MOHOROVICIC
DISCONTINUITY
internal Structure of the
Earth
LESSON OUTCOMES
01 02 03
The students should be able The students should be able The students should be able
to identify the basic features to compare and contrast the to identify the three main
and statistics of the earth. seven continents of the layers of the earth.
earth.
WHAT IS
CRUST?
Earth's Crust. “Crust”
describes the outermost
shell of a terrestrial
planet. Earth's crust is
generally divided into older,
thicker continental crust
and younger, denser
oceanic crust.
WHAT IS
MANTLE?
The mantle is the mostly
solid bulk of Earth's
interior. The mantle lies
between Earth's dense,
super-heated core and its
thin outer layer, the
crust.
DISCONTINUTY
All layers of earth’s
interior are separated
from each other
through a transition
zone. These transition
zones are called
discontinuities.
MOHOROVIČIĆ
DISCONTINUITY
The Mohorovičić discontinuity,
also known as the Moho, is a
discrete jump in seismic wave
velocities – a seismic discontinuity
– that has come to define the
boundary between the crust
and the mantle. Its significance
stems from its clear demarcation of
the first boundary of the chemically
differentiated solid Earth.
what is
MOHO?
Moho: The rapid increase in seismic
velocity with which we often identify
the boundary between Earth’s crust and
mantle. More specifically, the Moho is
the depth at which the P-wave velocity
first increases rapidly or discontinuously
to 7.6–8.6 km/s, or if steep velocity
gradients are not present, then it is the
depth at which the P-velocity exceeds
7.6 km/s (Steinhart, 1967).
How Was the Moho
How Was the Moho
Discovered?
The Mohorovičić Discontinuity,
discovered in 1909 by Croatian
seismologist Andrija Mohorovičić,
marks the boundary between Earth's
crust and mantle. He realised that
seismic wave velocities
increased due to a change in
material density, with the crust
being less dense and the underlying
mantle composed of denser
material, similar to olivine-rich rocks
Andrija
Mohorovičić
(born January 23, 1857, Volosko,
Croatia, Austrian Empire [now in
Croatia]—died December 18, 1936,
Zagreb, Yugoslavia)
Was a Croatian
meteorologist and
geophysicist who discovered
the boundary between Earth’s
crust and mantle—a boundary
subsequently named the
Mohorovičić discontinuity.
How DOES MOHO works?
How DOES MOHO works?
When seismic waves travel through
the crust and hit the Moho, they
encounter a denser, more elastic
material in the mantle. This increase
in density and stiffness causes the
waves to speed up and change
direction, which is observed as
refraction. Some of the waves are
also reflected back to the surface,
helping scientists study the Earth's
interior.
How Deep is the Moho?
How Deep is the Moho?
The Mohorovicic Discontinuity marks the lower
limit of Earth's crust. As stated above, it occurs at
an average depth of about 8 kilometers
beneath the ocean basins and 32 kilometers
beneath continental surfaces. Mohorovicic
used his discovery to study thickness variations of
the crust. He discovered that the oceanic crust
has a relatively uniform thickness, while
continental crust is thickest under mountain
ranges and thinner under plains.
The map on this page illustrates
the thickness of Earth's crust.
Note how the thickest areas (red
and dark brown) are beneath
some of Earth's important
mountain ranges such as the
Andes (west side of South
America), Rockies (western North
America), Himalayas (north of
India in south-central Asia), and
Urals (north-south trending
between Europe and Asia).
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