Answer 1:
What a great question you have asked. In a way
you want to know if the earth will ever run out of
magma. A short answer to this is would be - not
in any near future but yes, eventually if the
earth continues to cool down.
But let me explain this to you in more detail:
You have probably heard of the Rock Cycle and you
know that magma is nothing else but molten rock in
the earth mantle. Because magma is always
regenerated in the rock cycle for the next million
of years we will have enough of it. A short
description of the rock cycle is explained like
this:
Magma cools and crystallizes to form igneous
rock. Igneous rock undergoes weathering (or
breakdown) to form sediment. The sediment is
transported and deposited somewhere (such as at
the beach or in a delta, or in the deep sea). The
deposited sediment undergoes lithification (the
processes that turn it into a rock). These include
cementation and compaction. As the sedimentary
rock is buried under more and more sediment, the
heat and pressure of burial cause metamorphism to
occur. This transforms the sedimentary rock into a
metamorphic rock. As the metamorphic rock is
buried more deeply (or as it is squeezed by plate
tectonic pressures), temperatures and pressures
continue to rise. If the temperature becomes hot
enough, the metamorphic rock undergoes melting.
The molten rock is called magma. This
completes the cycle.
Now how come that the earth will eventually
run out of magma? The earth was formed around
4.5 billion years ago by the accumulation of rocky
bodies like meteoroids and asteroids. At that time
the earth was very hot - mostly molten - and did
not have a crust, mantle and core. Over time the
core was formed as heavier metals sank out of the
magma. The crust is the slowly cooled down mantle
on the outside. Now, the earth will eventually
cool down completely causing the mantle to
solidify. Since the mantle is the source for magma
(molten rocks) this mean also no more magma. This
has happened to Mercury already but it will take a
very long time for the earth to completely cool
down. |