mantle
Sign in to savelayer of silicate rock between Earth's crust and its outer core
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The mantle is a thick layer of hot rock made of silicates that sits between Earth's outer crust and the core beneath it. It matters because its movement and heat drive many of Earth's most important processes, including plate tectonics, volcanism, and earthquakes.
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The internal structure of Earth
Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate rock between the crust and the outer core. It has a mass of 4.01×10 kg (8.84×10 lb) and makes up 86% of the mass of Earth. It has a thickness of 2,900 kilometers (1,800 mi) making up about 46% of Earth's radius and 84% of Earth's volume. It is predominantly solid but, on geologic time scales, it behaves as a viscous fluid, sometimes described as having the consistency of caramel. Partial melting of the mantle at mid-ocean ridges produces oceanic crust, and partial melting of the mantle at subduction zones produces continental crust.