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Composition of the earth crust

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 Composition of the earth crust
Mahmoud H. Abdel Razek
May 24, 2020

Introduction

The Earth's crust is the thin Ground layer that we all live on. it is one of
the Earth’s layers that has been built from many types of rocks, that rock layer

represents less than 1% of the Earth's volume.[1] it

is divided into tectonic plates that move, allowing

heat to escape from the ground up. the crust is

chemically similar to andesite. the most abundant

minerals in the continental crust are feldspar 41%,

quartz 12%, and pyroxene 11%. the surface of the

Planet earth consists of two different forms: Oceanic and Continental crust

1. Continental crust: ( 5 to 10 km thick ) and comprising of slightly

density,silicon and aluminum materials

2. Oceanic crust: ( 30 to 50 km thick ) and is comprising of heavy

silica and magnesium materials.[2]

the boundary between the crust and the mantle is traditionally placed at the

Mohorovičić discontinuity, which is the boundary determined by

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the variation in seismic velocity. the crust temperature rises with depth,[3]

usually reaching values within the range from about 200 to 400 ° C at the

boundary with the underlying mantle. for every kilometer locally in the upper

part of the crust, the temperature rises by as much as 30° C, but the geothermal

gradient is smaller in deeper crust.[4] Minerals are substances naturally formed

on Earth. They have definite structure and chemical composition. there are more

than 4600 known minerals. some, like gold and diamond, are rare and precious,

while others, like quartz, are more ordinary. Minerals, as for other compounds,

are made from elements.there are only about a hundred elements around us and

they are the basic building blocks of all around us. they can be found in their

pure form, or chemically combined with other compound-making elements. two

or more chemically united elements form a compound.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Formation and Evolution

3. Average chemical composition of elements and compounds

4. Formation of crystals through crystallization

5. Crystallisation Examples

6. formation of minerals and rocks

7. References

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Formation and Evolution

fig.(1): An imaginary picture of the planet Earth about 4.5bn years ago

The origins of the Earth's crust date back to 4.5 billion years ago,[5] [6]

when gravity began to form the layers of the Earth according to the density of

the elements, this process produced huge quantities of heat, which caused early

Earth to fully meltwhere. so that the most dense elements became close to the

center of the earth, such as iron and nickel, on the other hand lower density

elements, such as oxygen, silicon and Aluminum in the upper layers to form

a large percentage of the earth's crust and mantle. then the Earth began to cool,

so that forming its first crust, called a primordial crust.[7] none of Earth's

primordial crust has survived to today; everything got destroyed by impacts,

erosion and plate tectonics over the past millions of years. After the formation of

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the Earth's crust in the early ages of the Earth, geological forces began to form

tectonic plates because of volcanoes are caused by weakness in some places of

primordial crust for this reason tectonic plates move and collide with each

other, forming continents. that moves relative to each other at one of three types

of boundaries: two plates come together at convergent boundaries; two plates

are pulled apart at divergent boundaries; and two plates slide past each other at

transforming boundaries.

the current continental crust is relatively recent, with an average lifespan of only

about 2 billion years ago. most of the crustal rocks were formed before 2.5

billion years ago. was contained in cratons. it is an ancient stable part of

the ancient Earth's lithosphere less dense than elsewhere in Earth and so aren't

damaged quickly by subduction. new Continental crust Structure is linked to

periods of intense orogeny; these periods coincide with the formation of

the supercontinents for example Rodinia, Pangaea and Gondwana. The crust

forms in part by aggregation of island arcs including granite and metamorphic

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fold belts, and the forming of buoyant lithospheric mantle is preserved in part by

depletion of the underlying mantle.

- the age of the current Earth’s crust is relatively recent, where most of its rocks

forming over the past 200 million years. That's because rocks are created and

then perish in what is known as a name The rock cycle (Page 13).

Average chemical composition of elements and compounds.

The earth's crust is compositionally distinct outermost rocky layer of

the Earth. you might be surprised to know that about a dozen chemical elements,

minerals, or rock types are all that is needed to describe the formation of about

99% of chemical components of the earth’s crust.

