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Detailed File Information
Element Composition of the Mantle vs the Bulk Earth
File Name m00023.dat.530.mantle.composition.pdf
Data Type spreadsheet
Computer Program Microsoft Excel 2000
File Size 34.00 KB - 2 files [ pdf,xls ]
Expert Level Middle School (Grade 6-8)
Contributor ERESE Database Team
Source Allegre et al. 1995
Resource Matrix The Earth's Mantle
Description
The attached table provides percentages for the composition of elements within the mantle and for the bulk earth (core, mantle, crust). Analyzing element composition for the different layers allows researchers to determine the composition of the core, which doesn't have any samples for analysis. Within the mantle, the concentration of silicon (Si) decreases slightly from the 27.7% average for the crust to 21.521% and magnesium (Mg) increases from 2.1% to 22.784% respectively, these are the largest percentage shifts in concentration from the crust to the mantle. Overall, higher concentrations of lighter elements (i.e. silicon) in the crust and slightly higher concentrations of heavier elements in the mantle attribute to their differences in density. As stated earlier, using the element concentrations for the mantle and crust can be used to determine the concentrations in the core in association with other information (i.e. magnetic field and element abundance).
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