The Lithosphere

9

9.1 Introduction ESBCH

If we were to cut the Earth in half we would see that our planet is made up of a number of layers,

namely the core at the centre (separatedinto the inner and outercore), the mantle, the upper mantle,

the crust and the atmosphere (Figure 9.1). The coreis made up mostly of iron. The mantle, which

lies between the core and the crust, consists of molten rock, called magma which moves continuously

because of convection currents. The crust is thethin, hard outer layer that ’floats’ on the magmaof

the mantle. It is the upper part of the mantle and the crust that make upthe lithosphere (’lith’ means

’types of stone’ and ’sphere’ refers to the round shape of the earth).

See introductory video:VPjvj at http://www.everythingscience.co.za

Inner Core

Outer Core

Mantle

Upper Mantle

Crust

Atmosphere

Figure 9.1: A cross-section through the earth toshow its different layers

DEFINITION: Lithosphere

The lithosphere is the solid outermost shell ofour planet. The lithosphere includes

the crust and the upperpart of the mantle, andis made up of material from both the

continents and the oceans on the Earth’s surface.