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• n  the solid part of the earth consisting of the crust and outer mantle

• As it flows away from the ridges, it hardens into a more rigid layer called the lithosphere.
• Geologists see the world as a series of layers: the metallic barysphere at the center, the rocky lithosphere, the water hydrosphere, the atmosphere.
• The earth is one organism, comprising atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), lithosphere (rocks), biosphere (life).

• geosphere

News & Articles

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• Jets of molten rock push Earth's tectonic plates
  Giant fountains of hot rock under central Africa and the central Pacific that have apparently remained stationary for at least 250 million years are helping drive the movements of the massive tectonic plates making up Earth's surface, researchers say.Below the rocky layer that makes up Earth's outermost skin, known as the lithosphere, is the searing hot rock of the mantle layer. The way this ...
  June 26, 2013 - NBC NEWS

Quotes

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• Patrick McGovern in Honolulu Star-Bulletin
  My impression from stress modeling is the largest earthquakes still tend to be in the lower part of the lithosphere or lower mantle, which may mean you will continue to get patterns of paired earthquakes in the future,McGovern said. "But...