lithosphere
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.35|The tectonic plates of the lithosphere on Earth thumb|upright=1.35|Earth cutaway from center to surface, the lithosphere comprising the crust and lithospheric mantle (detail not to scale)
AI overview
The lithosphere is the rigid outer layer of Earth made up of the crust and the upper part of the mantle, and it's divided into large sections called tectonic plates. Understanding the lithosphere matters because these plates move and interact, which shapes Earth's surface features like mountains, earthquakes, and ocean basins.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
12 sectionsContents
- Earth's lithosphere
- History of the concept
- Types
- Oceanic lithosphere
- Subducted lithosphere
- Continental lithosphere
- Mantle xenoliths
- Microorganisms
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|upright=1.35|The tectonic plates of the lithosphere on Earth thumb|upright=1.35|Earth cutaway from center to surface, the lithosphere comprising the crust and lithospheric mantle (detail not to scale)
A lithosphere is the rigid outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust and the lithospheric mantle, the topmost portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of up to thousands of years or more. The crust and upper mantle are distinguished on the basis of chemistry and mineralogy.