?
P- waves
8. Which wave (P or S) travels through solids
ONLY?
S-waves
9. How is heat transferred?
10. What causes convection currents to
rise and fall in the mantle?
11. What will happen to the convection
currents in the mantle if Earth's interior
eventually cools down?
Heat is transferred by conduction, convection or radiation.
Heating and cooling of the fluid, changes in the fluids density, and
the force of gravity combine to set convection currents in motion.
They will stop because they are caused because of heat, but if there
is no heat, the currents would stop.
12. What happens to the temperature,
pressure and density of Earth from crust to
inner core?
Increases, Increases, Increases!!
13. Where does the heat come from to cause
convection currents?
Radioactive Decay from within the Inner Core, which produces
heat.
14. What’s the name of the process that
formed Earth’s layers?
Planetary Differentiation
Formation of Earth Study Sheet
Read the definitions to the right, then label the outer layers of the Earth on the lines below:
Continental Crust – the thick parts of the Earth’s crust,
not located under the ocean
Lithosphere – the crust plus the rigid, upper mantle
Lower Mantle (semi-rigid) – the deepest parts of the
mantle, just above the core.
Ocean – large bodies of water sitting atop oceanic crust
Oceanic crust – thin parts of the Earth’s crust located
under the ocean
Upper Mantle (rigid) – the uppermost part of the mantle,
part of the lithosphere
Upper Mantle (flowing) = Asthenosphere – the lower
part of the upper mantle that exhibits plastic (flowing)
properties.
Practice multiple choice questions.
1. The movement produced by the rising of a warm material and the sinking of a cool material is
called
a. an oceanic current
b. a convectional current
c. a convection current
d. a magnetic current
2. Heat within Earth’s interior is transferred primarily by
a. subduction.
c. earthquakes.
b. convection.
d. sea-floor spreading
3. Seismic waves travel through Earth’s layers at different speeds depending on the
a. density.
c. area.
b. mass.
d. shape.
4. Earthquakes produce
a. seismographs.
b. maps.
c. seismic waves.
d. volcanoes.