ASTR 1101 Lecture Notes - Lithosphere, Gravitational Energy
Document Summary
Two types of seismic waves : p-waves, longitudinal pressure waves. Can spread into both solids and liquids: have their direction of motion refracted by interior density, s-waves, transverse waves. Can spread into solids but not into liquids. The crust of the earth is approx. Region between the core and the crust : mantle. Upper part of the mantle and the crust together : thelithosphere. Underneath the lithosphere (crust and upper mantle ) is a plastic region consistency : aesthenosphere approx. 1 billion years ago the earth was melted by heat arising from : gravitational energy. From the formation of the planet: meteor attack, decomposition of radioactive material trapped in the body of the earth. While the earth melted gravity: resoluted more dense material near the center of the earth, resolute less dense material near the surface of the earth. When the earth finally solidified again disregarding the outercore: earth was left with a layered structure.
