Label the Layers of the Earth – 10 Layers, Crust to Core

All 10 layers on the diagram

Show the list

Start here: 5 main layers 5

Crust The thin, brittle outer shell: only 1% of the Earth's volume. Drawn thicker than true here.
Upper mantle The top of the mantle, under the crust. The plates ride on a hot, yielding zone in it.
Lower mantle The deep mantle, down to the core. Made of iron and magnesium silicate minerals.
Outer core Liquid, mostly iron: earthquake S waves do not pass through it.
Inner core Solid, mostly iron, at the very centre of the Earth.

Crust and plates: 5 5

Continental crust The crust under the continents. Thicker than under the sea, deepest under mountains.
Oceanic crust The thin crust under the oceans, about 5 km thick at Hawaii.
Moho (Mohorovičić discontinuity) The boundary between the crust and the mantle. Earthquake waves suddenly speed up here.
Lithosphere The rigid outer layer: the crust plus the top of the mantle. It is broken into the plates.
Asthenosphere The hotter, weaker part of the upper mantle under the lithosphere.

How this list was compiled: Read 2026-09-26. (1) US Geological Survey, The Interior of the Earth (General Interest Publication), https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/interior/ : three main shells, crust, mantle and core, the mantle and core each in two parts; crust 1% of the volume, mantle 84%, core 15%; oceanic crust about 5 km at Hawaii, continental crust 25 to 60 km under eastern California; the Moho; plates of crust and part of the upper mantle moving over a hot, yielding zone 100 to 200 km down; a transition zone, then the lower mantle of iron and magnesium silicates; outer core liquid, inner core solid, mostly iron. (2) Wikipedia, Lithosphere, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithosphere : the lithosphere is the crust plus the uppermost, non-convecting mantle; the asthenosphere below it is the weaker, hotter, deeper part of the upper mantle. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site by script, 2026-09-26. Own work, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

Label the layers of the Earth on two drawings: the whole planet cut in half, and a close-up of the crust at the edge of a continent. Start with the 5 main layers, then the crust and plates.

Read the full guide

Crust, mantle, core

The Earth has three main shells: the thin crust, the mantle and the core. The mantle splits into upper and lower, and the core into a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. The mantle holds 84% of the Earth's volume, the core 15% and the crust 1%.

The plates

The lithosphere is the crust plus the rigid top of the mantle, broken into plates. They ride on the asthenosphere, a hot, yielding zone of the upper mantle. The Moho is the boundary at the base of the crust.

Fig. A shows the core to scale; the crust is drawn far thicker than true, or it would be thinner than the outline.

Questions and answers

What are the 4 layers of the Earth?

The crust, the mantle, the outer core and the inner core. The mantle is often split again into upper and lower, which makes five.

Which layer of the Earth is liquid?

The outer core. Earthquake S waves do not pass through it, which is how we know.

What is the difference between the lithosphere and the asthenosphere?

The lithosphere is rigid: the crust and the top of the mantle. The asthenosphere below it is hotter and weaker, and the plates move over it.