where is the mantle of the earth located
Mantle (geology) The interior of Earth, similar to the other terrestrial planets, is divided into layers of different composition. The mantle is a layer between the crust and the outer core. Earth's mantle is a silicate rocky shell with an average thickness of 2,886 kilometres (1,793Â mi).[13] The mantle makes up about 84% of Earth's volume.[14] It is predominantly solid but in geological time it behaves as a very viscous fluid. The mantle encloses the hot core rich in iron and nickel, which makes up about 15% of Earth's volume.[14] Past episodes of melting and volcanism at the shallower levels of the mantle have produced a thin crust of crystallized melt products near the surface.[15] Information about the structure and composition of the mantle has been obtained from geophysical investigation and from direct geoscientific analyses of Earth mantle-derived xenoliths and mantle that has been exposed by mid-oceanic ridge spreading.
Mantle (geology) Two main zones are distinguished in the upper mantle: the inner asthenosphere composed of plastic flowing rock of varying thickness, on average about 200 km (120 mi) thick,[16] and the lowermost part of the lithosphere composed of rigid rock about 50 to 120 km (31 to 75 mi) thick.[17] A thin crust, the upper part of the lithosphere, surrounds the mantle and is about 5 to 75 km (3.1 to 46.6 mi) thick.[18] Recent analysis of hydrous ringwoodite from the mantle suggests that there is between one[19] and three[20] times as much water in the transition zone between the lower and upper mantle than in all the world's oceans combined.[21]
Earth The total surface area of Earth is about 510 million km2 (197 million sq mi).[13] Of this, 70.8%,[13] or 361.13 million km2 (139.43 million sq mi), is below sea level and covered by ocean water.[121] Below the ocean's surface are much of the continental shelf, mountains, volcanoes,[91] oceanic trenches, submarine canyons, oceanic plateaus, abyssal plains, and a globe-spanning mid-ocean ridge system. The remaining 29.2%, or 148.94 million km2 (57.51 million sq mi), not covered by water has terrain that varies greatly from place to place and consists of mountains, deserts, plains, plateaus, and other landforms. Tectonics and erosion, volcanic eruptions, flooding, weathering, glaciation, the growth of coral reefs, and meteorite impacts are among the processes that constantly reshape the Earth's surface over geological time.[122][123]
Earth The shape of Earth is approximately oblate spheroidal. Due to rotation, the Earth is flattened along the geographic axis and bulging around the equator.[92] The diameter of the Earth at the equator is 43 kilometres (27 mi) larger than the pole-to-pole diameter.[93] Thus the point on the surface farthest from Earth's center of mass is the summit of the equatorial Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador.[94][95][96][97] The average diameter of the reference spheroid is 12,742 kilometres (7,918 mi). Local topography deviates from this idealized spheroid, although on a global scale these deviations are small compared to Earth's radius: The maximum deviation of only 0.17% is at the Mariana Trench (10,911 metres (35,797 ft) below local sea level), whereas Mount Everest (8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above local sea level) represents a deviation of 0.14%.[n 13]