Mantle (geology) Mantle (geology) The mantle is a layer inside a planetary body bounded below by a core and above by a crust. Mantles are made of rock or ices, and are generally the largest and most massive layer of the planetary body. Mantles are characteristic of planetary bodies that have undergone differentiation by density. All terrestrial planets (including Earth), a number of asteroids, and some planetary moons have mantles. The Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate rock between the crust and the outer core. Its mass of 4.01 × 10 kg is 67% the mass of the Earth. It has
The Conflict Over the Sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands -- between Taiwan (ROC), China (PRC), & Japan depth of the Okinawa trough that locates in the east is as deep as 2,717 meters, forming a natural sea boundary with China and the Ryukyu islands. As the geological structure of the Ryukyu Islands belong to "oceanic crust", the Diaoyu Islands are "continental crust" that makes a significant difference in between those two. Also, the Diaoyu Islands has one of the largest scale of continental reef layer that contains an abundant amount of river deposits such as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and is therefore potentially rich in oil. The Diaoyu islands are considerably much more strategic