Chemically, the Earth's crust consists of

approximately 80 elements distributed

in around 2000 compounds or minerals,

many of which are of variable

composition. only eight of these

elements make up more than 99 per

cent of the mass of the crustal material

the crust is chemically similar to

andesite. the most abundant minerals in the continental crust are feldspar

(41 per cent), quartz (12 per cent), and pyroxene (11 per cent) Keep in mind that

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the Earth's crust elemental composition is not the same as the Earth's

composition. the mantle and core represents considerably more mass than

the crust. the mantle is about 44.8% oxygen, and 21.5% silicon

this is a figure depicting the Earth's crust elemental chemical composition. keep

in mind that estimates are those numbers[8], depending on how they were

calculated and the source, they'll vary. 98.4% of the Earth's crust is made up of

silicone, oxygen, iron, aluminum, magnesium,

sodium, calcium and potassium. all other elements

represent about 1.6 percent of the Earth's crust

volume. nearly 99 per cent of the minerals that

make up the crust of the Earth consist of just eight

elements, those make up almost all of the Earth's

crust. most of those elements are found as

compounds in combination with other elements.

Minerals are naturally occurring elements or compounds in the Earth's crust.

Rocks are “Mixed minerals”. just as the building blocks of minerals are

elements, so the minerals form the rock building blocks. because oxygen is the

most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, it is shared with other elements in

the form of oxides, silicates, carbonates ...etc.

the major rock structural elements (both in the crust and mantle) are the minerals

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of silicate, built from silicon atoms tetrahedrally surrounded by four oxygens.

the most simple of these is SiO44 – tetraedra interspersed with positive ions to

achieve electroneutrality; olivine, (Mg, Fe)2SiO4 is a well-known example.

more commonly, through sharing one or more oxygen atoms at adjacent

tetrahedral corners, the silicate groups polymerise. this may result in a wide

variety of chains (pyroxenes, amphiboles) and sheets (micas) being formed

depending on the number of joined corners per silicate unit, culminating in the

complete tetrahedral polymerization that produces quartz, SiO2,.

“all other constituents exist in very limited quantities, except water, and are less

than 1 % in sum. estimates of an average density ranged between 2.69- 2.74

g/cm3 for the upper crust and between 3.0 - 3.25 g / cm3 for the lower crust”[9]

Formation of crystals through crystallization. [10][15]

Crystallization is an industrial or natural process by which minerals are

created. where atoms and molecules are arranged in a highly structured form

called a crystal.

there are several ways in which crystals can form, such as sedimentation,

freezing or rarely directly precipitated from a gas. the properties of the resulting

crystal depend in large measure on variables such as temperature, pressure and

the duration of liquid evaporation in the case of liquid crystals.

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Crystallization occurs in two main periods.

- The first period is Nucleation, which represents the start of the crystal's

first crystal phase either from a supercooled liquid or from a

super-saturated solvent.

- The second period is Crystal growth, which is the rise in molecular size

and it causes a crystalline state. The most important feature of this step is

that the loose particles create layers on the crystal surface, surface lodge

themselves into open inconsistencies like pores, cracks, etc

fig.(4): Crystallization takes place in two main stages

there are many methods employed in industry to form crystals. these methods

depend on if the starting material is an ionic compound (salt, for example),

covalent compound (sugar or menthol, for example), or metal (silver or steel).

Examples of Crystals Growing:

- Solvent layering - Melting a solution

- Sublimation - Evaporating a solvent

- Cooling, or A cation or anion addition

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Crystallisation Examples.[11]

Crystal can create either artificially or naturally, either rapidly or through

geological time scales. examples of the crystallisation process that occurs

naturally:

- Shape snowflakes

- Honey crystallisation in a jar

- Stalactites and the formation of stalagmites

- Gemstone crystal Formation

Examples of the crystallisation process that occurs artificially:

- Growing crystals of sugar in a jar

- Creating artificial gemstones

Formation of minerals and rocks.

Minerals form under a vast array of geological conditions. there are probably

more ways of mineral formation than there are mineral types themselves. it may

be formed by formation of sediments, oxidation, magma crystallization, volcanic

gases, or saline fluid deposition, to list a few.

some of those mineral formation methods will be discussed below.

A mineral is a substance that occurs naturally, and is usually solid, crystalline,

stable at room temperature and inorganic.[12]

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there are approximately 5200 known mineral species, yet the vast majority of

rocks are formed from combinations of a few common minerals, the minerals

that shape the rock are: feldspars, quartz, amphiboles, micas, olivine, garnet,

calcite, pyroxenes. mineral abundance and diversity depend on the abundance of

the elements of which they are composed in the Earth's crust. ehese Eight

elements: oxygen, silicon, aluminum , iron, magnesium , calcium, sodium and

potassium, those chemical elements make up 98% of the Earth’s crust.[13]

Minerals that occur in small quantities within a rock are called "accessory

minerals." while accessory minerals are only present in small quantities, they

may provide useful insight into the geological history of a rock, and are often

used to determine a rock's age. common accessory minerals include: tourmaline,

apatite, pyrite, titanite, zircon, monazite, and other opaques.

