What is Lithosphere? Describe its structure.
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
The lithosphere includes the brittle upper portion of the mantle and the crust, the outermost layers of Earth's structure. It is bounded by the atmosphere above and the asthenosphere (another part of the upper mantle) below. Although the rocks of the lithosphere are still considered elastic, they are not viscous.
The Earth's crust, te, the uppermost solid layer of the Earth made up of soil and rocks is called the lithosphere.
Litho means 'stone, hence, lithosphere is the realm or sphere of stones or rocks. The Earth's crust includes the continents as well as the ocean basins . About one-third of the Earth's surface is covered by land and the rest is covered by water. Large landmasses are called continents. Their surfaces vary tom low, green valleys to high rocky mountains. Antarctica, the continent at the South Pole, is completely bound under ice and snow. Similarly, large water bodies are called oceans.
The thickness of the Earth's crust varies from about 8 kilometres under the oceans.to about 40 kilometres under the continents.
Importance Of The Lithosphere :-
The outer covering or the crust of the Earth, known as the lithosphere, is of great importance to us. Without the soil cover there would not be any plants on the Earth. Moreover, lithosphere is the storehouse of various mineral resources including coai and oil.