Lithosphere

Layer of the Earth

The formation of plantes began with the formation of the galaxy, with the star dust spinning on the protoplanetary disks. It is estimated that eart formed million of years ago. 

The earth is a solid planet with an equatorial radius of 6378 km and a polar radius of 6356 km.

Earth´s crust 

It is above the mantle. Two types are distiguished: continental and oceanic the solid upper portion of the mantle and the earth´s crust from the mantle and the earth´s crust form the lithosphere.

Mantle

Covers the core. Thickness of 300 km. Composed of silicon rocks, magnesium and iron. Very high temperatures by its contact with the core.

Core 

Iron and nickel alloy, radius of 3486 km. Internal heat source. Contains radioactive material.

Proccesses that determine the formation of their relief

The different forms of reliefs, such as mountains, valleys, canyons, are the result of the transformation of the land surface caused by different forces acting on it.

These processes can be classified in type: 

• Endogenous processes, bring together different forces that act on the Earth´s surface that are originated from the interior of our planet.
• Exogenous processes, bring together the forces of transformation that are originated in the earth´s crust.

Endogenous processes

Tectonic plate

Theory that explains the dynamics of the lithosphere, which is divided into plates of different sizes, whose boundaries are adjacent to each other and interact in three ways.

• Divergent Plate Boundary: Originate in the oceanic crust in places where the convection dynamics of the mantle move the edges in opposite directions, forming a fault over the oceanic crust

• Dynamics of transformation: Their happens when the boundaries of two plates slide horizontally in opposite directions, forming transformation faults.

• Diastrophism: Set of processes originated by the convergence of plates, which derive from the regions of contact slowly in width of millions of years. It represents twisting of the crust in these of tectonic activity and results in the formation of mountain rages.