Earth's Interior

The Earth, the Sun, and the rest of the solar system, was formed 4.54 billion
years ago by accretion from a rotating disk of dust and gas. The immense
amount of heat energy released from gravitational energy and from the decay
of radioactive elements melted the entire planet, and it is still cooling off
today. Denser materials like iron (Fe) sank into the core of the Earth, while
lighter silicates (Si), other oxygen (O) compounds, and water rose near the
surface.

(J. Louie)
The earth is divided into four main layers: the inner core, outer core, mantle,
and crust. The core is composed mostly of iron (Fe) and is so hot that the
outer core is molten, with about 10% sulphur (S). The inner core is under
such extreme pressure that it remains solid. Most of the Earth's mass is in
the mantle, which is composed of iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al),
silicon (Si), and oxygen (O) silicate compounds. At over 1000 degrees C, the
mantle is solid but can deform slowly in a plastic manner. The crust is much
thinner than any of the other layers, and is composed of the least dense
calcium (Ca) and sodium (Na) aluminum-silicate minerals. Being relatively
cold, the crust is rocky and brittle, so it can fracture in earthquakes.
Exploring the Earth's Core
How was the Earth's core discovered? Recordings of seismic waves from
earthquakes gave the first clue. Seismic waves will bend and reflect at the
interfaces between different materials, just like the prism below refracts and
scatters light waves at its faces.

(original image from the Exploratorium; used by permission)

In addition, the two types of seismic wave behave differently, depending on
the material. Compressional P waves will travel and refract through both
fluid and solid materials. Shear S waves, however, cannot travel through
fluids like air or water. Fluids cannot support the side-to-side particle
motion that makes S waves.

(J. Louie)
Seismologists noticed that records from an earthquake made around the
world changed radically once the event was more than a certain distance
away, about 105 degrees in terms of the angle between the earthquake and
the seismograph as measured at the center of the earth. After 105 degrees the
direct P- and S- waves disappeared almost completely, but slow surface
waves and waves taking other paths would arrive from over the horizon.
The area beyond 105 degrees distance forms a shadow zone. At larger
distances, some P waves that travel through the liquid core (path K on the
figure above) would arrive, but still no S waves. The Earth has to have a
molten, fluid core to explain the lack of S waves in the shadow zone, and the
bending of P waves to form their shadow zone.

(J. Louie)
You can get a rough estimate of the size of the Earth's core by simply
assuming that the last S wave, before the shadow zone starts at 105 degrees,
travels in a straight line. Knowing that the Earth has a radius of about
6370 km, you have a right triangle where the cosine of half of 105 degrees
equals the radius of the core divided by the radius of the earth.
The fact that the Earth has a magnetic field is an independent piece of
evidence for a molten, liquid core. A compass magnet aligns with the
magnetic field anywhere on the Earth. The earth cannot be a large
permanent magnet, since magnetic minerals lose their magnetism when they
are hotter than about 500 degrees C. Almost all of the earth is hotter, and
the only other way to make a magnetic field is with a circulating electric
current. Circulation and convection of electrically conductive molten iron in
the Earth's outer core produces the magnetic field. To make the magnetic
field, the convection must be relatively rapid (much faster than it is in the
plastic mantle), so the core must be fluid. Much of the energy to drive this
convection comes from growth of the solid inner core, with the release of
energy as the iron changes from solid to liquid.

(J. Louie, after a class chalkboard drawing by David Stevenson)

Because the Earth's magnetic field arises in the unstable patterns of fluid
flow in the core, it changes direction at irregular intervals. In recent geologic
history it may have switched direction about every 200,000 years. Any kind
of geologic deposit (e.g.: lava flows, layered muds) put down over time will
thus have different layers magnetized in opposing directions, recording the
magnetic field direction as it was when the layer solidified. Geophysicists
can measure the changes in direction to make a magnetostratigraphy for the
deposit.
At oceanic spreading centers new ocean floor is being created constantly and
slowly moved away from the rift. The farther the rock is from the rift, the
older it is, and it will also show the magnetic reversals like a tape recording.
(from Acton and Petronotis, EOS, 1994; Amer. Geophys. Union)
This map of the Pacific Plate at various stages of geologic history could be
constructed from the tape recording. Such maps show how the tectonic plates
have re-arranged themselves over the last 200 million years.
Exploring the Earth's Mantle
Convection and the release of heat from the Earth's core drives further
convection in the mantle. Convection in the mantle drives plate tectonic
motions of the sea floor and continents. It is possible to use P waves and S
waves traveling through the mantle from earthquakes to map out this
convection, much like a hospital CAT scan can map out bones and organs
with x-rays.
(original image from the Harvard Univ. Seismology Lab; used by permission)
In this view of a flattened-out mantle from the northwest, the blue blobs
show where colder, denser material is sinking into the mantle. Near the
surface, most of the colder material is in the ancient roots of continental
cratons. Subducting slabs of oceanic lithosphere also appear, being recycled
into the mantle from oceanic trenches.

