GEOL 114 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Outer Core, Silicate Minerals, Horizontal Plane
Document Summary
Observations required to determine the core"s composition: material must be very dense. The primary composition of the core is mainly iron: outer core is liquid, inner core is solid. This tells us the material in the core must have the appropriate melting behavior for the given temperature. (cid:884). The earth"s movement of inertia dictates how the density varies with depth (cid:886). Earth"s magnetic field is generated from the core. )ron is a very abundant element in the solar system, yet the earth"s crust is lacking. The melting behavior of iron is compared to a (cid:498)magma ocean,(cid:499) which implies that the liquid iron could have easily flowed toward the earth"s center due to its high density. Temperature: materials at equilibrium under high pressure heat up, while materials under low pressure cool down. in it. This indicates that much of the iron must be concentrated deeper within the. Adiabatic temperature gradient: the rate the temperature increases with pressure.
