Earth’s Mantle

The mantle rests on top of the outer core. It is between six and forty miles below Earth’s crust, and it is about 1,800 miles (2,897 km) thick. The mantle is the thickest layer of Earth, making up about eighty percent of Earth. It is made up of iron and rock. The heat from the core makes the mantle very hot. It is about 6,700 degrees Fahrenheit (3,700 degrees Celsius) in the deepest part of the mantle, and about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius) at the top.

The mantle has two areas: the lower mantle and the upper mantle. The lower mantle is solid rock. The upper mantle is also solid rock, but it has a thin outer layer that is part liquid. This liquid layer moves very slowly. This causes Earth’s surface to change and move, but it moves much too slowly for us to feel it.

The upper mantle is very much like plastic. It is a solid that can flow or move when it gets very hot.View Larger Image

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