(original image from the Harvard Univ. Seismology Lab; used by permission)
In this view from the southwest the red blobs are warmer plumes of less
dense material, rising principally into the ocean-ridge spreading centers. A
huge plume seems to be feeding spreading at the East Pacific Rise directly
from the core. Most of the heat being released from the earth's interior
emerges at the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise.

(J. Louie)
The part of the mantle near the crust, about 50-100 km down, is especially
soft and plastic, and is called the asthenosphere. The mantle and crust above
are cool enough to be tough and elastic, and are known as the lithosphere. A
heavy load on the crust, like an ice cap, large glacial lake, or mountain range,
can bend the lithosphere down into the asthenosphere, which can flow out of
the way. The load will sink until it is supported by buoyancy. If an ice cap
melts or lake dries up due to climatic changes, or a mountain range erodes
away, the lithosphere will buoyantly rise back up over thousands of years.
This is the process of isostatic rebound.
Exploring the Earth's Crust
The nearby crust of the Earth can be explored in great detail with echo-
sounding techniques, a kind of acoustic radar. These methods give images in
cross section very similar to hospital sonograms:
(J. Louie; M. Hewitt, Soc. of Explor. Geophysicists)
A sonogram in the crust is called a seismic reflection section. Seismic waves
from small explosions or thumper trucks send back echoes from rock layers
many kilometers down that arrays of seismograph instruments can pick up.
Seismic reflection sections can show blocks of the crust in great detail.
Individual layers can be studied for their potential to hold oil, gas, or water;
to conduct contaminants from a dump site; or to describe their geologic origin
and history.

(from Soc. of Explor. Geophysicists, The Leading Edge, v. 11, no. 11, p. 13;
used by permission)
This study of one layer maps out an ancient network of sandy stream
channels, much like the modern channels of the Laramie River, right. Such
buried channels can yield oil or gas easily if seismic reflection work can
pinpoint their locations.
(from Soc. of Explor. Geophysicists, The Leading Edge, v. 12, no. 6, p. 683;
v. 11, no. 8, p. 13; used by permission)
Development geophysicists can build detailed models of complex structures
having many different formations deformed by all types of faults and folds.
With these details they can plan the extraction of oil, gas, coal, or other
minerals. They can also predict how ground water may flow through an area,
and find the most efficient strategies to clean up contamination.
(from Soc. of Explor. Geophysicists, The Leading Edge, v. 10, no. 8, p. 15;
used by permission)
Geophysicists can also make maps of other physical properties that rocks
show over an area. Gravitational pull, magnetic field strength, electrical
conductivity, radioactivity, and spectral reflectance are all properties that
may be used to detect particular rock formations of economic or geologic
interest, even if they are buried below the surface.

(from Soc. of Explor. Geophysicists, The Leading Edge, v. 9, no. 9, p. 41;

used by permission)
The maps above are derived from maps of magnetic field strength in a part of
Nevada. Computerized artificial illumination from the right direction reveals
a subtle lineament in the image. A buried, slightly magnetized dike could
contain gold ores.
Engineering and Environmental Assessments
Very high-resolution geophysical methods can help geologists wishing to
make detailed environmental or engineering studies of rock masses near the
surface. Such seismic reflection studies require sources of waves no more
powerful than a hammer blow.

(from Soc. of Explor. Geophysicists, The Leading Edge, v. 9, no. 9, p. 39;

used by permission)
The image above is the output of a ground-probing radar, which is very good
at locating buried pipes, cavities, fractures, and metallic objects. Here it
reveals the detailed structure of a soil layer only 20 m thick, showing
channels likely to collect contaminated ground water.