● Formation from Hot Material

A rock is a mixture of minerals. many minerals begin in liquids which are hot

enough to melt the rocks. imagine a rock that gets so hot it's melting. magma is

melted rock. A molten mixture of substances hotter than 1000 degrees C slowly,

the magma cools within Earth, which gives mineral crystals time to grow large

enough to be seen clearly

when magma explodes on the surface of the Earth, it is called lava. when it is

under the surface, the lava cools much faster than magma. mineral crystals do

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not have time to grow in a cooling lava, and are very small. the chemical

composition would be the same as if the magma were slowly cooling up.

existing rocks can heat up enough to free the molecules from their formation and

be able to travel around.

fig.(5): Granite is rock formed from

gradually cooled magma with quartz

(clear), plagioclase feldspar (shiny white),

potassium feldspar (pink) and biotite

(black) minerals.

● Formation from Solutions

Water on Earth, like the ocean water, contains chemical elements that are mixed

into a solution. these elements may be combined by various processes to form

solid mineral deposits.[14]

water can contain only certain dissolved minerals and salts. when the quantity is

too large to remain dissolved in the water, the particles come together to form

mineral solids which sink. Halite precipitates

readily from water, just as calcite does.

some lakes, including Mono Lake in

California (Fig.6 right) or The Great Salt Lake

in Utah, contain many precipitated minerals.

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What are the rocks?

Geologically, the rock is a natural substance made of solid crystals of various

minerals that fused together to form massive lumps. minerals may not have

formed at the same time, and what matters is that a natural process has attached

them to each other. there are three major types of rocks:

Metamorphic, Igneous, and Sedimentary.

Igneous rock are abundant in the Earth's crust, and it’s volcanic rocks that are

formed from dissolved materials. they not only include lava emitted from

volcanoes but also include rocks such as granite that form from magma that

hardens deep in the bottom of the earth, and granite forms large parts From

continents. the sea floor consists of dark colored rocks called basalt and is one

of the most common types of volcanic rock, and we find it in lava flows such as

those in Hawaii, Iceland, and

large parts of northwestern

United States of America.[15]

Sedimentary rocks are formed

from eroded pieces of rock or

even from plant and animal

remains. the pieces are

stacked in low-lying areas of lakes, oceans, and deserts, and then compressed

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again within the rocks by affecting the weight of the materials above them.

sandstone is formed from sand, and mudstone is made of clay. Limestone is

formed from seashells, diatoms or bonelike minerals deposited from Calcium

rich water. Fossils are found mostly in sedimentary rocks, and they come in

layers called (Strata).

The Rock Cycle

1. A volcano sends melted rock or magma onto the surface of the Earth. it cools

and forms an igneous rock.

2. Next to the weather, or a river and other events, this rock will slowly split into

small pieces of sediment.

3. A sedimentary rock is formed, as sediment builds up and hardens over the

years.

4. This sediment rock will slowly get covered with other rocks and end up deep

in the crust of the earth.

5. When the pressure and heat get high enough, the sedimentary rock transforms

into a metamorphic rock and the cycle begins again.

“One thing to note is that rocks need not go through this particular cycle.

They can change in practically any order from one type to another, and

back again..”

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References

Ahmed Gad Abd El Wahed, 2020: Crystallography and Mineralogy Note.

N.p.: Ain Shams U,. Print.

Australian Museum Online, 2007: Structure and composition of the Earth,

Australian Museum Online. Retrieved.

Erickson, Jun 2014: Historical Geology: Understanding Our Planet's Past.

Infobase Publishing. p. 8. ISBN 978-1438109640.

Gannon, Jennifer L., et al, 2019: Geomagnetically Induced Currents from the

Sun to the Power Grid. John Wiley & Sons.

Gradstein, F.M.; Smith, Alan Gilbert, 2004: A Geological Time Scale,

Cambridge.

National Geographic Rocks, 2017: Rocks Information and Facts.

WS# www.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/inside-the-earth/rocks/

Indiana University: Minerals, Rocks and Rock Forming Processes

University of California Santa Barbara, 2012: How did minerals form in our

earth?

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