Lithosphere

For the academic journal, see Lithosphere (journal).
The tectonic plates of the lithosphere on Earth
Earth cutaway from center to surface, the lithosphere comprising the crust and lithospheric mantle (detail not to scale)

A lithosphere (from Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos) 'rocky' and σφαίρα (sphaíra) 'sphere') is the rigid,[1] 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.

  1. ^ Skinner, B. J.; Porter, S. C. (1987). "The Earth: Inside and Out". Physical Geology. John Wiley & Sons. p. 17. ISBN 0-471-05668-5.