What Contains Most of the Earth's Mass?
The mantle contains most of the Earth's mass.
The Earth is composed of several layers: the crust, mantle, outer core, and inner core. While the core makes up a significant portion of the Earth's volume, the mantle holds the largest share of its mass. Let's break it down:
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Mantle: The mantle constitutes approximately 84% of Earth's volume and nearly 70% of its mass. This is a significant portion making it the layer containing the largest mass.
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Core: Although the core is denser than the mantle, it occupies a smaller volume (approximately 15% of the Earth's volume) resulting in only about 30% of the total mass.
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Crust: The crust is a relatively thin outer layer, comprising just 1% of the Earth's mass.
Several sources confirm this information: One source states that "Most of Earth's mass is its mantle," [Source 1]. Another source corroborates this, stating that the "mantle is the layer of the Earth that contains most of the Earth's mass" [Source 2]. It's important to note that while the Earth's core is denser, the significantly larger volume of the mantle outweighs this density difference in terms of total mass. The other layers, the hydrosphere and atmosphere, have negligible mass compared to the geosphere (crust and mantle). [Source 3]
Therefore, despite the higher density of the Earth's core, it's the vast expanse of the mantle that gives it the title of the most massive layer.
