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The Earth's mantle is described as soft and plastic what does that mean?
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
It's only soft and plastic in that it is not as hard as the brittle rock of the crust and uppermost mantle which comprises the lithosphere (which comprises the continental and oceanic plates). Mostly composed of solid rock, nearly 5% of the upper mantle (asthenosphere) is molten. It doesn't sound like much, but it's enough to allow the rock to behave in a highly viscous manner; in other words, in can bend and move without breaking. The heat being generated from the interior of the Earth causes convection currents in this layer of the mantle. Rock rises slowly toward the surface at divergent plate boundaries, moves laterally causing plate movements (there is some disagreement here among scientists on the cause and effect relationship) and sinks back into the depths of the mantle when it has cooled and become more dense. At greater depths, the mantle is more solid, as the pressures become too intense for melt to occur.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
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What does the term plastic mean when describing the upper mantle?
what is a fault
What does asthenoshere mean?
the answer is the solid , but plastic layer found in the upper mantle ................hope this helps bye bye .
What does lithosphere mean in science terms?
lithosphere refers to the rocks of the earths surface and upper mantle or depth of plates. hope that helped
What if mantle were rock what feature would not form on earths surface?
If anything is rock-solid, it will result in a flat landscape. This will mean that there will be no plateaus, deep sea trenches, volcanoes or mountains if the mantle were solid rock.
What does the word asthenospere mean?
a subdivision of the upper mantle situated below the lithosphere ; a zone of plastic, easily deformed rock.
What does the term plastic mean when describing the upper mantle?
what is a fault
What does it mean to say earths plates float?
plates actually float on earth's mantle
What does asthenoshere mean?
the answer is the solid , but plastic layer found in the upper mantle ................hope this helps bye bye .
What does lithosphere mean in science terms?
lithosphere refers to the rocks of the earths surface and upper mantle or depth of plates. hope that helped
What if mantle were rock what feature would not form on earths surface?
If anything is rock-solid, it will result in a flat landscape. This will mean that there will be no plateaus, deep sea trenches, volcanoes or mountains if the mantle were solid rock.
What does the word asthenospere mean?
a subdivision of the upper mantle situated below the lithosphere ; a zone of plastic, easily deformed rock.
What does mantle mean in math?
i think you mean the verticies in the word mantle
What does granite rock mean?
What does mantle mean
What does plastic mean for psychology?
what does plastic mean
What 2 layers make up the Earth's crust?
the earths crust and the rigid upper mantle
What does pass the mantle mean?
The passing of the mantle, means passing power from one person to another.
What does the earths moon mean?
the earths moon helps sustsian the gravity on the earths oceancs keeping them in balance
