Earth's Interior and Surface Contrasts

📋 Course Outline

1. Earth Surface Contrasts
2. Crust Composition
3. Continental Crust Rocks
4. Oceanic Crust Rocks
5. Internal Earth Structure
6. Seismic Wave Propagation
7. Discontinuities in Earth
8. Thermal Structure Models
9. Heat Transfer Modes
10. Thermal Anomalies

📖 1. Earth Surface Contrasts

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Bimodal Altitude Distribution: The presence of two distinct altitude peaks representing oceanic (-4500 m average) and continental (+300 m average) domains, indicating a clear geological contrast (source content).
• Crustal Composition (Continent vs Ocean): The continental crust primarily consists of granite (rich in SiO2 and K, with a density of ~2.7), while oceanic crust is mainly basalt and gabbro (low in SiO2 and K, dense ~2.9), reflecting different mineralogical and chemical properties (source content).
• Discontinuity of Mohorovicic (Moho): The boundary separating the crust from the mantle, characterized by a sudden increase in seismic wave velocities, with variable depth (~7 km under oceans, ~30 km under continents) (source content).
• Discontinuity of Gutenberg: The seismic boundary at approximately 2900 km depth, separating the mantle from the liquid outer core, evidenced by the shadow zone where P and S waves are absent or refracted (source content).
• Low Velocity Zone (LVZ): A ductile, deformable layer in the upper mantle between 100-200 km depth where seismic wave velocities decrease,…