Earth's Interior

Earth's layers
Earth has multiple layers: the crust, the mantle, the liquid outer core and the solid inner core. (Image credit: NASA)

Earth's interior is made up of a series of layers that sit below the surface crust. In order of depth, these layers include the solid, but flowing mantle, the liquid outer core and the solid iron outer core, which helps create Earth's protective magnetic field. The layers can also be categorized into the rigid outer lithosphere (which includes the crust and top portion of the mantle and makes up Earth's tectonic plates) and the athenosphere, the portion of the mantle that is solid, but made up of hot, weak, flowing rock. Read about the latest research on Earth's layers below.

Latest about Earth's Interior

Earth core structure illustrated with geological layers according to scale.

Giant blobs in Earth’s mantle may be driving a 'diamond factory' near our planet’s core

By Stephanie Pappas published

Water driven toward Earth's center by plate tectonics could lead to the creation of diamonds at the boundary between the core and the mantle.

An illustration showing mysterious waves (red) moving across the outermost layer of Earth's outer core.

'Completely new' type of magnetic wave found surging through Earth's core

By Brandon Specktor published

Scientists have discovered a new type of magnetic wave in Earth's outer core, known as Magneto-Coriolis waves. They may be responsible for fluctuations in the planet's magnetic field.

Researchers suspect that Earth's core holds a vast reservoir of the rare gas, helium-3.

Rare primordial gas may be leaking out of Earth's core

By Laura Geggel published

A vast reservoir of the rare gas helium-3 may be hanging out in Earth's metallic core.

A 3D view of the blob in Earth's mantle beneath Africa, shown in red, yellow and orange. The cyan represents the core-mantle boundary, blue signifies the surface and transparent gray indicates continents.

2 giant blobs in Earth's mantle may explain Africa's weird geology

By Stephanie Pappas published

One of Earth's two mysterious mantle blobs is much higher than the other, raising questions about its impact on Earth's surface.

An artist's impression of the Hadean eon, when early Earth may have been struck by a renegard Mars-sized planet.

Weird structures near Earth's core may be scars from a primordial interplanetary collision

By Brandon Specktor published

A collision with a Mars-size planet 4.5 billion years ago may have left a permanent impact on our planet's deep mantle.

Researchers found a hole in the mantle layer of Earth in the Cocos tectonic plate, which lies right off the coast of Panama. Shown here, a 3D rendering of a topographic map of Panama.

'Wind' from Earth's middle layer blows through a secret passage beneath Panama

By Stephanie Pappas published

The mysterious presence of mantle materials more than 1,000 miles (1,609 km) from where they originated may be explained by a 'window' 62 miles (100 kilometers) below the Earth's surface.

The Bonin Islands are part of a geologic arc called Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc. The arc sits above the subduction zone, where the Pacific plate is slowly diving beneath the Philippine Sea Plate.

Deepest earthquake ever detected should have been impossible

By Stephanie Pappas published

Researchers have detected the deepest earthquake ever, 467 miles below the Earth's surface.

Earth's solid inner core may be growing in a 'lopsided' pattern, new research suggests.

Earth's core is growing 'lopsided' and scientists don't know why

By Brandon Specktor published

New seismic models show that Earth's inner core may be growing faster in the east than in the west, creating a 'lopsided' pattern at the center of our planet.

An illustration of protoplanetary disc formation

4.5 billion-year-old particles from the sun lurk in Earth's core and mantle

By Laura Geggel published

Are there particles from ancient solar winds hanging out in Earth's core and mantle?

A map of inner Earth showing the new ultralow-velocity zones (ULVZs) discovered with 30 years of seismic data.

The monstrous 'blobs' near Earth's core may be even bigger than we thought

By Brandon Specktor published

Using thousands of seismic wave recordings, researchers mapped the mysterious 'blobs' deep below the Pacific Ocean and found they are even bigger than imagined.

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